Los Angeles, CA – Photos by Allen Altchech Photography
The historical saga “Smyrna, My Beloved” was screened on Sunday, September 25, at St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
The film follows a prominent Greek family forced to endure 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 Smyrna tragedy destroyed her own family 100 years earlier.
Before the screening, Fr. John S. Bakas, Dean of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, offered a prayer and his inspiring words to the audience and Ioannis Stamatekos, Consul General of Greece in Los Angeles, Andreas Kyprianides, Honorary Consul General of Cyprus in L.A., Ardashes Kassakhian, Mayor of Glendale, Dr. Sharon Gerstel, Director of the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture, Prodromos Mike Begakis, President of the Hellenic Society of Constantinople and Dr. James F. Dimitriou, President & Chairman of the American Hellenic Council of California addressed the community.
The event included also the short documentary, The Full Catastrophe, which was written and produced by Linda Reid Chassiakos. This film is based on the true story of the writer’s mother’s family in 1922; her family members were slaughtered by the Turkish soldiers as the survivors tried to make a heroic escape from Smyrna amidst the devastation and genocide.
During the event, Dimitra Kasdagli, Programming and Festival Manager of the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, received a certificate from the City of Glendale recognizing Grigoris Karantinakis, director of “Smyrna, My Beloved”.
The screening was presented by the American Hellenic Council of California, the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture, and the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, and was further supported by St. Sophia Cathedral and the Hellenic Society of Constantinople. Further support has been provided by AHEPA.
