Work / Documentary · 2022 · 49 min
The Jews of Corfu
Three members of Corfu's Jewish community recall the life, the loss and the memory of a people woven into the island's history.
Synopsis
For centuries the Jewish community of Corfu was part of the island's trade, its economy and its everyday life. Through the testimonies of Nina Vital, Zacharias Matathias and Linos Sousis, the film follows that life, its destruction in the Holocaust, and the fate of those who came back from Auschwitz.
The idea came during the first lockdown. Interviews began in August 2020 and research and photo collection continued alongside them until the film was finished in January 2022, seventeen months later, with no outside funding.
Case study
- #01Where it began
In 2017, filming an interview with Nina Vital at the Corfu synagogue for local television, Mirjan first heard the history of the island’s Jewish community.
- #02How it was made
In 2020, during the lockdown, the idea became a film with Maria Boua: introductions through friends in Corfu, a meeting with members of the community, research with help from the university, then the interviews. Seventeen months, from August 2020 to January 2022, with no outside funding.
- #03Where it went
Selected for the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and the 19th San Francisco Greek Film Festival, covered by ERT, LiFO and Euronews, and free on YouTube since October 2024 for anyone to watch and screen.
Credits
- Director, Cinematography, Editing
- Mirjan Gjergjevica
- Co-writer & Co-producer
- Maria Boua
- Original Music
- Maria Boua
- Historical Research
- Maria Boua, Christianna Latsa
- Narration
- Yannis Andriotis
- With
- Nina Vital, Zacharias Matathias, Linos Sousis
- Production
- Mirjan Films
The Jews of Corfu
Bring the film to your audience
The full film is free on YouTube, and anyone can screen it: universities, schools, museums, synagogues and Jewish communities, festivals. For broadcast or VOD rights, get in touch.
Get in touch about the film