Scene from the film Like Stone Lions at the Gateway into Night
Scene from the film Like Stone Lions at the Gateway into Night
Scene from the film Like Stone Lions at the Gateway into Night

Like Stone Lions at the Gateway into Night

Direction
Year 
2012
Country
  • Switzerland
  • France
  • Greece
Duration
87min 
Audio Tracks 
Subtitles 

Between 1947 and 1951, more than 80 000 Greek men, women and children were deported to the isle of Makronissos (Greece) in reeducation camps created to ‘fight the spread of Communism’. Among those exiles were a number of writers and poets, including Yannis Ritsos and Tassos Livaditis. Despite the deprivation and torture, they managed to write poems which describe the struggle for survival in this world of internment. These texts, some of them buried in the camps, were later found. «Like Lions of stone at the gateway of night» blends these poetic writings with the reeducation propaganda speeches constantly piped through the camps’ loudspeakers. Long tracking shots take us on a trance-like journey through the camp ruins, interrupted along the way by segments from photographic archives. A cinematic essay, which revives the memory of forgotten ruins and a battle lost.


German, French and Greek subtitles are available for download only in DVD format.

Details

  • Original title
    Comme des lions de pierre à l'entrée de la nuit
  • Direction
  • Screenplay
    Olivier Zuchuat, Eleni Gioti
  • DOP
    Olivier Zuchuat
  • Editing
    Olivier Zuchuat
  • Sound
    Aris Athanassopoulos
  • Duration
    87 min (46-90 min.)
  • Year
    2012
  • Country
    • Switzerland
    • France
    • Greece
  • Colour
    • Colour
  • Production
  • Distribution
  • Festivals
    • DOK Leipzig 2012
    • Visions du réel 2012
    • Ethnologie & Cinéma, XVIes rencontres autour du film ethnographique (Grenoble, 2012)
    • Aux écrans du réel, Festival de films documentaires (Le Mans, 2012)
    • Escales Documentaires, 12e Festival International du documentaire de création de La Rochelle (La Rochelle, 2012)
    • Périphérie, Les rencontres du cinéma documentaire (Montreuil, 2012)
    • Hors format (Rennes, 2012)
    • Cinemed, 35th International Mediterranean Film Festival of Montpellier (Montpellier, 2013)
  • Awards
    • DOK Leipzig 2012 - International Competition. Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
    • Prix du Jury - Festival International du Film méditerranéen de Tétouan 2013.
    • Prix du Jury - Festival du film insulaire / Groix 2014

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