Volume LII, No 4, October

Transcription

Cyprus
TO D AY
Vo l u m e L I I , N o 4 , O c t o b e r - D e c e m b e r
2014
Contents
Editorial...........................................................................................2
Axiothea Festival............................................................................3
KYPRIA........................................................................................18
Goddess Aphrodite.......................................................................24
Stelios Votsis.................................................................................28
Perfume of Cyprus.......................................................................29
Treasure Island..............................................................................30
Cyprus at the turn of the 20th.......................................................35
Glyn Hughes.................................................................................37
Digital Corpus...............................................................................38
Unknown history..........................................................................40
Europa Nostra...............................................................................50
Arshak Sarkissian.........................................................................51
I am not the cancer.......................................................................54
Soprano Tereza Gevorgyan.........................................................58
This is Italy....................................................................................59
Short Matters................................................................................60
Volume LII, No 4, October-December 2014
A quarterly cultural review of the Ministry of Education and
Culture published and distributed by the Press and Information
Office (PIO), Ministry of Interior, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Address:
Ministry of Education and Culture
Kimonos & Thoukydides Corner, 1434 Nicosia, Cyprus
Website: http://www.moec.gov.cy
Press and Information Office
Apellis Street, 1456 Nicosia, Cyprus
Website: http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio
EDITORIAL BOARD
Chairperson:
Pavlos Paraskevas,
Director of Cultural Services,
Ministry of Education and Culture
Chief Editor:
Jacqueline Agathocleous
[email protected]
GNORA COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTS
(website: www.gnora.com)
Tel: +357 22441922 Fax: +357 22519743
Editorial Assistance:
Natassa Haratsis-Avraamides
[email protected]
Press and Information Office
Michaela Mobley
[email protected]
Design: GNORA COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTS
Printed by: Printco Ltd
Front cover: Scene from Homer’s Iliad, directed by
Stathis Livathinos, which was performed at KYPRIA 2014
International Festival
Back cover: Exhibit from the photography exhibition Cyprus
at the turn of the 20th century by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural
Foundation and the Historical and Ethnological Society of
Greece
PIO 238/2014 - 7.000
ISSN (print) 0045-9429
ISSN (online) 1986-2547
Subscription Note: For free subscriptions please contact: [email protected]. Cyprus Today is also available in electronic form and
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Editor’s Note: Articles in this magazine may be freely quoted or reproduced provided that proper acknowledgement and credit is given to
Cyprus Today and the authors (for signed articles). The sale or other commercial exploitation of this publication or part of it is strictly prohibited.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in the signed articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publishers.
The magazine can also be found on the Press and Information Office website at www.pio.gov.cy.
Editorial
T
his issue of Cyprus Today starts off with the University of Cyprus’ annual Cultural
Festival, which took place in September and October at the beautiful Axiothea
Mansion. Audiences got the chance to enjoy a multitude of performances, concerts and
workshops – to name but a few items – all under the theme of the day, which was poetry!
Following on is KYPRIA 2014 International Festival, with its performances based on older
and newer texts or musical works which certainly did not disappoint. Festival-goers were
spoilt for choice, with options including Homer’s Iliad, the CTO’s Constellations and the
very popular comedy Oi fonisses tis Papadiamanti – among others.
Cyprus Today was saddened to hear of the untimely death of visual artist Glyn Hughes on
23 October 2014. Our issue takes a look back at this important artist’s work. Another great
Treasure Island
artist who left us suddenly in 2012, Stelios Votsis, was honoured by the Cultural Services
of the Ministry of Education and Culture in cooperation with his family with a retrospective
exhibition of his work, entitled Remembering Stelios Votsis – An Artistic Overview.
Our issue also features the documentary The Great Goddess of Cyprus, Cypriot director
Stavros Papageorghiou’s film about the Greek Goddess Aphrodite.
In other interesting topics covered in this issue, the Cyprus Institute presented its Ancient
Unknown History
Cypriot Literature Digital Corpus, a digitised record of the island’s ancient history, while
the Cypriot Home of Cooperation won the Europa Nostra Award for cultural heritage.
And of course, there is a variety of exhibitions to choose from: The moving I am not the
cancer installation, which toured several countries and arrived in Cyprus for two days in
November, attempting to sensitise viewers to the inner struggles of advanced breast cancer
sufferers. Readers will also be touched by the Unknown History exhibition held at the
Short Matters
17th University of Cyprus Cultural Festival
Pancyprian Gymnasium Museums, which tells the story of the Jewish Holocaust survivors’
final stop in Cyprus on their way to the land of Israel.
Other proceedings reviewed include the exhibition project Treasure Island featuring
visual works, performances, public debates and events selected through an Open Call; the
photography exhibition Cyprus at the turn of the 20th century; and Armenian artist Arshak
Sarkissian’s art exhibition The Week of Madness.
2
Kypria
3
17th University of Cyprus Cultural Festival
T
he beautiful Axiothea Mansion in Old Nicosia
once again hosted the University of Cyprus’
annual Cultural Festival from 6 September to 12
October 2014.
Of Love and Death
By Michalis Pieris (16 May, 2014)
Of Love and Death is the title and theme of an
anthology of Modern Greek poetry, proven in time,
which the Theatrical Workshop of the University
of Cyprus presented in Kastelliotissa in April this
year, partly as a reaction to the conventional global
day of poetry. An “Anniversary” established by
government decree that gives any aspiring poet
the opportunity to assume that it is time for him
to be honoured by poetry rather than to honour
poetry. This explains why major poets who are
considered milestones on the evolutionary path
of a national poetic tradition are often absent from
most of the events organised on this occasion, not
Cavafis by THEPAK
4
only in our small province but also elsewhere. So
are great poems, which in one way or another have
determined the character of a “poetic territory”.
Our “poetic territory”, the territory of Modern
Greek poetry is small in its geographic scope
(compared to the “poetic territories” of the major
languages). However, it is vast in its genre diversity
and depth. Its origins date back to the 12th-15th
century, it reaches its Renaissance peak in the 16th
and 17th century (the Anonymous Cypriot poet,
Georgios Chortatsis, Vitsentzos Kornaros), while
in the 19th and 20th century it achieves international
recognition, culminating in two Nobel prizes
(George Seferis, Odysseas Elytis) and many
other important distinctions: International interest
in the revival of the Delphic Festival, inspired
and spurred by Angelos Sikelianos; Lenin Peace
Prize for Ritsos; international acknowledgment
of modern Greek literature thanks to Kazantzakis
and Cavafy.
A Strange World
5
Melina Harrer (violin) Strings and piano concert
This observation leads quite effortlessly to the
conclusion that the nature of Modern Greek
poetry was basically defined by the Greek poets
of the periphery: Cyprus, Crete, the Ionian Islands,
Alexandria, Asia Minor, and the Dodecanese. That
is why its most important achievements have been
written in the vernaculars of the greater Hellenic
World.
High poetry, like any other form of art, is produced
by poets who express the historical epoch in which
they have matured and which has defined them,
but at the same time tune in to the rhythms of the
language spoken by the ordinary people, listen
to it breathe, and savour the juices of the verbal
and musical wealth of the traditional and modern
expressions of culture.
With an anthology made with quality criteria
that seek to bring us closer to the best examples
of this high poetry, this year’s Festival offered a
lot of music from different regions and different
traditions that have one thing in common - the
musicians that create it, though coming from
different cultural backgrounds and belonging to
6
different schools, are not just musicians. Because
they do not bring to stage already-established
forms of art, either their own or created by others,
but are true artists who toil on the threshing field
of genuine creation as if they begin from scratch
each and every time. As if they seek recognition
and relive the experiences that form the essence of
their art over and over again.
That is why they are not just musicians but poets in
the original Ancient Greek sense of the word, i.e.
creators. Thus, each concert they give is a work in
progress because they never cease to explore and
create through improvisations that allow them to
embark on daring quests.
This is the rationale underlying the decision to
enrich our programme with precious gems of
poetry that create a poetic mood and shed an
emotive light on all the events of this year’s
Festival (theatre, concerts, and readings). Gems
of poetry, which one should probably experience
and analyse at a deeper level in order to feel the
undercurrents that connect them to the various
events, which Axiothea welcomes this year…
...the navigable river of Axiothea, which flows
gently through time, dividing it in two, and swells
again and again, has nursed lovingly this year the
beautiful jasmines at the entrance; an entrance
that seeks to be a passage – to the world of art;
a passage under a delicate roof of recognisable
scent that blends with the shadow of the moon and
bonds with the melody governed silently by “the
laws of the starry dome”. And all this with one
aspiration only: To offer to its itinerant birds that
return every summer and every fall “nights full of
miracles, nights sown with magic!”
Strings and piano concert
Six artists from different parts of Europe, with
outstanding educational background in music
and notable achievements in the field of classical
music, presented a virtuoso repertoire for strings
and piano, featuring works by Niccolò Paganini,
Franz Schubert, Ernest Chausson, Antonio
Bazzini, Eugène Ysaÿe, Joseph Haydn, Camille
Saint-Saëns and Giovanni Bottesini.
The soloists Melina Harrer (violin), Aische Wirsig
(double bass), Petru Iuga (double bass), Menelaos
Menelaou (violin) and Nikolas Alessandro Dante
(violin), accompanied by Jana Drhova on the
piano, contribute with their talent, expertise and
love for classical music as teachers at the Music
Talent Development Programme of the Ministry
of Education and Culture. They prepared this
unique programme especially for the audience of
Axiothea to give a taste of their high art, but also
to “pave the way” for their students, the talented
children of the Cyprus Young Strings Soloists
ensemble, which also performed at the Axiothea
Mansion in September.
Aristophanes’ Lysistrata by Costas Montis
Theatrical Workshop of the University of Cyprus
Adaptation and stage direction: Michalis Pieris
Music: Evagoras Karagiorgis
Set and costumes: Christos Lysiotis, Eliana
Chrysostomou
Movement coaching: Michalis Pieris
Choreography: Elena Christodoulidou
Lighting: Giorgos Koukoumas
Sound supervision: Stamatia Laoumtzi
Technical support: Kyriakos Kakoullis
Production manager, assistant director: Stamatia
Laoumtzi
Cast: The Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of
Women features all the members of THEPAK,
while the major roles in this year’s performances are
played by: Lysistrata: Christina Pieri Magistrate:
Dimitris Pitsilis, Myrrhine: Myria Hadjimatthaiou,
Cinesias: Stavros Aroditis, Coryphaeus of Old
Men: Michalis Yangou, Coryphaeus of Women:
Eftychia Georgiou, Lampito: Miranda Nychidou,
Calonice: Angela Savvidou, Old Man: Chariton
Iosifides, Old Woman: Michalis Michael.
In honour of the “Year of Costas Montis”, and
in response to an exceptionally high demand by
the audience, the Theatrical Workshop of the
University of Cyprus (THEPAK) offered two
additional performances of Aristophanes’ famous
comedy Lysistrata, translated into Cypriot dialect
by Costas Montis.
The performances, which were given in September
at the Axiothea Mansion as well as Kourion
Amphitheatre, were offered free to the public in an
effort to disseminate and promote the work of the
major contemporary poet of Cyprus.
Aristophanes’ Lysistrata by Costas Montis
7
Montis’ Cypriot Lysistrata – with its luscious
idiomatic language, full of brilliant translator’s
choices – has already been recognised as a
standard-setting rendition of an ancient text,
which preserves the freshness and vivacity of
Aristophanes’ writing style and highlights the
richness of the Cypriot vernacular in all its beauty,
adding an intense local flavour to the Ancient
Greek comedy, an unmistakably Cypriot character.
In THEPAK’s performance, this Cypriot character
extends over to the broader musical and metrical
organisation of the play, thus fitting the ancient
comedy into the cultural context of Cyprus’
demotic and popular narrative tradition. This is
achieved not only through stage direction and
kinesiology, but also through the music of the play,
composed by Evagoras Karagiorgis, which enters
into a creative dialogue with Cypriot folklore, as
well as through Christos Lysiotis’ approach to
costume design, which is inspired by the traditional
Cypriot costumes.
Since its premiere in the fall of 2000 at the
Rethymno Renaissance Festival, THEPAK’s
version of Lysistrata has been performed dozens
A Woman’s Heart...
8
of times in Cyprus and abroad (at municipal
festivals in Cyprus and in Crete, at the International
Meeting of University Theatre in Ancient
Olympia, at King’s College of the University
of London, at the Society of Cretan Studies –
Kapsomenos Foundation in Chania, and even
at the Rizokarpaso Gymnasium in the occupied
part of Cyprus). The performance has achieved
great recognition by both audiences and critics,
becoming one of the most successful productions
of the University of Cyprus Theatrical Workshop.
This year, the performance underwent a revision
with the inclusion of new cast in major roles.
Mark Eliyahu
A fantasy of Kamancheh and Piano
Mark Eliyahu: kamancheh, bağlama
Adi Rennert: piano
Mark Eliyahu, composer, master player of
the Persian-Azeri kamancheh and the Turkish
bağlama, and one of the leading and most
influential musicians in the Israeli world music
scene, has been living and breathing music from
the moment he was born.
Mark Eliyahu
The son of musician parents, he started travelling
the Middle East at the age of 16 to study and
research music, and has studied in Greece,
Azerbaijan, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Mark has composed and performed music for
film, dance companies and theatre productions,
and has written, arranged and produced music for
various leading artists, such as Rita, Idan Raichel,
Ishtar, Sevda (Azerbaijan), and many others. Mark
was chosen by the European Union to represent
Israel in various international projects and has
performed on some of the most prestigious stages
across the globe with his projects and ensembles,
along with his father, Piris Eliyahu.
In his first concert at the Axiothea Mansion,
accompanied by the prominent Israeli pianist Adi
Rennert, Mark Eliyahu presented a selection of
pieces, inspired by the ancient Central
Asian, Persian and Middle Eastern musical
traditions, and brought together with European
and modal harmonies that preserve the essential
emotional qualities of the music, while making
it accessible and inviting to everyone across
boundaries of time and space.
Waters of Cyprus, of Syria and of Egypt
Text selection, adaptation and stage direction:
Michalis Pieris
Music: Evagoras Karagiorgis
Costume design: Stavros Antonopoulos
Set, stage and costume assistants: Kypros
Georgiou, Anna Kyriazi
Lighting design: Michalis Pieris, Gregoris
Papageorgiou
Light technician: Kyriakos Kakoullis
Laoumtzi
Cast in leading roles: Stavros Aroditis, Myria
Hadjimatthaiou, Christina Pieri, Gregoris
Papagregoriou, Chariton Iosifides, Michalis
Michael, Dimitris Pitsillis, Nicholas Kakkoufa,
Michalis Yangou, Angela Savidou, Eleni Efthimiou,
Makis Alampritis, Giorgos Koutsodontis, Loizos
Gavriel, Michalis Philippakis, Christophoros
Hatzichristoforou
Chorus: Eftychia Georgiou, Maria Christodoulou,
Georgia Liasi, StellaAlexiou,Andri Chatzigeorgiou,
Michaella Protopapa, Kontstantina Evangelou,
Christodoulos Santziakkis, and the remaining cast.
Study on the “Dramatic” Cavafy
After its successful journey to Delphi, Rome and
Athens, the theatre production Waters of Cyprus,
of Syria, and of Egypt. Study on the ‘Dramatic’
Cavafy by THEPAK was presented in October
at the Teloglion Fine Arts Foundation upon
special invitation by the Aristotelian University of
Thessaloniki.
To mark the occasion, THEPAK gave an additional
performance for the audience in Cyprus, giving
theatregoers yet another opportunity to enjoy
the multidimensional poetry of the Alexandrian
in a modular play, grounded in the study of the
“dramatic” Cavafy.
The performance is based on the entire Cavafy
oeuvre and combines those poems or parts of
poems in which the Alexandrian makes use of
techniques and elements characteristic of the
dramatic art. The stage presentation is further
enhanced by Evagoras Karagiorgis’ inspired
music composed specifically for the play, as well
9
Omologites Cultural Workshop seeks to explore
the roles that a woman is often called to embrace –
partner, sweetheart, mother, the driving force and
source of inspiration for all arts in all epochs.
