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Like Stone Lions in the Gateway into Night

Like Stone Lions in the Gateway into Night

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Apr 20, 2012

Runtime

1h 27m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

Comme des lions de pierre à l'entrée de la nuit

Production Companies

Periplus, RTS, Audiovisuel Multimedia International Production (AMIP), Prince Film

Director

Olivier Zuchuat

Description

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.