Archive
Sidestreets - Chronology of events
2007 October
– Anber Onar
– Dr. Johann Pillai
2007 Nov. – 2008 Apr.
Sidestreets Fellows and Architects-in- Residence Emre Akbil and Esra Akbil develop their award-winning project to design the new Presidential Administrative Offices for North Cyprus, interview community residents who will be affected by the project, and prepare for “Layers of Space,” an exhibition of their project at Sidestreets.
2008
2008 Oct. 6 – Oct. 18
Sidestreets Cultural Heritage Awareness Events: The Excavations at Kraltepesi/Vasili in Kaleburnu/Gallinoporni
2008 Oct. 6 (M)
Presentation: “Kaleburnu-Kraltepesi/Gallinoporni-Vasili: Discovery of a Major Bronze Age Settlement in Cyprus”
– Dr. Uwe Müller, Excavation Director, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
2008 Oct. 6 (M)
Exhibition Opening: Photographs from the King’s Hill Excavations
– Dr. Skip Norman, Dean, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Eastern Mediterranean University
2008 Oct. 8 (W)
Presentation: “The Kaleburnu/Vasili Settlements in the Context of World Cultural Heritage” (Turkish)
– Mr. Bülent Kızılduman, Excavation Co-Director, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
2008 Oct. 10 (F)
Children’s Educational Event: Visit by SOS Primary School children to the Kraltepesi/Vasili exhibition at Sidestreets followed by a film screening.
2008 Oct. 13 (M)
Presentation: “Kaleburnu-Kraltepesi/Gallinoporni-Vasili: An Example for Cultural Heritage Management in Disputed Areas” (English)
– Dr. Uwe Müller, Excavation Director, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
2008 Oct. 15 (W)
Presentation: “Famagusta’s Cultural Heritage: Recent International Developments” (English)
– Dr. Michael Walsh, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
2008 Oct. 17 (F)
Presentation: “Discoveries from the 2008 Underwater Surveys at Kaleburnu” (English)
– Dr. Matthew Harpster, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
2008 Oct. 28 (T)
Film and Presentations for the “Suspended Spaces”/”Famagusta Project” group of 30 European artists:
1) Screening of “The Stones of Famagusta”
2) Presentation: “Famagusta’s Cultural Heritage: Recent Developments” (English)
– Dr. Michael Walsh, Department of Archeology and Art History,
Eastern Mediterranean University
3) Presentation: “A Scientific and Visual Project for Creating an Environmentally- Friendly Park on the Green Line”
– Dr. Anna Grinitsch, Harvard University
2008 Oct. 31 (F) Presentation on Digital Storytelling (English)
– Dr. John Higgins
Dr. John W. Higgins (www.mediaprof.org) is an associate professor of Communication and Media at Menlo College in Atherton, California, USA. Since 1974 he has been involved in alternative, grassroots, community-based media in a variety of roles. Most recently he served as president of the board of the San Francisco Community Television Corporation, the non-profit organization managing the city’s and county’s public access cable television facilities and channel.
Dr. Higgins’ areas of expertise include community-based, alternative media; media production; media technologies; critical pedagogy; and storytelling and oral history as art and social science. His background includes twenty-five years as a professional puppeteer and street performer. Dr. Higgins’ interest in narratives has typically been focused on the stories told by people within communities. A recent outgrowth of these interests has been digital storytelling, which fuses individual and group narratives of struggle and transformation, personal reflexivity, ethnographic research, and digital distribution.
2008 Nov. 1 (Sa) Workshop on Digital Storytelling I (English)
– Dr. John Higgins
Digital Storytelling is a method of telling personal stories using digital tools. These are typically stories of personal relevance – transcendence, transformation, change, of events or people in our lives who have made a difference.
The focus of digital storytelling is on hearing the stories of everyday people, the communities in which they live, and the people with whom they share the planet. The belief is that there is empowerment in hearing the stories, as well as empowerment in the telling of the stories. Digital technologies are tools to aid in this ancient human process.
Primarily initiated by the multimedia performance work of Dan Atchley and developed by Joe Lambert, founder of the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, California, USA, the technique has spread across the globe. Contexts have included support in healing and prevention of domestic violence, awareness of HIV, conflict resolution and reconciliation, and self-reflexivity in the college classroom.
Digital storytelling focuses more on the stories told, and less on the technical polish of the finished production. Simple digital tools and methods are used, drawing from archival family photographs and artifacts, with the voice of the storyteller favored over that of the polished professional announcer.
There are striking similarities between the tenets of digital storytelling and notions of self-reflexivity, oral history, ethnographic methods of social science, and media as tools for building community and affecting personal/social change. With stories rooted in the experience of the storyteller searching for personal or universal human truths, digital storytelling offers a unique method of prompting practical self-reflexivity for people in a variety of personal and cultural contexts.
2008 Nov. 1 (Sa) Street Puppet Performance for Children
– Dr. John Higgins
In recreating the magic of the old-time street puppeteers, John Higgins utilized a modern concept – the "Walking Stage." A unique backpack-like design of tubes and burlap, the walking stage allows the puppets to walk among the audience and interact directly with the crowd. Performances depend a great deal on audience participation. No script is used; shows follow a basic outline and the rest is improvised. This allows each performance to be fresh and alive, with the audience helping to create the outcome.
John Higgins` troupe was first organized in Dayton, Ohio in 1974 as the "Puppets of Lothlorien," and the cast changed its name to the "Night Vision Puppets" in 1977. As Dayton`s official "Ambassadors of Goodwill," the puppets toured Mexico and the U.S., performing in English and Spanish, primarily in small, remote villages. They appeared weekly on Dayton`s WKEF TV program "Shock Theater" for three years, until in 1981 the troupe finally settled in southeastern Ohio.
2008 Nov. 1 (Sa) Sidestreets Film Screening for Children
2008 Nov. 6 (Th) – Dec. 10 (W)
Exhibition continues: "Provocation" – Multimedia works by Emin Çizenel
- … in the soot of the candle’s flicker … Soot is made up of tiny black carbon particles that radiate energy and give the flame of a candle its characteristic yellow-red color. Like charcoal, which is also formed of carbon, soot has historically been used as a base for calligraphers’ ink, as an additive to the amber resin used in the first oil paints to create printers’ ink, and also as a symbolic coloring agent in shamanistic and other types of rituals. Today, the accumulation of soot particles in the air from industrial and other types of smoke is held responsible for most of the global warming effects of carbon dioxide, as soot settles on snow and ice and inhibits reflection of the sun’s radiation; and inhalation of atmospheric soot particles is a major health problem in developing countries. Soot is also a major issue in the conservation and restoration of art, as it is deposited and accumulates over time, causing damage to artworks from petroglyphs and cave paintings to contemporary works in museums and galleries. ...In an essay on “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin defined the “aura” of an object such as an artwork as all that it expresses and carries with it from the time it is created, including its physical form and the traces it shows of the history which it has passed through. Emin Çizenel’s works of “Provocation” represent an extraordinary postmodern reflection on the history of art and on contemporary issues, on the processes of memory and forgetting, and on history itself: they are formed out of traces of soot, a medium which is, paradoxically, both an integral part of the history of painting and writing, and the primary source of damage to art, which curators and restorers try to remove, thereby erasing from artworks the traces of their history. Çizenel’s work foregrounds soot as the very mark and trace of history, in a series of works that restore the aura to painting, as painting …
- Note: One image in Emin Çizenel`s Provokasyon exhibition was a photographic reproduction of the original that was on view at Sidestreets during the opening. Çizenel was selected as a finalist in the Fifth International Painting Prize competition of Castellon County Council, in Spain. His original canvas was exhibited with those of the other finalists at the Museu de Belles Arts de Castello (the Castellon Museum of Fine Arts) from 11 November 2008.
2008 Nov. 7 (F)
Street Puppet Performance for Children at the SOS Primary School
– Dr. John Higgins, Sidestreets Resident Fellow
Street Puppet Performance at Sidestreets
– Dr. John Higgins, Sidestreets Resident Fellow
Sidestreets Film screening for children
2008 Nov. 11 (Tu)
Armistice Day Lecture: “British Art in the First World War” (English)
– Dr. Michael Walsh, FRSA, Department of Archeology and Art History,
Eastern Mediterranean University
The radio program “Rebellion and Fear: Artists and the Great War” was aired on BBC Radio 3 at 9:30 p.m. GMT on Sunday, November 9, hosted by The Times art critic Richard Cork, and featuring Dr. Michael Walsh. The Sidestreets lecture represented a detailed follow-up, and provided a fresh perspective on the art and ethos of the time.
Performance-Lecture: Breaking the Rules: Dada, Surrealist, Concrete and Phonetic Poems (English)
– Dr. Johann Pillai
“Breaking the Rules” represents a unique visual and auditory exploration, interpretation, and performance of alternative forms of literature.
International Children’s Film Festival
2008, Dec. 13
Seminar for Children: “What is Hearing, and How do we Hear?” (Turkish)
– Dr. Levent Sennaroğlu, Hacettepe University
As part of its mission to raise awareness of critical social activities and promote values among children and in the community, Sidestreets hosted a seminar for children aged 5 to 10 on hearing disabilities by Dr. Levent Sennaroğlu, which was followed by the regular screening of a Sidestreets Saturday afternoon children’s film. The seminar was designed for children, with colorful animated films about the ear and its functions, and how disabilities can affect hearing and balance, and social participation; some 35 children frfom the areas around Sidestreets participated in an energetic question-and-answer session.
Professor Levent Sennaroğlu is a specialist and surgeon in the Ear, Nose and Throat Division of Hacetttepe University’s Medical School, who has also worked at the House Ear Institute in the United States, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on cochlear implants. His area of specialization is in clinical and surgical procedures for treating hearing loss and balance problems in children and adults.
15 Dec. 2008 – 24 Jan. 2009
Sidestreets’ last exhibition of the year, "Small Touches," opened on 15 December 2008 at 19:30. "Small Touches" is a group exhibition featuring artists Aslı Bolayır, Emin Çizenel, Sümer Erek, Ümit İnatcı, Aşık Mene, Panayiotis Michael, Lefteris Olympios, Anber Onar, Güner Pir, and Cemal Gürsel Soyel,. The exhibition will be open to the public until 24 January at Sidestreets, 22 Mahkemeler Önü, Lefkoşa. Visiting hours: 09:00-17:00 (weekdays) and 10:00-16:00 (Saturdays).
The artists:
Aslı Bolayır (b. Istanbul, 1968) lived in Cyprus until 1986, when she went to France to study art at the Marseille School of Fine Arts. She has participated in exhibitions in Bastia, Barcelona and Nicosia. She currently lives in Spain and works as freelance artist.
Emin Çizenel (b. Mallia, 1949) received his B.A. and M.A. from Istanbul Fine Arts Academy (1973-1974). He works as an independent professional artist, and has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna, and as a Fulbright fellow in New York. The recipient of many regional and international awards for his work, Çizenel has participated in numerous international and local exhibitions/biennials in England, Cyprus, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, Greece, France, Germany, and the United States.
Sümer Erek (b. Limassol, 1959) graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in 1985, and in 2008 completed his M.A. in Theory and Practice of Transnational Art at Camberwell–University of the Arts, London. Erek is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist with extensive experience in public art installation, creating large-scale works and participatory projects in the UK and abroad. He works in a variety of art fields, including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance. Erek has exhibited widely nationally and internationally; currently he works as a freelance artist in the UK.
Ümit İnatçı (b. Limassol, 1960) began his higher education at the Holborn Center School of Art and Design in London and then traveled to Italy, where he graduated from the Pietro Vannucci Academy of Fine Arts in 1984. İnatçı has participated in numerous exhibitions in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and Italy, and has received many awards for his work in painting, photography and graphics design. He is currently based in Cyprus, where he lectures at Eastern Mediterranean University and also writes regularly for the Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Afrika.