A journey that begins in Cyprus and leads us
through Asia Minor, Crete, the Cyclades, Chios,
Thrace, Epirus and the Peloponnese in an effort
to reveal the image of the woman as it evolved
throughout the centuries.
The script of the performance was written
by the up-and-coming Cypriot writer Maria
Papandreou (First Prize at the International
Single Act Play Competition organised by the
Union of Theatre Writers in Cyprus in 2012,
Award at the Antonis Samarakis International
Short Story Competition in 2014).
Les Hypocrites
as by Stavros Antonopoulos’ choices in costume
design, both of which add a distinctive aesthetic to
the performance.
The director’s approach, which takes into account
the different stages in Cavafy’s development
as a poet (early, formative, mature), as well as
the thematic areas of his poetry (philosophical/
didactic, historical/political, sensual/erotic poems),
makes the performance not only an enjoyable
artistic event but also a productive educational
experience.
Waiting for the Barbarians
Greek-French origin, working professionally in
different arts but sharing a common interest in the
Greek language and culture – present a fusion of
theatre, music and video art, inspired by the poetry
of Constantine P. Cavafy.
Having the oeuvre of the Alexandrian as a setoff point, Les Hypocrites have created their own
story in which the poet himself and his works
play the leading role. The performance came to
the Axiothea Mansion just a few months after its
successful premiere in April 2014 at Theatre de
Menilmontant in Paris.
Les Hypocrites
A Woman’s Heart...
Stage direction: Eleni Apostolopoulou, Alexandros
Giannou
Performed by: Dimitra Kontou, Ilios Chailly,
Alexandros Giannou, Eleni Apostolopoulou,
Ioannis Michos, Topi Pudas
With the voice of George Corraface
Video Art: Ilya Chorafas
Music: Orestis Kalampalikis
Choreography: Ioannis Michos
Lighting: Manon Garsin
Stage design: Manolis Ntourlias
Agioi Omologites Cultural Workshop
Stefanos Filos: violin, voice
Maria Ploumi: lute, voice
Andreas Chatziandreas: clarinet, bagpipe
Andreas Christodoulou: violin, lute, voice
Filippos Dimitriou: percussion
Neophytos Kalogirou: guitar
Agioi Omologites Cultural Workshop Music and
Dance Ensembles
With the friendly participation of Niovi
Charalambous
Les Hypocrites – a theatre company established in
Paris in 2012 and comprising artists of Greek and
With the performance A Woman’s Heart…, which
blends together theatre, music and dance, the Agioi
10
Cyprus Young Strings Soloists
Ensemble of the Music Talent Development
Programme of the Ministry of Education and
Culture
Soloists: Cleo Karpasiti, Anna Economou, Annisia
Iacovou, Fivos Stavrou, Nicoletta Demosthenous
Piano Accompaniment: Jana Drhova
Under the guidance of Professor Matheos Kariolou
The Cyprus Young Strings Soloists ensemble was
created in the framework of the ground-breaking
Music Talent Development Programme of the
Ministry of Education and Culture, which was
conceived by and operates under the guidance and
supervision of the distinguished Cypriot violinist
and music pedagogue Professor Matheos Kariolou.
The Programme aims at identifying children
aged 3-10 with recognisable talent in music and
providing them with high-level instruction in
stringed instruments with the assistance of a group
of internationally renowned instructors.
In the short time span since the establishment of
the Programme the children who participate in
the Cyprus Young Strings Soloists ensemble have
impressed audiences with the exceptional quality
of their performances and have already gained
international recognition with appearances in
some of the most famous concert halls in Europe
(Vienna, Brussels, Moscow, Rome, Vatican).
In their first performance at the Axiothea Mansion,
the Cyprus Young Strings Soloists presented a
demanding programme with works by MarcAntoine Charpentier, Georg Friedrich Handel,
Antonio Vivaldi, Fritz Kreisler, Carl Bohm, Pablo
de Sarasate, Astor Piazzolla, Henryk Wieniawski,
Nikos Skalkotas, Franz Schubert and Nicolo
Paganini.
Cyprus Young Strings Soloists
11
The Arts of Psarantonis
The Arts of Psarantonis
“It is in Nature’s garden alone that such arts can
grow” – Erotokritos
Antonis Xylouris-Psarantonis: Cretan lyre, vocals
Niki Xylouri: pitcher, drum, vocals
Giorgis Xylouris: lute, vocals
Lambis Xylouris: oud
Nektarios Kontoyiannis: lute
Deeply versed in the musical traditions of his land
but also nonconformist and inquisitive by nature,
Antonis Xylouris-Psarantonis has established
himself as a living legend of music, having
enriched the Cretan, Mediterranean and European
music with inimitable sounds, exquisite music and
singular interpretations.
His music and also his thoughts on music, embody
the ancient mythology of Crete. Either singing
about Zeus or telling the story of how the mythical
shepherd Hantiperas made the first lyre, or talking
about Zeus’ protectors, the Kourites, or expressing
with his lyre the living myth of his native land,
Psarantonis gives body and soul – with his physical
presence and his art – to the ancient myths of Crete.
He does so not only with his virtuosity, but also
with his belief in those myths, which he approaches
with heart and mind, convinced of their modern12
day presence and their energy. In Psarantonis’
music one sometimes hears running waters that
purl, other times the sound of lonely trees battered
by the wind, or “the hum of the earth and the
rumble of the wind”, as Kornaros has put it. There
are also occasions when his upright, abrupt hold
of the fiddlestick drives you to the edge of the cliff
“where times collide and meet”.
Psarantonis has now gained international
recognition. Already in the 1980s prominent
foreign musicians and scholars of ethnic music
globally had discovered his talent and had invited
him to major festivals in Australia, England,
France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands,
the United States, Cyprus and elsewhere. Most
recently, in 2014, Psarantonis measured up his
musical genius against high poetry from across the
world, performing works by major poets such as
Baudelaire, Pushkin, Rilke, Lorca and Borges, set
to music by Dimitris Apostolakis from Hainides.
Art, as these and other great artists have taught us,
is the fruit of artistic loneliness. It is the personal
path towards an artistic vision, which every great
artist follows with faith and devotion for life. Such
artistic loneliness accompanies Psarantonis all his
years as he treads the difficult path of his personal
quest into quality music.
Cafe Balkan
Alexander Gagatsis: vibraphone
Vassilis Kommatas: clarinet
Glafkos Kontemeniotis: piano
Ioannis Vafeas: drums
Cahit Kutrafali: bass guitar
Maria Pseiropoulou: vocals
Cafe Balkan has its roots in earlier collaborations
and longstanding friendships. The idea for the
band was conceived in Thessaloniki in the winter
of 2012 and took shape at a reunion on stage at the
Axiothea Mansion back in September 2013.
Through Cafe Balkan, Alexander Gagatsis and
Vassilis Kommatas build upon their common
origin and different experiences, balancing
between traditional and modern sound along with
their collaborators Ioannis Vafeas and Glafkos
Kontemeniotis in an effort to express themselves
in a personal language through traditional
melodies of the Mediterranean and the Balkan
Peninsula.
The band is welcoming for the first time Maria
Pseiropoulou on vocals and Cahit Kutrafali on
bass guitar. The band’s quest for musical identity
(or rather the outcome of this quest) is based on
improvisation (jazz or other), on deconstruction
and maybe reconstruction of rebetiko songs and
melodies from Greece, Bulgaria, FYROM and
Turkey.
Music from the Outposts of Hellenism
Limassol Folklore Society
With the love and respect for tradition that have
characterised its activity over the years, the
Limassol Folklore Society prepared a performance
featuring songs and dances from Cyprus, Lesbos,
Cafe Balkan
Asia Minor and Thrace.
The journey begins in Cyprus with male and
female dances, songs, erotic couplets and tsiattista,
before continuing to the village of Messotopos on
the island of Lesbos with characteristic folk poetry,
carnival songs and traditional dances, and then
further away to Asia Minor and Thrace, ending at
the village of Asvestades in the Evros region.
With this tour around the outposts of Hellenism,
the performance seeks to highlight the connection
and cross-borrowing between different local
traditions in music and dances but also in
traditional costumes.
The performance featured folklore music
instrumentalists and performers from the village
of Asvestades in the Evros region, as well as the
Dance Ensemble of the Limassol Folklore Society.
Concept and realisation: Konstantinos Protopappas
The Secret Songs
Vakia Stavrou
Vakia Stavrou: vocals, guitar, compositions
Carlos Bernardo: orchestrations, guitar, Irish
bouzouki, viola da gamba, charango, melodica
Inor Sotolongo: percussion
Stelios Pittas: cello, guitar
The already established songwriter Vakia Stavrou
presented a set of songs from her latest album
“ΑΝΕΜόΕSSA”, written and recorded entirely in
Paris, and new compositions from her upcoming
album “Secret Songs” to be released in early 2015,
after a series of concerts in the historic Lucernaire
Theatre in Paris. An exceptional selection of songs
with a pronouncedly acoustic sound, accompanied
Music from the Outposts of Hellenism
13
of Medieval History at the Cardiff University,
Peter W. Erbury (Journal of Medieval History,
vol. 25, issue I, 1999). In his analytical critical
review, published in the Spanish philological
journal Erytheia, Revista de Estudios Bizantinos
y Neogriegos (vol. 20, Madrid, 1999), the
Catalan Hellenist Eusebi Ayensa i Prat noted,
among others, that “the production highlights
one of the most important works of Medieval
Cypriot literature, which precedes similar works
of the Cretan Renaissance”.
Women that Became One with the Earth
Vakia Stavrou
The Secret Songs
by instruments such as cello, acoustic guitars,
viola da gamba, charango, Irish bouzouki and
percussion, which create a highly intimate
atmosphere, partially owing to the orchestrations
made by Vakia Stavrou’s Brazilian collaborator,
Carlos Bernardo, musician, arranger and multiinstrumentalist, and the imaginative approach of
Inor Sotolongo on the percussion.
Songs of a personal nature in which, however,
anyone can identify moments and pieces of his own
life and experiences. New and older compositions,
coupled as always with Vakia’s favourite classic
songs (Hadjidakis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Henri
Salvador, Jacques Brel, and others).
The Cyprus Chronicle by Leontios Machairas
Adaptation and stage direction: Michalis Pieris
Music: Antonis Xylouris-Psarantonis
Song lyrics: Michalis Pieris
Song composition: Evagoras Karagiorgis
Set and props, costumes: Christos Lysiotis
Lighting: Grigoris Papageorgiou
Technical support: Kyriakos Kakoullis
Assistant director: Stamatia Laoumtzi
On the occasion of its performance at the
14
The Cyprus Chronicle by Leontios Machairas
Leventis Μunicipal Museum and the National
Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (MIET)
in Athens, the Theatrical Workshop of the
University of Cyprus presented the historical
production The Cyprus Chronicle by Leontios
Machairas, which marked the beginning of
THEPAK’s activity in 1998.
The play is the first and so far the only attempt to
bring to stage the most important narrative (and
potentially stage worthy) work of Medieval and
Modern Cypriot literature “Recital concerning
the Sweet Land of Cyprus entitled Cronica, that is
Chronicle”, which came as a result of a year-long
research into the work of Machairas.
Awarded at the Ithaca Festival in 1998, this
historical production has had more than 50
performances in Cyprus, in Greece and elsewhere
(Munich, Paris, London, and Barcelona).
The performance received high critical acclaim
and was characterized as a “major philological
and theatrical event” (Yorgos Hatzdakis,
Kathimerini, Athens, July 19, 1998). Apart from
the positive critical reviews in the Cypriot and
Greek press, the production was also praised
internationally, while its significance for the
awareness of the people of Cyprus of their history
was emphasised by the distinguished Professor
Theatrical adaptation, interpretation: Marinella
Vlachaki
Video: Thodoris Papadoulakis, Giannis Kritikos
Adaptation of folksongs: Leonidas Maridakis
Vocals: Leonidas Maridakis, Danae Botik
The performance Women that Became One with
the Earth comprises seven popular narratives of
women from Epirus, which refer mainly to the
period around 1940 and have been recorded by the
writer Georgia Skopouli (Those Who Became One
with the Earth, Dodoni 2008).
Several rural women marked by the elements of
nature, by poverty, war, civil war, exile, the cruelty
of men, talk about their lives in a plain language,
sincere and true, reviving a Greece that we have
almost forgotten.
These illiterate women share their experiences
with dignity and faith in life, but above all without
bitterness and hatred, turning their troubled lives
into a song.
Scene from Women that Became One with the Earth
A Strange World
CHEAP: Low Quality – High Fun
A project of the String Theory Ensemble featuring:
Argyris Bakirtzis: vocals, narration
Stavroula Pavlikou: vocals, flute
Maria Ploumi: lute
Giorgos Paterakis: piano
Tsamiko songs next to Chopin’s polonaises.
Giannis Floriniotis next to Japanese songs of the
1930s. Stamatis Gonidis and Filippos Nikolaou’s
“Megiemele” next to Himerini Kolymvites’ songs.
Bigalis’ “Melissoula-Melissaki” next to Amalia
Rodriguez’s songs. Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas
next to Teris Chrysos’ “Taka-Taka”.
Is this an aesthetic Armageddon or a musical
farce? A reanimation of second-rate pop-folk or yet
another wayward musical acrobatic extravaganza?
Everyone can see it as they want.
For the String Theory Ensemble, however, it is a
general stance toward the world around us: do we
take it for granted and try to cope with it as it is, or
do we have the power to change it into something
completely different? In the first case, we need
to do nothing but follow the stream. But what
weapons do we need in the second case?
In any case, apart from inspiration, it took the
String Theory Ensemble a lot of skill, a lot of
musical knowledge and many hours of work and
rehearsals to create this strange project. It is this
band’s belief that the meticulousness, knowledge
and work behind every “spontaneous” comic
scene in a Charlie Chaplin movie always deserve
to be taken into consideration.
Print Act Art Performance
A ground-breaking partnership between engravers,
members of the Cypriot Printmakers Company,
and artists working in music, theatre and dance for
the co-creation of a visual performance.
Under the common theme “Nicosia”, works by
Cypriot poets served as a guide and inspiration
for the printmakers who experimented in creating
various engravings, based on which actors, a
director, a choreographer and a musician then
developed further the common theme through
their art, turning the print act into a performance.
15
Love unconquered in Battle
by Nikos Charalambous, THOK, 2002), while in
2005, he composed the music for the choruses and
songs of THEPAK’s production of Erotokritos.
Christos Pittas
A song cycle based on erotic poetry from Sappho
to Kornaros
The Ballad of the Bridge
Performed by:
Margarita Syggeniotou: mezzosoprano
Pantelis Stamatelos: violin
Antonis Hatzinikolaou: guitar
Adaptation, stage direction: Michalis Pieris
Music: Evagoras Karageorgis
Set and props: Christos Lysiotis
Costumes: Marina Kleanthous
Choreography: Michalis Pieris
Kinesiology: Arianna Ikonomou
Lighting: Yorgos Koukoumas
Laoumtzi
An original song cycle by Christos Pittas, featuring
older and new compositions, which was presented
with great success in Britain and in Greece.
Original Greek poetry by Sappho, Sophocles,
Euripides, Kornaros and Chortatsis, among
others, coupled with a selection of Petrarchan 16thcentury Cypriot love poems from the so-called
Rime d’Amore manuscript found and kept at the
Marciana Library in Venice.
On the occasion of its upcoming participation at
the Agia Napa Medieval Festival, THEPAK gave
one performance of its successful production The
Ballad of the Bridge, which has been piquing the
interest of the audience for 11 years now.
Christos Pittas
Christos Pittas was born in Alexandria in a family
originating from Cyprus. He was raised in Nicosia
where he began to study music. At the age of 16
he graduated from the National Conservatory of
Cyprus and in the same year (1961) recorded his
first compositions for CYBC – a cycle of songs for
baritone and piano, based on poetry by Palamas,
Drosinis, Lipertis and Pashardis.
