KANELA

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KANELA

By Petra TERZI

CULTURAL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS - as PROD

Romance - Development 2023

Haunted by childhood memories of the Armenian genocide a young woman, ARIN pursues a career in Spanish dance while yearning to find the childhood love, TAKVOR who disappeared without a trace – and whose still-smitten best friend, THOMAS was a rival for the woman’s affection.

- Year of production
- 2023
- Genres
- Romance, True Story, Drama
- Countries
- GREECE, FRANCE, SPAIN
- Languages
- GREEK, SPANISH, ARMENIAN
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 90 mn
- Director(s)
- Petra TERZI
- Writer(s)
- Petra TERZI
- Producer(s)
- Carol BIDAULT (SEREIN PRODUCTIONS), Antigone GAVRIATOPOULOU
- Synopsis
- The appearance of a kanela, a cinnamon-flavored caramel, in various phases of ARIN's life, reminds her of the unfulfilled promise of love, that TAKVOR (13) gave her when they were children.
  
  In 1922, Arin, her father, DIKRAN, and her grandmother, EPHIMIA, found shelter as Armenian refugees at the port of Piraeus.
  
  In 1928, while Arin's father was playing the duduk, Arin (12) sang Armenian songs and begged for money.
  
  THOMAS (14) is a Greek-Chinese childhood friend of Takvor. Thomas' aunt's lover sexually abused him as a child.
  
  Takvor mysteriously disappeared after his childhood promise to marry Arin.
  
  Thomas lies to Arin, telling her that Takvor died in a car accident. Both Thomas and Takvor hide a secret from Arin.
  
  Thomas (25), hears Arin(23) singing Armenian songs and dancing to the music of MIGUEL (29), a Spanish guitarist, in a nightclub in Piraeus. Inspired by the memory of her childhood love, Takvor, and the kanela he was always giving her, Arin takes KANELA as her stage name.
  Haunted by the memory of her mother's murder by the Turks and the struggles of her, her father and her grandmother's escape to Greece in the Armenian genocide, the 24-year-old Arin follows Miguel and emigrates to Spain just before the start of the Greek-German war.
  At first, while in Spain, Arin sold hand woven shawls to flamenco dancers including Cristina Hoyos. Given her innate talents, Arin finds a place in the dance world of Flamenco and Tango.
  Arin eventually tours in Greece. Arin(43) meets COSTA(60) and MARIKA(49), a couple she knew as a child in Piraeus, and teaches dance to their disabled daughter, NANA (16).
  After surviving rejections and betrayals, at the age of 50, Arin feels that she has completed her artistic visions. She returns to Greece to dedicate her life to war orphans and children with disabilities who have artistic talents.
  Thomas dies in a car accident while driving drunk; the SIRUN ARTS FOUNDATION (founded by Arin and named after her mother) is the sole heir of Thomas's estate. Other donations to the foundation include a large anonymous sponsor.
  At the inauguration of the foundation, Takvor appears sitting in a wheelchair with a box of kanelas for Arin. His secret is revealed, that he disappeared from Arin's life out of shame and fear of rejection, when he was disabled as a child in a car accident.
  Arin warmly invites him to dance, her smile relieves all his tension and Takvor gets up and dances with her. As they dance and swirl, a kanela falls from the box and follows them, rolling behind them as they get lost on the horizon.
- Beginning of shooting
- Oct 01, 2023
- End of shooting
- Oct 31, 2023