Aşık Mene (b. Limassol, 1955) began his studies at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, and also traveled to the UK to pursue his personal artistic interests. In 1982, after graduating from the Neşet Günal Studio of the Academy, he returned to North Cyprus, where he currently works as a freelance artist and art director. Mene has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including in the "Contemporary Istanbul Painters" exhibition at Moda Cumali Gallery, the Istanbul State Museum of Fine Arts, and Urart Art Gallery, Istanbul.
Panayiotis Michael (b. Nicosia, 1966) studied Graphic Arts and Poster Design at Moscow Academic Art Institute V.I., Surikov, Moscow in 1986-1993, and then painting at Queens College, New York in 1998-2000. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants for his work, which has been exhibited nationally and internationally in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, and the United States. Michael currently teaches in the Department of Art, Design and Communication at Frederick Institute of Technology in Nicosia, and is also the cofounder of the Artrageous Group.
Lefteris Olympios (b. Limassol, 1953) completed his studies in graphic arts at the Doxiades Academy, Athens in 1973-76, and then studied painting, iconography, fresco and mosaic at the School of Fine Arts (1978-84), and painting and sculpture at the Free Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague (1984-86). Since 1986 he has been living and working in Amsterdam. Olympios’ work has been exhibited internationally from Italy, Portugal and Holland to Mexico; and is exhibited regularly in Cyprus, Greece, and the Netherlands.
Anber Onar (b. Nicosia, 1964) received her B.F.A. in visual arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (1987), and her M.A. in critical theory and film analysis from Eastern Mediterranean University (2002). Onar is an independent artist and scholar, and co-founder of Sidestreets, where she develops the culture and arts programs. She has taught fine arts and art history at Bilkent University, and at Eastern Mediterranean University, where she worked as a design consultant. Her work has been exhibited in Cyprus and internationally, from the USA to Sweden, France, Greece, and Germany.
Güner Pir (b. Paphos, 1949) studied painting at Ankara Gazi Institute and graduated from its Turan Erol Studio in 1972. Pir is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, which has been exhibited extensively in Cyprus and Turkey, including in the Asia Europa Bienalles in Istanbul and the National Painting Competitions in Cyprus. He currently teaches art in North Cyprus.
Cemal Gürsel Soyel (b. Paphos, 1951) graduated in 1986 from the Neşet Günal, Neşe Erdok Studio at Mimar Sinan Üniversity in Istanbul, and then studied at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy with Prof. Anton Lehmden during 1986 to 1990. The recipient of numerous prizes for his work, Soyel has exhibited widely nationally and internationally. He is currently working in Austria as a freelance artist.
2008 Dec. 16– 2009 January 15 Sidestreets Creative Writing and Poetry Workshop Program (in Turkish)
A five-week Creative Writing and Poetry Workshop program is being offered by distinguished Turkish Cypriot poet Mehmet Yaşın, Sidestreets’ Resident Fellow for the period December 2008 – January 2009.
Mehmet Yaşın (b. 1958, Lefkoşa) lives between Cyprus and Cambridge, where he lectures and does research on literature and translation studies; he has taught courses and led creative writing workshops at Sabanci University and the University of Middlesex. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Pathos (1990), The Promising Armchair (1993), Fantasy Repair (1998), Don’t Go Back To Kyrenia (1993), His Name on the List of Missing (1993), the novel Hours Outside Borders (1993), and the experimental works Poeturka (1995) and Kosmopoetika (2002).
His 1985 work My Love the Dead Soldier was awarded the first prize of the Turkish Academy and the A. Kadir Poetry Prize; his 1994 novel Your Kinsman Pisces won the prestigious Cevdet Kudret Novel Prize. His edited works include the Anthology of Turkish Cypriot Poetry (1994), Stepmothertongue (2000), and the Anthology of Cypriot Poetry (2005) which was awarded the Memet Fuat Criticism prize. Five of his books were published in 2007: Collected Writings 1978-2005, Collected Poems 1977-2002, Hours Outside Borders, Your Kinsman Pisces, and a new volume of poetry, Orange Bird.
Mehmet Yaşin’s works are currently being translated into several languages, and several of his works have appeared ınternationally in 2008: a poetry collection in French, Constantinople n’attend plus personne (Bleu autour, trans. Alain Mascarou); a collection in Italian, Il drago ha anche le ali (Argo, trans. Rosita d’Amora); a collection in Lithuanian, Vecas dziemas no Jaunās pilsētās (Adrina, trans. Uldis Berzins); and a DVD of his poetry in Russian (NeMe, trans. Julia Stepanchuk, ed. H. Black).
2008 Dec. 16
2008 Dec. 19
Children’s Educational Event: Visit by SOS Primary School children to the “Small Touches” exhibition at Sidestreets
2008 Dec. 22
Sümer Erek, an artist based in the UK, gave an informal talk and slide presentation on "house installation" projects he has been working on since 2000.
Sümer Erek (b. Limassol, Cyprus, 1959) graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in 1985, and in 2008 completed his M.A. in Theory and Practice of Transnational Art at Camberwell–University of the Arts, London. Erek is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist with extensive experience in public art installation, creating large-scale works and participatory projects in the UK and abroad. He works in a variety of art fields, including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance. Erek has exhibited widely nationally and internationally; currently he works as a freelance artist in the UK.
2009
2008 Dec. 15 – 2009 Jan. 24
International Group Exhibition: "Small Touches" continues.
2008 Dec. 16 – 2009 Jan. 15
Sidestreets Creative Writing and Poetry Workshop Program continues.
– Mehmet Yaşın
2009 Jan. 25
Innocence and Experience: The Poetry and Art of William Blake
Sidestreets presents the first in its new series of cultural and art events for the English-speaking community in Kyrenia at 12 p.m. on Sunday, 25 January at Onar Village. The events, to be held on the last Sunday of every month, will include informal, interactive and visual talks and conversations on British and World art, music and literature, with new and exciting interpretations of classical and modern masterpieces. Each conversation will be followed by a full Sunday lunch. The first event, an interactive reading of “Innocence and Experience: the Poetry and Art of William Blake” followed by Sunday lunch at the Onar Village restaurant, is presented by Dr. Johann Pillai, the Director of Sidestreets.
2009 Feb. 2 - 12
Since December 2008, Sidestreets staff have been teaching English at the Haydarpasha Trade School and the Atatürk Vocational School in Nicosia under a program for disadvantaged children funded by the US Embassy in Nicosia.
To develop learning outside the classroom for these students, Sidestreets began a two-week pilot program during the schools’ February semester break. The purpose of the program was to stimulate interest and excitement in learning by engaging 14-year-old students in discussions of music, art, literature and history within the framework of global culture. Ten events were organized: six 2-hour educational seminars, two film screenings, and two tours (Nicosia and Kyrenia). All events (except tours) were held at Sidestreets, in Nicosia. Presentations and tours were designed and conducted by Dr. Johann Pillai, and implemented with the assistance of Christopher Coupland.
2009 Feb. 2
Slides and music as well as actvities to accompany Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Interactive presentation of fundamental concepts in these traditions through artworks such as Sistine Chapel frescoes, calligraphy, etc. Fundamentals of church, cathedral and mosque architecture and functions.
2009 Feb. 4
Educational tour of St. Sophia’s Cathedral (Selimiye Mosque), St. Catherine’s Church, the Arabahmet Mosque, and the Dervish Museum, making use of concepts and ideas from the previous session.
2009 Feb. 5
Slide presentation, interpretation, and performance of international concrete, visual and sound poems, with student activities based on creating Dada poems.
Enjoying film
Screening of Catch Me If You Can. Discussion by Chris Coupland
Slides and music introducing the history of jazz, covering the slave trade, call-and-response, work-songs, gospel, blues, dixieland, ragtime, swing, boogie-woogie, and the origins of rock-and-roll.
2009 Feb. 10
Screening of Bruce Almighty. Discussion by Chris Coupland
2009 Feb. 11
Interactive slide presentation and discussion of cultural history, including archeological artifacts, lifestyles, images, and antiquities from the various periods of Cyprus’s history, including the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Lusignan and Venetian. Overview of Lusignan and Venetian castle structure and functions.
2009 Feb. 12
Educational tour of the castle and harbor, followed by a visit to the Onar Village Museum and lunch at Onar Village.
2009 Feb. 17 - Mar. 1
Sidestreets inaugurates its first art film series in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Nicosia. The aim is to introduce, to as wide an audience as possible in Cyprus, the works of one of the most influential film directors of the twentieth century; and to stimulate interest in and discussions of Bergman among movie lovers, students and the general public.
The first event was a simultaneous screening of both the Turkish and the English (subtitled/dubbed) versions of The Seventh Seal, introduced by Mr. Ingemar Lindahl, the Swedish Ambassador to Cyprus, and followed by a reception.
2009 Feb. 22
Futurist, rebel, War Artist, Englishman in New York, painter of the Jazz Age and the Great Depression, and war artist once again in the second World War, C. R. W. Nevinson has earned a place among the established icons of art and literature in early 20th-century England. The list of distinguished contemporaries who were either his personal friends or declared enemies includes: Wyndham Lewis, Roger Fry, Clive Bell, F.T. Marinetti, Amedeo Modigliani, H. G. Wells, Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw.
Michael Walsh’s study of Nevinson, “Hanging a Rebel,” published in 2008 by the Lutterworth Press, “is the first comprehensive study on this artist, writer, playboy and provocateur who continually found himself at the heart of public scandals, intellectual debates and personal vendettas, which characterized his four-decade career”... Walsh’s book is accessible and authoritative; it represents a major contribution to the history of art and the understanding of British intellectual thought and culture in the early 20th century.
2009 Feb. 24
2009 Feb. 26
2009 Mar. 3
2009 Mar. 5
2009 Mar. 29
Sidestreets in Kyrenia - Conversations on Culture III
On Not Reading ’The Raven’: Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem and iıt Illustrators, Manet, Redon, and Dore
- Dr. Johann Pillai
Since its publication in 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Raven,” has become one of the world’s most famous poems, described by Poe himself as “the greatest poem that ever was written,” and by one critic as "unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift...." This poem has been the subject and inspiration for music, dance, films, paintings, and graphic novels; and for a tradition of illustrations by such distinguished artists as John Tenniel, John Rea Neill, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Johann Pillai’s Sidestreets presentation “On Not Reading the Raven” proposes an unusual new interpretation of the poem, while exploring a wide range of visual images, focusing in particular on the illustrations to the poem created by Édouard Manet, Odilon Redon and Gustave Doré.
2009 Apr. 8
Poetry Performance and Book Signing - Mehmet Yashin and Alev Adil
(in collaboration with İşik Kitabevi)
A crowd of culture- and literature-lovers filled the room at Sidestreets on Wednesday evening to hear brilliant performances by two internationally acclaimed Cypriot poets, Mehmet Yaşın and Alev Adil.
Alev Adil, described by reviewers as “a multi-cultural poet of exceptional originality” gave an animated and expressive performance of her poems and prose-poems in English, accompanied by slides reflecting their explorations of personal and Cypriot identities and mythologies, and a commentary in Turkish and English. Based in London, where she is head of the Department of Creative, Critical and Communication Studies, she is widely published in literary and critical journals, and has performed at venues from the British Museum to Radio 4 and Channel 4 television. Her poetry has been described as “fractured narratives of love, loss, longing, exile and collision,” and her collection “Venus Infers” as “both a passport and a trip to new and unimagined communities.”