In London, where he went to continue his studies in
music, the BBC Drama Department commissioned
him to compose the music for two theatrical
productions, Menander’s Samia and Sophocles’
Electra. In the years that followed, drama became
a steady part of his creative endeavours with music
for dozens of theatre productions. In England,
most of his compositions for the theatre were
commissioned by the BBC Drama Department,
while in Greece and in Cyprus – by the national
theatres or by other theatre companies and
institutions such as Desmoi, Popular Experimental
Theatre and THEPAK.
His productive relationship with the theatre as a
composer took him into other creative paths, which
led to the creation of original music compositions
worthy of the stage. A milestone along this path
was the Choreo-Dramatic Music 106 Act Idola for
orchestra, dancers and solo percussion (London
16
Print Act Art Performance
1984, Queen Elisabeth Hall), which was followed
by a series of dramatic compositions such as
Spring, Sibylla, Antigone, Heli-Om.
In addition to his ‘staged music’, Christos Pittas
has also composed four Poetic Symphonies for
orchestra, choir and vocal soloists (Hamathen,
Lumen Tristis, Rime d’Amore and 1973), as well
as a large number of compositions for smaller
ensembles and vocal and instrumental soloists.
Most of Christos Pittas’ compositions have been
performed by orchestras and ensembles such as:
The London Chamber Orchestra, New London
Soloists, BBC Singers, National Symphony
Orchestra of Britain, New York North & South
Ensemble, the Athens State Orchestra, Cyprus
State Orchestra, ERT National Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus.
In 2003 he was awarded the Melina Mercouri Prize
for his music for the play Phoenician Women by
Euripides (translated by Michalis Pieris, directed
The play is a stage adaptation of some of the most
expressive versions of the famous Greek folk
ballad The Bridge at Arta as preserved in Cyprus,
Pontus, Crete, and Epirotic Greece.
More than just an enjoyable theatrical event,
the performance constitutes a truly productive
The Ballad of the Bridge
educational experience, since it gives students and
educators the opportunity to come across some
essential issues in the research of verbal folklore, such
as the different approaches to and interpretations of a
given theme, as well as the historical and ideological
perspectives that open up as a result of the creative
approach to demotic songs. At the same time, the
performance offers an innovative stage interpretation
of traditional folklore that takes into consideration
the context, pursuits and collective dilemmas of
modern times.
The music of the play is performed live on stage
by the composer Evagoras Karageorgis (lute) and
the musicians Andreas Christodoulou (violin),
Christiana Antonoudiou (clarinet) and Yiannis
Soulos (drum).
Costas Montis
Costas Montis was born on February 18, 1914 in Famagusta, and died on March 1, 2004 in his home
in Nicosia, surrounded by his family. He has received numerous honours and awards throughout
his life, and his books have been translated into several languages. Costas Montis has received
honorary doctorates from both the University of Cyprus and the University of Athens. He has
been nominated for the Nobel Prize, and in 2000 he was declared Corresponding Member of the
Academy of Athens, the highest honour conferred upon intellectual creators living outside Greece.
In support of his proposal to the Academy of Athens, Professor Nicholas Konomis included the
following: “Costas Montis is one of the greatest living Greek poets, and certainly one who renewed
in a unique way modernistic lyric poetry, and enriched modern Greek poetry from the point of view
of Cyprus. With his uninterrupted literary creation of 70 years, he has been able to depict artistically
the authentic rhythms, the temperature, and the action of the deepest historical and emotional
fluctuations of the soul and breath of Cyprus and its people. In his extremely powerful work he has
recorded every vibration of the island (erotic, social, political), and all the thoughts of the people of
Cyprus have been set down..... He has made use of the whole wealth of the linguistic, historical, and
cultural tradition of greater Hellenism, and entrenched in his work, with unprecedented poetic force,
the indelible character of the deep-rooted values of the Greek nation.”
For more information on Costas Montis, visit his official website: http://www.costasmontis.com/
17
KYPRIA 2014 International Festival
“K
YPRIA 2014” International Festival took
place from 3 September to 8 October
2014 and its performances based on older and
newer texts or musical works certainly did not
disappoint.
The programme of the Festival included, among
others, the Cyprus Theatre Organisation’s
Constellations, Homer`s Iliad, the popular
comedy Oi fonisses tis Papadiamanti and
Aeschulus` Prometheus Bound, as well as the
Rosamunde Trio, Tradition Re-Loaded, Giselle by
Adolphe Adam and Fotis Nicolaou’ Unravelling.
Referring to the Festival, Minister of Education
and Culture Costas Kadis said that such
high level cultural events, coupled with the
development of key infrastructure on cultural
issues, have led to an upgrade of the cultural
events held in Cyprus.
“This is the approach and the philosophy of the
Ministry of Education and Culture for the next
period,” he added.
Constellations
18
Programme
Constellations
Cyprus Theatre Organisation (at New Stage of
THOC, ETHAL and Town Hall, Sotira)
Constellations is a love story that evolves
with varying versions in parallel universes; a
touching work about love and free will, as well
as the celebration and mourning of existence.
Translation: Dimitris Kiousis
Direction: Vangelis Theodoropoulos
Video/Scenic space/Costumes: Pantelis Makkas
Music: Stavros Gasparatos
Movement: Elena Antoniou
Lighting Design: Georgios Koukoumas
Cast: Neoklis Neokleous, Stela Firogeni
I is someone else
Rosamunde Trio – Martino Tirimo, Daniel
Veis and Ben Sayevich (at Larnaca Municipal
Theatre and Strovolos Municipal Theatre) Three top musicians, including famous Cypriot
pianist Martinos Tirimos, in a superb musical
journey with works by Dmitri Shostakovich,
Peter Fribbins and Antonín Dvořák.
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No.2 in E minor
Op.67; Andante; Allegro non troppo; Largo;
Allegretto;
Fribbins: ‘Softly, in the dusk...’ (2007)
Dvořák: Piano Trio in E minor Op.90 (‘Dumky’);
Lento maestoso; Poco adagio; Andante
moderato (quasi tempo di marcia); Allegro;
Lento maestoso.
Homer’s Iliad
Directed by Stathis Livathinos (Strovolos
Municipal Theatre and Rialto Theatre)
This monumental and epic performance,
revered for its energetic, intense and yet so
precisely executed production, was presented
at the festival after its successful European tour.
Translation in Modern Greek: D.N. Maronitis
Director: Statis Livathinos
Adaptation: Stathis Livathinos, Elsa Andrianou
with the contribution of the actors
Set and Costume Design: Eleni Manolopoulou
Music and Sound Design: Lambros Pigounis
Lighting Design: Alekos Anastasiou
Movement & Martial Arts Coach: Shi Miao Jie
Shaolin Warrior Monk
Movement Supervisor: Pauline Huguet
Stage and Costume Design Assistant: Tina
Tzoka
With: Argyro Ananiadou, Vasilis Andreou,
Lefteris Angelakis, Dionysis Boulas, Giorgos
Christodoulou, Dimitris Imellos, Nikos
Kardonis, Nefeli Kouri, Gerasimos Michelis,
Giannis Panagopoulos, Maria Savvidou,
Christos Sougaris, Aris Troupakis, Amalia
Tsekoura, Giorgos Tsiantoulas
Percussions: Manousos Klapakis
Technical Manager: Manolis Vitsaxakis
Sound Engineer: Kostis Pavlopoulos
Electrician: Panayotis Patelis
Production Assistant: Aggeliki Christopoulou
Specialised constructions: Nectarios Dionysatos
Make up Consultant: Yannis Pamoukis
Hair design: Daniel’s
Set Construction: Lazaridis Scenic Studio
19
Une saison en enfer (A season in hell)
Giorgos Christianakis (at THOC Central Stage
and Rialto Theatre)
Prominent Greek musician Giorgos Christianakis
stands against the poetry of Rimbaud in an
interesting and challenging performance with
live music and multimedia projections.
Piano, keys, percussion, narration: Giorgos
Christianakis
Guitar: Babis Papadopoulos
Violin, viola: Fotis Siotas
Violin: Michalis Vrettas
Cello: Tasos Misyrlis
Drums, percussion: Vasilis Bacharidis
Electronics, loops: Christos Harbilas
F.O.H sound engineer, loops: Titos Kargiotakis
Visuals: Giannis Piralis
Stage monitor engineer: Vangelis Haholos
Oi fonisses tis Papadiamanti
Giselle
Photographer: Elina Yiounanli
International Sales: Alexandros Vrettos
Production Manager: Elina Fessa
Producer for the Cyprus tour: George G.
Papageorgiou
Producer: Yolanda Markopoulou
Production: POLYPLANITY productions
Oi fonisses tis Papadiamanti
(The murderesses of Papadiamanti)
By Alexandros Rigas and Dimitris Apostolou
(Pattichion Amphitheatre and Arch. Makarios
III Amphitheatre)
A hilarious comedy with the participation
of leading Greek comedians, Oi fonisses tis
Papadiamanti follows the story of six women
accused of murder, each of them having killed
someone who was not that innocent. But it
looks as if things in life are not always what
they seem…Papadiamanti’s murderesses are six
women who are “sane” enough to devise and
invoke all sorts of mental illnesses for themselves
in order to avoid conviction for their crimes.
Text: Alexandros Rigas - Dimitris Apostolou
Director: Alexandros Rigas
Costumes - Edited scene: Maria Karapouliou
Lighting: Dionysis Lampiris
20
Actors: Helen Kastani, Konstantina Michael,
Natalia Dragoumi, Jenny Botsi, Foteini Demiri,
Sophia Vogiatzaki, Patrick Kostis, Parthena
Chorozidou and Jessie Papoutsi.
Production: FILOTHEATON E.E.
Giselle
Adolphe Adam (at Arch. Makarios III
Amphitheatre, Pattichion Amphitheatre and
Municipal Garden Theatre)
For lovers of classical ballet, the wonderful,
imaginative story of Giselle by the St. Petersburg
Theatre Russian Ballet, was a great success at
the KYPRIA 2014 International Festival.
Libretto: A. Saint-George, T. Gautier
Choreography: Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot,
Marius Petipa
Music Composition: Adolphe Adam
Cast: Giselle, a peasant maiden (international
competition winner Anna Voutina); Count Albrecht
(international competition winner Alexander
Voutin); Berta, Giselle’s mother (Maria Chernova);
Hans, forester (Sergey Laletin); Batilda, bride of
the Count (Svetlana Markova); Duke (Andrey
Provotorov); Armourbearer (Mikhail Onuchin);
Mirta (Olga Pudakova); Monna (Natalia Safonova);
Zulma (Victoria Ivanova)
Prometheus Bound
By Aeschylus (Curium Ancient Theatre and
Arch. Makarios III Amphitheatre)
Aeschylus’ ancient Greek tragedy Prometheus
Bound is a stunning piece with a direct relationship
with today and human life as it is experienced
by modern man in contemporary societies. It is
not just about the Titan Promitheus’ punishment,
who decided to help human beings by stealing
Fire for them, and who taught them the alphabet
and the use of numbers. Resemblances are not
only limited to the State (“Kratos”) and Violence
(“Via”) being actual mythic persons in ancient
time, while today they act as agents of human
suppression. We have here all the elements of
a modern tragedy. On the one hand the ruling
Apostolos Apostolides & Tat-Tnabar
Tradition Re-loaded
Directed by Apostolos Apostolides (Deryneia
Municipal Amphiheatre, Arch. Makarios III
Amphitheatre, Pattichion Amphitheatre and
Municipal Garden Theatre)
Traditional music is, without a doubt, the
manifestation of popular oral culture, but
it’s also the intellectual and historical life of
the nation, as it is transmitted from older to
younger generations as the quintessence of
wisdom providing us with spiritual growth,
self-awareness and a well-shaped cultural
identity.
“Tradition Re-loaded is a proposal which
seeks to interpret and present traditional
Cypriot songs, through a contemporary
approach, using most unusual instruments
that are made out of recycled material,
even out of vegetables. This approach does
not interfere with our goal of remaining
faithful to the original musical sound,
while at the same time we shape for each
one of the songs an innovating and unique
course of acoustics. This is a contemporary
artistic creation, a musical journey in the
field of our popular musical tradition,
producing a colouring in the sound that
shows the coexistence of the old with the
contemporary and the fusion of opposite
yet absolutely compatible hearings.”
This ‘journey’ was accompanied by the
narration of selected poems of Costas
Montis, thus honouring one of the greatest
poets and writers of Cyprus, on the occasion
of the 100th Anniversary of his birth, and
the narration was uniquely embodied in
the whole musical journey, leading the
audience into an innermost redefining of
the universal values and their position in
the world today.
A wonderful musical journey along the paths
of Cypriot musical traditions with the awardwinning Tat Tnabar musical group, combined
with selected poems by Costas Montis.
21
The princess and the witches
Unravelling
Cypriot folk tale (THOC Central Stage, Rialto
Theatre, and Larnaca Municipality Theatre)
Fotis Nicolaou (Rialto Theatre, Strovolos
Municipal Theatre)
An imaginative dance-theatre performance
directed by Yiolanda Christodoulou and
choreographed by Chloe Melidou.
How familiar are we with others but also with
ourselves? How strong are the traces we leave
behind in the experience of history? How do we
interact with the dead and how do we manage
to have the accumulated past and the collective
memory stand in the present?
Concept / Direction: Yiolanda Christodoulou
Movement: Cloe Melidou
Dramaturgy: Constantina Peter
Art Direction: Elina Ioannou, Evelyn
Anastasiou
Actors / Performers: Yiolanda Christodoulou,
Thanasis Ioannou, Maria Philippou, Demetris
Constandinides, Marina Vrondi
Music Composition: Demetris Zachariou
Lighting Design: Alexander Jotovic
Production Management: Yiangos Hadjiyiannis
The world of Diamantis
The world of Diamantis
class, the establishment, which does not want any
change, and on the other side the ‘Other’ who
is introducing both a new cultural element and
is also acting as a vector of substantial changes.
Violence, (the character “Via”) representing the
interests of Zeus, is a cruel reality that we see and
sense, since the one being tortured is the Other,
yet this Other is so similar to us. He is us! There
also exist those who sympathise with the tortured
Prometheus, but they do not dare show their
sympathy because they are afraid of Zeus. They
are present. They are there! But they are afraid of
the Power... The Logos…
Cast: Filippos Sofianos, Christopher Greco,
Eleana Papadopoulou, Yiannis Kokkinos
Chorus leaders: Tzortzina Tatsi, Skevi
Papamiltiadous, Irini Andreou
Translated by: Savvas Pavlou – Andreas
Pantzis (Based on Ioannis Gryparis’ translation)
Set & costume design: Theodoulos Gregoriou
Music: Vasos Agyridis
Choreography: Alexia Nicolaou
Lighting: Vasilis Peteinaris
22
Dancecyprus and Cyprus Symphony Orchestra
(Strovolos Municipal Theatre and Rialto
Theatre)
A modern ballet performance by Dancecyprus,
based on the monumental painting of
Adamantios Diamantis The World of Cyprus,
choreographed by Margaret Markidou and the
Cyprus Symphony Orchestra.
Conductor: Alkis Baltas
Choreography: Margarita Makridou
Dancers: Alexandra Antoniou, Alexia Anderson
Koutzis, Gianmarco Beoni, Demetra Demetriou,
Luca Cesa, Eveline Drummen, Tarsia
Economidou, Siro Guglielmi, Vicky Kalla,
Loizos Constantinou, Ilaria Larkou-Kalispera,
Konstantinos Karavos, Ketija Knazeva,
Evangelia Lambrou, Elizabeth Lintzerakou,
Hamilton Monteiro, Manuel Di Pietro, Sara
Previtali, Frangiskos Sklikas, Fouli Stylianidou,
Valeria Solea-Makri ,Giovanni Visone and the
Dancecyprus Junior Company.
Choreographer’s Assistant: Fouli Stylianidou
Costume Design: Margarita Makridou
Dressmaker: Eleni Papavasiliou
Stage Management / Lighting: FX Sound
Productions
Projections: DigiFrames
Unravelling negotiates this uncertainty, the
impulse of wanting to feel familiar in what we
call the Cosmos.
