50 Years of Cyprus: Black and white hopes(1999)

The Travelling Players(el)

This expansive Greek drama follows a troupe of theater actors as they perform around their country during World War II. While the production that they put on is entitled "Golfo the Shepherdess," the thespians end up echoing scenes from classic Greek tales in their own lives, as Elektra plots revenge on her mother for the death of her father, and seeks help from her brother, Orestes, a young anti-fascist rebel.

Γάζωρος Σερρών(el)

Bread and a Blanket(el)

On December 13 of 1943 the Nazi occupation army in Greece executed all the male population of the town of Kalavryta while burning it to the ground. Three men who witnessed these events as kids remember.

The Lark Farm(it)

The Lark Farm is set in a small Turkish town in 1915. It deals with the genocide of Armenians, looking closely at the fortunes, or rather, misfortunes of one wealthy Armenian family.

Evaporating Borders(en)

Evaporating Borders is a poetically photographed and rendered film on tolerance and search for identity. Told through 5 vignettes portraying the lives of migrants on the island of Cyprus, it passionately weaves themes of displacement and belonging.

Like Stone Lions in the Gateway into Night(fr)

Between 1947 and 1951, more than 80 000 Greek men, women and children were deported to the isle of Makronissos (Greece) in reeducation camps created to ‘fight the spread of Communism’. Among those exiles were a number of writers and poets, including Yannis Ritsos and Tassos Livaditis. Despite the deprivation and torture, they managed to write poems which describe the struggle for survival in this world of internment. These texts, some of them buried in the camps, were later found. «Like Lions of stone at the gateway of night» blends these poetic writings with the reeducation propaganda speeches constantly piped through the camps’ loudspeakers. Long tracking shots take us on a trance-like journey through the camp ruins, interrupted along the way by segments from photographic archives. A cinematic essay, which revives the memory of forgotten ruins and a battle lost.

Topos(el)

During its 85-minute running time, this jarring experimental film takes a no-holds-barred look at the way women have been treated and depicted in Western art.

Haymatloz - Exil in der Türkei(de)

″Haymatloz″ tells the stories of five German Jewish academics who emigrated to Turkey in the 1930s, to be welcomed with open arms. After 1933 a considerable number of German intellectuals emigrated to Turkey at the invitation of Atatürk and went on to definitively shape teaching and instruction in Turkish universities. Turkish-born filmmaker Önsöz accompanies the descendants of these German exiles and sheds light on a memorable piece of history whose meaning is still felt to this day, as these renowned Germans played a substantial role in the Europeanization of Turkey.

Alexander(en)

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

THE EARTHQUAKE(tr)

An experimental short film about the Earthquake, that is still ongoing in Turkey.

21st Century Âshikizm Art Movement(en)

The sound of centuries-old Adhan in Turkey, the sound of centuries-old church bells and the polyphonic music of Europe echo in our memory. Our traditions and our future determine our present. In the present tense, the sounds of the war's sirens are mixed with the sound of Adhan and church bells. How can people hear themselves? How can humans exist?

Cleopatra(en)

Determined to hold on to the throne, Cleopatra seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to his general, Marc Antony, who vows to take power—but Caesar’s successor has other plans.

A Whistle comes from far away(en)

For centuries the people of a village in the Blacksea coast of Turkey and the surrounding area have used whistling to communicate. The custom is a true form of language, but unfortunately was starting to die out. This documentary shows how “Uncle” Orhan, one of the more elderly villagers, has kept the age-old tradition alive by teaching the whistling language to local children.

Demirkırat: The Goverment(tr)

The spring of 1950 was also the spring of the multi-party regime in Turkey. A new 10 years, a new regime, a new government. The first test of democracy was beginning. The National Chief of the single-party period had returned to his Pink Mansion. The address of the opposition was clear now. When it comes to power... Power was shared by a tripartite trivet from the first day: DP Group in the Parliament. Celal Bayar in the Mansion and Adnan Menderes in the Prime Ministry..

12 Mart: Gripes(tr)

Revolutionaries passed before the streets of the 1960s on the road to democracy. Then the youth with the victory songs, the workers with the rebel flags, the rightists, the leftists and the putschists again. The country spent 12 years in the grip of the revolution and in the end all roads came to the same crossroads. Ankara was restless in the minutes when the ousted prime minister of the Democratic Party, Adnan Menderes, was hanged. The news of Menderes' execution had not yet come. There was an anxious wait in the houses. Ears were on the radio. Everyone was wondering what happened in Imrali. In the Assembly, the National Unity Committee was in a meeting. They were also trying to learn the fate of Menderes. Suddenly, news came that EP Chairperson Ragıp Gümüşpala and Secretary General Şinasi Osman wanted to meet with the committee urgently. The committee members did not break the request of their former commander Gümüşpala and made an appointment for 14:30...

12 Mart: Colonel(tr)

In the words of those days, "The first parliament of the Second Republic opened in its new building at 15:00 on a Wednesday. At that moment, the National Unity Committee, which had been ruling the country since 27 May, vanished into history. Now there was an Assembly and a Senate. The old Members of the Committee of National Unity had been "senators of course" for life. The country was finally getting its parliament again after a year and a half hiatus. After many painful days and nights, the biggest share in this success belonged to İsmet İnönü...

12 Mart: Rebellion(tr)

Staff Colonel Talat Aydemir... Aydemir's February 22 rebellion was the first revolutionary attempt in Turkey that faced resistance. But it was also the most dangerous... The thing the army feared most happened to him. The most undesirable possibility of the commanders in charge came true and friction broke out between the armies. At that time, the commander of 27 May, Cemal Aga, was appointed to the presidency, but the discomfort did not end. A group led by Colonel Talat Aydemir sought to intervene again. However, a part of the army, especially the Air Force, left Aydemir alone at the last moment. Talat was still strong in Ankara. In order to break this power, Prime Minister İnönü found the formula to dismiss the leaders of the rebel officers and appoint them to the East. Here is February 22, the day when these appointments will be announced to the rebels. The apocalypse was expected that day. And it broke that day...

Gallipoli(en)

As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.

Parallel Trips(en)

Turkish and Greek islanders talk about their losses and their experience of shifting residences across to the north and to the south post-1974. In this Turkish and Greek Cypriot joint production, Zaim and Chrysanthou deal with extremely sensitive socio-historical material successfully.

Underwater Papanikolis(el)