Mehmet Yashın, whose work has been characterized as creating “an entirely new philosophical and linguistic dimension to poetry in Turkish,” began with a melodious meditation on two classical images, and performed a range of works from his new book, “In the Time the Heart Stopped,” that fascinated the audience both with their echoes of Rumi and Sappho, and through the musicality of the Turkish language in his poetry. Living between Cambridge and Cyprus, Mehmet Yaşın is well known for his work on literary criticism and translation; and he is the recipient of numerous awards for his poetry collections and novels, many of which have been translated into languages from English, French and Italian to Russian and Latvian. He is considered by critics to be “one of the most important representatives of Modern Cypriot Poetry.”
The audience at Sidestreets comprised Greek Cypriots, foreign visitors, and Turkish Cypriots with a genuine interest in cultural events at an international standard, who expressed their appreciation for the exceptional quality of the performances during the discussion and reception that followed.
Sidestreets Second Art Film Series: Dervish Zaim
Sidestreets is pleased to present, in its Second Art Film Series, the films of international award-winning Turkish Cypriot novelist and film-maker Dervish Zaim.
All films - except Dot (Nokta), venue to be announced - will be screened at Sidestreets, 22 Mahkemeler Onu, Lefkosa, in Turkish with English subtitles.
The aim of this series is twofold.
First, as part of its mission to showcase the work of Cypriot artists which is of international caliber and transcends the local, Sidestreets will be screening for the first time in Cyprus nearly the entire cinematographic oeuvre – feature films and documentaries – of the country’s foremost film-maker.
Secondly, in contrast to the situation in other parts of the world, film has traditionally been undervalued in Cyprus as an artistic medium, as a form of expression, and as a medium of personal, sociological, and political communication and questioning. Through various initiatives, such as short film screenings, panel discussions and series of both classic and contemporary films (“Conversations on Film,” (May, 2008); “Art and Art Audiences,” (Jan., 2008); “Art Film Series I: Ingmar Bergman” (Feb-March, 2009), Sidestreets has been working to bring public attention to this medium. The Dervish Zaim series represents a further significant step in this direction.
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Dervish Zaim was born in Famagusta, Cyprus in 1964. He majored in economics and administrative sciences at Bosphorus University, Istanbul (1988), and received his Master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Warwick University in 1994. He also attended a course in independent film production in London organized by the Hollywood Film Institute. He began his work in film in 1991 with the experimental video Hang the Camera, followed by the TV documentary Rock Around the Mosque. Between 1992 and 1995, he worked as a television writer and producer and directed numerous television shows. In 1995, his first novel, Ares Harikalar Dünyasında (Ares in Wonderland) won the prestigious Yunus Nadi Literary Award in Turkey; his feature films and documentaries have been screened to critical acclaim at international and national film festivals, where they have won numerous awards.
2009 Apr. 24 (F)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Screening of "Parallel Trips" (Paralel Yolculuklar)
7.00 pm
“Parallel Trips” (2004; 115 minutes) is a documentary based on Cyprus jointly directed and produced by Dervis Zaim and Greek Cypriot Panicos Chrysanthou. Fiachra Gibbons of the British newspaper The Guardian reported on 1 May 2004: “Parallel Trips is a tough film. It was shown for the first time to a shocked silence at the
2009 Apr. 26 (S)
Sidestreets in Kyrenia IV
“Breaking the Rules: A Performance-Lecture on Dada, Surrealist, Concrete and Phonetic Poems.”
- Dr. Johann Pillai
The fourth event in the “Sidestreets in Kyrenia-Conversations on Culture” series will be “Breaking the Rules,” a performance-lecture on Dada, Surrealist, Concrete, and Phonetic Poems, by Dr. Johann Pillai.
This experience, which received enthusiastic acclaim from a packed audience at Sidestreets last November, wil be offered once in Kyrenia on Sunday, 26 April.
“The dramatic breaking of rules in modern music, art, and architecture in the 20th century, from Cubism to Futurism to Dada to Language Poetry, has been accompanied by similar exciting new developments in literature, as internationally poets, artists and musicians have experimented with new ideas and forms of expression. Asking fundamental questions – “What is poetry made of? What is literature? – writers have developed brilliant interdiciplinary forms of poetic expression that break down the boundaries between writing, images, and music.
Johann Pillai’s “Breaking the Rules” represents a unique visual and auditory exploration, interpretation, and performance of alternative forms of literature, ranging from Japan to New York to Scotland to Russia, and from classical visual poems to sound poetry.”
2009 Apr. 27 (M)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Screening of "Parallel Trips" (Paralel Yolculuklar)
7.00 pm
Additional screening of the documentary for members of the diplomatic community in Cyprus.
2009 Apr. 28 (Tu)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Screening of "Somersault in a Coffin" (Tabutta Rövaşata)
7.00 pm
(1996; 75 minutes; Toronto Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival): Directed by Dervis Zaim, produced by Ezel Akay and Dervis Zaim, and made on a shoestring budget with a cast of three main actors (Ahmet Ugurlu, Tuncel Kurtiz, Aysen Aydemir) and a few theater players, Zaim’s feature film debut immediately established itself as a cinematic masterpiece, winning some twenty awards in Turkey and internationally, including:
1998:
1998: D’Annonay International Film Festival – Best Film, Best actor
1997: Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival: Critics’ Award, Golden Antigone – Special Mention
1997: Thessaloniki Film Festival: Best Actor, Silver Alexander, Nomination for Golden Alexander;
1997: Turin International Festival: International Feature Film Competition: Audience Award, Jury Special Prize, Nomination for the Prize of the City of Turin for Best Film;
1997: Amiens International Film Festival: NETPAC Award,
1997: Istanbul Film Festival: FIPRESCI Award;
1996: Antalya International Short Film/Video Festival: Best Editing;
1996:
2009 Apr. 30 (Th)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Screening of "Elephants and Grass" (Filler ve Çimen)
7.00 pm
(2000; 113 minutes; Rotterdam Film Festival): Directed by Dervis Zaim, Produced by Ali Akdeniz, Dervis Zaim, Cast: Haluk Bilginer, Taner Birsel, Ugur Polat, Ali Sürmeli, Sanem Çelik.
Awards:
2001:
2001:
2001: Siyad Turkish Cinema Awards: Best Director, Best Screenplay;
2001: Orhan Ariburnu Awards: Best Film, Best Director
2000:
2009 May 5 (Tu)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Screening of "Mud" (Çamur)
7.00 pm
(2003; 98 minutes; Venice Film Festival): Directed by Dervis Zaim, Produced by Marco Müller, Dervis Zaim, Cast: Mustafa Uğurlu,Taner Birsel, Yelda Reynaud, Bülent Emin Yarar
Awards:
2003:
2003: Orhan Ariburnu Awards: Mehmet Emin Toprak Award
2009 May 7 (Th)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Screening of "Waiting for Heaven" (Cenneti Beklerken)
7.00 pm
2006; 107 minutes; Cairo Film Festival): Directed by Dervis Zaim, Produced by Dervis Zaim and Baran Seyhan, Cast: Serhat Tutumluer, Melisa Sözen, Mesut Akusta, Nihat Ileri (Cairo Film Festival)
Awards:
2007: Cairo Film Festival - Best Artistic Direction;
2006: Siyad Turkish Cinema Awards - Best Musical Score;
2007: Golden Chrysalis Film Festival - Jury Special Award;
2007: Golden Chrysalis Film Festival - Best Music;
2007: Golden Chrysalis Film Festival - Best Editing,;
2007: Golden Chrysalis Film Festival - Best Art Direction;
2007: Ankara Film Festival - Best Art Director;
2007: Ankara Film Festival - Best Musical Score;
2006: Antalya Film Festival - Best Special Effects.
2009 May 11 (M)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
Cyprus premiere screening of "Dot" (Nokta)
6.00 pm
(2008; 75 minutes; Montreal Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival): Directed by Dervis Zaim, Produced by Dervis Zaim, Baran Seyhan, Cast: Mehmet Ali Nuroglu, Serhat Kılıç, Settar Tanrıögen, Sener Kökkaya. (
The latest film by Dervish Zaim will be released in cinemas in
Among the awards Dervish Zaim’s film Nokta has received are:
Turkish Ministry of Culture - Turkish Director of the Year
Cairo International Film Festival - Best Digital Film
Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival - Best Musical Score
Istanbul Film Festival - Best Director
Adana Golden Cocoon Film Festival - Best Photographic Direction
Adana Golden Cocoon Film Festival - Best Studio
2009 May 12 (Tu)
Dervish Zaim Film Series
8.00 pm
Discussion with Dervish Zaim at Sidestreets
2009 May 19 (Tu)
A Taste of Experimental Short Films
On Tuesday, 19 May at 8:00 p.m., Sidestreets will be presenting a first smorgasbord of experimental short films by David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Özgür Özcan, Elvan Dülgeroğlu/Tuğba Tokat, and Rabia Otoloğ.
After the screenings (which require no translation, and will take about 45 minutes), there will be (in Turkish) a presentation and discussion of experimental short films by film-maker Özgür Özcan.
David Lynch, “The Alphabet” (USA, 1968; color & b/w, sound; 4 minutes)
Peter Greenaway, “Intervals” (UK, 1969/1973; color, sound; 6 minutes)
This is a black and white film essay, ostensibly de-romanticizing Venice through shots of the back alleys and canals, and denying its commanding characteristic of water.
Man Ray, “Return to Reason” (Paris, 1923; b/w, silent; 2 minutes)
This improvisation premiered during the controversial “Bearded Heart” event at the Michel Theater organized by Tristan Tzara, and caused a small riot.
Hans Richter, “Ghosts before Breakfast” (Baden-Baden, 1927; b/w, sound; 6 minutes)
Inspired by a scenario written by Werner Graeff, entitled “The Firearms’ Rebellion,” this film premiered at the Baden-Baden music festival in 1928. Actors: Paul Hindesmith, Werner Graeff, Hans Richter, Darius and Madeleine Milhaud, Jean Osser, Walter Gronostay.
Özgür Özcan, “Eternal Return” (Istanbul, 2008; b/w, sound; 4 minutes)
20th Ankara Film Festival – Experimental Film Competition Finalist (2009); Intenational Shorts On the Road - Vienna Screening (2009); Cyprus International Short Film Festival (2009); 14th European Festival On Wheels – Experimental Film Screenings (2008); 8th !F İstanbul Independent Film Festival (2008).
“Eternal Return” is an experimental work that explores a philosophical question based on Nietzsche’s depiction of the individual who, facing the same, and more difficult obstacles, constantly returns to the same points of beginning: “the Super-Man should exceed those barriers” But to bring the Super-Man and eternal return one must surmount the obstacle of God. The character in the film who turns his back to the direction of Mecca (Muslim turn) represents the spiritual man living a duality and state of conflict state is fragmented in time and space; what does one face when one turns away from God?
Özgür Özcan, “Witches through the Looking-Glass” (Istanbul, 2008; color, sound; 1 minute 35 secs)
19th Ankara Film Festival – Best Experimental Movie Award (2008); 61st Cannes Film Festival Best Turkish Shorts Catalogue (2008); Estonia – Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival / Sleepwalkers Cycle (2008); 5th Akbank Short Film Festival – Out Competition Screenings (2008).
“Witches Through The Looking Glass” is a visual and sentimental experimental video, searching for different arrivals through deformation of a well known destination. It deconstructs and reconstructs a web-based found video and a sound work to create polyptich frames, a claustrophobic effect, and an erotic spectrum, inventing resistances to pressures on independent individuals in the contemporary world.
19th Ankara International Film Festival – Experimental Competition (2008); 7th !F Istanbul Independent Film Festival (2008); 1st Golden Cocoon Mediterranean Shorts Festival – Exp. Competition (2008); 1st Cyprus International Short Film Festival (2008).
