Having won the Third Bronze Phoenix Award at the 2022 Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival, the award-winning work by Emilia Bouriti and the Syn+Ergasia Art Platform, “Railway Memories,” about the forced displacement of Greeks from the former Soviet Republics of the Caucasus, will be screened on Friday, January 27, 2023, at 19:00, at the War Museum of Athens.
The screenings take place within the framework of the three-day presentation of works from the Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival “Beyond Borders: Where Documentary Meets History and Culture,” from Friday, January 27 to Sunday, January 29, 2023, at the War Museum of Athens. The festival is under the auspices of Her Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
Emilia Bouriti created “Railway Memories,” an original connection between the railway lines of the Aspropyrgos station and the history of the Pontic Greeks of the city, in collaboration with the Municipality of Aspropyrgos, the Directorate of Social Protection, Education, Culture and Youth, and the Spiritual Center.
The director, in cooperation with the Pontic Community of Aspropyrgos, captures the concept of displacement as both an individual and collective memory. Pontic women unfold stories of their forced relocation in 1949 from the Caucasus, through the vast Soviet railway network, to Aspropyrgos, where they eventually settled.
For the artist, the railway lines of the freight station resemble the neurons of a body that endures, holds, and carries individual and collective memories.
The conception, direction, and performance are by Emilia Bouriti.
Participants include Sofia Mavridis, Emilia Bouriti, Klaudia Masmanidou, Vasilis Semertzidis, Christina Sofianidou, Christos Sofianidis, Chrysoula Topalidi, and Eleni Tsiripova.
Lyra is played by Vasilis Semertzidis.
For the detailed screening program and film summaries, please visit the festival’s official website at www.beyondborders.gr.
Seat Reservations and Shuttle Service
The screenings will take place at the “Ioannis Kapodistrias” Amphitheater of the War Museum of Athens (Vasilissis Sofias & Rizari 2, Athens).
To reserve seats, contact 2106669131 or 2106669140 or email info@idisme.gr / info@beyondborders.gr.
The event is organized by the Hellenic Foundation for Historical Studies (IDISME), in collaboration with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris).
For those wishing to attend the screening at the War Museum of Athens, the Municipality of Aspropyrgos will provide a shuttle bus. Departure at 17:00 from Genocide Square and 17:15 from Heroes Square. Return from the War Museum at 21:45. Seat reservations by phone at 2132006740-42.
