Andreas Apostolidis’ “Forgotten Balkans”

Today, 01/03/2012, the Goethe institute screened the premiere of the very good documentary “Forgotten Balkans”, directed by Andreas Apostolidis and produced by “ANEMON productions”. The documentary narrates life in the multiethnic communities of the Ottoman empire in the Balkans, through archival material, as well as from interviews with Mark Mazower (Columbia University), Christina Koulouri (Panteio University, Athens) Halil Berktay (Sabanci University, Istanbul), Machiel Kiel, Irena Stefoska ("St. Cyril and Methodius" University of Skopje), Radina Vucetic (Belgrade University), Frasher Demaj (History institute, Pristina), Alexei Kalionski (Sofia University), Dimitris Livanios (Aristotelion University, Thessaloniki) and Foto Lambrino (Director). The screening of the documentary is part of the festival "A Balkan tale", which also includes the exhibition of the works of five distinguished photographers (Ivan Petrovic, Camilo Nolla, Jutta Benzenberg, Ivan Blazhev and Samir Karahoda). In the exhibition, which runs from the 10th of February until the 8th of April, you can see photographs from the wider Balkan area that portray a series of monuments from the ottoman period. The photographs are accompanied by text that explains their construction and history.