Earthquake

In 1953, one of the world’s most powerful earthquakes destroyed the Greek islands of the Ionian Sea. Two amateur cameramen happened to be there, recording what they saw on film. “Earthquake” is a documentary based on this footage-shot before and after the earthquake. We watch the island’s inhabitants as they emerge from the rubble. We witness workers constructing a new architectural landscape: concrete, grey blocks in the place of century old Venetian red and ochra plastered buildings, and we follow some Kefalonians on their long journey to New York and Melbourne. Based on a narrative by the novelist Stratis Haviaras (himself an emigrant in the United States), “Earthquake” is about how we deal with destruction and the lost of our past, about how memory can guide us forward to the future and help us imagine better times when all around us is lost.