Feature film
The Island of Silence
Το νησί της σιωπής
Lila Kourkoulakou · 1958
Synopsis
On Spinalónga, the Cretan islet where Greece banishes its lepers, Dr Státhis Chténas, discouraged by what he sees, tells the schoolteacher that he intends to leave as soon as possible. The arrival of a young volunteer woman doctor, Angéla, changes life on the island: the two doctors become a couple and set about improving the lot of the patients, amid the clashes that isolation gives rise to every day. But the flight of the young Sífis from the island changes Státhis's attitude.
Context
The screenplay is by Vangélis Chatzigiánnis, who co-produced the film with the director; Níkos Gardélis was behind the camera and Diamantís Diamantópoulos wrote the music, played by the Athens Symphony Orchestra. Giórgos Kambanéllis, Nína Sgourídou and Oréstis Makrís play the main roles. Part of the shooting took place on the islet, where the patients still lived. The film was released in Greece on 8 December 1958, and its screening is said to have hastened the closure of the leprosarium. Restored, it was re-released in cinemas in 2010.
Who it is for
About an hour, in black and white and in Greek; the copy restored in 2010 can also be seen online.
Prizes and reception
The first fiction film by a woman director to be admitted to a major international festival, at Venice in 1958, according to the Greek press; in cinemas it drew only 6,206 admissions.
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