Choreography: Fotis Nikolaou
Dramaturgy: Thanasis Georgiou
Stage - Costume Design: Alexis Vayianos,
Elena Kotasvili
Mask: Martha Foka
Light Design: Panagiotis Manousis
Stage Manager: Sofronis Efstathiou
About Kypria
KYPRIA International Festival, right from its
inception in 1993, aimed at presenting Cypriots
and visitors alike with a variety of cultural
events of the highest possible standard. Having
been launched in a period characterised by an
almost complete lack of important cultural
events, it became the catalyst for the creation
of an unprecedented cultural movement which
gives audiences a plethora of choices. The
Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education
and Culture have always been searching for new
approaches aiming at the further improvement
and upgrade of the Festival with regards to both
its conception and further course and also the
character of the events hosted in the Festival´s
programme.
Throughout its 20-year history, the Festival has
always aimed at presenting Cypriot as well as
foreign artists and ensembles of international
acclaim, and putting on high quality productions in
various fields of the performing arts. In selecting
each year´s participants, it also aspires to provide an
opportunity for the representation and participation,
to the greatest possible extent, of Cypriot artists
and groups without, of course, detracting from the
international character of the Festival.
During the past two decades, KYPRIA has
hosted an array of distinguished artists and
ensembles from the fields of Dance, Theatre,
Music, Visual Arts and Cinema. In the field of
Dance, the Festival has hosted, amongst others,
the Rhine Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba,
Omada Edafous by Demetris Papaioannou and
the Batsheva Dance Company.
Theatre performances by prominent directors
featuring distinguished actors and theatre groups
of worldwide acclaim have been in the forefront
of the Festival, some of the most celebrated
being the National Theatre of Greece, the
Greek Art Theatre of Karolos Koun and Spyros
Evangelatos Amphitheatre. Moreover, one of
the Festival´s most prominent highlights was
John Malkovich´s outstanding performance in
the Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial
Killer, presented at KYPRIA 2011.
The KYPRIA Festival has also hosted a number
of celebrated music ensembles of worldwide
renown such as the English National Symphony
Orchestra, the Madrigalisti di Venezia, the
European Union Baroque Orchestra, the
Salzburg Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra,
as well as, the Mikis Theodorakis Popular
Orchestra and the State Orchestra of Greek
Music conducted by Dionysis Savvopoulos.
Unravelling
23
The Great Goddess of Cyprus
A documentary by Cypriot director, Stavros Papageorghiou
E
veryone knows that Aphrodite is the Great
Goddess of Cyprus and that she was born on
the coast of Paphos where she was worshipped.
We imagine her as the beautiful nude Aphrodite
of Praxiteles, the Goddess of Love. But beyond
these, what do we really know about her?
Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of beauty and
love, whom we Cypriots consider our own, has
a unique place in the island’s mythology and
archaeology. Ancient sources cite Cyprus as her
birthplace and the epithet “Kypris” follows her
in abundance in ancient literature. Her ancestry
is lost in the depth of time, emanating from
ancient acts of worshipping fertility, and she
was called the Great Goddess.
Cyprus had harboured this Goddess from
the very ancient times. The inhabitants of the
island had worshipped the fertility of people
and nature in some form as a supernatural
power at least since the 3rd millennium BC.
Through the years, the Goddess took on many
forms; by the 2nd millennium BC she was
already a strong sexual Goddess; towards the
end of the 2nd millennium BC, when the island
was firmly influenced by the Aegean world, she
lost the fierceness of sexual urge and became
an entirely respectable Goddess of love, beauty
and fertility. She was then exclusively the
Goddess of Cyprus, Kypris. It is very possible
that she was discovered here by the Greeks in
the 12th century BC, because the Goddess was
unknown in the Aegean world back then. The
Greeks adopted her, gave her beauty and grace,
and named her Aphrodite, while for centuries
the Cypriots merely referred to her as Thea
(Goddess), Paphia, or Golgia, from the names
of her ancient sanctuaries.
The history of the Great Goddess and her worship
is as appealing as she is, and this is imprinted both
in the edition by Dr Jacqueline Karageorghis,
Kypris: Aphrodite of Cyprus, Ancient Sources
and Archaeological Evidence, and in the
24
documentary, directed by Stavros Papageorghiou,
The Great Goddess of Cyprus by TETRAKTYS
FILMS (www.tetraktysfilms.com), which revives
sites, items and forms of worship.
The procession of the Cypriot Goddess’
worship could be considered as an expression
of the eternal culture of the island itself, which
has acted as a meeting point between the East
and West, where cultures intermingled to create
an original civilisation.
Aphrodite Kypris is still known nowadays
thanks to the poets of the Renaissance who
rediscovered her through the ancient poets as
the Goddess of love, born in Cyprus. Kypris
granted love to the world, along with multiple
emotions as a cultural value that would grace
life and would inspire so many masterpieces.
She is the greatest gift Cyprus has offered to
Europe, and the whole world.
The documentary film about Aphrodite The
Great Goddess of Cyprus, by Cypriot director
Stavros Papageorghiou, is a breath-taking
journey through time from the Chalcolithic
period to the Roman era. Guided by Dr
Jacqueline Karageorghis, an internationally
renowned French Archaeologist, we investigate
known and unknown aspects of the worship of
Aphrodite on her island.
Spreading the Love abroad
Producer/director Stavros Papageorghiou and
his core creative team – namely scientific
consultant Dr Karageorghis and script-editor
Stalo Hadjipieris – are vigorously working
on the English version of the documentary,
hoping to launch the Great Goddess into the
international market. The aim of the producer
is to see his documentary participate in various
archaeological/anthropological documentary
film festivals around the world. Furthermore
Stavros, a documentary distributor, will promote
the film at key documentary markets such as
MIPTV in Cannes, France, at MEDIMED
in Sitges, Spain and DOC MARKET at
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, among
others, in an effort to license the broadcast rights
to television stations and digital platforms. The
film will also be available for sale to academic
institutions and individuals in the form of DVD
or VOD, through the TETRAKTYS distribution
service at www.tetraktysfilms.com.
TETRAKTYS FILMS, founded by Stavros
Papageorghiou, is also interested in scheduling
screenings of the documentary in Cyprus and
abroad, especially to countries where the presence
of the Cypriot and Greek diaspora communities is
significant, according to the director.
And it does not end here
“Ideally we want to show the documentary in all
the great cities in the UK, USA and Australia to
introduce the Cypriots and Greeks of Diaspora
to the true identity of this great deity of the Greek
Pantheon whose origin started from the humble
island of Cyprus,” Stavros Papageorghiou
explained. He added, “The journey of The
Great Goddess of Cyprus will not end with this
project. We already have a second one in the
pipeline, which focuses on the correlation of
the Goddess with the arts, local tradition and
mythology, as well as on how modern society
perceives this diachronic ancient female deity.
The legacy of the Goddess is enormous and I
feel that it is my duty to continue to make it
25
accessible to the entire world, not only Cypriots
and Greeks but also to any person regardless
of his/her nationality. From the first moment
we started production eight years ago, many
thousands of people around the planet had
embraced this project with anticipation and
gave me strength to continue and complete
this documentary despite the many obstacles I
faced during its production process.
I believe my compatriots still love their ancient
Goddess. When I co-organised the premiere
screening of the film with the Director of
the Department of Antiquities, Dr Marina
Solomidou-Ieronimidou, on 24 November 2014
at the Philoxenia Conference Centre in Nicosia, I
was expecting around 300 people to turn up in the
best case. However that particular night we broke
the national record. Over 500 guests honoured the
Great Goddess of Cyprus with their presence. For
me, this was the best reward for all my efforts to
achieve this extremely difficult project. I was so
happy that night,” Stavros concluded.
The makers were keen to point out that this
project would never have been completed if it was
not for the invaluable financial contribution of the
and Culture, and from a number of sponsors
Dr Jacqueline Karageorghis (left)
26
such as the Electricity Authority of Cyprus,
the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, the
Press and Information Office, Cyprus Tourism
Organisation, Hellenic Bank and Medochemie
Industries, as well as many individuals from
Cyprus, the US, Netherlands, and other countries,
who donated money through the www.indiegogo.
com crowd-funding website platform.
About Stavros Papageorghiou
Stavros Papageorghiou was born in 1958 in
Nicosia. He worked as a photographer for about
four years before going to the US to study at the
University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, where
he received his degree in Cinema with honours.
He returned to Cyprus in 1986, at a time when
cinema barely existed. Initially he was employed
at the TV station “O LOGOS TV”, where he
remained for 4 years as a director-producer. His
personal need for creative expression led him in
1994 to the bold step of creating his own film
production company, TETRAKTYS FILMS
LTD. Since 2013, Stavros has also been a
documentary distributor and sales agent. Within
this very short period of time, Stavros managed
to license the broadcast rights of many of the
documentaries in his catalogue to foreign TV
stations, and the educational rights to various
universities and libraries, mainly in the USA.
During the past twenty years, Stavros has
directed and/or produced a significant number
of audio-visual projects, the majority of them
belonging to the documentary genre. Four of
these have been developed with the support
of the MEDIA Development Programme,
the audio-visual programme of the European
Union and their productions were supported by
the Cyprus Cinema Advisory Committee.
Diomides Nikitas, the representative of the
and Culture, mentioned the following about
Stavros in his short introduction speech at the
premier screening of the documentary The
Great Goddess of Cyprus:
“Stavros Papageorghiou is an old acquaintance
of the Cultural Services of the Ministry of
Education and Culture of Cyprus, with whom
he has cooperated in various ways before,
sometimes through the commissioning of
projects, through the process of bidding, and
at other times through the support policy for
audio-visual projects that is promoted by
the Ministry, based on the suggestions of the
Cyprus Film Advisory Committee.
With the support of the Cyprus Film Advisory
Committee he has completed some notable
productions, such as the short fiction film
The entomologist and the documentary films:
Skiagrafies Kyprion Logotechnon (Sketches of
Cypriot Literature Figures) and Entelechy, to
name but a few.
The Great Goddess of Cyprus is his current
directorial project, which is supported by the
and Culture. The proposal was accepted after
considering his seriousness and sense of
responsibility, and the level of research that
characterises his documentaries. The presence
of expert Dr Jacqueline Karageorghis as a
scientific consultant only validates our trust.
The documentary is a complete comprehensive
educational tool, which provides all the vital
information about the existence of Aphrodite
in Cyprus over the years, and the important
role that she played in our ancient history. As a
result, and taking the importance of this effort
into consideration, the Ministry of Education
and Culture will distribute DVD copies of
this documentary to all secondary schools in
Cyprus, to be used as an educational tool in
history lessons.”
27
“THE BODY: lived experiences in ancient Cyprus”
Remembering Stelios Votsis – An Artistic Overview
T
T
he Cultural Services of the Ministry of
Education and Culture in cooperation with
the family of the artist Stelios Votsis organised a
retrospective of his work entitled Remembering
Stelios Votsis – An Artistic Overview. The
exhibition served as an artistic tribute to this
significant Cypriot artist who died suddenly on
9 November 2012.
The exhibition, held at the headquarters
of Hellenic Bank until 30 October, was
inaugurated by the Minister of Education and
Culture Minister Costas Kadis, on 15 October
2014.
Stelios Votsis was born in Larnaca in 1929.
He studied art at Saint Martin’s School of Art,
Sir John Cass College of Art and the Royal
28
Academy in London. He graduated from the
Slade School of Art of the University of London
in 1955.
A representative of the generation of Cypriot
artists who came to the spotlight in the
period after independence, Stelios Votsis’
ground breaking work embodied with
remarkable clarity Cypriot art’s interest in the
accomplishments of the international artistic
scene and the resulting, inevitable rupture with
the accepted values of the time.
Stelios Votsis was one of the first Cypriot
artists who embraced the teachings of abstract
art, identifying within this artistic style his
own worldview on the cosmic harmony of the
universe.
he Department of Antiquities of the
Ministry of Communications and Works
opened the temporary exhibition The Body:
lived experiences in ancient Cyprus at the
Cyprus Museum in Nicosia on 17 May 2014.
The exhibition, which was organised within the
framework of International Museum Day and
European Night of Museums 2014, ran until 17
February 2014.
the Cyprus Museum has also been hosting in
its Galleries the exhibition Curating Body by
artist Maria Loizidou (works from 1981 to
the present). Loizidou curates her own works
afresh, aiming to enter into a dialogue with the
ancient cultural landscape of the island but also
with the spaces of the Cyprus Museum itself.
In this way, new stimuli are received and new
questions are set.
For archaeologists, who study human
civilisation through the ages, the body
constitutes the creator, as well as the witness of
history. As the creator, the body shaped society
in a dynamic way through the use of objects
and its involvement in cultural practices,
such as work, food consumption or ritual and
recreational activities. Lived experiences that
resulted from the connection of people with the
world were inscribed on the body becoming
integral parts of personhood and social
identity. The human body, therefore, preserves
indications of its tangible and elusive action and
bears witness to the culture of ancient societies
that shaped it, literally and metaphorically.
On the opening day of the exhibition “Dance
met Archaeology”, choreographer Pascal
Caron along with dancers Ariana Alphas,
Mιlissa Garcia Carro, Styliana Charalambous,
Evi Kazamia, Aneesha Michael and Phedonas
Odysseos performed the work Excavation
Movements.
With the above in mind, the exhibition “The
Body: lived experiences in ancient Cyprus”
presented antiquities dating from the Neolithic
to the Early Christian period, originating
from archaeological sites throughout Cyprus.
Figurines, sculpture, vessels, jewellery,
grooming and medical tools, musical
instruments, and skeletal remains were
presented, some for the first time to the public,
inviting the visitor to explore some aspects of
the ancient body’s lived experiences. Although
bodies have left their traces in the form of
skeletal remains or artefacts, the exhibition
fleshes out the invisible male and female
protagonists who were once active on the island
of Cyprus.
Parallel to the above archaeological exhibition
29
Treasure Island
T
he exhibition project Treasure Island
took a look back on Cyprus’ history in
its own unique way. Featuring visual works,
performances, public debates and other events
selected through an Open Call, next to a number
of preselected works, Treasure Island sought to
expand discourses of the past in Cyprus.
Organised by the Cultural Services of the
Ministry of Education and Culture, and the
Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre - Associated
with the Pierides Foundation (NiMAC), in
collaboration with the Association for Historical
Dialogue and Research (AHDR) and the
SIDESTREETS Initiative, from 26 September
to 8 November 2014 visitors got the chance to
enjoy a variety of presentational formats; besides
the aforementioned, the exhibition project also
featured theoretical discussions, film screenings,
talks, literature and poetry readings, public
interventions and educational programmes.
“Treasure Island seeks to shed critical light on
dominant modes of historical representations, and
address those stories that have been subjugated,
manipulated or silenced by hegemonic historical
discourses and artistic, literary or theoretical
practices,” NiMAC explained. “Moreover, the
project aims to underline the broader meaning of
the political in art, in the local context: On the one
hand, as a drive for critical (re)negotiation of the
modern history of trauma, conflict and violence,
as well as of any totalising ideological strategies
of approaching, thinking and narrating the past,
particularly in relation to national or cultural
identification. On the other hand, as an attempt
to deal with a broad spectrum of crucial issues
that affect Cypriot society beyond the Cyprus
Problem. Ultimately, the project aims to bring
forth the culturally inconspicuous, and the latent
patterns of Cypriot historical experience, both in
the colonial and postcolonial contexts.
The project has welcomed a variety of
presentational formats such as theoretical
discussions, film screenings, talks, literature/
poetry readings, and educational programmes.
It features a diverse group of Cypriot and
international participants, including Emin Cizenel,
Lia Haraki, Eleni Kamma, Nurtane Karagil,
Gabriel Lester, Literary Agency Cyprus/Whirling
Words, Mesarch Lab, Panayiotis Michael, Savvas
Papasavva, Christodoulos Panayiotou, pick
nick, Alexandros Pissourios, Saramarasamsara,
Nicolas Tschopp, Stefanos Tsivopoulos and
Sholeh Zahraei/Kamil Saldun. The programme
30
also includes presentations and interventions
led by Adonis Florides, Antonis Hadjikyriacou,
Chrystalleni Loizidou, Meropi Moiseos/Nasa
Patapiou/Eleni Papadopoulou, Johann Pillai and
Evi Tselika/Marina Hadjilouca spread throughout
the duration of the exhibition, as well as a oneday series of theoretical discussions. Treasure
Island also plan to host a public reading library
in collaboration with Moufflon Bookshop,
comprising bibliography from the areas of social
and cultural studies, postcolonial theory, social
anthropology, political science, art theory, history,
critical literature and poetry, and beyond.
