The Unlost Homeland

"The UnLost Homeland" follows the story of 12 Greeks from Constantinople who lived through the Istanbul pogrom of 1955 in Turkey.

It is notorious in modern history as the only pogrom of such magnitude to have taken place during peacetime. The camera lens together with the presenter transport us to the stories of all the refugees who were forced to leave their country as well as of one Turk who is in self-exile. These are the stories of everyday people who were brutally uprooted.

How did Turkey manage to eradicate all these minorities? What truly happened in these genocides that have been so masterfully silenced?

Who were the Greeks of Istanbul really? How did they continue the Byzantine legacy? How did they manage to keep intact their language, their religion and their identity for 500 years after the fall of Constantinople?

How did they interact with the other minorities (Armenians / Jews) of the city? Where were they on the night of the pogrom? What was their education, their relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, their everyday life, their cuisine?

The story of this elite society unfolds through these rare interviews.

Utilising fast-paced montage, and innovative animated text on screen, the viewer is transported to an imaginary table, where everyone is sitting together without knowing each other, answering and complementing each other. In the end it feels as if everybody is somehow related to one another. Through common memories and mutual pain these people are united by a unique and universal bond.

One of these Greeks returns home after 46 years with his grandson. Is his house still there? How does it feel to return to his birthplace?

What is really left? Is this the end? In the end history is not just the cold facts; it is comprised of the stories and trials of the people who wrote history.

Dela