“Invitation for return” is the brainchild of Greek Cypriot director Panayiotis Christophorou who hit upon the idea of making a short film with only zeroes and ones, with views to the cinematographic and scientific potential. The film takes place here
and brings the protagonist, a descendant of refugees living by the buffer zone, to an opposition with the occupation of his country by Turkish troops and his reaction to the lifting of this weight, lasting half a century. The film concludes with the return of the protagonist to his roots by riding a battering ram.
It is a wishful thought, exactly as a desire for making a film, exactly as films are ficticious.
The director made the film in order to share his point of view and feelings. It wasn’t made for profit, or self-exposure, or as an embrace with compromises. On the contrary, the compromises were few and they are unnoticeable. The director’s quality of work is an indication of his respect to the viewers, his ranking position, his life’s harvest, and the honor to the people that trust him. The film was made for Cinema and is targeted to the international film festivals.
One of the posters of Turkish Invasion
For the history, Turkey invaded Cyprus on 20th July 1974, displacing 1/3 of the population and committed war crimes.
Until this moment, Turkey occupies 37% of Cyprus territory with 40000 heavily armed troops, despite the United Nations resolutions against this situation. In November 1983, Turkey declared “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” recognized by no one, a shelter of all kind of criminal activities.
While the humanity was oversensitive and condemned other invasions in foreign territories, in the case of Cyprus, Pontius Pilate has been washing his hands for 50 years. Negotiations between the victim and the predator are in favor of the predator.
Refugees lost their properties, families disassembled.
Photo by Doros Partasides (1974).
In Plato’s legacy (Timaeus 37d) says that Time is the moving image of eternity. Films are never outdated; they are not related to timeliness. According to Jacques Lacan, every screen is a kind of mirror. The story of a film dissociates the viewer. It’s a time machine where viewers “Now” become film present. Finally, as Roger Ebert once noted “Movies are like a machine that generates empathy”