31
Cyprus/Whirling words, with workshop leader
Rachel Pettus and guest Marios Epaminondas,
at NiMAC and various other locations within
the walls of Old Town Nicosia. (Also took place
on 15 and 22 October 2014, with workshop
leader Stephanos Stephanides and guest Aydin
Mehmet Ali; on 24 October with workshop
leader Aydın Mehmet Ali and guests Münevver
Özgür and Agnieszka Rakoczy; on 30 October
with workshop leader Nicoletta Demetriou)
Programme of events
26 September 2014: Performance The Record
Replay React Show (2014, 30 minutes) by
Lia Haraki at NiMAC. (Also presented on 10
October)
4 October 2014: Screening/discussion Life
Chances: Four Families in a Greek Cypriot
Village (1974, 43 minutes) by Peter Loizos at
NiMAC. Antonis Hadjikyriacou in conversation
with Olga Demetriou, Zeleia Gregoriou and
Adonis Florides.
Copyright: The Royal Anthropological Institute
4 October 2014: Writing workshop Writing
32
Nicosia – Beyond barriers by Literary Agency
Cyprus/Whirling words, with workshop leader
Rachel Pettus and guest Lisa Suhair Majaj,
for women only. The workshop took place at
NiMAC and a variety of other locations within
the walls of Old Town Nicosia.
8 October 2014: Screening/discussion Cyprus
is an Island by Ralph Keene (1946, 34 minutes)
at Rüstem Bookstore in the non-government
controlled part of Nicosia. Adonis Florides in
conversation with Costas Constantinides and
Yiannis Papadakis.
10 October 2014: Writing workshop Writing
Nicosia – Beyond barriers by Literary Agency
10 October 2014: Presentation “Cyprus
Pussy”:
Culture
jamming/On
Cypriot
commemoration in the 21st century and its
interventions by Chrystalleni Loizidou.
18 October 2014: Presentation/discussion
Here Lie the Books, Rizokarpaso 1931-32
(2014). Meropi Moiseos, Nasa Patapiou and
Eleni Papadopoulou in conversation with
Niyazi Kızılyürek, Bishop Makarios of Kenya
and Takis Hadjidemetriou, at NiMAC.
25 October 2014: Educational programme
24 October 2014: Presentation Nonverbal Communication by Gabriel Lester.
Gabriel Lester’s lecture titled Nonverbal Communication refers to a term indicating communication
through sending and receiving wordless - often visual - cues between people. In Lester’s reasoning,
artworks are vehicles of such forms of communication. In fact, the more popular and simplified term
‘body language’ can easily be understood as the language of shape, form and volume. Lester focuses
on his broad spectrum of artworks and inventions relating to the perception of body language, in
terms of the many communicative qualities of artworks and the ways these inhabit time and space.
Gabriel Lester, born in Amsterdam in 1972, started his artistic endeavour as a musician, stumbled
into literature, studied cinema and finally became a visual artist. Lester’s many interests and
skills explain the themes, methods and nature of his present artwork. Most of his films and
spatial installations have an implicit narrative layer, strong cinematic influences, sequential
constructions and an obvious sense of rhythm.
33
In memory of artist Glyn Hughes
29 October 2014: Visual lecture/
presentation Monument to Fragmentation
by Johann Pillai.
Rethinking conflict and urban space - a socially
engaged art experiment with Evanthia Tselika
and Marina Hadjilouca in collaboration with
artist and art educator at the Pancyprium
Gymnasium, Antigoni Sofokleous, and graphic
designer, Myria Konnari. A student’s exhibition
followed with works produced during the
educational programme.
1 November 2014: Screening/discussion Cyprus
is an Island by Ralph Keene (1946, 34 minutes)
at NiMAC. Adonis Florides in conversation
with Christodoulos Panayiotou and Stavros
Karayiannis.
5 November 2014: Readings from the writing
workshops – public opening.
8 November 2014: Discussion The Past as
Treasure Hunt at NiMAC. The discussions
were divided into two parts under the themes:
“Buccaneers and Buried Gold”: Deconstructing
memory and fiction with Yiannis Hamilakis,
Nicolas
Papadimitriou
and
Stephanos
Stephanides; and “The Stockade”: Barriers in
Education / Education of Barriers with Mete
Hatay, Aydin Mehmet Ali and Yiannis Papadaki.
Curatorial team: Yiannis Toumazis, Louli
Michaelidou, Anber Onar, Despo Pasia,
Kyriakos Pachoulides, Elena Stylianou.
For more information visit: www.nimac.org.cy
34
This presentation told the story of an
obsession: the attempt to research, find and
reconstruct for the first time the history,
events, and physical characteristics of
a major work of art that disappeared
in 1958 and somehow mysteriously
appeared in Cyprus: The 227m2 mosaic
wall created by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958
Brussels World Fair. The pavilion’s
100 meter-long linking mosaic wall
(which many art history and architecture
textbooks describe as “lost”) was the first
Turkish artistic expression of the concepts
of pluralism and multiculturalism;
in Cyprus it has acquired numerous
other significations. The presentation
and accompanying exhibit trace to the
present, through historical mishaps and
the political mayhem of wars, military
coups and chance discoveries, the trials
and tribulations of the wall between
Belgium, Turkey and Cyprus over half
a century. Its overarching question is
this: Can archives, exhibitions, artworks
and monuments resist absorption into
memorial narratives, and instead express
fragmentation and forgetting?
Johann Pillai studied aesthetic and
literary theory at Yale and the State
University of New York at Buffalo.
An associate professor of comparative
literature, his research interests include
critical theory; comparative studies in
Romanticism; modernist art, music and
literature; irrationalism; historiography;
and literature in relation to the visual
arts. He is currently an independent
scholar and the director of Sidestreets,
an independent cultural and educational
initiative in Nicosia.
Glyn Hughes (photo by Cyprus Mail)
T
he Ministry of Education and Culture was
saddened to learn of the untimely death of
the visual artist Glyn Hughes on 23 October 2014.
Glyn Hughes was born in Wales in 1931. He
studied at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire and in 1956
came to Cyprus to teach, staying on to become
an integral part of the Cypriot art scene which he
influenced with his work.
With “Apofasi”, the island’s’ first art gallery which
he founded with Christoforos Savvas in 1960 as a
base, Hughes became one of the pioneers in the
introduction to Cyprus of contemporary artistic
movements. From 1971 to 1973 he organised a
series of artistic happenings at Apophasis under
the general title Synergy, which brought together
in a single unit, aspects of conceptual and
environmental art. This pioneering initiative was
cut short by the Turkish invasion of 1974.
His creative work was not restricted to painting.
Hughes served the theatre as a set and costume
designer with equal zeal within the framework
of his fruitful cooperation with the German
director Heinz Haus for productions that were
staged abroad as well as for the Cyprus Theatre
Organisation.
Glyn Hughes contributed more widely to the
development of Cypriot art through his regular
column in “The Cyprus Weekly” newspaper,
which stood out for its insightful artistic critique.
In appreciation of his long and multi-faceted
contribution to the development of contemporary
Cypriot culture the Ministry of Education and
Culture awarded Glyn Hughes with an Annual
Honorary Allowance.
The Minister of Education and Culture Minister,
Costas Kadis, expressed his heartfelt condolences
to the artist’s friends and family. His death leaves
an irreplaceable gap in the artistic life of Cyprus.
The Ministry of Education and Culture was
represented at the funeral by the director of the
and Culture, Pavlos Paraskevas.
35
Cyprus at the turn of the 20th century
T
he Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
and the Historical and Ethnological Society
of Greece opened a photography exhibition
entitled Cyprus at the turn of the 20th century on
7 October 2014. The exhibition was inaugurated
by the President of the House of Representatives,
Yiannakis Omirou.
It featured 88 photos of 1890 to 1901 that were
presented for the first time at the ‘Cyprus Exhibition’
in Athens in 1901. The volume was published by
the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece,
at the initiative of its secretary general Ioannis
Mazarakis-Ainian. The introduction and editing is
the work of Petros Papapolyviou.
The photography exhibition was initially organised
by the Historical and Ethnological Society of
Greece in July 2014. It was presented in Athens at
the National Historical Museum, housed at the Old
Parliament Building, to honour Cyprus forty years
after the Turkish invasion of the island.
The exhibition was hosted in Nicosia by the Bank
of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, and is scheduled to
tour various cities of Cyprus. The photographs were
first presented at the grand Cypriot Exhibition, held
in Zappeion in 1901. The aim of the exhibition was
to tighten the links between Cyprus and Greece.
The photographs depict the daily life, costumes,
dances, activities, customs and habits of the island’s
inhabitants during the first decades of British rule
(late 19th century and early 20th century). Also
depicted are landscapes, anonymous Cypriots of
urban or rural origin, as well as monuments and
antiquities from across Cyprus. The photographs
come from well-known photographers of the time.
Apart from the captions used at the 1901 exhibition
which are cited unabridged, new captions offering
additional or even corrected information have been
added.
A publication that includes the photographs of the
exhibition along with accompanying texts in Greek
is available to purchase.
36
The Cyprus Exhibition
The Cyprus Exhibition was organised at the
Zappeion in April to June 1901 by the ‘Patriotic
Association of Cypriots’ in Athens, at the instigation
of Limassol lawyer George S. Frangoudis and
was effectively the first attempt to systematically
promote Cyprus and by extension the demand for
Enosis (union with Greece) in the Greek mainland.
The opening was held on April 6, 1901 with 120
Cypriots travelling to the Greek capital. It was
the first opportunity for the ‘national centre’ to
get to know Cyprus so well. Some 200 exhibitors
participated, showcasing the main Cyprus
products, clothing, handicrafts, intellectual work
and antiquities. In addition, a Cypriot loom was
installed and there were traditional Cypriot dances
as well tsattista (improvised oral poetry ‘duelling’).
One of the richest sections of the exhibition,
exclusively created by the zeal shown by G.
Frangoudis, was a collection of dozens of
photographs from Cyprus that were displayed on
five panels. They constituted one of the biggest
poles of attraction for visitors to the Zappeion
in spring 1901, but also the primary vehicle to
promote the island to the Athenian public. The
Nicosia exhibition featured the 90 photographs
saved in the archives of the Historical and
Ethnological Society of Greece at the National
History Museum, to which they were donated by
G. Frangoudis when the ‘Cyprus Exhibition’ ended.
They feature views and panoramas The photographs depict This was stated by the President
of the six towns, photographs of the daily life, costumes, of the House of Representatives,
the archaeological monuments and
Yiannakis Omirou, in an address
dances, activities,
the large monasteries of Cyprus,
customs and habits of at the presentation of the tome
pictures of Lapithos, Karavas,
and the opening of the exhibition
the island’s inhabitants that was organised by the Cultural
Bellapais, the Karpas, Platres and
Kakopetria, portraits of anonymous during the first decades Foundation of the Bank of Cyprus
Cypriots from the towns and of the late 19th century in cooperation with the Ethnological
the countryside, moments from and early 20th century Society of Greece.
their daily occupations as well of
As Omirou noted, Cyprus is armed with both the
portrayals of the early British colonial presence
relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the
in Nicosia and Troodos. Each photograph was
solidarity of EU, of which Cyprus is a full and
accompanied by a text selected by the editor
equal member.
from the main Greek travel and historical works
Among other comments, the president of the
on Cyprus of the same period, mainly from the
House said that the exhibition and tome of the same
books of G. Frangoudi, Athanasios Sakellariou
name, are composed of copies of 90 photographs
and Ieronymos Peristianis. The photographs, most
from daily life in Cyprus at the beginning of the
of which were later distributed as postcards were
20th century.
taken by the pioneer photographic artists of Cyprus:
After the ‘Cyprus Exhibition’ in 1901 in Athens,
Foscolos, Papazian, Toufexis, Soteriou as well as
most of the photographs and many of the exhibits
Max Ohnefalsch-Richter and represent a treasure
were, on completion of the exhibition, donated to
trove for historians which ‘returned’ to Nicosia
the National History Museum and the Historical
from Athens 113 years later. In the intervening
and Ethnological Society of Greece, which has
period everything has changed, with the exhibition
developed close ties and cooperation with Cyprus
offering the opportunity therefore to remember the
from that time.
authentic world of Cyprus.
Omirou: An opportunity to reassert faith in the
continuing struggle
Both the published volume and the photographic
exhibition Cyprus at the turn of the 20th century
offered the opportunity to reassert faith and
commitment to continuing the struggle to rid
Cyprus of the Turkish occupation, non-acceptance
of the fait accompli of the invasion and settlers, the
enforcement of international law in our country
and the conservation of the national sovereignty
and international status of the Republic of Cyprus.
As Omirou said, the aim of the photographic
exhibition when it was first presented in 1901 was
to bring the national centre into a first, in-depth
contact with the Cyprus reality of the time.
Omirou said that the support of Greece, its cultural
institutions, collective bodies and the millions
of ordinary, anonymous Greeks, is of as much
paramount importance for Cyprus today as it was
for initiators of the exhibition of 1901. This support
and solidarity has been continuous, moving and
multi-faceted, he concluded.
For more information, visit: http://www.boccf.org/
37
Ancient Cypriot Literature Digital Corpus
T
he Cyprus Institute presented the Ancient
Cypriot Literature Digital Corpus and its
incorporation to Dioptra, the Digital Library of
Cypriot Culture of The Cyprus Institute, on 18
September 2014.
The event was under the auspices of the President
of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, and was
addressed by the Minister of Education and
Culture, Dr Costas Kadis. The Ancient Cypriot Literature Digital Corpus is
one of the most important projects of the Science
and Technology in Archaeology Research Center
(STARC) at The Cyprus Institute and is sponsored
and supported by the A.G. Leventis Foundation
(http://www.leventisfoundation.org).
Accessed
globally, it offers an innovative experience of ancient
texts from a total of 64 writers, covering a period of
13 centuries (7th century BC to 6th century AD).
Apart from the intelligent search of ancient words
and concepts, the project incorporates innovative
digital technologies, applications and visual
material that enrich the exploration of ancient texts
and enhance our understanding of Cyprus’ ancient
civilisation. The Dioptra Library follows a modular
development plan, with the Ancient Cypriot
Literature Digital Corpus being its first module,
and its aim is to record, research and disseminate
the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus. Under the
supervision of leading scientists, research groups
develop and apply innovative technologies to study
and preserve our rich culture.
A digital journey through antiquity
“The user, on top of the abilities provided so far
by the print version of the project, is now offered
a wealth of informational and visual material,
which was curated by Professor (archaeologist and
former Director of the Department of Antiquities)
Vasos Karagiorgis,” said Minister of Education and
Culture Costas Kadis at the Corpus’ presentation.
38
“It also offers important tools, such as the electronic
version of the Liddell-Scott-Jones ancient Greek
lexicon and the timeline, which correlates the
authors with their eras, which altogether place
the texts in their historical and archaeological
framework, and offer new angles in which to ‘read’
the ancient culture of Cyprus,” said the Minister.
According to Minister Kadis, the aim is for the
Ancient Cypriot Literature Digital Corpus to
become a focal tool for researchers and students,
plus teachers and pupils in Secondary Education.
He added, “A pilot teaching programme was
applied at a Lyceum last year with very encouraging
results, as it turned out that using a digital database
in teaching practice could make a lesson more
appealing and interesting.”
The minister explained that the work was an
advanced, digital form of Ancient Cypriot Corpus,
which was issued over the period 1995-2008 by the
Leventis Foundation.
It includes 64 texts by ancient Cypriot writers
(from the 7th to the 6th century AD), covering many
literary genres and seamlessly integrates into the
whole of ancient Greek literature.
The texts were edited by Professors Andreas
Voskos, Costas Michaelides and Ioannis Taifakos.
