2011 March 29 – April 6
The IInd Green Line Film Festival at Sidestreets
Curated by Panicos Chrisanthou
Sidestreets is pleased to announce the start of the 2. FESTIVAL OF THE GREEN LINE.
Organized and curated by Cypriot film-maker Panicos Chrysanthou in collaboration with Sidestreets and the Cyprus Film Archive, the festival in Sidestreets will run from Tuesday, 29 March to Wednesday, 6 April, and feature six brilliant, award-winning films from Yugoslavia, Israel/Palestine, Albania/Greece, Italy/Switzerland/Germany, Greece, and Turkey.
*All films will be shown at 7.30 p.m. in Sidestreets.
**The entrance fee for all screenings are (5TL/3 Euro) each. Tickets should be purchased in advance from Sidestreets. As seating is limited, reservations are recommended. Tel: (90) 392 229 3070 (www.sidestreets.org)
PROGRAM:
(1)THE POWDER KEG (AKA CABARET BALKAN), dir. Goran Paskaljevic (Yugoslavia 1998)
Tuesday, 29 March - Sidestreets
(2) COFFE – BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION, dir. Maysaloun Hamoud, Elite Zexer, Murat Nassar, Eti Tsico, Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gasi Abu Baker, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid (Israel/Palestine 2010)
Wednesday, 30 March - Sidestreets
(3) AMNESTY, dir. Bujar Alimani (Albania 2011)
Thursday, 31 March - Sidestreets
(4) THE FOUR TIMES, dir. Michelangelo Flammartino (Italy/Switzerland/Germany 2010)
Monday, 4 April - Sidestreets
(5) TRIP TO MITILINI, dir. Lakis Papastathis (Greece 2010)
Tuesday,5 April - Sidestreets
(6) MAJORITY, dir. Seren Yüce (Turkey 2010)
Wednesday, 6 April - Sidestreets
DETAILS:
(1) THE POWDER KEG (AKA CABARET BALKAN)
Goran Paskaljevic
(1998; 100 minutes; Serbian with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Tuesday, 29 March, 2011
19.30
Bookended by a cabaret-style master of ceremonies, the film (set in February 1998, when the troubles started in Kosovo) is a stark illustration of the hell-hole that Yugoslavia has become as it follows assorted characters (some of whose paths eventually cross) during a freezing winter's night in Belgrade. A young man who accidentally bumps into another's car is assaulted at home by thugs who are happy to smash the only photograph of his dead mother; a policeman, whose body has been badly broken, faces the man who smashed him up; a desperate bruiser murders his best friend with a bottle before killing himself and a troubled girl with a grenade; a bus journey turns into a nightmare ride and, as with most other scenes, is shot through with pointless, uncontrolled violence; one harrowing scene, which includes the drowning of an estranged ex-fiancé, points to the impossibility of love...
Awards:
Golden Spike – Valladolid 2009, Best Film for Central and Eastern Europe – Cleveland International Film Festival 2009, Prix du Jury – Les Arcs European Film Festival, Public Choice Award – Thessaloniki Film Festival 2009
Direction: Goran Paskaljevic Script: Dejan Dukovski, Goran Paskaljević, Filip David, Zoran Andrić Photography: Milan Spasic Editing: Petar Putniković Music: Zoran Simjanović Actors: Lazar Ritovski (Boxer), Predrag “Miki” Manojlović (Mane), Vojislav Brajović (Topi, the local Che Guevara), Milena Dravić (lady with hat on bus), Sergej Trifunović (youth on bus), Nebojsa Glogovac (taxi driver) Production country: Yugoslavia
(2) COFFEE – BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION
Maysaloun Hamoud, Elite Zexer, Murat Nassar, Eti Tsico, Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gasi Abu Baker, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid
(2010; 95 minutes; Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Wednesday, 30 March, 2011
19.30
Coffee-Between Reality and Imagination is a cinematic collaboration between young Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, who together created a series of short films, all dealing with the project title – coffee. Coffee is a part of our cultural identity; it is shared by all individuals in terms of our daily routine, and brings together different people, regardless of who they are. Eight films were produced – two documentaries and two fiction films by the Palestinian filmmakers, and four fiction films by the Israeli filmmakers. Each of the films gives a personal and courageous point of view on the reality in which we live. The directors were given creative freedom and worked with mixed crews of Israelis and Palestinians. The eight individual films are: A Cup of Coffee from Palestine, 9’ (Dir.: Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Murad Nessar), A Trip to Jaffa,14’ (Dir.: Eitan Sarid), Audition,14’ (Dir.: Eti Tsicko), Eva Is Leaving,16’ (Dir.: Aya Somech), Sense of Morning,11’ (Dir.: Maysaloun Hamoud), The Clock and the Man,11’ (Dir.: Gazi Abu Baker), Tasnim, 11’ (Dir.: Elite Zexer), Wajeh,15’ (Dir.: Murad Nessar)
Direction: Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gazi Abu Baker, Maysaloun Hamoud, Eti Tsicko, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid, Elite Zexer, Murad Nessar Production country: Ισραήλ, Παλαιστίνη/Israel, Palestine
(3) AMNESTY
Bujar Alimani
(2011; 83 minutes; Albanian with Greek subtitles)
Sidestreets, Thursday, 31 March, 2011
19.30
A man and a woman in Albania. Their two partners are both in custody but reforms in the penal
system allow married couples to meet once a month for sexual contact. At first the film spins these two narrative threads alongside each other and then ties them together artfully. The two meet by chance in the prison and start a tender love affair that looks set to end when their partners are freed in an amnesty. Using breathtaking images without any superfluous flourishes, Amnistia depicts the life of its protagonists in today’s Albania, which is marked by unemployment, economic hardship and patriarchal structures. The recently sacked textile workers queuing to collect their pay offs, the run-down hospital kitchen, a newspaper press, a tyrannical father-in-law acting up as a guardian of moral standards, and repeated takes of roads and buildings. Alimani’s use of color, especially in the jail shots, recalls Edward Hopper’s realism and the loneliness of his figures. Thus, the director not only creates a panorama of Albanian society, but also tells a love story that has the stuff of tragedy.
