Dir: Cey Sesiguzel | Prod: Andreas Tokkallos | 90′
Many may remember flicking through holiday brochures back in the early 1970s when Famagusta, Northern Cyprus, was still a thriving resort and a popular location to enjoy a sunny break. Since then the beach has been abandoned although one company now offers tours of the deserted area from the Ayia Napa.
2024 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Turkish invasion that led to bloodshed dividing the island into Greek and Turkish sectors. Turkish Cypriot filmmaker Cey Sesiguzel and his Greek producer Andreas Tokkallos try to put history into context offering an unbiased view with reportage from archival footage and the recollections of those whose lives where torn apart of that tragic day in July 1974.
But the Turkish Cypriot question had for a long time been a source of friction. The division was deeply-rooted in conflict that dated back to the 1570 Ottoman Conquest and the Island’s era under British rule that led to the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. All this culminated in a Greek military-financed coup d’etat that eventually came to a head when the Turks invaded in 1974.
Sesiguzel and Takkallos make a brave attempt to flesh out the complicated historical context by adopting a ‘made for TV type’ format with facts, views from expert witnesses and personal outpourings making it often feel like a didactic lecture rather than a dynamic and cinematic piece of filmmaking. @MeredithTaylor
NOW ON RELEASE.