PARALLEL TRIPS

PARALLEL TRIPS, 2002

Northern Cyprus, Turkey | DVD | Color, 115’ | Turkish, Greek

Directors: Derviş Zaim, Panicos Chrysanthou

Parallel Tripslooks from the perspectives of Turkish and Greek directors at the human tragedy of Cyprus, a problematic island in the Eastern Mediterranean, divided between Turks and Greeks for close to half a century. While Greek director Panicos Chrysanthou focuses his camera on the experiences of the Greek Cypriots during the hot war of 1974, Derviş Zaim strives to reveal similar experiences on the part of the Turks. At a time when efforts to solve the Cyprus problem reached their peak, the film was one of the rare productions to deal with the issue from a joint perspective. It seems this documentary, which succeeded in moving to tears most of the Turkish and Greek audience at its first special screening, will leave its mark in our minds through the spare and poignant stories of ordinary people.