LOGOS represents a spiritual journey through a triptych: “Prolog: Patchwork,” “Monolog: Purification,” and “Epilog: Union.” The story of an old lady reflects the fundamental rational structure of universe, and a harmony of conflicts; we witness her last-minute purification and a continuum of imaginative faith. The idea of “Logos” is opposed to coincidences and randomness; according to Heraclitus, it is an immense ethical structure that works like a clock set over the cosmos. This ‘personal period’ is external and enigmatic as a matter of fact, and esoteric as a way of life signified by the old lady (a video protagonist in the film), who wants to end her personal life regrettıng that she is a representational figure in an inevitable structure of social rules, including religious pressures and individual human responsibilities. Within a context of abstract forms and rhythms, the film experiments with mystical elements of the cosmos by aurally and visually constructing a ritual around Logos.
Elvan Dülgeroğlu and Tuğba Tokat, “Becoming Insane” (Kyrenia, 2008; color, sound; 6 minutes 40 seconds)
A short film regarding "becoming a stranger in postmodern times."
Rabia Otoloğ, “…” (Kyrenia, 2009; color, sound; 5 minutes)
A short film regarding "becoming a stranger in postmodern times" through visualizing music.
2009 May 20 (W)
Press Conference and Book Launch
The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature
1) PRESS CONFERENCE
On Wednesday, 20 May at 5:30 p.m. Sidestreets is hosting a bilingual (English and Turkish) Press Conference on the release of a new and historic literary publication: the unique, eight-volume bilingual (Turkish and English) “Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature.” The Press Conference will be at Sidestreets, 22 Mahkemeler Önü, in Lefkoşa. Details of the book are provided below.
Sidestreets is hosting this event as part of its unique mission and activities aimed at catalyzing and developing cultural and historical understanding by recognizing and bringing into public awareness the work of artists, writers and scholars, Cypriot and international, and promoting quality culture in the community.
The publication of “The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature” is an extraordinary event: it fills an important gap in Cyprus’s cultural history and makes this field accessible for the first time to both Turkish- and English-speaking audiences; it also represents the first comprehensive classification of genres and styles of modern Turkish Cypriot literature; it opens up new ways of thinking about the literature and performing arts in Cyprus; and it creates new avenues to explore issues of memory, history, identity, and individual and group identity in such fields as sociology, anthropology, history, and cultural studies. The collection will undoubtably be the standard reference source in the field for schools and universities throughout Cyprus.
2) BOOK LAUNCH for “The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature.”
Wednesday, 20 May, 7:30 p.m., at the Mallia Wine Bar in the Büyük Han, Lefkoşa
Also on Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m., Sidestreets is organizing a book launch and signing for this publication at the Mallia Wine Bar in the Büyük Han, Lefkoşa, offering participants the opportunity to meet the coordinator and eight editors, and obtain the entire 8-volume set at an incredible discount.
The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature
This unique eight-volume paperback collection is the product of a comprehensive three-year research, translation and publication project examining about 130 years of Turkish Cypriot literature from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Eight editors from academic backgrounds collaborated with other editors from creative backgrounds, to produce, for the first time, an extraordinary overview of the range and quality of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature. Also for the first time, each text or excerpt from a longer work is printed in the original Turkish, followed by its English translation.
The collection was produced under the supervision of distinguished poet and scholar Dr. Mehmet Yashin, and comprises the following volumes:
The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature
Volume 1: Poetry (167 pages; edited by Suzan Yılmaz and featuring works by 37 writers)
Volume 2: Operettas and Plays (305 pages; edited by Bilen Kılıç; 25 writers)
Volume 3: Memoirs and Travel Writing (358 pages; edited by Ahmet Gildir; 32 writers)
Volume 4: Short Stories (358 pages; edited by Gür Genç; 34 writers)
Volume 5: Novels (370 pages; edited by Turhan Uludağ; 20 writers)
Volume 6: Essays (429 pages; edited by Nazan Ökçün; 51 writers)
Volume 7: Literary Criticism and Study (776 pages; edited by Murat Bülbülcü; 29 writers)
Volume 8: Biographies and Bibliography (213 pages; edited by Jenan Selcuk; biographical notes on all the authors featured in the series)
2009 Jun. 3 (W)
Green Week: EU Commission Press Conference and Film Screening
(English and Turkish)
The European Commission’s Representation in Cyprus
cordially invites you to the European Green Week Press Conference
with the Head of Representation, Ms Androulla Kaminara
and representatives of environmental NGOs
at 11:30 a.m.
and a Film Screening
of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” (subtitled in Turkish)
at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 3 June at Sidestreets, 22 Mahkemeler Önü, Lefkoşa.
These events (free and open to the public) are being organized by the European Commission’s Representation in Cyprus in collaboration with seven NGOs (BIO-DER, KEMA, Çekova, the Green Action Group, the Bright Future Movement, the NEU Environmental Sciences Institute, and the Chamber of Environmental Engineers) and coordinated by Sidestreets. During the day, leaflets will also be distributed by the Commission and NGO representatives in front of Sidestreets to raise public awareness of environmental issues.
2009 Sep. 7-11
Sidestreets organized the program for a 5-day Micro-Access Summer Camp (sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and supported logistically by MCM) at Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta, for students from schools in Lefkosa, Famagusta, and Iskele. The camp (programmed by Sidestreets’ General Secretary Anber Onar, and staffed by teachers in the Micro-Access Program including Sidestreets’ Jenna Durham) was attended by some 80 students, and featured three seminars (on the history of Cyprus, Famagusta, and historical sites in the area) and four walking tours of the city and its surroundings conducted by Sidestreets Director Dr. Johann Pillai.
2009 Oct. 2 (F)
Eric Lloyd Wright on Frank Lloyd Wright & Environmental Architecture
(2:30 p.m. in the Çevik Uraz Conference Hall at Cyprus International University)
Sidestreets, in collaboration with Cyprus International University, Onar Village and the NGO NeMe, is pleased to present a lecture by Eric LLoyd Wright on the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and his own work in relation to organic architecture and working with nature. The lecture and Q&A, followed by a reception will be held on Friday, 2 October at 2:30 p.m. in the Çevik Uraz Conference Room at Cyprus International University, and is free and open to the public.
Wright’s current focus is on the evolution of Organic Architecture and Green Building design. His design philosophy is rooted in the integration of ecology, social responsibility and beauty. Through his years of design experience, he has developed an understanding that it is not the physical walls and roof, but the space within a building that forms its character - its soul. He gives careful thought to a project’s physical, social and spiritual environment, with a focus on appropriate materials, quality, craftsmanship, and careful detailing. Wright believes that one of the most important aspects of the design process is the relationship between the client, the site and the architect. It is the client and site, together with the architect, that shape the design of a project.
The Wright Organic Resource Center educates and activates people to be creative, aware, and environmentally responsible in all aspects of life. It provides opportunities for people in the Los Angeles area, especially youth, to experience the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright and Organic Architecture, encouraging the creative integration of Nature, Art and Community. Its goal is to spark the imagination of people who come to land and activate them to envision and participate in building a socially and environmentally connected world.
2009 Oct. 25 (S)
Sidestreets in Kyrenia #5 - Conversations on Culture
" A Mosaic of Cities: Urbanism in the Byzantine Empire from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (Focus on Constantinople and Salamis)"
- Dr. Luca Zavagno
The fifth event in Sidestreets’ “Conversations on Culture” series at Onar Village in Kyrenia will be a presentation by Dr. Luca Zavagno, entitled “A Mosaic of Cities: Urbanism in the Byzantine Empire from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages.”
“A Mosaic of Cities: Urbanism in the Byzantine Empire from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages”
There has been a long and heated debate among medievalists as to what happened to the classical Greco-Roman idea of the city or polis during the exciting and rapid changes that took place between late antiquity and the Byzantine period: did cities survive or did they physically collapse as social and economic conditions changed? This presentation takes a unique and different approach, looking at the real problems confronting Byzantine cities, especially Constantinople, which served as a capital of the empire and as the ‘eye of the universe of cities’ that were scattered across the whole Byzantine empire, and the city of Salamis in Cyprus. These multifunctional cities developed in dramatically different ways in different regions as a result of the social, economic, cultural, administrative, religious and political roles they played; and the changing ideologies and spatial patterns of the Byzantine cities provide an unusual perspective from which we can see the cities of our own time in a new light.
Luca Zavagno was born in Venice, where he received his B.A. degree in History from the University Ca’Foscari; he completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of Birmingham on the society, culture, economics and politics of Byzantine cities. His main area of research is Byzantine urbanism in Anatolia, Greece, Italy,
Zavagno is the author of Cities in Transition: Urbanism in Byzantium Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (British Archaeological Reports-International Series, 2009), a book which explores the impact of important historical events on urban settlements in the Pontus (Amastris), Italy (Naples), western Anatolia (Ephesus), and Greece (Gortyn and Athens) during this period. His work dramatically reveals how cities did not simply shrink or become self-enclosed and isolated, but were transformed administratively, defensively, and economically as the
Zavagno is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Eastern Mediterranean University, where he is currently doing research on Cyprus in the Byzantine period, in its role as a major strategic and commercial hub along the eastern Mediterranean sea routes, its administrative and exchange links with Constantinople, and its relation to Syria and
Film Culture: A Taste of the Netherlands
– Selected Dutch short films (57 minutes)
-- Activity Centre (2008: Animation, 5’; Dir. Michiel van Dijk & Sjeng Schupp)
-- Big Buck Bunny (2008: Animation, 10’; Dir. Sacha Goedegebure)
3D animation about a giant rabbit and his revenge on three forest bullies. The movie has been created with open source 3D software ‘Blender’ and is all open content.
2008 - CyBorg FilmFestival, Anghiari, Italy: Special Jury Mention.
Without words, we’re left to consider whether love and attraction can break through impasse of human intolerance. Part of the film project Stories On Human Rights, 22 short films produced by the United Nations and Art For the World, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Short observational film about taking a picture of a cow. The actions lead to achieving an ideal of beauty.
-- Notebook (2008: Experimental Animation, 4’52”; Dir. Evelien Lohbeck)
Expectations are challenged in this short experimental animation film which plays with illusions and reality.
2008 – Netherlands Film Festival NOFF: Jury prize for best online film
2008 – Holland Animation Film Festival HAFFTube: Award for best online film
The hectic life behind the screen in a film theatre becomes visible for the audience when ‘the phantom of cinema’ breaks.
-- Reef (2008: Fiction/Puppetry Animation, 12’; Dir. Eric Steegstra)
Two frogmen are swimming through a mesmerising underwater world full of translucent deep-sea creatures and multicoloured surprises.
-- De Tweeling (Twin Sisters)
(2002; 137 minutes. Director: Ben Sombogaart; Writers: Tessa de Loo (novel) and Marieke van der Pol (screenplay); Actors: Starring: Julia Koopmans, Sina Richardt, Jeroen Spitzenberger, Ben Sombogaart)
-- De Dominee (The Preacher)
(2004; 110 minutes. Director: Gerrard Verhage; Writers: Hans Galesloot [story contributions], Bart Middelburg [novel], Gerrard Verhage [scenario])
Celebrating World Children’s Rights Week at Sidestreets
"Childish Works"
On Thursday, 19 November, as part of its activites to celebrate and draw attention to children’s rights, Sidestreets organized and hosted a morning of creative events for four-year-old children from the SOS Children’s Village Creche. The event, “Childish Works,” was held from 10:00 to 12:00 a.m. on the ground floor of Sidestreets, which was laid out with colorful carpets and cushions.
Sidestreets’ central location is in the main business, legal and banking district of the city which is mostly focused on adults and their work, and part of its mission is to foreground the lives, activities and rights of children in the area and beyond. Sidestreets has organized a variety of events for the local children, including story-telling sessions with poet Mehmet Yaşın, street puppet theater shows with American performer John Higgins, a session for children on hearing disabilities with ear specialist Dr. Levent Sennaroğlu, and educational visits for SOS and primary school children to its art exhibitions. Sidestreets’ staff are also teaching English at four local high schools, and it has organized semester break and summer cultural education camps for chidren at several schools; for the last two years the organization has also been screening free kids’ films, which attract 30-50 local children every Saturday.
