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All lectures, presentations and film projections will take place in the West Hall.

Please scroll down or click on the film titles for more details.

Day 1, 11. Nov. 2005

17:00 - Keynote/Intro.

Oral Histories
17:15 Istanbul "Moda in our Memories" (16 mins)
17:45 Nicosia North "The Transformation of Cultural Life in Northern Nicosia" (30 mins)

Discussion

18:30 BREAK

Photographic Presentation
18:45 Chania "Studying the People of Chania through Photography" by Christos Varvandakis (15 mins)

Nostalgia
19:00 Valletta "Ilhna Beltin" (Voices of Valletta) (23 mins)
19:30 Beirut "Wish You Were Here" (30 mins)

Day 2, 12. Nov. 2005

Emerging Communities
16:00 Istanbul "Memories about Taslitarla: Gaziosmanpasa in Past" (16 mins)
16:30 South Nicosia "Tahtakallas - a non-community" (30 mins)
17:00 Chania "Etz Hayyim - Tree of Life: Voices Surrounding a Synagogue" (30 mins)

Discussion

17:45: BREAK

Home away from Home
18:00 London "Fragments From the Past" (23 mins)
18:30 Nicosia South "What shall I do?" (30 mins)

Discussion

19:15 Nicosia South - Photographic Presentation Off the Map: The Uses of Domestic Space in Old Nicosia (approx. 30 mins)

Documentary
"Moda in our Memories" (Istanbul)

Running time:16 minutes

Language and sub-titles: Turkish with English subtitles

Name of film makers: Tamer Ustel

Abstract:
A documentary film about the daily life in Moda. Within the documentary film, Moda wharf and Moda coasts are the main subjects and interwiewees are telling their stories about these places.

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Documentary
"The Transformation of Cultural Life in Northern Nicosia" (North Nicosia)

Running Time: 1 hour (30 min excerpts to be screened)

Abstract:
This documentary, "Jasmine Smelling Sheher" is based on the "oral information" gathered from face to face interviews made with 43 "old" residents of North Nicosia. Thus, it is mainly focuses on the "stories" of people who witness the life in old Nicosia. Basically it is divided to 3 sub-episodes. Every episode covers, one or more neighbourhood streets with their stories from past to present.

During the last century, Nicosia, like all the other cities, faced with socio-economic and cultural changes. First off all, technological developments and modernization causes changes in life styles and traditions. Secondly, the civil fight in 1963, between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, caused a separation between these communities, thus multi-cultural social life of Nicosia damaged. Thirdly, in 1974, after the strict divisions of Nicosia into two parts, most of the residents of old Nicosia immigrate to "outside" of walled city; and new immigrants from Turkey replace them. Therefore as the living inhabitants changed, the socio-cultural background of Nicosia is also changed.

This documentary, presents socio-cultural changes in old Nicosia -while it introduces historical monuments and old streets -, during the last century by drawing on its "real" inhabitants' stories. In this sense, the documentary is pessimistic, because the interviewees are mostly sad, because of the socio-cultural changes in Nicosia.

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Photographic Presentation
Studying people of Chania through photography
by Christos Varvadakis

Duration: 15 mins

Abstract:
The experience of working in the "field" of the mediterranean city of Chania revealed to me a huge spectrum of different and often contradictory views over the multicultural past and present of the city. Tracks in Spaces and Identities which witness the great Mediterranean heritage of the city, and in contrast the disguise of this heritage for the purposes of tourism. A great history of interaction and coexistence/ consistency with other Mediterranean civilizations and the discontinuity with the present as it is often witnessed by the constraint of today's society in front of the new multicultural prospects which the reality of immigration brings forward. The numerous conversations and interactions that I experienced while I was working as research assistant for the Mediterranean Voices program at Chania, brought out a lot of thoughts about the cultural identity of the city and its inhabitants, and a number of photos.

