This summer, we hosted Övgü Gökçe as a in Mytilene on Lesvos island, together with our partner Siniparxi. During her two-month fellowship, Övgü had the chance to focus on her activities in a calm and fruitful environment and make a research trip to Athens where she gathered information about cultural heritage and familiarity with film culture in the city and country as a whole.
Following her return from Athens, Övgü planned a movie screening in Mytilene. The screening “Voicing Voices” (Kulaktan Kulağa / Gotegoteyî) presented 12 short documentaries shot by women from Diyarbakır, Batman and Mardin who share a collective memory and a common experience for the world despite their differences. The films are the products of the collective online production workshop of the BAK: Revealing the City Through Memory programme by Anadolu Kültür.
The event took place in a central and interesting venue in the city, an old open air cinema which is being used by Cinefytopolis, a plant nursery in Mytilene. The location enabled many locals to join the event on August 8th. Audience numbers of 75 exceeded Siniparxi’s expectations . Although many hardly found a place to sit, most joined the conversations after the screening. Övgü, a film critic based in Diyarbakır, had a great exchange with Turkish and Greek communities based in Mytilene.
This fellowship gave us a chance to support a cultural worker, connect with a local organisation in Mytilene and pursue our goals to explore the interrelation between art and research.
