Searching for Rodakis

Chrysoula, who died in 1887 at the age of 17, was buried under the floor of her family’s home in a small village 100 kilometres from Istanbul. Thirty-seven years later, due to population exchange, Chrysoula’s family had to leave her buried under the house floor as they were deported to Northern Greece. A hundred years later, while renovating the floor of this old house, the family of a filmmaker living there discovered Chrysoula’s tombstone. This film, directed by Kerem Soyyılmaz, is a story about the finding of the tombstone in 2016, the investigation into the family who owned it, and the search that concluded in Thessaloniki in 2022, told through the experiences of the director and his family.

“Searching for Rodakis” is a documentary that unites the people of Turkey and Greece through a tombstone, offering new perspectives while revisiting historical discontinuities. It is a meaningful story about the impact of religious separation on the simple lives of ordinary people, missed during the nation-state creation process, in the context of population exchange and the 100th anniversary of the republic.

2023 | 56 mins

Director bio: Kerem Soyyilmaz (1984), born and raised in Besiktas, Istanbul. With a background in commercial films, Searching for Rodakis is his first documentary feature. Searching for Rodakis won 6 awards including the best film award at the 30th. Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. He is currently based in Copenhagen, working on film and cultural projects.

Awards:

• Best Documentary Film, 30. Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2023.
• Best Documentary Film, 24th Türkisches Filmfestival Frankfurt/M. International, 2024.
• Best Turkish Documentary Film(Of The Cultural Heritage and Preservation) – International Golden Saffron Documentary Film Festival, 2024.
• Mediterranean Friendship Award, 9th Beyond Borders Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival, 2024.
• Honourable Mention, 9th Beyond Borders Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival, 2024.
• Honourable Mention, 11th Aegean Docs Film Festival, 2023.
• Best International Mid-Metrage Documentary Film, 10th International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra Awards, 2023.
• Best Mid Length Film – Rhodope International Documentary Film Festival, 2024.
• Honorable Mention – Festival International de Cinéma et Mémoire Commune – Nador, 2024.