Cyprus- far and close as well
The summer of the millenium was the year of my first attempt to do a documentary on Cyprus. In 2000 I couldn’t even call any place in the South from Istanbul. Turkey was seen as the enemy number one for Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. I would make contacts over e-mai and started the journey with some vague information on the bicommunal peacemovement.
The first day I entered Nicosia and walked in the old quarter along the buffer zone, I was startled by the melancholic atmosphere. It reminded me Berlin in the 1970th and 1980th, when artists in West Berlin would do crazy movies and paintings along the wall.
Since that year Cyprus kept beeing my favourite island in the Mediterranean. It was always far and close as well. The beauty of its landscape and the impressive people I met made me a true friend. In 2003 the North suddenly opened its borders. Thomas and me were in the South for shooting a TV program by chance, and we could join some cypriot friends on their first journey to the “other side”.
Last year we went again. The reunification keeps being a dream of some, while most don’t care any more. People can cross the borders, while the political unity doesn’t seem to be an option right now.
See also:
Occupying the occupied http://www.inenart.eu/?p=1282 ; Topography of memory http://www.inenart.eu/?p=1819
Xorko- artist collective http://www.inenart.eu/?p=2591, Techno in Famagusta http://senseoftime.inenart.eu/?p=2346
Get naked http://senseoftime.inenart.eu/?p=2317
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Tags: cyprus, documentary, Feed the sense, Footprints, Greece, Places, seeds for peace, The Passenger, Turkey, Youthpower
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