“These pages are of monumental value as they
authenticate the Cypriot Hellenism’s intellectual
and national foundations, which were laid some
three and a half thousand years ago with the
Hellenization of the island.”
“It is no coincidence that in the
most widely known epic of ancient
Greek literature, Cypria, the Cypriot
myth meets the Greek and together
they create the history of the Trojan
War; and that it has since served as
the Greeks’ quintessential teaching
work,” he concluded.
“The user, on top
of the abilities
provided so far by
the print version of
the project, is now
offered a wealth of
informational and
visual material”
About The Cyprus Institute
The Cyprus Institute operates under the aegis of
the Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation
(CREF), which is governed by a Board of Trustees,
comprising leading personalities of the international
academic, political and business world.
The creation of The Cyprus Institute (CyI), a novel,
internationally recognised research institution, is the
tangible manifestation of the Cyprus Research and
Educational Foundation’s vision to help transform
Cyprus into a knowledge-based economy, and in
doing so to advance the welfare of the island and
the region. Today, the Institute is a world-class
research and technology institution, carrying out
pioneering research programmes involving cuttingedge high throughput technologies, in order to
address problems of regional as well as international
significance. At the same time, it provides training
for future researchers and scholars through its high
quality doctoral programmes.
The CyI comprises three specialised
multidisciplinary research centres,
developed in partnership with leading
international institutions in their
respective thematic areas:
The Energy, Environment and
Water Research Center (EEWRC)
– partnered with the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT),
The Science and Technology in Archaeology
Research Center (STARC) – partnered with the
Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées
de France (C2RMF), and
The Computation-based Science and Technology
Research Center (CaSToRC) – partnered with the
University of Illinois.
Having launched its first research centre in late
2007, with only a few years in operation, CyI
has demonstrated its keen ability to successfully
conduct scientific research and to attract scientists
of international repute. It is now pursuing a large
number of research projects, many of them funded
by the European Commission, including an ERC
Advanced Grant.
A Graduate School acts as the Institute’s Education
arm, which trains researchers for senior posts in
academia as well as industry and government
bodies. It offers high quality doctoral programmes
grounded in the research environment of the
respective research centres.
39
Unknown History
Works of art by Jewish refugees at the British Detention camps in Cyprus
A
rt created by Jewish survivors of the
Holocaust during their time in British
detention camps in Cyprus have returned to
the island after 65 years and were exhibited at
the Pancyprian Gymnasium Museums from 30
October to 12 December 2014.
The works of art, kept in the HaShomer
HaTzair Archive up until their recent return to
Cyprus, provide a historical depiction of life
as a Holocaust survivor in the final leg of their
journey to the land of Israel.
The Unknown History: Works of art by Jewish
refugees at the British Detention camps in
Cyprus exhibition at the Pancyprian Gymnasium
Museums’ premises in Nicosia was made possible
due to cooperation between the Embassy of Israel
in Cyprus and the Pancyprian Gymnasium, as
well as thanks to the great generosity of the
HaShomer HaTzair – Yad Yaari and Moreshet
Centre for Research and Documentation in Israel.
Credits should also go to the artist, researcher and
archivist Yuval Danieli, who comprehensively
organised the care of these exhibits and helped
keep memory alive.
On the way to the Land of Israel
After the end of the Second World War, survivors
of the Holocaust were evacuated from the Nazi
concentration or forced labour camps. They
headed back to Palestine (Eretz-Israel), their
homeland. Being under British Mandate rule at
the time, Palestine was almost inaccessible to
Jewish immigrants. The British navy enforced a
full-scale blockade, so between August 1946 and
May 1948, 39 immigrants’ ships attempting to
run the British blockade were seized.
The Jewish refugees were sent to Cyprus, where
twelve Detention Camps were established to
accommodate them; five so-called “Summer
Camps” in the Karaolos area near the town
of Famagusta and seven “Winter Camps” in
Dhekelia and Xylotymbou near the Larnaca
District. During this period more than 52,000
Jewish refugees passed through the British
detention camps in Cyprus, until the last
detainees were finally set free in February 1949
and headed to the newly-established State of
Israel. The Cypriot people treated the Jewish
detainees warmly and provided necessary
services, helped them and expressed their
solidarity in many ways.
“This affair could have been considered as a sad
episode in the history of the new Israel, when
survivors from the death camps were forced
to be surrounded again by barbed wire fences,
guard posts and sentinels,” explained Israeli
Ambassador to Cyprus Michael Harari in his
From the print album Begerush Kafrisin
40
41
everyday reality or portrayed the surroundings
of the camps: the bridge over the Larnaca Famagusta road which connected the camps, the
double wire fences, the ditches which surrounded
the deportation camps and the watch towers.
Other works rendered the grind of daily life; the
queues for water, the round tin barracks - which
supposedly provided better protection against
weather conditions, but, in fact, were freezing in
winter and sizzling hot during the summer and
even leaked when it rained.
Artefacts and handicrafts were made from all
sorts of material that was available in the camps:
discarded beverage cans, soft limestone, wood
panels (once part of dining tables), ceramic
tiles etc. These materials were consequently
assembled into form with the help of nails, wires
and knives. Model tractors, ploughs, miniature
house furniture, books or similar artefacts
were created, even miniature slippers. They
anticipate a great yearning for warmth and what
one would call «Home». Additionally, one can
find colourful toys for children; weaving and
pictures made of threads or material cut from
Greeting in the exhibition’s catalogue. “But it
seems that along with the difficulties and pain,
Jews who were detained in Cyprus saw their
stay there not only as something forced upon
them; many testimonies indicate that they saw
it as a preparatory and transitory period between
Europe of the Holocaust and entering the Land of
Israel. While they lived in the British detention
camps in Cyprus, they experienced a chapter of
Jewish heroism and fraternity, which became
a symbol of their determination to build new
lives; shortly after the Holocaust, the survivors
decided to take responsibility of their fates and
chose to stick to life and go on.”
To the Holocaust survivors the period spent in
Cyprus was nothing more than one last stage in
their long journey to the land of Israel; a stage
during which they were forced to spend long
months in detention camps, living under difficult
conditions. Even so, the detained Jewish people
demonstrated great endurance and vitality,
adapting to the conditions of their captivity.
42
the tents, decorated wooden or stone boxes,
picture albums, chess and domino sets. Shoes,
clothing and other artefacts were produced in
the same way. Finally, the immigrant ships used
to transport Holocaust survivors to Palestine,
their homeland and future State of Israel, were
depicted with every opportunity - a constant
symbol of the longing to finally reach a safe
haven.
Back then, the detainees were eager to display
their work, so in October 1947, a memorable art
exhibition was inaugurated in the Xylotymbou
camp. The exhibits were later sent to Tel Aviv
and were put on display there in April 1948. Most
of the exhibits have been kept in the HaShomer
HaTzair Archive, where they remain until today,
covered in the dust of history.
Sixty-five years after the last of the Jewish
refugees left the shore of Cyprus, pieces of art
created back then returned to the island.
Thanks to this initiative, history treasures – works
of art hidden for decades in archives – have
come back to light. The power of creativity and
They achieved successes through organised
actions, such as vocational training, educational
and cultural activities. Artists’ workshops, music
courses, theatre performances, sports events, a
choir and an orchestra were organised. After all,
the ability to create art under harsh conditions
was one way to overcome difficulties.
The artworks created by the refugees during their
stay in Cyprus depicted their experiences and
rendered the grind of daily life in the detention
camps, or portrayed the surroundings. Still,
other works followed a more classical repertoire,
characteristic of European traditions in art. Some
of the detainees were later to become established
artists in Israel – such as Shraga Weil (19182009), Schmuel Katz (1926-2010) or Haim
(Heniek) Barkani (1923-2001), whose artworks
were on display in this exhibition.
The refugees produced a variety of art works;
paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures.
There they depicted their experiences and
Shmuel Katz
43
The Pancyprian Gymnasium Museums
strong will to live a creative life against all odds
is manifested in these works. They demonstrate
how the human spirit could not be tamed, despite
the harsh reality. One beholds the emergence of
a new life and witnesses the willpower of men
and women to overcome the Terrible and move
forward.
The Pancyprian Gymnasium is an evolution
of the Hellenic School founded in 1812 by
the Archbishop of Cyprus, Kyprianos. The
composition of the various collections of this
historic school is the result of long and intense
efforts by the school’s teachers, who strove
to provide a diverse education framework to
their students. It is also the result of generous
donations and pecuniary sponsorships by the
school’s graduates, benefactors or other parties
who acknowledged the importance of the
Gymnasium’s contribution.
The exhibition was accompanied by educational
programmes; one for primary and one for
secondary school children. Guided tours were
available in Greek, Hebrew and English.
Admission was free.
A catalogue was also produced to commemorate
65 years from the closure of the British Detention
Camps in Cyprus.
The very first effort to establish a museum
at the Pancyprian Gymnasium dates back to
1893, when the Consul of Greece to Cyprus,
K. Panourgias, donated his personal collection
of fossils and made the first steps towards
the creation of an educational museum. The
museum then started building up its collection
either through purchases or via donations, which
were classified and maintained by the school’s
professors.
The print album Begerush Kafrisin
Naftali Bezem set up a workshop in the winter
camps, where he taught painting, linocut and
other engraving techniques. This art workshop
was autonomous; the teaching was not limited
in time, a fact that allowed students to work
and create continuously. Bezem taught there
for about 6 months. In the beginning, there
were 35 students of all ages. Among the most
extraordinary collective artworks of this
workshop were students’ prints depicting the
refugees’ experiences in the Detention Camps.
The prints were bound into albums, one of which
is included in this collection. It bears the title
Begerush Kafrisin (“in the Cyprus Exile”) and
was offered as a gift to Yehoshua Leibner.
This album consists of 26 original prints
(linocuts) made by 26 different participants of
the workshops, although one attests a rather
homogenous style, characteristic of modernist
approaches to form. While studying these prints
at a primary stratum of understanding, reflections
from crowded detention camps and the whole
cycle of life there emerge – children being
born, mothers breast-feeding, daily activities,
weddings, gatherings. A closer study, though,
reveals concealed fears and nightmares from
the not-so-distant past. The situations depicted
are casual and even boring, yet the feeling
transmitted is one of inability to see beyond the
44
During the time Principal Constantine Spyridakis
was in charge of the school, from 1936 to 1960, a
systematic effort began to create an archaeological
museum at the Gymnasium. In 1943, at the 50th
anniversary of the Pancyprian Gymnasium,
the school’s graduates collected the amount of
four thousand Cyprus pounds for the purpose of
improving the school’s museum collections.
After the Second World War, the archaeological,
historical, numismatic and folk art collections, as
well as the natural history collection, remained
exhibited in the basement of the Severeios
Library. Thankfully, museum exhibits were not
looted during the adversity of the coup d’état and
the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
The Pancyprian Gymnasium’s museum
collections, created throughout its hundredyear history, were reorganised and enriched in
1993, on the initiative of Headmaster Georgios
Hadjikostis. The collections were put on display
in five halls in the school building; the School’s
History Museum, Historic-Archaeological
Museum and Natural History Museum.
At present, the museums host the Archaeological
Collection, Numismatic collection, Collection
barbed wire, beyond a situation without escape.
The contrast of harsh black and white lines and
surfaces, without any hue of the grey, makes this
feeling even stronger.
After some years, Bezem understood the
magnitude of the influence which his experiences
during this period had on his future work.
”There I came face to face with my subject: The
immigrants. My encounters with them proved
to me, unequivocally, that spiritually I remained
one of them.”
45
music education and taught music and piano for
many years. He is the composer of 245 famous
songs, widely performed by some of the most
renowned singers in Israel. In addition to his
musical interests, Haim Barkani also worked as
a caricaturist, illustrator and graphic artist.
His artistic activity in the Detention Camps
Barkani remained in the camps in Cyprus for
two years. His musical background helped with
his diverse activities in the camp. He organised
a choir, composed songs, played the accordion
at camp meetings and events and produced a
few puppet shows. Occasionally, his wife would
relate some stories about the first days of their life
together in the detention camps. She recalls: “A
short time after we married, Heniek disappeared
for about 2/3 of the night. I was very offended. We
had just got married and he was already cheating
on me. It seems that he had gone to bring a piano
and then I understood that he had a second wife:
Music. I could either take it or leave it.”
Barkani related in his memoirs how one of his
caricatures on display at an exhibition succeeded
of Old Weaponry and Collection of Old Maps.
The school also runs the Art Gallery, which
showcases artworks by renowned Cypriot
painters, former professors and students.
Educational programmes
The Pancyprian Gymnasium pays particular
attention to the purpose for which these museums
were established: To support and complete
the school children’s education. The aim is to
promote contact with original objects, of high
historical and artistic value, which quantitatively
develop culture and offer direct experiences to
pupils and students.
These are completed by special guided tours,
lectures and educational programmes.
46
in changing circumstances in the camp. It was
common practice to sometimes take the children
of the camp to the beach. The outing was
accompanied by armoured vehicles with soldiers
carrying loaded rifles. This unusual convoy
prompted Barkani to draw a caricature, showing
a young child going to the beach, accompanied
by four armoured British vehicles. At the opening
of this exhibition, while looking at the caricature,
the guest of honour - the actor Meir Margalit,
who came from Israel as part of a delegation of
artists - asked the British colonel accompanying
him: “Sir, how is it that four armoured vehicles
are needed to guard one young child?” Barkani
recounts that the very next day the children went
to the beach accompanied by only one jeep.
Shmuel (Alexander) Katz (1926-2010)
Artist, Illustrator, Caricaturist
Shmuel Katz was born in Vienna, Austria, to
Jewish-Hungarian parents. After the annexation
of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938,
the family moved to Hungary. When Hungary
was invaded in 1944, Katz was deported to a
Haim (Heniek) Barkani (1923-2001)
Musician, Caricaturist and Graphic Artist
Haim Barkani was born in the city of Lodz
in Poland to Jewish parents, who were both
musicians. At the age of six he began taking
piano lessons and, at a young age, even began
composing music. With the outbreak of World
War Two, the family fled to the Soviet Union
and ended up in Siberia and then in Bukhara,
Uzbekistan, where they stayed until the end of
the war. After the war he lived in Italy, and as
part of a Jewish youth group, they intended to
immigrate to Palestine (Eretz-Israel), but were
eventually sent to the detention camps in Cyprus.
There, Barkani met and married his wife, Halina.
In 1949, after being liberated, he immigrated to
Israel with his group. In the 1950s he studied
47
The Summer Camp - Shmuel Katz - 1947 - watercolour on paper
concentration camp in Yugoslavia. He managed
to escape and made his way to Budapest, where
he hid in the cellars of the Swiss Legation
until the arrival of the Red Army. In 1945 he
commenced his studies in Architecture at
the Budapest University of Technology and
Economics. In the next year he attempted to
immigrate to Palestine (Eretz-Israel) aboard the
“Knesset Israel”. The boat was intercepted by
British forces and the refugees were deported
to detention camps in Cyprus. There, he had his
first exhibition. In 1947 he received permission
to immigrate to Israel as part of a group. This
group later founded the Gaaton Kibbutz (1948).
He remained a Kibbutz member until his death.
Shmuel Katz was one of the most important
and well-known graphic artists, illustrators
and caricaturists in Israel. Throughout his life
he worked as an artist and a graphic editor of
daily and weekly newspapers and illustrated
hundreds of books. He has exhibited his
work not only in Israel but also abroad and
has been awarded many prizes. In 2013, the
Ein Harod Museum of Art in Israel organised
a retrospective exhibition of his work titled
“Shmuel Katz: Stylus Days”.
48
Katz was the most prolific chronicler of the
“summer camps” in Cyprus, with his paintings
in colour, chalk and pencil, depicting the grind of
daily life there. Every corner of the tents, every
water tank and every piece of garbage could
attract his attention and was depicted meticulously
and skilfully. Those paintings that depicted the
human figure were executed in a humorous and
light-hearted way, sometimes bordering on the
caricature. Katz generally demonstrates in his
work exceptional virtuosity and craftsmanship.
