“The average citizen moped about around home and watched television, which was the government. Every fifteen minutes his television would urge him to vote intelligently or consume intelligently, or worship in the church of his choice, or love his fellowmen, or obey the laws-or pay a call to the nearest Ethical Suicide Parlor and find out how friendly and understanding a Hostess could be.”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Welcome to the Monkey House”, 1968.
“Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts, and George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains.”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”, 1961.
The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) will be in 11 Canadian cities 1-31October2024 presenting films theatrically and, in some cases, on-line.
After the 1974 invasion and occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkey a buffer zone was created between Northern Cyprus and Southern Cyprus and patrolled by United Nations “peacekeepers”. Like the old East and West Berlin, Nicosia is a divided city.
Yiannis (Adam Bousdoukos) is a struggling Greek Cypriot musician in debt to loan sharks and 5 months behind in his rent. Five months ago the love of his life and fellow band member Kiki left him leaving behind her dog Jimi. Jimi escapes and runs into the Turkish sector of Nicosia. Yiannis shows the proper documentation to enter the Turkish sector and searches for Jimi. He finds Jimi and attempts to return to Greek sector of Nicosia but is refused as there can be no importation of live animals between Northern and Southern Cyprus.
Yiannis has yet to visit the Turkish sector of Nicosia and his curiosity dictates a visit to the family home since taken over by settler Hasan (Fatih Al) and his family. “Settlers” are mainland Turks encouraged to “colonize” Northern Cyprus by Turkish state policy similar to a blind eye of the Turks to smuggling Muslim immigrants across the Aegean into various Greek islands. Turkish attempt at destabilizing Greece. Entire homes and villages were uprooted because of the division of Cyprus.
Yiannis must, through the recommendation of Hasan, enlist the help of a Turkish smuggler Tuberek (Özgür Karadeniz). The initial smuggling attempt fails and poor Jimi ends up in a farm and must be stolen by Yiannis with the help of Hasan, Tuberek and Kiki. Then a desperate attempt by boat to land in Southern Cyprus. The Cyprus naval patrol spots the boat and all overboard including Jimi who we last see dogpaddling to land. While the humans survive and return to Nicosia, Jimi is nowhere to be seen.
All the bureaucracy, politics and bullshit involved in simply bringing back a lost dog through the buffer zone. An example of the idiocy of a divided Cyprus. Also an example of Greeks and Turks co-operating in face of the tragic division of Cyprus.
Did you think that Jimi would have drowned? He was involved in narcotics smuggling!
In English, Turkish and Greek with English subtitles.
Here is the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACqXDktph0
RKS 2024 Film Rating : 77/100.
Directed by Marios Piperides.
You need more information check out https://gifft.ca
The wine is a blend of 60% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 10% Marselan which is cross between Grenache and Syrah.
Aroma: Blackberry, black cherry with some raspberry and licorice.
Palate: Moderate and broad-based tannins. A bit gravelly but even given that it is smooth with a bit of a peppery finish. The acids hover in the background probably desirable considering the peppery influences. Blackberry with a tad of salinity which is not surprising as the Costières de Nîmes lies proximate to the salty marshes of the Camargue and the Mediterranean.
Personality: I fit in with the assertive red wines of the Costières de Nîmes. And the peppery nature of Southern Rhône Syrah also is a bit of a trademark. I am not elegant but straight forward.
Food Match: Steak et frites. Croque Monsieur.
Cellarbility: It will not improve in the bottle. Drink by the end of 2025.
Price: $15 CDN.
RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Wine Align 89.
(Château Saint Cyrgues Red 2022, AOP Costières de Nîmes, Chateau Saint Cyrgues, Saint-Gilles, France, 750 mL, 13%).
“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anyone else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anyone else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the Constitution and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”, 1961.
“If our descendants don’t study our times closely, they will find that they have again exhausted the planet’s fossil fuels, that they have again died by the millions of influenza and the Green Death, that the sky again has again been turned yellow by the propellants for underarm deodorants, that they have elected a senile President two meters tall, and that they are yet again the intellectual and spiritual inferiors of teeny weeny Chinese.”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Slapstick”, 1976.
Pinot Noir is often referred to as the heartbreak grape due to its thin-skinned delicate nature. In my opinion Baco Noir is also a heartbreak grape perhaps not in the field but in converting its juice into a good wine. In Ontario I am mostly disappointed with Baco Noir that tricks the nose into thinking it is a special wine but it dies on the palate. While in Niagara recently I reluctantly picked up a Riverview Estates Winery Marechal Foch/Baco Noir because I am a fan of the former rather than the latter. It was a winner.
