The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival kicked off its season yesterday Monday 9 May with the premiere of Gregory Karadinakis’ "SMYRNA, MY BELOVED" at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater @ 235 Charles E Young Dr. E, Los Angeles, in collaboration with the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture.
Synopsis
Filio Baltatzi, an elderly Greek-American woman, goes to the island of Lesvos to help the refugees. She has a secret: almost a century earlier, her family lived on the island when they themselves were refugees, fleeing Smyrna after the destruction of the city. Filio’s grandmother’s diary tells the story of the family’s turbulent history, shaped by tragic international developments. Filio is accompanied to Lesvos by her reluctant granddaughter, and different generations of women in the same family come together in space and time, through the threads of history, as past and present become one.
About the director
Grigoris Karantinakis is a theatre, film, and television director. He has degrees from the Stavrakos Film School and the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, and he has taught film and acting since 2003. From 2011 to 2015, he was the general manager of the Greek Film Center. His feature film Chariton’s Choir (2005) won multiple awards at festivals around the world.
For the full festival programme visit: LAGFF - Los Angeles Greek Film Festival