The photo of the man who restored the synagogue at Chania, into an unfriendly and prejudiced social environment, while he celebrate the mass for two persons only. An old woman, refugee from Asia Minor, who chooses to be photographed together with a sketch of Agia Sofia. A couple of immigrants (the man from Egypt, the woman from Georgia) together with their child, photographed into their living room, with their big television and sofas, indicating perhaps a level of 'success'. The photos of a tired man in his office, while he is talking with a Thervantes-like passion about the 'Festival of Nationalities' that he organized in the past and his try to make it happen once again, after the interruption of the funding from the state. Photos from a proud group of old musicians, 'deviant' memory keepers of an old music tradition from Chania, which wants Violin and not Lyra to be the basis for the music of this territory. What the people of Chania look like today and in the same time what they would like to look like. This is an attempt for a photographic study for the 'mediterranean factor' and its transformations, in the identities of the inhabitants of Chania.

I worked partially in this program, on its visual part. That gave me the opportunity for making a series of portraits from persons we interviewed. I decided however, that I would like the photos of those people to be something more than just decoration for the text that will follow up. Egged on by the complexity and diversity of the identities of the people that we were talking with, I tried to impress not only their faces, but also (being aware of the abstract perspectives that such a purpose may include), something from what they were saying. Of course the outcome of such an attempt is to be questionable and a discussion that may arise is definitely within my expectations by presenting this work.

This poster presentation proposes an alternative way of representing culture through photography in order to bring to surface images different from those promoted by ministries of tourism worldwide during the last decades.

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Documentary
Ilhna Beltin (Voices of Valletta)

Language: Maltese with English Subtitles
Running Time: 23 minutes.
Producers: Mark Casha & Rachel Radmilli, University of Malta, for the Mediterranean Voices Project. This Project is funded by the Euromed Heritage II programme.
Directed by: Edward Said, Ballottra Films.

Abstract: This documentary deals with the subtle and often ignored means of communication in Valletta. In a modern and rushed world, where tourism and the beautification of the City has taken centre stage, old channels of communication have largely been forgotten or overlooked. One of these is the significance attached to churchbells - which are used to announce many things from the time of the day, the time to go to pray, to announcing a funeral or other rites of passage.

Moving from one means of communication originating high above the Valletta skyline in the Church Steeple, this documentary moves on to the ground level and to more secular forms of communication, from children playing in the street, to housewives gossiping from one balcony to another. This documentary aims to highlight the everyday, the mundane, the 'hidden', and the possibly less glamorous, less popularised or less gentrified aspects of life in Valletta today, and within living memory. Some elements of Nostalgia emerge from the interviews with the City people who appear in this documentary: the Voices of Valletta.
This film is dedicated to all the people of Valletta: Past, Present and Future.

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Documentary
Wish You Were Here

Duration: 51 mins
Format: Mini DV
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
Written and Directed by Mahmoud Hojeij
Camera: Joycline Abi Gebrayel
Sound: Samer Saide
Editing/Sound design: Amer Ghandour

Abstract:
Ras Beirut is not just a neighbourhood; it is a way of life. A video documentary will investigate that in fifty one minutes travelling through the memories of Ras Beirutis on a journey of nostalgia, passion and dialect. Liala Shahid and Dr. Kamal Salibi will join as guest appearances.

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Documentary
Memories about Taslitarla: Gaziosmanpasa in Past

Running time: 16 minutes
Language and sub-titles: Turkish with english subtitles
Name of film maker: Tamer Ustel

Abstract:
It is a documentary about the foundation of Gaziosmanpasa district. There are examples from the interviews done with Bulgarian immigrants and former dwellers (the ones who made gecekondus (shanty houses)during 1950s) of the district.