In this case stumbling into Cox Creek Cellars in the hinterland of Guelph, Ontario I decided to be adventurous and try their non-vintage Red Cuvée which is a blend of Baco Noir and Cabernet Franc the percentage of each grape in the blend not revealed on the label nor on their website.
Aroma: The Baco Noir is dominant with resulting “grapey” aroma. Blackberry, black cherry, dates and a smidge of chocolate. The Cabernet Franc keeps the Baco Noir in check and adds some discipline to the wine.
Palate: An enormity of smoothness with soft tannins. The acidity is just right. But is it just a bit too smooth without a bite or defined structure? Lots of blackberry and black cherry yet tinged with a bit of austerity which gives the wine credibility.
Personality: I am a juicy and approachable wine perhaps lacking complexity. But again I am approachable and many will like me and enjoy me and isn’t that what counts?
Food Match: Pork tenderloin medallions in a blackberry jam Red Cuvée reduction sauce. And this will shine with a roast turkey with cranberry sauce on the side.
Cellarbility: Drink by mid 2025.
Price: $16.95 CDN.
RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 84/100.
(Cox Creek Cellars NV Red Cuvée, Cox Creek Cellars, 7687 Wellington 22, Guelph, Ontario, 750 mL, 13%).
“Captain O’Hare and I entered the palace between two lines of soldiers. They were an honor guard of some sort, I suppose. Each one held aloft a banner, which was embroidered with the totem of his artificial extended family – an apple, an alligator, the chemical symbol for lithium, and so on.
It was such a comically trite historical situation, I thought. Aside from battles, the history of nations seemed to consist of nothing but powerless old poops like myself, heavily medicated and vaguely beloved in the long ago, coming to kiss the boots of young psychopaths.”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Slapstick”, 1976.
“The miniaturization of human beings in China had progressed so far at that point, that their ambassador was only 60 centimeters tall. His farewell was polite and friendly. He said his country was severing relations simply because there was nothing going on in the United States which was of any interest to the Chinese at all.
Eliza was asked to say why the Chinamen had been so right,
‘What civilized country could be interested in a hell-hole like America,’ she said, ‘where everybody takes such lousy care of their own relatives?’
Kurt Vonnegut, “Slapstick”, 1976
In 1971 I spent 4 months in the Greek islands and then in 1972 another month. I managed to witness Greece as most will never see it. We took a fishing boat to an island I forget the name of, as there was no ferry service. We stopped for the fisherman to haul in his catch and with dolphins jumping along the boat we arrived at our island destination as the sun set. We stayed on this island for two weeks and slept in a vineyard a la open air. Thank goodness no scorpion bites. There were no hotels and no pensions. There was one restaurant in the village which we had to travel to from the vineyard across the beach down one rickety wooden ladder then up another ladder. The restaurant was happy to serve mezze with ouzo as the sun set but God forbid asking for dinner before 20:00 hours! Absolutely no English was spoken by the locals, which really didn’t matter in those days so we just went into the kitchen pointed to this and that and Bob’s your uncle a fantastic dinner arrived. Then back home in the moonlight across the beach and up and down the ladders!
I apologize for the digression as isn’t this a film review and as I write about travel perhaps the world of film and travel intersect.
“Kristos the Last Child” is a documentary about a young boy in his sixth grade on the Greek Dodecanese Island of Arki very close to Patmos itself being very close to the Turkish coast.
Kristos is the last child in the island’s elementary school. In fact he has been the only child in the school from grades 3-6. He is bright and his teacher Maria has dreams beyond goat herding for Kristos. On the island of Arki there are close to 50 inhabitants. One of many small Greek villages on the verge of extinction.
Kristos bravely chooses to break the goat herding tradition by attending high school in the nearby island of Patmos where he must live in a spartan dormitory. It is an enormous step for a boy but he takes the voyage and we are left wondering about his success. Given the love of learning imparted by his teacher Maria I think he will be successful.
An interesting story but perhaps more interesting is a snapshot of a Greece that is disappearing to brighter opportunities elsewhere in Greece and abroad. This story commenced in the 1950’s took a respite and with the “economic crisis” in Greece rebooted.
In Greek with English subtitles.
The director is Giulia Amati.
For scheduling of films in the 11 Canadian cities where the festival films are playing check out https://giftt.ca
Some films are available online.
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