GIFFT Documentaries
The Unlost Homeland
A film by Eftychia Fragou (Greece)
“The UnLost Homeland” follows the story of 12 Greeks from Constantinople who lived through the Istanbul pogrom of 1955 in Turkey.
It is notorious in modern history as the only pogrom of such magnitude to have taken place during peacetime. The camera lens together with the presenter transport us to the stories of all the refugees who were forced to leave their country as well as of one Turk who is in self-exile. These are the stories of everyday people who were brutally uprooted.
How did Turkey manage to eradicate all these minorities? What truly happened in these genocides that have been so masterfully silenced?
Who were the Greeks of Istanbul really? How did they continue the Byzantine legacy? How did they manage to keep intact their language, their religion and their identity for 500 years after the fall of Constantinople?
How did they interact with the the other minorities (Armenians / Jews) of the city? Where were they on the night of the pogrom? What was their education, their relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, their everyday life, their cuisine?
The story of this elite society unfolds through these rare interviews.
Utilising fast-paced montage, and innovative animated text on screen, the viewer is transported to an imaginary table, where everyone is sitting together without knowing each other, answering and complementing each other. In the end it feels as if everybody is somehow related to one another. Through common memories and mutual pain these people are united by a unique and universal bond.
It is notorious in modern history as the only pogrom of such magnitude to have taken place during peacetime. The camera lens together with the presenter transport us to the stories of all the refugees who were forced to leave their country as well as of one Turk who is in self-exile. These are the stories of everyday people who were brutally uprooted.
How did Turkey manage to eradicate all these minorities? What truly happened in these genocides that have been so masterfully silenced?
Who were the Greeks of Istanbul really? How did they continue the Byzantine legacy? How did they manage to keep intact their language, their religion and their identity for 500 years after the fall of Constantinople?
How did they interact with the the other minorities (Armenians / Jews) of the city? Where were they on the night of the pogrom? What was their education, their relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, their everyday life, their cuisine?
The story of this elite society unfolds through these rare interviews.
Utilising fast-paced montage, and innovative animated text on screen, the viewer is transported to an imaginary table, where everyone is sitting together without knowing each other, answering and complementing each other. In the end it feels as if everybody is somehow related to one another. Through common memories and mutual pain these people are united by a unique and universal bond.
One of these Greeks returns home after 46 years with his grandson. Is his house still there? How does it feel to return to his birthplace?
What is really left? Is this the end?
Because in the end history is not just the cold facts; it is comprised of the stories and trials of the people who wrote history.
Back To Sparta
A film by George Tsioutsioulas (Canada)
At 35, within the span of one year, Angelo Tsarouchas had lost it all. His marriage. A successful business. And his father. But what he found was that when it comes to realizing your dream, it’s never too late to start again. Against all odds, Angelo has found success and built a name for himself in one of the most difficult and strangest professions: Stand-up comedy. His career has taken him to stages around the world but ironically the one place he has never performed is Greece – even though a big part of his success is based on jokes relating back to his Greek heritage.
My Rembetika Blues
A film by Mary Zournazi (Australia)
Rembetika music or the Greek blues is a music born of exile and the streets. Developing its roots from the mass migration of people in the early twentieth century, filmmaker M. Zournazi traces the journey of her forebears from Smyrna in Turkey to Sydney Australia but discovers more than family history, she finds out how music connects people during times of struggle and crises. By weaving together different stories of music and migration, she documents experiences that are often left out of the chronicles of history.
Lethal Nationalism: Genocide of the Greeks 1913-1923
A film by Peter Lambrinatos (USA)
A historical documentary that for the first time charts Ottoman Empire’s and Turkish Nationalists Genocide of its 3,000-year-old ethnic Greek population, it took only 10 years to destroy over 3 Millenia of history.
Since 1913 the Turkish government – including the founder of modern Turkey — has exterminated or exiled over one million Christians of Greek heritage, collectively over 3 million Christian minorities of Asia Minor were exterminated.
This was the Genocide that set the model for all future Genocides. Turkish governmental denial continues to this day.
The veil of secrecy will be lifted and the story of the Greeks of Asia Minor will be told.
Since 1913 the Turkish government – including the founder of modern Turkey — has exterminated or exiled over one million Christians of Greek heritage, collectively over 3 million Christian minorities of Asia Minor were exterminated.
This was the Genocide that set the model for all future Genocides. Turkish governmental denial continues to this day.
The veil of secrecy will be lifted and the story of the Greeks of Asia Minor will be told.
Rigors
A film by Yannis Bletas (Greece)
Rethymno is a place of history, of Venetian and Turkish decorations. A city of nobility and culture. A city of tradition. But there is another side to the city. The dark one. Stories that are true, others that are fictional. And some that are both.Stories, events that will give you the shivers, namely “Rigors”.
What About Our Future
A film by Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos
An observational documentary that chronicles a group of youth environmental activists who organized the biggest climate strike in Vancouver’s history.
Hellenic Places: Hermoupolis
A film by Jaime Charalambos Margaritis
The city of Hermoupolis, capital of Syros is located at the center of the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea, in Greece.
In its history one can find all the elements that shaped contemporary Greece.
This is an animated documentary telling its story.
In its history one can find all the elements that shaped contemporary Greece.
This is an animated documentary telling its story.
Ερμούπολη, η πρωτεύουσα της Σύρου, στο κέντρο του νησιωτικού συμπλέγματος των Κυκλάδων, στην Ελλάδα.
Στην ιστορία της απαντώνται όλες οι ζυμώσεις που διαμόρφωσαν τον σύγχρονο Ελληνισμό.
Αυτό το animated ντοκιμαντέρ αφηγείται την ιστορία της.
A Different Canival
A film by Zeta Spyraki
A Different Carnival takes place during carnival in an empty town, that of Patras, Greece, where acrobats are looking for their audience in the absence of carnival during the pandemic. Could their colourful dance and tricks bring back some of that carnival magic?
Dimitris, Nikos …and the Uncertainty Principle
A film by Costas Aenian
Review and investigation of a short story of the Greek Civil War (without seeking interpretation of war), where an abandoned child in the woods without chances of survival, survives and growing up as a refugee in Poland.
Story parallel to another child, 200 years ago, in the era of the Greek Revolution and the civil wars that followed it, in a time, where the hero with the similar experience makes peace with his opponent.
Behind the dots of the title, the tragic irony of the desperate endeavor of humans to decipher the mystery of Luck. At the vortex of a pandemic “civil war” where hidden, random “bullets”, hateless, lurk behind the human need for approach and contact.
Story parallel to another child, 200 years ago, in the era of the Greek Revolution and the civil wars that followed it, in a time, where the hero with the similar experience makes peace with his opponent.
Behind the dots of the title, the tragic irony of the desperate endeavor of humans to decipher the mystery of Luck. At the vortex of a pandemic “civil war” where hidden, random “bullets”, hateless, lurk behind the human need for approach and contact.
M 12
A film by Yiannis Laskaros
M12 stands for the age category, over 85 years old, in veterans judo games. The only representative in this category is Mr Nikos Klouvatos. 90 years old and still training in judo, it is quite amazing. And there’s more. This film reveals his impressive personality.
A Church In Chelsea
A film by Tassos Rigopoulos
The little-known story of St. Eleftherios Greek Orthodox Church founded in 1918 in Chelsea, New York City, as told by its priest and some of its longstanding parishioners.