A watercolour displaying panoramically a field
of monotonous, khaki-coloured tents draws the
viewer’s attention. These tents replace in terms
the lacking figures, echoing the sorrow among the
detainees without directly depicting them. In the
background, one notices the inviting blue sea –
suggesting this to be a sea of freedom and hope.
Shraga Weil (1918-2009)
Painter, Sculptor, Graphic Artist
Shraga Weil was born in Czechoslovakia in 1918
to Jewish parents. In 1931, the family moved
to Bratislava and in 1937 he began studying
art in Prague. He spent World War Two in
Budapest, engaging in forging documents for
the resistance. He was imprisoned there between
the years 1943-44. In 1947 he tried to immigrate
to Palestine (Eretz-Israel) aboard the refugee
ship «Theodore Herzl», carrying 2,500 Jewish
refugees. Just opposite the shores of Haifa the ship
was intercepted by the British Navy and many of
its passengers were wounded. The refugees were
consequently transported in metal cages aboard
British battleships to the port of Famagusta and
from there on to the “winter camps” in DhekeliaXylotymbou. In the Detention Camp, Shraga Weil
produced artworks that mainly depicted life in
the camps, and also taught the detained youth art.
Weil, alongside Grazovski and others, was one of
the initiators of the art exhibition which took place
first in the Cyprus camps in October 1947, then in
Tel Aviv (1948) and now, many years later, back in
Cyprus. He later immigrated to Israel and joined the
Ha’Ogen Kibbutz. During his life, he engaged in
many different art disciplines; illustration, collage,
book cover design, silk-screen printing, linocut,
oil painting and sculpture. In the 60s and 70s, he
also created some architectural designs, such as the
main entrance of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament),
and the doors at the Israeli President’s residence
in Jerusalem. His work has been exhibited both in
Israel and abroad, winning a number of prizes. In
2010, an exhibition of his work took place in Tel
Aviv.
The work Weil created in Cyprus was influenced
largely by Czech art and Central European art in
general. This he combined with grotesque and
sharp humour, as well as with political awareness.
Using black ink and chalk or black and white
watercolours on paper, he gave his drawings a
most contrasting character. In his works presented
at the exhibition, one notices the attempt to assert
that life in the camps was a continuation of life in
the Nazi concentration camps and that their setup was meant to inflict even more injustice on
the Holocaust survivors. Especially notable is a
drawing where two children are planting a seed
in the garden beds around the black, tin barracks.
Here, notions of hope for freedom and the
continuity of life for the Jewish people - even in
captivity - are tangible. In another drawing, a small
child is depicted with a sorrowful look and an
adult face, short of stature, dressed in a coat many
sizes too big for him. He is standing confused
next to his backpack within the entanglement of
the frightening barbed wire fences that surround
him from all sides.
Naftali Bezem (b. 1924)
Artist & the Printmaking workshops organised
in the Detention Camps
Bezem was born in the city of Aachen in Germany.
As a young boy he immigrated to Palestine (EretzIsrael) in 1939, without his family, as part of a
youth group, just two weeks before the outbreak
of World War Two. Both his parents stayed
behind and perished in Auschwitz in 1943. His
talent for art was manifested early in his life; he
completed art studies at the Bezalel Academy of
Arts and Design (est. 1906) in Jerusalem. While
there he met his future wife, Hannah. With her
he was sent in 1947 to the Detention Camps in
Cyprus, as an art teacher there. His achievements
in painting and drawing were exceptional, while
at the same time the range of subjects that he
dealt with shifted easily between the private and
the public, between the social and the political
and between the diaspora and the land the
Israeli. Bezem is an important artist, who made
significant contributions imaging the new born
Israeli State. He was one of the most prominent
artists of his generation. He lives in Tel Aviv
and still paints. His art revolves around notions
of Family, Holocaust remembrances, settling the
land of Israel and social aspects of life in Israel.
During his lifetime, he received prestigious
prizes. He has exhibited his work both in Israel
and abroad. One of his well-known works is the
cast aluminium bas relief mural From Holocaust
to Rebirth (1974) at the Yad Vashem - Jerusalem.
In December 2012, a retrospective exhibition
commemorating his work was inaugurated at the
Tel-Aviv Museum of Art.
49
The Week of Madness
By Arshak Sarkissian
A
rmenian artist Arshak Sarkissian presented
his art exhibition The Week of Madness
at the Opus 39 Gallery in Nicosia from 29
September to 11 October 2014.
The exhibition, which included paintings,
drawings and sculptures by the artist, was
supported by the Pharos Arts Foundation.
The courage of Arshak the painter
By Vardan Jaloyan
The courage of Arshak the painter is featured
in a renovated connection of the real and
the fantastic, the human and the inhuman,
the cultural and the savage. His drawings
exhibit a complexity and subtlety that exceed
imagination; he is one of the few artists capable
of creating vast canvasses with multiple figures
and complex structure. As a painter he is, at the
same time, an anthropologist of states of mind.
The artist often depicts animals along with
his characters, a fact that also leaves room for
physiognomic confusing interpretations.
The characters are diverse and condense the
enormous heritage of Western Europe. Arshak
is able to create a new harmony between reality
and unreality. According to his own testimony,
he takes the prototypes of his characters from
the subcultures of large cities, recording their
anthropological mutations. There is a vital
area where the human and the animal become
indistinguishable. The inhabitants of this zone
are characterised as monsters, a mixture of
human and animal.
When we say politics today we mean biopolitics, namely, political control over the
manifestations of human life, which implies
exclusion of the monstrous. The heroes of
Arshak perhaps are those who have fled that
bio-political control. One of the reasons that
figurative plastic art is not possible anymore
is that modern life has stopped being plastic.
50
Arshak seeks and finds that plastic life in
subcultures that avoid control, but mostly in his
imagination.
Arshak has several graphic works and
paintings with the title Orchestra Rehearsal.
The orchestra, certainly, is the model of
society, but of what kind of society? Orchestra
musicians have a particular social character,
admirably introduced in Theodor Adorno’s
article Conductor and Orchestra: Adorno
writes that orchestra musicians are prone to
sadistic humour and continuous jokes; they
like obscene practical jokes. One may recall
Federico Fellini’s film, Orchestra Rehearsal.
This feature is probably related to the fact that
many ways of sublimation are closed to man in
musical space. It is particularly reflected in the
famous stubbornness of musicians. They are
51
constantly disappointed with their position in
the orchestra and constantly disillusioned with
their chosen profession. Orchestra is a mini
model of modern society, where freedom of
self-expression entails disappointments.
One may assume that, with their social
character, all of Arshak’s heroes are “orchestra
musicians” and can express themselves by
means of instruments. For example, a woman
has a fan in one hand and a piece of watermelon
in the other. They are free and vibrant, often
look negligent, are probably stubborn like
Fellini’s heroes, but in that noise a hubbub is
continuous and always present, and nothing
significant will happen.
It is all about the costumes
Costumes have a primary significance in Arshak’s
paintings and sculptures. His vivid visual stories
are told not only through gestures, mimics
and poses, but especially through costumes.
The clothes of the characters are often hung
like a sack; they look casual, sometimes even
miserable. Clothes symbolise social exploitation
and sometimes escape from the social, since a
person lives and acts inside of clothes.
Besides paintings and graphic works, sculpture
also has an important place in Arshak’s art.
Arshak’s sculptures have “come out” of his
paintings and graphic works, and they also
need to be looked at in a different way. For
example, a unique character emerging from a
graphic work may be transferred afterwards to
painting and finally may become a sculpture.
During these transformations, those characters
become more vivid, more alive, because the
subject is the secret of life, that life coming out
of its own boundaries.
Both paintings and sculptures of Arshak have
dramatic contents; there, life stages itself and
shows its whole power. I would like to call his
sculptures “dimensional painting”, but we know
that this term has been used by great goldsmith
and sculptor Julio Gonzalez for completely
different sculptures. In his sculptures, Arshak
remains a painter, which brings to mind Degas’
“Dancers”: Degas’ wonderful sculptures were
52
Europa Nostra award for the Home of Cooperation
T
he Home of Cooperation, a historical
building situated in the UN-controlled
buffer zone in Nicosia, has won the Europa
Nostra Award for Cultural Heritage.
the outcome of his desire to see his painted
images in tangible form.
Modern society is trying to find and define what
is allowed, while science and bio-technologies
are questioning boundaries between humane
and inhumane, life and lifeless. More and more
frequently we are changing our behaviour, as if
something inhuman had invaded our life. I think
Revolutionism is typical of Arshak’s paintings, yet
it is not a social, but an anthropological revolution.
About the artist
Arshak Sarkissian was born in Gyumri,
Armenia in 1981. Arshak works predominantly
in the medium of painting, drawing and
sculpture. He completed his education at the
National Aesthetic Center of Art in Armenia
and later took an art course at Cyprus College
of Art (2001-2002). The artist had solo shows
in different galleries abroad, among them the
Albemarle Gallery in London, Gavriel Gallery
in Bremen, Opus 39, Nicosia and many more.
In 2005 he attained a RA President’s Award for
Fine Arts. Among his works is the interior design
of the passenger terminals at Zvartnots Armenia
International Airport. He has participated in
numerous art projects, among them are Art
Omi International Artist residency in New
York and Stand Up For Your Rights Design
and Illustration Team Residence program in
Buntingford, UK, and the Andirran National
Commission for UNESCO international art
camp 2014. He works and lives in Yerevan,
Armenia. This is his 4th solo exhibition at Opus
39 Gallery.
And to commemorate the conservation award,
European Commissioner for Education, Culture,
Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou,
unveiled a plaque at a special ceremony held on 16
September, 2014. The ceremony was also attended
by the vice president of Europa Nostra, Irina
Subotic, Ambassador for European Economic
Area and Norway Grants, Ingrid Schulerud,
Nicosia Mayor, Constantinos Yiorkadjis on behalf
of the Greek Cypriot community and Mehmet
Harmanci as representative of the Turkish Cypriot
community. A musical programme followed the
presentation of the award.
The Jury said the Home for Cooperation was
something to be really proud of; “It constitutes
a substantial contribution to the revitalisation
of Nicosia’s United Nations Dead Zone as
well as to the wider peace-making procedure.
Furthermore it represents a typical example of
the 1950s architecture of Cyprus, which finds
few supporters but which we are again starting
to see as a brave and distinctive statement of the
character of its period.”
Erected in the early 1950s, the building is
attached to the Nicosia renaissance fortifications.
Like most of the architecture in the UN Buffer
Zone, it suffered from daily disintegration until
it was included in the project implemented by
the inter-communal organisation Association of
Historical Dialogue and Research. Functioning
as an educational centre, the purpose of the
Home for Cooperation is the launching of
projects involving education and training and
the advancement of research and dialogue. It is
accessible from both sides of the divide without
having to cross checkpoints, providing a shared
space that can be used by all.
“It symbolises the philosophy
of the Cypriot communities working
together, in collaboration with
the international community – ideals
of course shared by Europa Nostra’’
“It thus symbolises the philosophy of the
Cypriot communities working together, in
collaboration with the international community
– ideals of course shared by Europa Nostra,’’
the European cultural heritage organisation
said.
The European Union Prize for Cultural
Heritage
The European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage
/ Europa Nostra Awards was launched in 2002
by the European Commission and has been
organised by Europa Nostra since then. The
Prize promotes excellence, inspires through
the “power of example” and stimulates the
exchange of best practices in the heritage field
across Europe. It also aims to communicate to
the general public the beauty and the economic
and social value of our cultural heritage.
The Prize honours every year up to 30
outstanding heritage achievements from all
parts of Europe. The awards are given in
four categories: conservation, research and
digitisation, dedicated service by individuals
or organisations and education, training and
awareness-raising.
53
I am not the cancer
By Evie Andreou
C
ast aside, ignored and overlooked, is
how many women with Advanced Breast
Cancer (ABC) feel, and in wanting people to
understand that they are ‘not their cancer’, a
new installation opened on 7 November 2014
with real-life stories of how the disease has
impacted on them and their families.
The I am not the cancer installation was
organised by Novartis Pharma Services Inc
Oncology in cooperation with Europa Donna
Cyprus and was part of the European wide
Here&Now campaign.
The campaign was launched in Brussels in
June 2013 where the breast cancer community
gathered to discuss and debate how support
and care for women living with advanced
breast cancer could be improved. It coincided
with the new findings from a European survey
commissioned by Novartis Oncology. The
survey, conducted in nine European countries,
aimed to draw a wider picture of the disease and
revealed amongst others aspects, poor public
understanding of advanced breast cancer.
The audiovisual installation is the work of
two acclaimed artists; photographer Tim
Wainwright and sound artist John Wynne, who
bring forth the women’s stories and introduce
the rest of the world to the psycho-social and
economic impact of the disease on the women
and their families.
It was first set up in Belgium and travelled to
six other European countries before arriving in
Cyprus.
In each country, the women whom the artists
work with are found through cancer patients’
associations and in fact there was great interest
from Cypriot women in telling their stories.
In Cyprus the artists worked with three local
women and also used stories of women from
other European counties.
The visitor walks into a dark room with six
chairs in front of six screens where each of the
six women’s faces – or the back of their heads –
is shown to symbolise the hidden nature of the
illness. The artists then use sound and vision to
create the experience.
“A lot of people have found it quite powerful.
It feels very personal and direct, we use special
speaker technology that when you are sitting
watching the video it’s almost like the voice
is in your head and the video material that we
use… we made a decision to film the women
not talking… it’s like listening to someone’s
thoughts and they are just looking at you,” John
54
Wynne said.
He added that different people connected with
different stories and that some people were
almost always affected.
The women are encouraged to talk about
whatever they want to. “They tell us about the
things that matter to them in every intimate
way; we have no agenda so we let them say
what they want to say about the situations they
find themselves in. We don’t interfere,” Tim
Wainwright said.
“We tried to create a context in which they
can think about and talk about the things that
55
because that’s what the doctor had told the family
when the metastasis appeared six years ago.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in
women, and ABC largely affects women over
50, while 30 per cent of women with early breast
cancer go on to develop advanced disease. ABC is
not curable but medical treatment minimises the
symptoms, prolongs life and improves the quality
of the patient’s life. The expected life expectancy
of ABC patients ranges from two to four years.
Last year, 590 new breast cancer cases were
diagnosed in Cyprus, among them four men,
while 90 women with ABC died.
less than one third of the women patients said
they feel ‘strong’ or are ‘looking forward’ since
they were diagnosed with ABC, and 56 percent
said their household incomes had fallen as a
result of the disease, while 87 percent said their
expenditures increased to cover treatment and
further medication.
The campaign calls everyone from health care
practitioners, to decision makers to the public to
all do their bit so that women with ABC receive
the proper care and support they deserve.
According to the research, women with
ABC often feel invisible as they feel no one
understands them. They feel isolated from
others who don’t have ABC. They do not
receive enough support, and when they do, that
support eventually wanes.
Europa Donna Cyprus launched a campaign
last month to gather signatures for the creation
of a specialised breast centre in Cyprus, which
would lead to a 30 percent reduction in deaths,
and they called on Minister of Health Philippos
Patsalis to keep his promise to create it. So
far more than 20,000 people have signed the
petition http://kentromastou.com.cy/
Fifty one percent of ABC patients said they
believed they are perceived negatively by
society, while research showed that 32.1
percent of people asked did not know or could
not give a definition of what ABC is while 77.1
percent did not know that ABC is incurable.
The art installation, which was under the
auspices of the Minister of Health, was
inaugurated at the Famagusta Gate in Nicosia by
First Lady Andri Anastasiades on 7 November
2014 and remained open to the public, free of
entry, for two days.
The findings of the survey showed that only
(Article published in the Cyprus Mail newspaper)
Photographer Tim Wainwright (left) and sound artist
John Wynne mingle with guests after the exhibition
are most important to them; and of course
with each woman most things are going to be
different, every time we do the project, we get
a very different perspective on things,” Wynne
said.
He also said that each of the Cypriot women’s
stories was different and also quite different
from anything else they had seen so far.
“There are different issues in each country and
different issues according to whether they are in
an urban or rural environment. In fact one of the
Cypriot women we worked with is from a very
small village in Paphos, and she talked about
how nobody in her village had heard of anyone
surviving cancer before and nobody talked
about it… families who have had someone with
cancer it was like a secret… kept in the family,
56
so that was interesting having that perspective.
