2023, Türkiye, 57' ֍ Dir. Kerem Soyyılmaz
Turkish/Greek/English (English/Turkish subtitles)
A Greek tombstone of unknown origin is discovered underneath the floorboards in an old village house in Turkey. The engraved Cyrillic letters tell of a woman, Chrysoula Rodaki, who died in 1887 – and so the search for her descendants begins. It leads director Kerem Soyyilmaz to local archives, where his own family's role in the history is laid bare; to abandoned ghost towns; and through the memories of older villagers. Told through the director's personal experiences, Searching for Rodakis rediscovers the ties between people and cultures and the stories discarded to build a strong, nationalist state. The film’s release in 2023 coincided with the 100-year anniversary of the forced population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
Born and raised in Besiktas, Istanbul in 1984, Kerem Soyyılmaz has a background in commercial film and works between Denmark and Turkey on cross-cultural projects. Searching for Rodakis, his first documentary feature, premiered at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and won the 'Best Documentary Film' award at the 2023 Adana Golden Ball Film Festival.
