Preview

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Tuesday, January 17 at 7:30pm Miami Beach JCC

Greece | 87 minutes | 2022

City and the City

Southeast US Premiere

Using a radical, endlessly surprising narrative structure, The City and the City presents the untold story of how the once-thriving Sephardic Jewish community in Thessaloniki was gradually decimated over the course of the 20th century. This uniquely stylistic film is a heartfelt, elegiac love letter to the Greek city of Thessaloniki, which before the Second World War, was a dazzlingly polyglot, cosmopolitan home to such a large population of Sephardic Jews that it was known as “the Mother of Israel.” With devastating emotional clarity and relentless force, the film unfolds in parallel contemporary and historical tracks, tracing moments of anti-semitic persecution, the Nazi occupation of Greece, and lingering postwar trauma. Using six intertwined and visually evocative chapters, The City and the City brilliantly combines documentary, fiction, and essay. Deeply moving, this ambitious film is a true illustration of the power of movies — you walk out of the theater and never look at the world in quite the same way ever again.

Awards

Encounter Award at the Berlin International Film Festival

Director's Bio

Directed by Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas

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Christos Passalis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He graduated from the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece. He received his film debut starring in Yorgos Lanthimos’ internationally acclaimed film Dogtooth (2009). Syllas Tzoumerkas was born in 1978 in Thessaloniki. His films have premiered at numerous prestige film festivals, including Venice, Locarno, and the Berlinale.

Cast and Credits

Director

Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas

Screenwriter

Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas

Cinematographer

Simos Sarketzis

Editor

Giorgos Zafeiris

Cast

Vassilis Kanakis, Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Angeliki Papoulia

Film Info

Year

2022

Country

Greece

Run-time

87 minutes

Language

Greek, Ladino, German with English subtitles
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