Thursday’s event was designed to stimulate the children’s creativity through painting, collage, and other activities, using the power of creative work to express their thoughts and feelings and broaden their imagination, and to exhibit what they produced; it was also designed to bring them into contact with other children and ongoing life in the city of Nicosia, and many local children who live in the area stopped by and were invited in to join the activities.
Some of the works produced by the children during this event are displayed on the front windows of Sidestreets, where they can be seen for another week until the Bayram Holiday.
After the Bayram holiday Sidestreets will be working with the Foundation for the Prevention of Social Risks, to combine its Saturday film screenings for children with workshops for children on behavior and socialization
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Children’s Right Platform
The North Cyprus Children’s Rights Platform (CRP)’s Common Framework of Agreement was signed at Sidestreets in a short ceremony and press conference at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, November 20, the day on which the UN Declaration of Children’s Rights was signed in 1989, and the day which has been celebrated as World Children’s Rights Day ever since. The Common Framework of Agreement is based on the ethics and aims of the Declaration, and will serve as the Constitution of the Children’s Rights Platform.
The founding members of the CRP, who signed the partnership agreement were: the SOS Children’s Village Association, the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation, the Cyprus Turkish Press Union, the Foundation for Prevention of Social Risks, and the Social Services Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance, as well as two other participating organizations, Sidestreets Educational and Cultural Initiatives and the Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Union.
The Children’s Rights Platform issued a declaration that it envisioned “as its aim a society with an awareness, understanding of, respect for, and will to protect children’s rights.” Its main mission as a platform is: “to set up a system where the childrens rights can be applied; to create awareness in the area of childrens rights; to prevent violations of childrens rights; to bring the necessary legal changes to life; and to generate public engagement in these areas.” The platform is committed to collaborating with state organizations and the media, as well as “with the assistance and personal initiatives if individuals who are sensitive to the needs of children... to create effective policies for the benefit of children in our country.”
Later during the day, at 3:00 p.m., following the signing ceremony at Sidestreets, a Panel on Exploitation/Abuse of Children was held at the Atatürk Cultural Center. The panel discussion, which was well attended, covered topics ranging from definitions of abuse and exploitation, to press coverage of the issue, to its legal dimensions, effects, and strategies for its prevention.
2009 Nov. 20-Dec.18
Masterpieces of the Avant-Garde
Sidestreets is pleased to announce as part of its cultural program, a groundbreaking third Art Film Series, which will run from Friday, 20 November through Friday, 18 December.
PROGRAM
Isidore Isou, "Venom and Eternity"
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Sidestreets in Kyrenia - Conversations on Culture #6
“AGAINST THE CLOCK”
2009 has been another important year for the historic monuments of Famagusta. The Byzantine, Lusignan, Genoese, Venetian, Ottoman and British cultural remains have all been subject to new plans and projects which have now received international funding and the participation of international experts. There have been disappointments too, but that is not what this talk, and this film concentrate on. Instead, Dan Frodsham’s 20-minute documentary, and Michael Walsh’s accompanying lecture, look at what has been achieved, and map out where to go from here. The situation is still urgent, but, it is felt, 2010 might be a breakthrough year. The lecture will also present newly discovered archival sources relating to 19th and 20th century Famagusta.
Michael Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is the author of several distinguished books and numerous articles on modernist art and on the heritage of Famagusta. Through his efforts the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund in 2007, and the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Famagusta came together to declare their will to collaborate on the conservation of the city’s history. Dr. Walsh is currently actively working to engage local and international organizations in this endeavor.
Dan Frodsham, a former BBC producer and director based in Famagusta, is the cinematographer and codirector/coproducer with Allan Langdale of “The Stones of Famagusta.” The film, which the BBC News described as “exquisitely filmed,” premiered at Sidestreets in Nicosia, and then featured at a conference in Paris hosted by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, a pan-European federation for cultural heritage, at which the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities of Famagusta pledged to work together to conserve the city’s heritage. The film was also screened twice at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in
Sunday, 31 January, 12:00 p.m.
Sidestreets in Kyrenia - Conversations on Culture #7
The seventh event in Sidestreets’ “Conversations on Culture” series in Kyrenia will be a presentation by Dr. Johann Pillai on “Michel Foucault’s ‘Discipline and Punish’: The Birth of the Prison.”
The event (presentation and full Sunday luncheon) is scheduled for Sunday, 31 January at 12:00, at Onar Village in Kyrenia. The cost of admission is 30 TL, and seats should be reserved in advance at Sidestreets, Tel: 229-3070.
Johann Pillai’s visual presentation, the first in a Sidestreets series of three on Michel Foucault (there will be two more, on Foucault’s study of medical perception, “The Birth of the Clinic”; and on his history of insanity in the age of reason, “Madness and Civilization”) provides a clear and accessible overview of this brilliant philosopher’s work, which “sweeps aside centuries of sterile debate about prison reform and gives a highly provocative account... of innovations that range from the abolition of torture to the institution of forced labor and the appearance of the modern penitentiary... a genuinely revolutionary book, whose implications extend beyond the prison to the minute power relations of our society.”
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, sociologist, historian and professor of the “History of Systems of Thought” at the Collège de France, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of California at Berkeley. His major works include social histories of prisons, medical perception, insanity, and sexuality. In 2007, The Times Higher Education Guide listed Michel Foucault as the most cited intellectual in the humanities.
“Discipline and Punish” (1975) is a classic work of social history, a “history of the human soul” which traces the power relations between crime and punishment as they have developed over the last four centuries, from the spectacle of torture to the hidden logic of prisons, rehabilitation, education, and surveillance. When the book was first published, prison inmates got hold of it and read it to each other, shouting through the walls from cell to cell; the resulting riots led to substantial prison reforms in France. Asked about his ethics as a historian, Foucault responded: “I am not a historian. I write fictions that may come true in the future.”
Organized by Cypriot film-maker Panicos Chrysanthou in collaboration with Sidestreets and the Cyprus Film Archive, the festival will run from Saturday, 30 January to Friday, 5 February, and feature seven brilliant, award-winning films from Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
Three of the films will be screened in the north at Sidestreets (Tel: 22 93070), three at the Goethe Center on the Green Line, and one in the south at the Pantheon Theater (29 Diagorou Street, Nicosia. Tel: 35 22675787).
*All films will be shown at 8.00 p.m. in all venues.
**The entrance fee for the screening of “Soul Kitchen” at the Pantheon Theater is 8 Euros, and tickets should be purchased in advance from Sidestreets. All other screenings are 5 Euros each. As seating is limited, reservations are recommended.
PROGRAM:
(1) SOUL KITCHEN, dir. Fatih Akın (Germany 2009)
Saturday, 30 January - Pantheon Cinema
(2) DANCING ON THE ICE, dir. Stavros Ioannou (Greece 2009)
Sunday, 31 January - Sidestreets
(3) THE LONG NIGHTS JOURNEY TO THE DAY, dir. Deborah Hoffman and Frances Reid (USA 2000)
Monday, 1 February - Goethe Center
(4) A DETAIL IN CYPRUS, dir. Panicos Chrysanthou (Cyprus 1987)
Tuesday, 2 February - Sidestreets
(5) SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN, dir. Dervis Zaim (Turkey 1996)
Wednesday, 3 February - Goethe Center
(6)PANDORA’S BOX, dir. Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey 2008)
Thursday, 4 February - Sidestreets
(7) ONE OF THE EXECUTION TEAM, dir. Manos Zacharias (Soviet Union 1968)
Friday, 5 February - Goethe Center
DETAILS:
(1) SOUL KITCHEN, dir. Fatih Akın (Germany 2009)
Saturday, 30 January - Pantheon Cinema
Young restaurant owner Zinos is down on his luck. His girlfriend Nadine has moved to Shanghai, his “Soul Kitchen” customers are boycotting the new gourmet chef, and he’s having back trouble. Things start looking up when the hip crowd embraces his revamped culinary concept, but that doesn’t mend Zinos’ broken heart. He decides to fly to China for Nadine, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Ilias. Both decisions turn out disastrous: Ilias gambles away the restaurant to a shady real estate agent and Nadine has found a new lover! But brothers Zinos and Ilias might still have one last chance to get “Soul Kitchen” back if they can stop arguing and work together as a team.
Fatih Akin was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1973 to Turkish parents. A screenwriter, director and actor, his films have won awards at numerous international film festivals. In 2003 he founded the film production company Corazón International. In 2004, his film “Head On” won the German Film Award for Best Film, Direction, Screenplay, and Cinematography, the Golden Bear at Berlin, and the award for Best European Film at the European Film Awards. The “Edge of Heaven” was nominated for the Golden Palm and won the Best Screenplay and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes IFF 2007. “Soul Kitchen” got the Special Jury Price of the Venice Film Festival 2009.
(2) DANCING ON THE ICE, dir. Stavros Ioannou (Greece 2009)
Sunday, 31 January - Sidestreets
New Year, 1996. After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, a series of nationalist conflicts bring terror and disorder to the Balkans. The result: poverty and large-scale immigration. Three women from three different Eastern European countries meet in a Bulgarian border town from which they intend to cross illegally into Greece. They have no choice but to entrust their hopes in a man who inspires anything but confidence: a specialist in ferrying illegal immigrants across frontiers, he leads them along treacherous mountain paths that may or may not lead to their “Greek dream”. Utterly alone in a desolate wilderness, the women become his prey. Their desperate efforts to take their fate into their own hands will lead to dramatic adventures and to tragedy. (The screenplay is based on immigrants’ real-life narratives.)
Stavros Ioannou was born in Evia Greece and studied film at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He founded Filmode, a cinema production company, in 1984. He remains its managing director. He has directed many documentaries for Greek state television (ERT), the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and other public entities. He has also worked with television networks, while his work in the cinema has earned him awards in Greece (Thessaloniki IFF) and internationally: “Roadblocks”, a fiction film, competed at the Berlin IFF in 2001 and won awards at the Thessaloniki and Geneva IFFs in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
(3) THE LONG NIGHTS JOURNEY TO THE DAY, dir. Deborah Hoffman and Frances Reid (USA 2000)
Monday, 1 February - Goethe Center
For over forty years, South Africa was governed by the most notorious form of racial domination since Nazi Germany. When it finally collapsed, those who had enforced apartheid’s rule wanted amnesty for their crimes. Their victims wanted justice. As a compromise, the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was formed. Now, as it investigates the crimes of apartheid, the Commission is bringing together victims and perpetrators to relive South Africa’s brutal history. By revealing the past instead of burying it, the TRC hopes to pave the way to a peaceful future.
Long Night’s Journey Into Day follows several TRC cases over a two-year period. The stories in the film underscore the universal themes of conflict, forgiveness, and renewal. A white special forces officer, deeply remorseful for the crimes he committed, struggles to reach peace with the embittered wife of a black activist he killed 14 years ago. A group of mothers, after enduring years of misinformation and denials by the authorities, learn the truth about how their sons were set up, betrayed, and killed in a vicious police conspiracy. A young black activist comes to recognize the anguish he caused by killing a white California student during a mob riot, while her parents see past their pain to embrace a new, multi-racial South Africa.
Deborah Hoffmann, born 1947 in New York. Director and Film and video editor of important documentary films. Film direction since 1994. Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter (1995).
Frances Reid, born 1944 in Oakland. Director, Producer and camerawoman for documentary films. Film direction since 1971. Skin Deep (1996), All God’s Children (1996).