Awards: C.I.C.A.E. Jury Price – Forum Berlin Film Festival 2011
Direction: Bujar Alimani Script: Bujar Alimani Photography: Elias Adamis Editing: Bonita Papastathi Music: Hekuran Pere Actors: Luli Bitri, Karafil Shena, Todi Llupi, Mirela Naska, Alaksander Rrapi Production country: Albania, Greece
(4) THE FOUR TIMES
Michelangelo Flammartino
(2010; 88 minutes; no dialogue)
Sidestreets Monday, 4 April, 2011
19.30
An elderly shepherd lives in a quiet medieval village, perched high on the hills of Calabria in southern Italy. He is ill and his daily medicine is dust dissolved in water, collected from the church’s floor; when he dies, a baby goat is born, thus ensuring the cycle of life continues uninterrupted. The young goat goes to graze; next to its pasturing grounds, an ancient, splendid fir tree slowly changes through the seasons. When the tree itself has no more life, it will become coal through the traditional work of the local coal makers, and it will provide heat to the village. In this poetic fiction-documentary hybrid, the constant traditions of an eternal place – traditions both human and based on the Earth’s life cycles – are memorialized in their simplicity and beauty; nature is, at the same time, the definitive reality, as well as a mystical organism.
Awards: Golden Puffin & Fipresci - Reykjavik 2010, Cinevision Award - Filmfest Muenchen 2010, Special Jury Award- Motovun Film Festival Croatia 2010
Direction: Michelangelo Frammartino Script: Michelangelo Frammartino Photography: Andrea Locatelli Editing: Benni Atria, Maurizio Grillo Actors: Giuseppe Fuda (the shepherd), Bruno Timpano (coal maker) Nazareno Timpano (the second coal maker) Production country: Italy, Switzerland, Germany
(5) TRIP TO MILILINI
Lakis Papastathis
(2010; 105 minutes; Greek with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Tuesday, 5 April 2011
19.30
At the end of 19th century, the writer George Vizyinos is put away in a mental institution in Athens right after his erotic passion for Betina, a twelve year old girl. Living in isolation, he tries to remember his childhood back when he was living in Istanbul and Thrace. At the same time he reads again his novel which is based on these memories. The main character of these memories is his very old grandfather. The writer remembers his childhood in Istanbul and connects it to that of the hero in his novel. His experience and the process of literature get confused in his troubled mind. His grandfather lives the journey through tales. He has never managed to travel except once in his life. Life allows him only one true journey, that towards the sky.
Direction: Lakis Papastathis Script: Lakis Papastathis Photography: Yiorgos Argyroiliopoulos Editing: Ioanna Spiliopoulou Music: Yiorgos Papadakis Actors: Christos Hadjipanayiotis, Maria Zorba, Demetris Kataleifos, Loukia Michalopoulou, Nicolas Papayiannis Production country: Greece
(6) MAJORITY
Seren Yuce
(2010; 102 minutes; Turkish with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Wednesday, 6 April 2011
19.30
Twenty-one-year-old Mertkan has a stable but unfulfilling life in Istanbul: living at home with his parents, working as an office boy in his father’s construction company, hanging out with his buddies in shopping malls and discos. When he meets Gül, a Kurdish girl from Eastern Turkey, awkward Mertkan starts to become a bit more selfconfident, and it seems possible that he could break away from his oppressive parents. But Mertkan’s domineering father opposes any association with “those people who only want to divide our country”. Will Mertkan be strong enough to avoid becoming the kind of man that his father wants him to be?
Awards: Lion of the future, “Luici De Laurentis” Award for Debut Film – Venice Film Festival 2010, Best Film, Best Director & Best Actor – Antalya Turkey IFF 2010
Direction: Seren Yuce Script: Seren Yuce Photography: Baris Ozbicer Editing: Mary Stephen Music: Gokce Akcelik Actors: Bartu Kucukcaglayan (Mertkan), Settar Tanriogen (Kemal), Nihal Koldas (mother) Esme Madra (Gul), Ilhan Hacifazlioglu (Ersan) Production country: Turkey