The two shores of the Aegean came together with the "Kaρσί / Karşı" project

Source: News Center

The Seyir Association from Ayvalık and Lesvos Solidarity from the island of Lesbos came together within the scope of the Καρσί / Karşı project, jointly carried out by Anadolu Kültür from Turkey , TAVROS and NOUCMAS from Greece , with the aim of building bridges and developing relationships between cultural initiatives and art communities from both sides of the North Aegean Sea.

Representatives of Lesvos Solidarity and guests from the Tériade Museum and Library visited Ayvalık as part of the Καρσί / Karşı project, and met with the people of Ayvalık for a talk and a film screening on July 2. A talk on the Lesvos painter Theophilos Hatzimihail and the art critic and collector Stratis Eleftheriadis-Tériade, who helped spread the painter's fame worldwide, was also held at the ASKEV Greenhouse, along with a screening of the biographical film Theophilos.

The event, titled "Cultural Treasures of Our Neighboring Lesbos," featured a screening of Lakis Papastathis's Theophilos, which tells the life of Greece's folk painter Theophilos Hatzimihail and won Best Film, Best Actor, and Best Costume awards at the 1987 Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Before the screening, Alexandros Spathis, a member of the Board of Directors of the Tériade Museum and Library, spoke about the turning points and ups and downs in the painter's life, and how his naive paintings were immortalized by Stratis Eleftheriadis-Tériade. He also discussed Tériade, who, like Theophilos, was born on Lesbos, and how he became part of the avant-garde art scene in Paris at the turn of the century, his publishing activities, and his collection, which ranges from Matisse to Miro, and is displayed alongside examples of modern Greek painting in the museum he donated to Lesbos.

Following this meeting, representatives of the Seyir Association were hosted on Lesvos Solidarity. As part of the film "Kaρσί / Karşı," this time, Murat Fıratoğlu's film "One of the Days Hemme Died," which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year and has garnered acclaim at numerous festivals in Turkey and abroad, was screened on July 4th at the Cine Arion cinema in the city of Mytilini. The screening also served as the film's Greek premiere. Among the audience were refugees living on Lesvos who had never been to a cinema before. The screening, hosted by Lesvos Solidarity, a group that advocates for a culture of coexistence on the island, was met with considerable interest.

The Ayvalık Film Festival, organized by Seyir Derneği from September 16-21 this year for the fourth time, also welcomes audiences from the island of Lesbos every year. Just like the sea and sky they share, the cultural and artistic life of Ayvalık and Lesbos interact with each other. The Καρσί / Karşı project has once again highlighted the need for cultural exchange between the two sides.