(4) A DETAIL IN CYPRUS, dir. Panicos Chrysanthou (Cyprus 1987)
Tuesday, 2 February - Sidestreets
A woman visits with her small daughter a ruined village in the middle of the Cyprus flat land. Ex villagers, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots come to the ruins and each of them narrates a personal story of war. The conflict, which took place in 1964, transformed the peaceful, mixed village to a deserted area. Only the remnants of life witness a world, which has gone away for ever.
Panicos Chrysanthou was born in Kythrea in 1951. He has directed documentaries and features, which have been screened internationally. His first documentary, A Detail in Cyprus, has been screenend in the Berlinale (Panorama 1987). He directed Our Wall for ZDF (Das Kleine Fernsehspiel, 1993) and the Parallel Trips (2003) for the United Nations Development Programme. The feature Akamas (2006) was presented in Venice (Orizzonti 2006).Panicos currently works in Cyprus as a film director, critic, and curator of the Cyprus Film Archive.
(5) SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN, dir. Dervis Zaim (Turkey 1996)
Wednesday, 3 February - Goethe Center
When he can find work on Reis’ fishing boat, Mahsun is able to earn just about enough to eat and drink with, but this still leaves him with the problem of finding shelter at night. Winters in Turkey can be very cold, and one of his friends, in a similar situation, died from exposure. In this tragicomedy, Mahsun, a petty thief, cannot even get himself put in jail anymore, though this would solve his shelter problems. Instead, he steals cars at night, often just so that he can sleep in them. Rather than arresting him when they catch him stealing, the police simply administer a brutal beating. The owner of a teashop, who has "advanced" him hundreds of cups of tea on credit, hires him to clean the toilets and gives him a room to sleep in. Despite this newfound security, Mahsun cannot resist the attractions of a lovely heroin addict, and because of her he loses his new job and room.
Dervis Zaim was born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1964, graduated from Warwick University in England and studied Film Production in London. In 1995, his first novel, “Ares in Wonderland”, won the prestigious Yunus Nadi literary prize in Turkey. A year later he made an auspicious debut as a director with “Somersault in a Coffin”, which won various awards, including the Thessaloniki International Film Festival 1997 (Silver Alexander), the San Francisco International Film Festival 1998 (Best Film), the D’Annonay International Film Festival 1998 (Best Film), the Ouvres International Film Festival 1998 (Best Film, Best Actor), the Turin International Film Festival 1997 (Special Jury Award, Public Award). His next films, “Elephants and Grass” (2000), Mud (2003), “Parallel Trips” (documentary, co-directed by Panicos Chrysanthou, 2003) “Waiting For Heaven” (2006) and Dot (2008) have received honors and awards in film festivals around the world.
(6)PANDORA’S BOX, dir. Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey 2008)
Thursday, 4 February - Sidestreets
When three forty-something siblings in Istanbul receive a call one night that their aging mother has disappeared from her home at the western Black Sea coast of Turkey, the three set out to find her, momentarily setting aside their problems. As the siblings come together, the tensions between them quickly become apparent, like Pandora’s box spilling open. They come to realize that they know very little about each other and are forced to reflect on their own shortcomings.
Yeşim Ustaoglu was born in Sarikamis, in eastern Turkey, in 1960. After making several award-winning shorts in Turkey, she made her feature film debut with 1994’s “The Trace” which was presented at numerous international festivals. Her second feature film, “Journey to the Sun”, won the Blue Angel Award for Best European Film at the Berlin IFF and the Best Film and Best Director prizes at the Istanbul IFF in 1999. “Waiting for the Clouds” won the Special Jury Award and the Best Actress award at the Istanbul IFF and was screened at the Thessaloniki IFF 2004.
(7) ONE OF THE EXECUTION TEAM, dir. Manos Zacharias (Soviet Union 1968)
Friday, 5 February - Goethe Center
Following the military coup d’état of the Greek junta, a young man is led to the firing squad. One of the soldiers will refuse to take part in the execution and will be sent to jail. After the execution, the soldiers are given leave. We follow one of them, as he gets together with his friends, his girlfriend, and his relatives, and we observe the path he takes until he realizes the true meaning of his act.
Manos Zacharias was born in Athens and studied Chemistry at the University of Athens and Drama at the Rota-Sarantidis School. In December 1945, he won a scholarship from the French Institute to study in France. He attended Art History classes at the Sorbonne and graduated from the Institute of Higher Film Studies (IDHEC) in Paris. Between 1948-49 he took part in the Civil War, organizing the filming crew of the Republican Army. After the defeat of the communists, he went into political exile in Tashkent. There he graduated from the School of Direction of the Theatrical Institute and taught acting for two years. In 1956 he attended Mosfilm’s School for the Advanced Training of Film directors in Moscow. He went on to make ten films at Mosfilm Studios. In 1979 he returned to Greece. He served as Advisor on Film Issues to Melina Mercouri, President of the Greek Film Center and head of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ERT’s European Program Office.
1)
A Transterritorial Experiment in Film. 20 - 21 February, 2010
This year, !f
“. . . In partnership with the acclaimed US-based cinema website The Auteurs, this year !F will screen five of the festival’s most sought-after films in 15 locations concurrent with their weekend screenings in Istanbul”.
Sidestreets is proud to be one of the centers where the films will be shown. “Many of the cities chosen do not have cinema theaters, and even the ones that do are often reliant on mainstream studio distribution of second or third run features”.
“The weekend marathon will conclude with a discussion by thinkers from a variety of disciplines and audiences (broadcast via the web) in these locations”.
“The intention is to seek answers to questions that motivate this experiment”.
“- How can we map these new forms of interaction?
- How can you become active within this new world map?
- How can we make the new possibilities for conversation that Internet-based means of communication create less fragile?
- Is there a poetics to politics?
- And: is there hope?”
Sidestreets in
The films scheduled to be shown at Sidestreets are (details below):
20th Saturday:
13.00 Age of Stupid,
15.30 No One Knows About Persian Cats,
17.30 Bawke + Winterland
21st Sunday
11.00 A Prophet,
14.00 She, a Chinese,
**17.00-21.00 International Internet Conference with famous personalities from the cinema, media and art worlds.
Sidestreets is accepting reservations for each film over the phone as of now. Because of the limited seating, the tickets will be kept for these reservations until Wednesday 17 February. If the tickets have not been picked up by then, there will be no guarantees for seats. Tickets may also be available later on a first-come first-serve basis. The fee for tickets is 10TL (5Euro)/film/person. For reservations call: +90 (392) 229 3070 www.sidestreets.org
FILM DETAILS
20 February, Saturday: 13:00 Sidestreets
Film #1: Age of Stupid
UK - 2008 - 89’ - Renkli - HD CAM
English / Turkish subtitles
“We could have saved ourselves, but we didn’t. It’s amazing. What state of mind were we in, to face extinction and simply shrug it off?” (from the film)
Are humans genetically programmed to deal only with immediate threats, the predator outside the cave or the enemy army across the plain, but not longer-term threats like climate change -- even if it may end the world as we know it? ‘Yes,’ according to current evidence, says Age of Stupid - hence the not too flattering title. One of the few documentaries of climate change that has become an international phenomenon, Age of Stupid is structured as a flashback from a future when it’s all over and the stupidity of our age is confirmed. Trying to help future inhabitants avoid making the same mistakes, Pete Postlethwaite sits in front of a camera which is also his computer screen and picks out images from Earth’s last decades. We visit Nigeria, where the discovery of oil only made local people poorer and left nature so polluted that fresh fish had to be washed with Omo before being cooked. We visit Iraqi refugee kids in Jordan, trying to establish a new life; a hurricane victim in New Orleans who lost everything; a couple in the lush British countryside struggling in vain against neighbors’ resistance to build a wind-power generator on their farm; a French mountaineer in his eighties who recalls when the glaciers of the Alps were within easy reach, instead of at the bottom of a canyon; and an Indian entrepreneur proud of launching India’s first budget airline. Director Franny Armstrong focuses on consumerism and gives striking figures about how much the earth’s resources could last if developed countries, especially the US, consume less. The film is like a last- resort call to humankind before it’s too late.
2008 Grierson Awards: Best Green Doc.
Sunchild Environmental Festival: First Prize
2009 Middle East Film Festival: Jury Special Mention
Birds Eye View Film Festival: Best Documentary
San Francisco Film Festival
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
Vancouver Film Festival
About the Director
British documentary filmmaker Franny Armstrong is the owner of Spanner Films and also a former drummer in an indie pop group, The Band of Holy Joy. She directed McLibel (1998) about the famous Mc Donald’s court case against activists. Her other documentary films are Drowned Out (2002) and Baked Alaska (2002). Since 2004, she has been working on Age of Stupid (2008).
20 February, Saturday: 15.30, Sidestreets
Film #2: No One Knows About Persian Cats
(Kasi Az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh) "I compare them (Persian cats) to the young protagonists of my film, without liberty and forced into hiding in order to play their music." Bahman Ghobadi (Director)
Negar and Ashkan are young indie rockers in Tehran looking for band members to play a London gig that has been booked. A bigger problem though is the visa to get there - the film follows them as they navigate the dodgy black market in travel documents and watch their options for exiting the country slowly narrow down. The rest of their time is spent at impromptu music gigs performed by a variety of indie bands- in a cow shed, on a rooftop, on the street. Shot without a permit in just 17 days with real-life subjects, Persian Cats blurs the fact-fiction boundary to tell this tale of the booming underground music scene in Iran. There are dozens of similar youthful bands playing everything from electric blues to hip hop, singing in both Farsi and English and poring over illegal copies of NME. They do not need concert halls or equipped venues; they play anywhere. Ghobadi’s free-wheeling film manages to perfectly capture the passion, energy, anger and optimism of these young people. It is a rock ‘n’ roll tribute to artistic spirits persisting under exceedingly difficult conditions.
2009 Cannes Film Festival: Un Certain Regard – Special Jury Prize
São Paulo Film Festival:Critics Award – Best Foreign Language Film
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: FICC and NETPAC Jury Awards, Jury Prize for Best Cinematography
Tokyo Filmex: Special Jury Prize
London Film Festival
About the Director
Bahman Ghobadi was born in Baneh, Iran. He finished high school in Sanandaj, and then moved to Tehran in 1992. He started his artistic career as an industrial photographer. Life In Fog (1999) was his initial award winning film. His debut feature, A Time for Drunken Horses (2000) won numerous awards at international festivals including Cannes, São Paulo, Edinburgh and Chicago. Currently, he is recording his first music album.
Kürt asıllı Norveçli yönetmen Hisham Zaman ilk olarak 2005 yılında Bawke adlı kısa filmi ile dünya çapında adını duyurdu. Sınırlar arasında hareket halinde olan köşeye sıkışmış insanların hikayesini anlatmaktaki ustalığı ve hassasiyeti nedeniyle birçok ödüle layık görüldü. Bawke, yüzünü melodrama dönmeden izleyiciyi kalbinden yakalıyor, hiç öğüt vermeye kalkışmadan insanlığın durumuna dair evrensel bir gerçeği göz önüne seriyor ve empati duymamızı sağlıyor.
About the Director
Born in 1975, Hisham Zaman is a Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker. He graduated from the National Norwegian Film School at Lillehammer in 2004. His most notable short film, Bawke (2005) screened at numerous international and national film festivals and won more than 20 awards. His other films include The Bridge (2003), The Roof (2004) and Europa (2009).
