Friday, August 29, 2014
Synopsis
Zejtenlik (2014) - Synopsis and Background
Zejtenlik is a WWI Allied Military Cemetery in Thessaloniki, Greece. Soldiers who died
on the Macedonian front between 1915 and 1918 are interred there – their graves
organized by nation and rank. Though a Serbian name, “Zejtenlik” itself is derived from
the Turkish word for “olive grove,” a designation that already marks the complexity of
the history that marks this dissociated territory.
The keeper of the Serbian section, Djordje Mihailović, is the third, and likely last, of a
line of cemetery wardens, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather before
him. Born in the cemetery, his lifeʼs work has been set out for him since birth. Though
Djordje has only travelled to Serbia a handful of times, Serbs travel to visit him every
day, and so from sunrise to sunset he can be found working in the grounds, guiding
visiting groups, and embodying the history of the place itself. Now in his eighties,
however, he has no son to take over the family legacy, and wonders what will happen
when he is gone.
This documentary introduces this extraterritorial national space, created around the loss
of soldiers in three conflicts. Through Djordjeʼs well narration, as well as his meditations
on the importance of the site we are given a glimpse of his worldview and
understanding of the complex history of his idealized homeland. Zejtenlik poses
questions about the complex nature of nationality, nationalism, and collective memory,
and places Djordjeʼs sometimes controversial claims in plain site. The film is a
meditation on how national identity is formed around often distant notions of conflict and
defeat, and juxtaposes the memory of the First World War, as seen through a Serbian
lens, with other Western nationʼs memorialization of this now distant conflict. In telling
his story, Djordje reveals the complexity of the relationship of WWI, in which Serbia
fought on the “right” side of history, to the recent Balkan wars and the tragedy of their
memory. The film is a mediation on the memorialization of war, that depicts the codes
of western official history and memorial from an unexpected viewpoint, revealing their
internal tensions, in a manner that is simultaneously familiar and yet uncanny to the
viewer.
The film was shot in Thessaloniki, Greece in the summer of 2013 and edited in Toronto,
Canada over the past year.
Owen Lyons
Zejtenlik is a WWI Allied Military Cemetery in Thessaloniki, Greece. Soldiers who died
on the Macedonian front between 1915 and 1918 are interred there – their graves
organized by nation and rank. Though a Serbian name, “Zejtenlik” itself is derived from
the Turkish word for “olive grove,” a designation that already marks the complexity of
the history that marks this dissociated territory.
The keeper of the Serbian section, Djordje Mihailović, is the third, and likely last, of a
line of cemetery wardens, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather before
him. Born in the cemetery, his lifeʼs work has been set out for him since birth. Though
Djordje has only travelled to Serbia a handful of times, Serbs travel to visit him every
day, and so from sunrise to sunset he can be found working in the grounds, guiding
visiting groups, and embodying the history of the place itself. Now in his eighties,
however, he has no son to take over the family legacy, and wonders what will happen
when he is gone.
This documentary introduces this extraterritorial national space, created around the loss
of soldiers in three conflicts. Through Djordjeʼs well narration, as well as his meditations
on the importance of the site we are given a glimpse of his worldview and
understanding of the complex history of his idealized homeland. Zejtenlik poses
questions about the complex nature of nationality, nationalism, and collective memory,
and places Djordjeʼs sometimes controversial claims in plain site. The film is a
meditation on how national identity is formed around often distant notions of conflict and
defeat, and juxtaposes the memory of the First World War, as seen through a Serbian
lens, with other Western nationʼs memorialization of this now distant conflict. In telling
his story, Djordje reveals the complexity of the relationship of WWI, in which Serbia
fought on the “right” side of history, to the recent Balkan wars and the tragedy of their
memory. The film is a mediation on the memorialization of war, that depicts the codes
of western official history and memorial from an unexpected viewpoint, revealing their
internal tensions, in a manner that is simultaneously familiar and yet uncanny to the
viewer.
The film was shot in Thessaloniki, Greece in the summer of 2013 and edited in Toronto,
Canada over the past year.
Owen Lyons
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)