19th Annual
Louisiana's Reel Festival
Festival starts in
THE ROAR OF THEIR ENGINES / CYPRUS, CANADA / LOUISIANA PREMIERE
SHORT DOCUMENTARY
The roar of their engines is a short documentary film set in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a territory that still bears the scars of an ongoing 50 years-old conflict, where peace talks are at a standstill. Meanwhile, the Turkish-Cypriot population is aging, silently and away from the spotlight, on disputed and over-militarized lands. This war no longer concerns them.
Turkish with English subtitles.
Director's Statement:
Geneviève is a 40-something French-Canadian who has been living in a small village in occupied Northern Cyprus for the past 12 years after marrying a local man. Jason and Charles-Émile were lucky enough to meet her in Montreal in 2018. Out of this encounter grew a friendship, out of this friendship grew a film. The Roar of their Engines is the collaboration between our film crew, the United Nation Peacekeepers in Cyprus and the citizens of Tepebasi, the village Geneviève lives in. Given the extensive research we did prior to the shooting, we landed there thinking the locals would be open to discuss their situation and their political views. And they did! Just not the way we thought they would. They invited us in their homes, in their gardens. We shared tea and fruits, and they asked us to listen. Yet, they did not talk. The constant rumble of helicopters hovering nearby, the military trucks in the streets and the jet fighters screaming overhead did the talking instead. With this film, we tried to replicate this feeling of isolation Turkish-Cypriots are dealing with. Stuck between larger and richer nations (Greece and Turkey), the everyday men and women feel like they’re not involved in this conflict anymore. They feel like the ever growing military presence in Cyprus is not meant for them, hence why they stayed silent in front of our camera.
Turkish with English subtitles.
Director's Statement:
Geneviève is a 40-something French-Canadian who has been living in a small village in occupied Northern Cyprus for the past 12 years after marrying a local man. Jason and Charles-Émile were lucky enough to meet her in Montreal in 2018. Out of this encounter grew a friendship, out of this friendship grew a film. The Roar of their Engines is the collaboration between our film crew, the United Nation Peacekeepers in Cyprus and the citizens of Tepebasi, the village Geneviève lives in. Given the extensive research we did prior to the shooting, we landed there thinking the locals would be open to discuss their situation and their political views. And they did! Just not the way we thought they would. They invited us in their homes, in their gardens. We shared tea and fruits, and they asked us to listen. Yet, they did not talk. The constant rumble of helicopters hovering nearby, the military trucks in the streets and the jet fighters screaming overhead did the talking instead. With this film, we tried to replicate this feeling of isolation Turkish-Cypriots are dealing with. Stuck between larger and richer nations (Greece and Turkey), the everyday men and women feel like they’re not involved in this conflict anymore. They feel like the ever growing military presence in Cyprus is not meant for them, hence why they stayed silent in front of our camera.
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