20 February, Saturday: 17:30, Sidestreets
Film #3B: Winterland (Vinterland)
It’s her! Renas, give her the flowers.” (from Winterland)
In his subsequent feature Winterland, Zaman continues to delicately mine this field of in-between lives. Renas is a happy-go-lucky Kurdish refugee who lives in a godforsaken snow-covered spot in northern Norway. He has everything he wants, but he would like a wife. Over the course of a year his family back home arranges for him to wed a woman there whom he has never seen, and even hold a wedding in Iraq with him in absentia. But the marriage gets off to a rocky start when Fermesk arrives in Norway. Neither her husband nor the country appear the way she had imagined. And Renas too is confronted with the reality of a flesh-and-blood woman he has only known through a photo. There is also the distant cacophony of in-laws and relatives, navigating the ways of this foreign land that is now home and Renas must also negotiate what it means to be a man in this new situation. Featuring strong visuals, a highly original script and engaging sense of humor, Winterland is a love story with a political edge that will touch you at your core.
2007 Amanda Norwegian National Film Awards: Best Male Actor :(Raouf Sarag)
Montagne d’Autrans Film Festival: José Giovanni Grand Prize
Tromsø Film Festival
Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival
London Kurdish Film Festival
2008 Los Angeles
Scandinavian Film Festival
2009 New York Kurdish Film Festival
About the Director
Born in 1975, Hisham Zaman is a Kurdish-Norwe- gian filmmaker. He graduated from the National Norwegian Film School at Lillehammer in 2004. His most notable short film, Bawke (2005) screened at numerous international and national film festivals and won more than 20 awards. His other films include The Bridge (2003), The Roof (2004) and Europa (2009).
21 February, Sunday: 11:00, Sidestreets
Film #4: A Prophet (Un prophete)
France - 2009 - 149’ - Renkli - 35mm
French – Arabic – Corsican / English , French and Turkish subtitles
“Think you can last here without protection?” (from the film)
Condemned to six years in a French prison, when he arrives to serve his term, Malik El Djabena can neither read nor write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. He is just 19 years old. The jail is in France but it feels as if it could be anywhere; there are people of all backgrounds here, notably Arabs and Corsicans. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang who rules the prison, he is given a number of “missions” to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader’s confidence in the process. But Malik is brave and a fast learner, daring to secretly develop his own plans as he slowly rises through the ranks of the prison universe. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, A Prophet is a masterful work of cinema crackling with ambition, compelling drama and sweeping scope. Much like the Godfather series, it delves into the dark and murky labyrinthine depths of the criminal underworld with an unflinching eye. Chosen 2009’s best film by the respected UK film magazine Sight & Sound, A Prophet is cinema at its most powerful.
2009 Cannes Film Festival:Grand Prize of the Jury
London Film Festival:Best Film
Vancouver Film Festival
Bangkok Film Festival
Vienna Film Festival
Toronto Film Festival
2010 Golden Globe Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Film
Sundance Film Festival
About the Director
Jacques Audiard was born in 1952, Paris. He is the son of writer, director and actor Michel Audiard. His filmmaking career started as a screenwriter. In the 1980s he wrote the scenarios of Réveillon chez Bob (1984), Mortelle randonnée (1983), Baxter (1989) and Saxo (1987). In 1994 he directed the César winning film See How They Fall (1994). His last film The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) was widely acclaimed and won numerous awards.
21 February, Sunday: 14:00, Sidestreets
Film #5: She, a Chinese
“As a filmmaker born in a little village in rural China, who later came all the way to Beijing and then wandered in the West, I feel that any journey is a journey of the mind, colliding with a person’s destiny and the accidental choices of life, creating a completely unexpected present and an enigmatic future.” Xiaolu Guo (director)
She of the film’s title is Mei, an enigmatic young Chinese woman raised in a backwater and curious about different lives elsewhere. A combination of fate and restlessness sets her off on a journey, first to a city in her own country, where she finds love, and loses it. Still seeking, she travels to England, a foreign land of tasteless food and strange customs. But Mei’s journey is ultimately one to find herself. Structured over 12 chapters, the film has a lightness of touch to it even in its darker moments, and a sense of being thrust forward into the unknown that resonates deeply with the contemporary cross-cultural rhythms of our lives. In a way, this is a story beyond borders, addressing contemporary issues of identity, leaving and longing in a globalized world. In Mei’s experience of the unknown, one senses the personal experiences of filmmaker and novelist Xiaolu Guo who has herself followed a trajectory from China to the UK. PJ Harvey’s collaborator John Parish and Chinese rock bands supply a cutting-edge sounding score to this work of visual poetry that heralds the arrival of an exciting, original new voice in world cinema.
2009 Locarno Film Festival:Golden Leopard
Hamburg Film Festival: Screenplay Award
Toronto Film Festival
Pusan Film Festival
London Film Festival
About the Director
Xiaolu Guo was born in China in 1973. Her first novel translated into English, ‘Village of Stone’, was selected for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her film The Short Concrete Revolution (2004) was screened at more than 50 festivals worldwide. Her feature film How Is Your Fish Today? (2006) premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival and was nominated for various awards in Rotterdam and Sundance. Guo’s latest film She, A Chinese received the Golden Leopard Award at Locarno Film Festival.
21 February, Sunday: 17:00-1900, Sidestreets
Changing Territories, New Tribes
After the movie marathon of !f2: İstanbul Live we will hold a discussion with a number of directors, thinkers and writers from Turkey and abroad. It will focus on the nature of our relationships within a web of the globalised economy, technology and power relations, and the way we position our sense of self and production. We will seek to formulate new metaphors for our interconnected geographies.
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, sociologist, historian and professor of the “History of Systems of Thought” at the Collège de France, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of California at Berkeley. His major works include social histories of prisons, medical perception, insanity, and sexuality. In 2007, The Times Higher Education Guide listed Michel Foucault as the most cited intellectual in the humanities.
Bedri Rahmi - The Lost Mosaic Wall:
From Expo ’58 to Cyprus
On the 6th of October (6.00 p.m.) a Book Launch and a Seminar by Dr. Johann Pillai will inaugurate the exhibition at Sidestreets (7.00pm) of The Lost Wall curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel.
The results of a comprehensive investigation conducted by Sidestreets on Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu’s award-winning mosaic wall from the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair are now being revealed for the first time in an exhibition and a unique book.
The 227-square-meter mosaic wall has not been seen as a whole either actually or photographically since it was exhibited in Brussels in 1958.
Although this work is mentioned in numerous articles and books on art history and architecture and has been a controversial subject of discussion in newspapers over the last 50 years, the full story has only now been discovered: large sections of the wall have been found in Cyprus, and the wall has been digitally reconstructed.
This fascinating story, full of mysteries and surprises, is being told for the first time at Sidestreets, through the exhibition and the book, which not only reveal artistic concerns and problems, but also bring a forgotten part of history to life in the context of the socio-political atmosphere in Turkey and Cyprus.
The interest in this work is extensive: Sidestreets’ research has now been presented by invitation in Ankara and Istanbul to fascinated audiences of art historians, architects, historians, family members of the artist and many others; and offers have already been received for the exhibition to travel, for a documentary version of the book, and for a sequel to the book.
April 3, 2011
Sidestreets in Kyrenia
Conversations on Culture #14
“’The Past in Pieces’: A Reading and Discussion.”
The 14th event in Sidestreets’ “Conversations on Culture” series in Kyrenia will be a reading and discussion by Dr. Rebecca Bryant of her recently published book “The Past in Pieces: Belonging in the New Cyprus.”
The event (presentation and full Sunday luncheon) is scheduled for Sunday, 3 April 2011 at 12:00, at Onar Village in Kyrenia. The cost of admission is 30 TL, and seats should be reserved in advance at Sidestreets, Tel: 229-3070. www.sidestreets.org
On April 23, 2003, to the surprise of much of the world, the ceasefire line that divides
Rebecca Bryant is Associate Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University and Visiting Associate Professor at Middle East Technical University’s Cyprus campus. She is a cultural anthropologist who has been conducting research on both sides of the Green Line since 1993. She is the author of Imagining the Modern: The Cultures of Nationalism in Cyprus (
2011 March 29 – April 6
The 2nd Green Line Film Festival at Sidestreets
Curated by Panicos Chrisanthou
Sidestreets is pleased to announce the start of the 2. FESTIVAL OF THE GREEN LINE.
Organized and curated by Cypriot film-maker Panicos Chrysanthou in collaboration with Sidestreets and the Cyprus Film Archive, the festival in Sidestreets will run from Tuesday, 29 March to Wednesday, 6 April, and feature six brilliant, award-winning films from Yugoslavia, Israel/Palestine, Albania/Greece, Italy/Switzerland/Germany, Greece, and Turkey.
*All films will be shown at 7.30 p.m. in Sidestreets.
**The entrance fee for all screenings are (5TL/3 Euro) each. Tickets should be purchased in advance from Sidestreets. As seating is limited, reservations are recommended. Tel: (90) 392 229 3070 (www.sidestreets.org)
PROGRAM:
(1)THE POWDER KEG (AKA CABARET BALKAN), dir. Goran Paskaljevic (Yugoslavia 1998)
Tuesday, 29 March - Sidestreets
(2) COFFE – BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION, dir. Maysaloun Hamoud, Elite Zexer, Murat Nassar, Eti Tsico, Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gasi Abu Baker, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid (Israel/Palestine 2010)
Wednesday, 30 March - Sidestreets
(3) AMNESTY, dir. Bujar Alimani (Albania 2011)
Thursday, 31 March - Sidestreets
(4) THE FOUR TIMES, dir. Michelangelo Flammartino (Italy/Switzerland/Germany 2010)
Monday, 4 April - Sidestreets
(5) TRIP TO MITILINI, dir. Lakis Papastathis (Greece 2010)
Tuesday,5 April - Sidestreets
(6) MAJORITY, dir. Seren Yüce (Turkey 2010)
Wednesday, 6 April - Sidestreets
DETAILS:
(1) THE POWDER KEG (AKA CABARET BALKAN)
Goran Paskaljevic
(1998; 100 minutes; Serbian with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Tuesday, 29 March, 2011
19.30
Bookended by a cabaret-style master of ceremonies, the film (set in February 1998, when the troubles started in Kosovo) is a stark illustration of the hell-hole that Yugoslavia has become as it follows assorted characters (some of whose paths eventually cross) during a freezing winter’s night in Belgrade. A young man who accidentally bumps into another’s car is assaulted at home by thugs who are happy to smash the only photograph of his dead mother; a policeman, whose body has been badly broken, faces the man who smashed him up; a desperate bruiser murders his best friend with a bottle before killing himself and a troubled girl with a grenade; a bus journey turns into a nightmare ride and, as with most other scenes, is shot through with pointless, uncontrolled violence; one harrowing scene, which includes the drowning of an estranged ex-fiancé, points to the impossibility of love...