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Documentary
"Tahtakallas - a non-community"

Direction: Costas Constantinou & Christopher Malapitan
Duration: approx. 30min
Language: Greek
Subtitles: None
Format: DVD
Year of production: 2005

Abstract:
Tahtakallas is situated at the eastern end of the old town of Nicosia between the Municipal Market area and the districts of Hrisaliniotissa and Ayios Kassianos. It was renovated in the 1980s when a new refugee estate was built. The Municipality's objective was to both renovate the area which was deteriorated and isolated for many years after 1974 and also re-house refugees. Many refugees were reluctant to move to the area because of its close proximity to the neighbouring "Green Line". Yet, by 2001 the population of Tahtakallas refugee estate totalled 245 people. This film investigates refugee's perceptions of and sense of belonging to the place of Tahtakallas. It aims to give voice to refugees with different background and experiences and show how these differences reflect on the way space is perceived and used.

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Documentary
Etz Hayyim - Tree of Life: Voices Surrounding a Synagogue
by Vassiliki Yiakoumaki

Concept-Research-Text: Vassiliki Yiakoumaki
Soundtrack: Lyssandros Falireas
Direction: Vassiliki Yiakoumaki & Chronis Theocharis
Languages: Greek, English (with subtitles)
Year of Production: 2005
Duration: 1h, 10min
Format: DVD

Abstract:
In this film we explore issues of collective memory in Chania, Crete, by tracing aspects of the city's Jewish culture, as part of its historical multicultural landscape.

The film revolves around the project of the recent restoration of the Etz Hayyim Synagogue, at the city's former Jewish quarter, and the emergence of a new "community" around it. The Synagogue project functions as an attempt to re-establish a historical continuity in the city as well as to create a place of spirituality in a contemporary context.

After decades of silence following the extinction of the local Jewish population during World War II, the Synagogue is proclaimed a World Monument in 1996, and it attracts international support for its restoration. Over the last few years, the project of the Synagogue has contributed to a transformation of the local neighbourhood space, while functioning as a multi-cultural community, cultural centre, and place of prayer open to everyone.

Through research and interviews, we trace the course of this emergence in our effort to understand how such a project can become viable in Greece today, and, in this process, what kind of collectivity/-ies it produces. In this effort, we are exploring in what ways history is reconstructed and/or negotiated in local identity politics, in a European periphery today.

Our broader objective is to contribute to a discussion on the emergence of multiculturalist politics and on issues of tolerance in Greece today, particularly in light of European integration, hence of new approaches in the official management of ethnic difference.

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Documentary
Fragments From the Past (London)

Running Time: 23 minutes
Language and subtitles: English/Turkish, English subtitles
Name of filmmakers: Hakan Demiralay/ Vedide Kaymak
Format: DVD

Abstract:
Men and women from London's Turkish speaking communities talk about their experiences of arriving in London, and the role of the cinema in adjusting to their new life. Watching Turkish films provided a link with home and the past, reawakening memories of childhood, family and friends; it was also important in creating shared social, cultural, and even economic spaces in their new city. In the days before video, DVD and satellite TV, the speakers recall the importance of cinemas showing Turkish films as places for socialising, catching up on the news, political activism and entertainment of all kinds - all against the backdrop of the familiar and well-loved world of Turkish film actors and stories.

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Documentary
"What shall I do?"

Direction: Christopher Malapitan
Duration: approx. 30min
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Format: DVD
Year of production: 2005

Abstract:
The maximum stay granted to migrant workers in south Nicosia is six years. Apart from the difficulties they face within their new environment, they also enjoy the new opportunities they have. The documentary will explore such questions as how do migrants configure home, place and belonging and the social and legal impositions that define them. How do they construct home away from home? The film draws a portrait of an anonymous young lady from West Africa living in south Nicosia.

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Documentary
Off the Map: The Uses of Domestic Space in Old Nicosia

Direction: Nicos Philippou
Duration: approx. 30min

Abstract:
One of the concrete outputs of the Voices of Mediterranean Project in Nicosia south has been the publication of photographs contextualized by extracts from interviews. This presentation concentrates on the distinct domestic and work spaces occupied by local residents.

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