The Patania

The Patania, documentary, 51min, 16mm, colour and black & white, France-Cyprus 1997.

In March 1974 our mother died. A few months later, our village was invaded by the Turkish army. Ever since, the “green line” has cut Cyprus in two. Over there, on the other side, my childhood memories are held captive. I have woven my mother's image into a film. To look for her. To feel her alive. In other women’s gestures, in the faces of her children, in fragments of landscape that resemble her. Through the voices of her offspring who sway their memories back and forth.

- First Student Film Prize at the festival “Traces des Vies” in Vic-le-Compte / Clermont-Ferrand, France, 1997.
- First Documentary Film Prize at the festival “Ecran Libre” in Aigues-Mortes, France, 1997.
- Selected at the festivals: “Prix Europa” in Berlin 1998, “Cinéma du Réel” in Paris 1998, “Drama Short Film Festival” in Greece 1998, “Mediterranean Documentary Film Festival of Samos” in Greece 1998, “Mediterranean Film Festival” in Rome 1997, “V Days of Greek Cinema in Berlin” 1997, “Kypria 1997” in Cyprus, “Rencontres Cinématographiques de Gindou” in France 1997, Filmmor Women's Film Festival in Istanbul 2004.