Awards:
Golden Spike – Valladolid 2009, Best Film for Central and Eastern Europe – Cleveland International Film Festival 2009, Prix du Jury – Les Arcs European Film Festival, Public Choice Award – Thessaloniki Film Festival 2009
Direction: Goran Paskaljevic Script: Dejan Dukovski, Goran Paskaljević, Filip David, Zoran Andrić Photography: Milan Spasic Editing: Petar Putniković Music: Zoran Simjanović Actors: Lazar Ritovski (Boxer), Predrag “Miki” Manojlović (Mane), Vojislav Brajović (Topi, the local Che Guevara), Milena Dravić (lady with hat on bus), Sergej Trifunović (youth on bus), Nebojsa Glogovac (taxi driver) Production country: Yugoslavia
(2) COFFEE – BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION
Maysaloun Hamoud, Elite Zexer, Murat Nassar, Eti Tsico, Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gasi Abu Baker, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid
(2010; 95 minutes; Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Wednesday, 30 March, 2011
19.30
Coffee-Between Reality and Imagination is a cinematic collaboration between young Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, who together created a series of short films, all dealing with the project title – coffee. Coffee is a part of our cultural identity; it is shared by all individuals in terms of our daily routine, and brings together different people, regardless of who they are. Eight films were produced – two documentaries and two fiction films by the Palestinian filmmakers, and four fiction films by the Israeli filmmakers. Each of the films gives a personal and courageous point of view on the reality in which we live. The directors were given creative freedom and worked with mixed crews of Israelis and Palestinians. The eight individual films are: A Cup of Coffee from Palestine, 9’ (Dir.: Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Murad Nessar), A Trip to Jaffa,14’ (Dir.: Eitan Sarid), Audition,14’ (Dir.: Eti Tsicko), Eva Is Leaving,16’ (Dir.: Aya Somech), Sense of Morning,11’ (Dir.: Maysaloun Hamoud), The Clock and the Man,11’ (Dir.: Gazi Abu Baker), Tasnim, 11’ (Dir.: Elite Zexer), Wajeh,15’ (Dir.: Murad Nessar)
Direction: Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gazi Abu Baker, Maysaloun Hamoud, Eti Tsicko, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid, Elite Zexer, Murad Nessar Production country: Ισραήλ, Παλαιστίνη/Israel, Palestine
(3) AMNESTY
Bujar Alimani
(2011; 83 minutes; Albanian with Greek subtitles)
Sidestreets, Thursday, 31 March, 2011
19.30
A man and a woman in Albania. Their two partners are both in custody but reforms in the penal
system allow married couples to meet once a month for sexual contact. At first the film spins these two narrative threads alongside each other and then ties them together artfully. The two meet by chance in the prison and start a tender love affair that looks set to end when their partners are freed in an amnesty. Using breathtaking images without any superfluous flourishes, Amnistia depicts the life of its protagonists in today’s Albania, which is marked by unemployment, economic hardship and patriarchal structures. The recently sacked textile workers queuing to collect their pay offs, the run-down hospital kitchen, a newspaper press, a tyrannical father-in-law acting up as a guardian of moral standards, and repeated takes of roads and buildings. Alimani’s use of color, especially in the jail shots, recalls Edward Hopper’s realism and the loneliness of his figures. Thus, the director not only creates a panorama of Albanian society, but also tells a love story that has the stuff of tragedy.
Awards: C.I.C.A.E. Jury Price – Forum Berlin Film Festival 2011
Direction: Bujar Alimani Script: Bujar Alimani Photography: Elias Adamis Editing: Bonita Papastathi Music: Hekuran Pere Actors: Luli Bitri, Karafil Shena, Todi Llupi, Mirela Naska, Alaksander Rrapi Production country: Albania, Greece
(4) THE FOUR TIMES
Michelangelo Flammartino
(2010; 88 minutes; no dialogue)
Sidestreets Monday, 4 April, 2011
19.30
An elderly shepherd lives in a quiet medieval village, perched high on the hills of Calabria in southern Italy. He is ill and his daily medicine is dust dissolved in water, collected from the church’s floor; when he dies, a baby goat is born, thus ensuring the cycle of life continues uninterrupted. The young goat goes to graze; next to its pasturing grounds, an ancient, splendid fir tree slowly changes through the seasons. When the tree itself has no more life, it will become coal through the traditional work of the local coal makers, and it will provide heat to the village. In this poetic fiction-documentary hybrid, the constant traditions of an eternal place – traditions both human and based on the Earth’s life cycles – are memorialized in their simplicity and beauty; nature is, at the same time, the definitive reality, as well as a mystical organism.
Awards: Golden Puffin & Fipresci - Reykjavik 2010, Cinevision Award - Filmfest Muenchen 2010, Special Jury Award- Motovun Film Festival Croatia 2010
Direction: Michelangelo Frammartino Script: Michelangelo Frammartino Photography: Andrea Locatelli Editing: Benni Atria, Maurizio Grillo Actors: Giuseppe Fuda (the shepherd), Bruno Timpano (coal maker) Nazareno Timpano (the second coal maker) Production country: Italy, Switzerland, Germany
(5) TRIP TO MILILINI
Lakis Papastathis
(2010; 105 minutes; Greek with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Tuesday, 5 April 2011
19.30
At the end of 19th century, the writer George Vizyinos is put away in a mental institution in Athens right after his erotic passion for Betina, a twelve year old girl. Living in isolation, he tries to remember his childhood back when he was living in Istanbul and Thrace. At the same time he reads again his novel which is based on these memories. The main character of these memories is his very old grandfather. The writer remembers his childhood in Istanbul and connects it to that of the hero in his novel. His experience and the process of literature get confused in his troubled mind. His grandfather lives the journey through tales. He has never managed to travel except once in his life. Life allows him only one true journey, that towards the sky.
Direction: Lakis Papastathis Script: Lakis Papastathis Photography: Yiorgos Argyroiliopoulos Editing: Ioanna Spiliopoulou Music: Yiorgos Papadakis Actors: Christos Hadjipanayiotis, Maria Zorba, Demetris Kataleifos, Loukia Michalopoulou, Nicolas Papayiannis Production country: Greece
(6) MAJORITY
Seren Yuce
(2010; 102 minutes; Turkish with English subtitles)
Sidestreets, Wednesday, 6 April 2011
19.30
Twenty-one-year-old Mertkan has a stable but unfulfilling life in Istanbul: living at home with his parents, working as an office boy in his father’s construction company, hanging out with his buddies in shopping malls and discos. When he meets Gül, a Kurdish girl from Eastern Turkey, awkward Mertkan starts to become a bit more selfconfident, and it seems possible that he could break away from his oppressive parents. But Mertkan’s domineering father opposes any association with “those people who only want to divide our country”. Will Mertkan be strong enough to avoid becoming the kind of man that his father wants him to be?
Awards: Lion of the future, “Luici De Laurentis” Award for Debut Film – Venice Film Festival 2010, Best Film, Best Director & Best Actor – Antalya Turkey IFF 2010
Direction: Seren Yuce Script: Seren Yuce Photography: Baris Ozbicer Editing: Mary Stephen Music: Gokce Akcelik Actors: Bartu Kucukcaglayan (Mertkan), Settar Tanriogen (Kemal), Nihal Koldas (mother) Esme Madra (Gul), Ilhan Hacifazlioglu (Ersan) Production country: Turkey
Sports and Inspirations
30 September - 21 October
Sidestreets is pleased to announce, in collaboration with the Embassy of Austria, the start of a new series of inspirational documentary films on sports and achievement stories as a way of promoting motivation and a sense of identity.
Through screenings of four very different but important films on people’s trials and achievements in sports (Mount St. Elias by Gerald Salmina, Autumn Gold by Jan Tenhaven, Jochen Rindt Lives by Christian Giesser, and Kick Off by Hüseyin Tabak we would also like to contribute to the international NGO Peace Players, who are doing important work here in Cyprus to promote sports as a form of collaboration between the people of Cyprus.
Program
The screenings will all start at 20.00 hrs, except on the first day, when the evening will begin with a cocktail at 19.00 hrs, followed by the screening at 8.00pm.
Although the last 3 films will be screened at Sidestreets free of charge, the first screening of Mount St. Elias by Gerald Salmina will have an entrance fee of 2 Euros and be screened at Arabahmet Cultural Center-Nicosia. The entire proceeds will then be donated to the Peace Players as a gesture of good will and appreciation for their contribution to peace.
1) Mount St. Elias
by Gerald Salmina - 30 September 8.00pm at Arabahmet Cultural Center
A dramatic and awe-inspiring feature documentary following three of the world’s greatest ski mountaineers to the Mount St. Elias in their attempt to realize the longest ski descent of the world.
Set against the backdrop of Alaska’s dangerous beauty, Mount St. Elias is about a visionary borderline experience where unparalleled physical and mental pressure pushes them to the absolute limit. They find themselves in puristic situations, in which heroism cannot easily be distinguished from folly. Situations which can only be mastered if reason is supposedly abandoned and in which courage as well as trust in their own abilities and last but not least luck are used as guidelines.
Two Austrian ski mountaineers Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann as well as the American freeski mountaineer Jon Jonhston are facing this breathtaking challenge! A team with individual abilities, but also a team of leaders, knowing they literally cannot survive without teamwork and cooperation. Especially Axel Naglich, he unconsciously takes the role of the protagonist due to his charismatic and authentic personality and, within the permanent struggle not against nature but against himself, polarizes as a strong character.
A movie about men who accept mountains as a challenge. A process whose vision becomes a real adventure. Men who, formed by their origins, want to experience their passion as intensively as possible and above all want to survive.
Festivals and Awards
2009
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– Festival Thunersee (SUI) | Winner of Goldener Drachen Award – Best Documentary |
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– Taos Mountainfilm Festival (USA) | Winner of Jury Grand Prize – Best of Show |
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– Medzinarodny Festival Horsky Filmov Poprad (SVK) | Winner of Expedition Filming and Public Choice award |
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– Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival (GBR) | Special Performance |
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– International Festival of Outdoor Films (CZE) | Winner: Grand Prix |
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– Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (USA) | Best Documentary |
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– International mountain and adventure film festival Graz (AUT) | Kamera Alpin in Gold award (Adventure category) |
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– Torello Mountain Film Festival (ESP) | Great Prize of the Festival |
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– Kendal Mountain Festival (GBR) | Best Mountaineering Film |
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– Stowe Mountain Film Festival (USA) | Non-competitive festival |
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– Whistler Film Festival (CAN) | Best Mountain Culture Film |
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– Anchorage International Film Festival (USA) | Special Performance |
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– Mammoth Film Festival (USA) | Special Performance |
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– Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (NPL) | Winner of the second prize of the festival (International Competition) |
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– Mendi Film Festival (ESP) | Best Mountain Film |
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2010 |
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– Cold Smoke Awards (USA) | Best Overall Film & Best Cinematography |
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– Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival (USA) | Best Film and Best Adventure Film |
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– Santa Barbara International Film Festival (USA) | offical selection |
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– Thin Line International Documentary Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– Sedona International Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– Documentary Film Festival New Zealand (NZL) | Finalist in der Kategorie: Documentary Edge Beste Kameraführung (International) |
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– Leon Mountain and Adventure Film Festival (ESP) | official selection |
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– Byron Bay International Film Festival (AUS) | Best Documentary |
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– Omaha Film Festival (USA) | Best Documentary |
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– “Austrian Ticket Award“ Ceremony of the Austrian Films and Music Association (AUT) |
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– Public Viewing Event at Plaza Bar, Squaw Valley (Steven Siig / Matt Reardon)– charity screening in favour of the High Fives Foundation (USA) | Charity Screening |
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– Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (GBR) | Best Non-Climbing Film |
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– Berginale – Mountain Film and Slideshow Festival (GER) | official selection |
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– International Film Festival Egypt (EGY) | official selection |
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– Ashland Independent Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– Bratislava Film Festival of Mountain Films and Adventure (SVK) | official selection |
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– Newport Beach Film Festival (USA) | Audience Award Winner Action Sports Feature |
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– Trento Film Festival (ITA) | Silver Gentian for the best artistic-technical contribution |
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– Santa Cruz Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– International Mountain Film Festival of Ljubljana and Domžale (SLO) | official selection |
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– Krasnogorski/Sochi International Festival of Sports Films (RUS) | official selection |
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– Moscow International Festival of Mountain and Adventure Films „Vertikal“ (RUS) | Winner of Grand Prix International Competition |
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– Seattle International Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– Doc Miami International Film Festival (USA) | official selection |
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– Mountainfilm in Telluride (USA) | official selection |
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– Fica – Festival Internacional de Cinema e Vídeo Ambiental (BRA) | official selection |
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– Re:PLAY Internesenal Documentari Kumhei (IND) | official selection |
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– Shanghai International Film Festival (CHN) | official selection |
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– X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival Tour Opening (USA) | X-Dance Tour kick-off screening |
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– Breckenridge Festival of Film (USA) | Winner of Best Documentary and Best Cinematography award |
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– New Zealand Mountain Film Festival (NZL) | Grand Prix Gewinner |
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