CYPRUS ON THE SILK ROUTES

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CYPRUS ON THE SILK ROUTES

By Stavros PAPAGEORGHIOU

Documentary - Completed 1997

CYPRUS ON THE SILK ROUTES concerns the Cyprus silk industry, which has played an important role in the economic life of the island from the Byzantine era until the mid of the 2oth century.

- Year of production
- 1997
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- CYPRUS
- Languages
- GREEK, ENGLISH
- Director(s)
- Stavros PAPAGEORGHIOU
- Producer(s)
- Stavros PAPAGEORGHIOU
- Synopsis
- This documentary film concerns the Cyprus silk industry, which has played an important role in the economic life of the island throughout the centuries. Although silk appeared in Cyprus from the Byzantine times, the period in which this material predominated in the "Silk Routes" is mainly from the 13th to the 15th century A.D. during the Lusignan Rule of the island. Cyprus was then developed into the manufacturing and trade center of the silk industry in the eastern Mediterranean basin, supplying with silk the Church in the West. Besides, one has to mention that the silk industry in Cyprus survived as a cottage industry until the mid-20th century. The traditional methods of silk production and weaving into precious textiles as well as their uses for the dowry household linen and costumes are presented in this documentary film. These rare documents are completed with selected interviews from craftsmen and traders from the last generation of silk producers with a couple of refugees as predominant characters throughout the film. The documentary's objective is not only to present scenes and information, but to maintain constant interest in the subject and to give artistic values as well: by means such as the "popularized" narration, the presence of the magical relationship between these craftsmen and their products, etc. within the framework of a changing society and economy. Dr. Eleni Papademetriou, cultural anthropologist, who studied the subject during fieldwork, in archives and museums, since 1965, writes the script.