The Vounous Documentary, produced in collaboration between Abrakadabra İletişim Yönetimi (ACM) and Çatalköy Municipality, was unanimously selected for a special screening by the jury of the European Association for Experimental Archaeology (EXARC). The world premiere of the Vounous Documentary will take place on 31 March 2021 at 18:00 on EXARC’s YouTube and social media channels, the meeting point for the archaeology world, during an online conference to be held from 29 March to 1 April 2021. Around 85 academic archaeologists working in the archaeology departments of the world’s most renowned universities will present papers at the conference.
Rauf Ersenal, who also leads the Vounous Symposium project, advised on the documentary, which was filmed with participants from around the world during the Vounous Symposia organized by Çatalköy Municipality to bring 5,000 years of history back to life and to return to our country artefacts taken from Cyprus.
Ersenal: “Vounous is a success story for our country” Emphasizing the importance of being recognized by an institute of international standing, Ersenal said: “First of all, I would like to thank the hundreds of friends who helped Vounous reach this successful point. I cannot name them all here, but they know who they are. We successfully held the International Vounous Symposium for three consecutive years. During that time, many foreign academics and artists contributed to Vounous and ultimately played an important role in bringing Vounous to the world. As a result of these dedicated efforts, which attracted the attention of the European Association for Experimental Archaeology, we were invited to a conference that will be livestreamed on a global YouTube channel from 29 March to 1 April 20121. The jury, which includes expert archaeologists from many countries, unanimously approved the screening of the Vounous Documentary at this conference. The first screening of the Vounous Documentary will therefore also serve as its premiere. I believe this is a great achievement for our country, because we will be the only ones representing all of Cyprus at this conference. The hard work that has gone into introducing Cyprus’s rich cultural heritage to the world, safeguarding it, protecting it and keeping it alive is now yielding an incredible return. There is only one thing I can say: ‘Vounous is a success story for our country, and this story will continue.’ This international achievement by Çatalköy Municipality is an exemplary initiative that will be recorded as a first. The Vounous Documentary will be introduced to the whole world through a livestream on YouTube at 18:00 on 31 March 2021, at this international conference, which will run for four days, from 29 March to 1 April 2021, and feature papers by around 85 academic archaeologists working in the archaeology departments of the world’s most renowned universities.”
Hulusioğlu: “Our aim is to return to our country the artefacts taken from it” In a statement, Çatalköy Mayor Mehmet Hulusioğlu said: “The symposia we have organized with international participants to bring back to life the lost cultural heritage of Vounous, a legendary mountain, are being closely followed by the archaeology world. It is gratifying to reach a wider audience with a documentary like this, since our aim is to return to our country the artefacts taken from it. I believe this documentary will be an important factor in bringing us closer to that goal.”
Atik: “Çatalköy Municipality is the only one in Cyprus represented in EXARC” In a statement, Çatalköy Municipality Arts Coordinator Derman Atik said: “As Çatalköy Municipality, it was very important to us to bring this significant Vounous project to life. We are therefore very pleased that the Vounous project has been realized and sustained. It is especially meaningful that the ‘Vounous Documentary’ has now been selected for screening by the jury of the European Association for Experimental Archaeology (EXARC), together with the Çatalköy Municipality logo. It is valuable and meaningful to us not only to have been selected from among the municipalities in the TRNC, but also from among all the municipalities in Cyprus. Vounous is a very important achievement for both our country and Çatalköy. I hope the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end as soon as possible and that we can resume our work on Vounous in the new normal.”
Kar: “We are proud that the documentary will be screened at an important conference attended by academics from the world’s leading universities” In a statement, ACM director Cem Kar emphasized that Çatalköy Municipality was protecting our cultural heritage through a very important project, and said: “As a company, we considered how we could contribute to such an important project and decided to make a documentary. We shared this idea with our mayor, Mehmet Hulusioğlu, project head Rauf Ersenal and Arts Coordinator Derman Atik. The project came to life after they welcomed our idea and offered their support. We are proud that this documentary will be screened at an important conference attended by academics from the world’s leading universities. As a company, we have carried out many initiatives to protect and preserve our country’s cultural assets, and we are ready to contribute in every way going forward.”
Premiere on 31 March 2021 at 18:00
The documentary, whose world premiere will be held online by EXARC on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 at 18:00 on its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/ExarcNetofficial), can be followed on exarc.net and its social media accounts. After the premiere, the documentary will also be shown on the Çatalköy Municipality Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/catalkoybelediye) at 22:00 on 31 March.
The Vounous Documentary was directed by Ahmet Murat Kökbaş of the ACM team, advised by project head Rauf Ersenal, coordinated by Mine kar, filmed by Alperen Birinci, edited by Cem Kar, with graphics by Ünsal Özturun and translations by Bediz Karalım.
Watch the documentary trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaB-u7aexew