Grigoris Karantinakis’s bustling ensemble drama recreates the buildup to a 1922 massacre in what is now İzmir, even if some characters are just walking Wikipedia entries
This epic historical drama could have been called Once Upon a Time in Asia Minor or Once Upon a Time in Turkey, depending on which side of the Greek-Turkish divide you sit. That thorny geopolitical entanglement is what it attempts to unpick, sometimes too forcefully, in telling the story of the one-time melting pot of Smyrna (now İzmir). It culminates in a shockingly raw depiction of the 1922 massacre and ethnic cleansing of the Greek and Armenian population by Kemal Atatürk’s irregulars after they entered the city.
Filio Baltatzis (Mimi Denissi) is the matriarch of a Greek olive oil family in Smyrna, relaxed in their affluence in the Levantine port even as first world war storm clouds encroach. Greece is neutral but her husband...
This epic historical drama could have been called Once Upon a Time in Asia Minor or Once Upon a Time in Turkey, depending on which side of the Greek-Turkish divide you sit. That thorny geopolitical entanglement is what it attempts to unpick, sometimes too forcefully, in telling the story of the one-time melting pot of Smyrna (now İzmir). It culminates in a shockingly raw depiction of the 1922 massacre and ethnic cleansing of the Greek and Armenian population by Kemal Atatürk’s irregulars after they entered the city.
Filio Baltatzis (Mimi Denissi) is the matriarch of a Greek olive oil family in Smyrna, relaxed in their affluence in the Levantine port even as first world war storm clouds encroach. Greece is neutral but her husband...
- 11/28/2022
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
Distributor Fathom Events will showcase critically acclaimed Greek war drama “Smyrna” on 700 screens in the U.S. as a one-night-only event on December 8. The limited wide release will raise the profile of the highest-budgeted production in the history of Greek cinema.
The film depicts the 1922 catastrophe at the end of the Greco-Turkish war that destroyed much of the city of Smyrna on Turkey’s Aegean coast, resulting in a monumental refugee crisis. The disaster and the events leading up to it are filtered through the eyes and experiences of a family living in Smyrna.
In anticipation of the one-time wide release, a special screening of the film will take place on November 29th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City under the auspices of the Greek Permanent Mission to the U.S. It will also be screened at the European Parliament in Brussels on January 11, 2023, as well...
The film depicts the 1922 catastrophe at the end of the Greco-Turkish war that destroyed much of the city of Smyrna on Turkey’s Aegean coast, resulting in a monumental refugee crisis. The disaster and the events leading up to it are filtered through the eyes and experiences of a family living in Smyrna.
In anticipation of the one-time wide release, a special screening of the film will take place on November 29th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City under the auspices of the Greek Permanent Mission to the U.S. It will also be screened at the European Parliament in Brussels on January 11, 2023, as well...
- 11/14/2022
- by Peter Caranicas
- Variety Film + TV
BBC Studios Partners With ‘Repair Shop’ Star Jay Blades & Hungry Bear
BBC Studios has struck a first-look development deal with Hungry Jay Media, the Jv between Repair Shop breakout Jay Blades and Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel producer Hungry Bear. The one-year deal will give BBC Studios priority access to Hungry Jay’s slate, focusing on factual entertainment formats for the UK market that can travel. Hungry Jay launched in 2020 and has since been behind BBC One doc Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 and Paramount-owned Channel 5’s Jay Blades: There’s No Place Like Home. Blades broke out helming BBC One’s hugely-popular The Repair Shop, which started life as a small daytime format before graduating to primetime and amassing millions of viewers each week. Hungry Bear, meanwhile, has produced some of the UK’s biggest entertainment hits of the past years including Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel...
BBC Studios has struck a first-look development deal with Hungry Jay Media, the Jv between Repair Shop breakout Jay Blades and Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel producer Hungry Bear. The one-year deal will give BBC Studios priority access to Hungry Jay’s slate, focusing on factual entertainment formats for the UK market that can travel. Hungry Jay launched in 2020 and has since been behind BBC One doc Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 and Paramount-owned Channel 5’s Jay Blades: There’s No Place Like Home. Blades broke out helming BBC One’s hugely-popular The Repair Shop, which started life as a small daytime format before graduating to primetime and amassing millions of viewers each week. Hungry Bear, meanwhile, has produced some of the UK’s biggest entertainment hits of the past years including Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel...
- 5/25/2022
- by Max Goldbart, Jesse Whittock and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
- As committees from each individual country select their respective submissions for the Best Foreign Picture Academy Award derby, folks like myself have the arduous task of trying to keep score. Without a doubt the early favorite is Germanyâ.s selection which has already picked up seven German Film Awards this year. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's directorial debut takes place in East Berlin, November 1984. Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. Party-loyalist Captain Gerd Wiesler hopes to boost his career when given the job of collecting evidence against the playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend, the celebrated theater actress Christa-Maria Sieland. Sony Pictures Classics will release The Lives of Others early next year, though it could be challenged for the Foreign Oscar category by another Spc pic â. Pedroâ.s Volver. Also let
- 10/20/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.