Cypriots will have the chance to watch award-winning documentary The Divided Island about the Cyprus Conflict at a special screening in the capital Nicosia later this month.
The event is being held at the Home for Co-operation, in Cyprus’ Buffer Zone, on Saturday, 20 September, and will include a panel discussion with the film’s director Cey Sesiguzel and two prominent Cypriot peace activists who feature in the film, Kemal Baykali and Andromachi Sophocleous (pictured below in a still from The Divided Island).
Noted for its historic accuracy and balance, The Divided Island was co-produced by two British Cypriots, Sesiguzel, who is of Turkish Cypriot descent, and his Greek Cypriot friend and business partner Andreas Tokkallos. The pair grew up in North London, with Sesiguzel saying he was motivated to make the film primarily to address the historical inaccuracy that the problems started in the summer of 1974.
“Growing up as a Turkish Cypriot in the UK, the Cyprus conflict is discussed as a problem that started in 1974, and that Turkey invaded and seized half the island. And that is almost the end of the story of what happened,” stated Sesiguzel.
“But the conflict started in the 50s and 60s and it’s a big problem that this is not really talked about in the West. I knew the truth asking my elders and doing my own research at 17-years-old that only half the story had been portrayed.
“The Greek Cypriot media, the Orthodox Church and the schools, again perpetrate this narrative that the Cyprus problem started in 1974, and it just didn’t. That was agonising for me as a Turkish Cypriot when I was growing up, because all the suffering that happened in the 60s is kind of hidden in history. I think institutions like to put the blame on one side when really it is never just one side’s fault. This was a driving motivation for me to make the film,” Sesiguzel added.
The Divided Island received its UK premiere in October 2024 and went on to become the first film on the Cyprus Conflict to be screened in British cinemas, with audiences in London, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Belfast able to learn more about this tragic conflict through a mixture of historical footage, eye-witness testimony and expert insights. It has been praised by UK Cypriots who have seen the film for challenging the one-sided narratives told about the conflict, while inviting empathy for the human suffering that has taken place.
The 90-minute film, which is primarily in English with Turkish and Greek subtitles, is now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video UK and globally on Vimeo On Demand.
For more info about the film, visit www.thedividedisland.com