We’ve never heard of that kind of situation
before,” Wynne said.
He added that one of the English women that
they worked with was all about the impact of the
breast cancer on her career and her work, while
other women have talked almost exclusively
about their family and its effects on them.
“I have cancer but I am not the cancer,” said
Tootje, one of the women from the Netherlands
who had participated in the project. She had
said that she was not afraid of dying but that
she was worried about all the people she would
leave behind, her children and her husband.
In her story she had said how her illness had
affected her children and how her son had said in
a school presentation that she would die in a year,
57
This is Italy…
Soprano Tereza Gevorgyan
T
T
he Pharos Arts Foundation presented a recital
with the young Armenian soprano Tereza
Gevorgyan, who despite her young age has been
distinguished throughout the world for the beauty
of her vocal colour and her eloquent performances.
he Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, in
collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in
Cyprus and as part of initiatives under the Italian
Presidency of the Council of the European
Union, presented the concert series This is
Italy… (F. Mendelssohn) in three concerts on 30
and 31 October 2014, and 1 November 2014.
Winner of the Rosenblatt Recital Prize and The
Edith Mary Clarke Cup for best female singer
(April 2014), as well as the Pavarotti Prize
(October 2013), Tereza performed a programme
that included songs and operatic arias by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Sergei Rachmaninov, Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Armen Tigranian, Herbert
Hughes, Giacomo Puccini and Gaetano Donizetti.
The concert was jointly presented with PSBANK
and kindly supported by the Embassy of Russia.
The young Armenian soprano Tereza Gevorgyan
has studied in the Yerevan State Conservatoire with
Rafael Akopyants, and with Diane Forlano at the
Royal Academy of Music in London, where she
has recently obtained a DipRAM. She is currently
part of the Opera Course of the RAM, under the
guidance of Lillian Watson and Jonathan Papp.
Notwithstanding her young age, Tereza has been
distinguished throughout the world for the beauty of
her vocal colour and her eloquent performances. She
was one of 12 young singers selected for the 2011
season Georg Solti Academy in Tuscany, receiving
intensive training from Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and
Sir Thomas Allen, and giving a number of concerts
in Tuscany and Florence, as well as participating in a
CD recording for the 100th anniversary of Sir Georg
Solti’s birth, produced by Richard Bonynge,.
Her recent highlights include concerts at the
Palace of Caserta in Naples, Carnegie Hall in New
York and the Chicago Symphony Hall celebrating
Georg Solti’s 100th birthday with The World
Orchestra for Peace conducted by Valery Gergiev,
Mozart’s Requiem in Bucharest Romania with
the National Radio Orchestra of Romania, and
Brahms’ Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Hear My
Prayer at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in
58
The concerts took place under the artistic
direction of Italian conductor Sesto Quatrini,
winner of the International Contest Solon
Michaelides, which was announced the CySO
Foundation in 2012.
London with the Stanmore Choral Society.
Her operatic performances include the roles of
Bat/Animal in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilege
at the Barbican Centre, Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s
Eugene Onegin with the BBC Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Stéphane Denève, and
Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme with the Nevill
Holt Opera. Her repertoire includes roles such
as Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Dalinda
in Handel’s Ariodante and Pamina in Mozart’s
The Magic Flute. Tereza has collaborated with
renowned conductors such as Richard Bonynge,
Valery Gergiev, Anthony Legge, Lionel Friend,
Jane Glover and Paolo Speca.
Tereza Gevorgyan is the winner of the Rosenblatt
Recital Prize and The Edith Mary Clarke Cup
for best female singer (April 2014), the Pavarotti
Prize (October 2013), supported by Karaviotis,
the Les Azuriales Karaviotis Prize (August
2013), the Thelma Kings Singers’ Award (March
2013), the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Prize
(June 2011), and the Douglas Samuel & Birdie
Matthews Award at the Royal Academy of Music.
Tereza is grateful for the generous support of the
Raffy Manoukian Scholarship.
The audience was presented with the works:
Overture to the opera Tancredi by Gioacchino
Rossini; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin
concerto in D major, op. 61 (with soloist Sorin
Alexandrou Horlea, member of the CySO); and
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Symphony no.
4 in A major, op. 90 (Italian).
Mendelssohn’s Italian symphony, composed
during his tour of Italy, not only reflects the
colours and temperament of the country and its
people, but also incorporates the characteristic
dance rhythms of the saltarello and tarantella.
This splendid symphony was preceded by the
majestic Overture to Tancredi by Rossini and
Beethoven’s masterful Violin concerto, whose
revival in 1844 was conducted by Mendelssohn
himself and interpreted by the then 12-year-old
violinist Joseph Joachim. A pre-concert talk was
also held with a short presentation of the works, by
clarinetist and musicologist Angelos Angelides.
The concerts were presented at Rialto Theatre
in Limassol, Pallas Theatre in Nicosia and
Markideion Theatre in Paphos, and supported
by Rialto Theatre and Paphos municipality in
collaboration with the organisation “European
Capital of Culture – Paphos 2017”.
59
Short Matters
S
hort film lovers got the chance to enjoy the
year’s awarded European short films at the
annual Short Matters festival in September and
October.
Organised by the Ministry of Education and
Culture, the European Film Academy and ARTos
Foundation with the support of the Cyprus
University of Technology, the Festival presented
the best European short films of the European
Film Academy for the eighth year running. The
screenings took place at ARTos Foundation in
Nicosia from 24 to 26 September 2014 and at
the Pefkios Georgiades Amphitheatre (CUT) in
Limassol from 8 to 10 October 2014.
Short Matters is the European Film Academy’s
short film tour which brings the short films
nominated for the European Film Awards to a
series of film festivals and institutions across
Europe and beyond. Coming from various regions
of Europe – Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany,
Ireland, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Spain, The
Netherlands, UK and Ukraine – the 2014 Short
The short film initiative is organised by the
European Film Academy in co-operation
with a series of film festivals throughout
the continent. At each of these festivals
an independent jury presents one of the
European short films in competition with
a nomination in the short film category of
the European Film Awards. In order to be
considered for the short film initiative, short
films have to be selected for the competition
section in any of these partner festivals:
Berlin International Film Festival/Germany
Cork Film Festival/Ireland
Curtas Vila do Conde - International Film
Festival/Portugal
Encounters Short Film and Animation Film
60
Matters programme featuring the short films
nominated for the European Film Awards 2013
was a manifold panorama of young contemporary
European filmmaking.
The 2,900 members of the European Film
Academy selected Dood van een Schaduw
(Death of a Shadow) by Belgian filmmaker
Tom Van Avermaet as the overall winner, which
was presented at the 26th European Film Awards
Ceremony in Berlin on the first weekend of
December 2013.
Dood van een Schaduw (Death of a Shadow)
Valladolid Short Film Nominee – European Short
Film 2013
Belgium/France, 20’, fiction
Directed by: Tom Van Avermaet
Screenplay: Ines Van Impe
Director of Production: Ellen De Waele
Editor: Dieter Diependaele
Sound: Christian Monheim
Cast: Matthias Schoenaerts, Laura Verlinden,
Festival Bristol
Festival del film Locarno/Switzerland
Film Festival Ghent/Belgium
International Film Festival Rotterdam/the
Netherlands
International Short Film Festival ClermontFerrand/France
International Short Film Festival in Drama/
Greece
Krakow Film Festival/Poland
Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad/
Norway
Sarajevo Film Festival/Bosnia &
Herzegovina
Tampere Film Festival/Finland
Valladolid International Film Festival/Spain
Venice Film Festival/Italy
Dood van een Schaduw (Death of a Shadow)
Morning
Though I know the River is Dry
Peter Van Den Eede, Benjamin Ramon, Amandine
Zurbuchen, Brian Piezel, Denis Duron, Gregory
Rabat, Emile Boudaille, Bruno Clément, Frank
Maréco, Laurent Marchetti, Guillaume Sentier,
Clément Bruneau, Guillaume Leguichon, JeanBaptiste Wagnon, Daniel Rechul, Simon Robas,
Jérome Wagnon
Synopsis: Soldier Nathan Rijckx died during
World War I. A strange collector imprisoned his
shadow and gave him a new chance; a second life
against 10,000 captured shadows. It is love that
guides him, as his purpose is to meet Sarah again,
the woman he fell in love with before he died.
But when he discovers that she’s already in love
with someone else, jealousy clouds his mind and
pushes him towards a bitter decision, a decision
not without consequences…
As Ondas (The Waves)
Ghent Short Film Nominee 2012
Portugal, 22’, fiction
Directed by: Miguel Fonseca
Screenplay: Miguel Fonseca
Director of Photography: Mário Castanheira
Editor: Sandro Aguilar
Sound: António Figueiredo
Cast: Andreia Contreiras, Alice Contreiras
Synopsis: Beautiful, truly Portuguese
seascapes swept before my eyes. Tied up in
these images was my youth, my paradise lost.
The vast sea, the beach, the people, all waiting,
all dying gently, sadly, beautifully… Life and
death were being recorded here as a whole:
Death as a part of life, a cosmic change, a
transformation.
61
Morning
Cork Short Film Nominee
Ireland/UK, 20’, fiction
Directed by: Cathy Brady
Screenplay: Sarah Woolner, Cathy Brady
Director of Production: Isona Rigau
Editor: Matteo Bini
Sound: Tom Griffiths
Cast: Eileen Walsh, Johnny Harris
Synopsis: A distraught woman doesn’t want to be
disturbed, but the front doorbell keeps ringing and
the caller won’t leave until she answers.
Though I know the River is Dry
Rotterdam Short Film Nominee
Egypt/Palestine/UK/Qatar, 19‘, fiction
Directed by: Omar Robert Hamilton
Sonntag 3 (Sunday 3)
Skok (Jump)
62
2013
Screenplay: Omar Robert Hamilton
Director of Production: Louis Lewarne
Editor: Omar Robert Hamilton
Sound: Basel Abbas
Cast: Kais Nashif
Synopsis: He has returned to Palestine. On the
fraught road through the country he relives the
choice that sent him to America and the forces of
history now driving him home.
Skok (Jump)
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Nominee 2012
Bulgaria, 30’, fiction
Directed by: Petar Valchanov & Kristina Grozeva
Screenplay: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Director of Production: Kristina Grozeva, Petar
Valchanov
Yaderni Wydhody (Nuclear Waste)
Zima
A Story for the Modlins
Editor: Petar Valchanov
Sound: Ivan Andreev
Cast: Stephan Denoliubov, Ani Valchanova
Synopsis: The old bachelor Gosho receives an
offer from his rich cousin Joro to take care of Joro’s
luxurious penthouse while the latter is abroad.
For the poor relative, still living with his mother
and grand-father, this is the perfect opportunity to
have some peace and quiet in luxury and richness.
But as early as his second day in the apartment,
the water meter reader arrives, performing her
monthly inspection. Her visit turns out to be much
more than just a simple water meter reading, but
the most deceitful, most passionate, the funniest
and the saddest love in the world.
outings. In SONNTAG 3, the protagonist has a
blind date with the Chancellor.
Misterio (Mystery)
Berlin Short Film Nominee 2013
Spain, 12’, fiction
Directed by: Chema García Ibarra
Screenplay: Chema García Ibarra
Director of Production: José Antonio Fernández
Editor: Chema García Ibarra
Sound: José Marsilla, David Rodríguez.
Cast: Angelita López, Asun Quinto, Josefa Sempere,
Antonio Blas Molina, José Manuel Ibarra, Luismi
Bienvenido, Susi Martínez, Josette Mora.
Synopsis: They say that if you put your ear to the
back of his neck, you can hear the Virgin talk.
Sonntag 3 (Sunday 3)
Tampere Short Film Nominee 2012
Germany, 14 min, animation
Directed by: Jochen Kuhn
Screenplay: Jochen Kuhn
Director of Production: Jochen Kuhn
Editor: Olaf Meltzer
Sound: Jochen Kuhn
Synopsis: The third part in a series about Sunday
Yaderni Wydhody (Nuclear Waste)
Grimstad Short Film Nominee 2012
Ukraine, 25’, fiction, no dialogue
Directed by: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Screenplay: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Director of Production: Volodymyr Tykhyy,
Denys Ivanov
Editor: Kristof Hoornaert
Sound: Sergiy Stepanskiy
Cast: Sergiy Gavryluk, Svenlana Shtanko
Synopsis: Sergiy and Sveta live in Chernobyl. Sergiy is
a truck-driver at a radioactive wastes utilization plant.
Sveta works at a radioactive decontamination laundry.
Their work and their lives are dictated by one
unchangeable rhythm with clockwork precision. But
what sets this mechanism in motion - day by day?
Zima
Locarno Short Film Nominee 2013
Russia, 13’, documentary/experimental
Directed by: Cristina Picchi
Screenplay: Cristina Picchi
Director of Production: Ekaterina Okhonko
Editor: Cristina Picchi
Sound: Henri d’ Armancourt
Cast: Ay Ogunlana, Vladimir Kopilov, Alexander
(Murmansk’s sailor), Alexey Beznosov, Sergey
Krutikov, Alexander (Baikal’s fisherman), Alexey
Laptev
Synopsis: A journey through North Russia and
Siberia where people have to cope with one of the
world’s harshest climates, Zima portrays a reality
where the boundary between life and death is so
thin that it is sometimes almost non-existent. In
these remote places, civilisation constantly fights
63
Houses with Small Windows
Butter Lamp
and embraces nature and its timeless rules and
rites. People, animals and nature become elements
of a millennial existence cycle where physical and
mental endurance are as important as chance and
where life and death constantly meet each other.
young man in a neighbouring village with her life.
She has shamed the family and therefore must die
at the hands of her own brothers. And as tradition
will have it, the killing must be compensated.
A Story for the Modlins
Sarajevo Short Film Nominee 2012
Spain, 26’, documentary
Directed by: Sergio Oksman
Screenplay: Carlos Muguiro, Emilio Tomé, Sergio
Oksman
Director of Production: Sergio Oksman
Editor: Fernando Franco, Sergio Oksman
Sound: Iñaki Sánchez
Cast: Elmer Modling
Synopsis: After appearing in the film Rosemary’s
Baby, by Roman Polanski, Elmer Modlin ran away
with his family to a distant land, where they shut
themselves inside a dark apartment for thirty years.
Houses with Small Windows
Venice Short Film Nominee 2013
Belgium, 15’, fiction
Directed by: Bülent Öztürk
Screenplay: Bülent Öztürk and Mizgin Müjde
Arslan
Director of Production: Clind’oeil films & The
fridge.tv
Editor: Bert Jacobs, Pieter Smet & Jan Hameeuw
Sound: Thierry De Vries
Cast: Mizgin Müjde Arslan, Seyithan Altiparmak,
Emine Korkmaz
Synopsis: Houses with small windows is a
powerful and yet muted portrait of an honour
killing in the rural Kurdish Southeast of Turkey.
22-year old Dilan pays for her forbidden love for a
64
Butter Lamp
Drama Short Film Nominee 2013
France/China, 15’, fiction
Directed by: Hu Wei
Screenplay: Hu Wei
Director of Production: AMA Productions – Goya
Entertainment
Editor: Hu Wei
Sound: Hervé Guyadère
Cast: Genden Punstok
Synopsis: A young photographer and his assistant
suggest to Tibetan nomads to photograph them.
On diverse and more or less exotic backgrounds,
families appear to the photographer. Through
these shots, the photographer will weave unique
links with each of the various villagers.
Orbit Ever After
Bristol Short Film Nominee 2013
UK, 20’, fiction
Directed by: Jamie Stone
Screenplay: Jamie Stone
Director of Production: Chee-Lan Chan, Len
Rowles
Editor: James Taylor
Sound: Jens Rosenlund Petersen
Cast: Thomas Brodie-Sangster, MacKenzie
Crook, Bronaugh Gallagher, Bob Goody
Synopsis: Earth’s orbit; the distant future. Two
star-crossed lovers overcome all probabilities and
sacrifice everything they have in order to spend
one perfect moment together.
65

Volume LII, No 4, October

Transcription

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