NEW YORK, NY – The Hellenic Film Society USA (HFS) is proud to present the New York premiere of “Smyrna, My Beloved” about the destruction of the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna and its vibrant and prosperous Greek community at the hands of the Turkish Army in 1922. There will be a special screening on Friday, April 29, 7 PM, at the Directors Guild Theater, 110 West 57th Street in Manhattan. On Sunday, May 1, 4 PM, the film will be presented at the Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Avenue in Astoria, as part of the Society’s Always on Sunday monthly series of Greek films.
The Hellenic Film Society proudly presents the acclaimed historical drama “Smyrna, My Beloved” (Σμύρνη μου αγαπημένη”, commemorating the 100th anniversary -this year- of the destruction of Smyrna and its vibrant Greek community by the Turkish Army in 1922.
There will be a special screening on Friday, April 29 at 7pm at the Directors Guild Theater (110 West 57 Street, NY, NY). On Sunday, May 1st at 4pm, the film will be presented at the Museum of the Moving Art in Astoria (36-01-35 Avenue, NY) as part of the “Always on Sunday” screenings.
Directed by Grigoris Karantinakis, this moving, historical drama, told through the saga of a prominent Greek family, recounts the burning of the vibrant cosmopolitan city of Smyrna in 1922 by the Turks, and the killing of its Greek and Armenian populations. In the present, a young Greek-American woman, visiting Greece with her grandmother to support the Syrian refugees, discovers that the similar Smyrna tragedy destroyed her own family 100 years earlier.
The movie is based on Mimi Denissi’s stage play “Σμύρνη μου Αγαπημένη”, attended by over 1,000,000 people. Denissi, who co-wrote the script, also stars in the film along with Leonidas Kakouris, Burak Hakki, Katerina Geronikolou, Jane Lapotaire, Susan Hampshire, Rupert Graves, Christos Stergioglou, Daphne Alexander.
The movie is in Greek and English, with English subtitles.
“The burning of Smyrna was a seminal event in modern Greek history, seared into the consciousness of Greeks, many of whom emigrated to the US as a result of that atrocity”, said Jimmy DeMetro, president of the Hellenic Film Society USA. “Against the backdrop of the current refugee crises around the world, this is an important story to tell and we are privileged to be able to show this moving film”.
For further information, please visit www.hellenicfilmusa.org or call 347-934-9497 and follow HFS on Facebook and Instagram.
The Hellenic Film Society USA (HFS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization rooted in the belief that Greek cinema can and should be part of the American cultural landscape. The organization promotes feature films, documentaries, and film shorts made by Greek filmmakers and those of Greek descent, as well as films that promote the cultures of Greece and Cyprus.
