28/08/2003 - Zaim mixes personal memories and imagination to create his satire about the nationalist fever flaring up around Europe

Marco Muller: video interview

Mud [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has already chalked up two firsts, one in the historical sphere and one on the production side: it is the first film of Turkish-Cypriot cinema and it is the first film produced by the Italian Marco Muller with his new production company, Downtown Pictures. So Italy has made a small contribution to the peace process, giving rise to the first co-production between Turkey and Cyprus.

The film’s director, Dervis Zaim, has used a mix of personal memories and imagination to create this satire about the hotbed of nationalism found in this part of Europe. "It’s not the first time – he says – that I have covered the problem of Cyprus, but I didn’t want this to be a documentary. There’s surrealism, metaphor and symbolism". Just like the film’s title, Mud. "I mean it to represent the hardship of the relationships between the individual and history, society. It’s a metaphor for the reality of Cyprus".

Nevertheless, the mud flats of the salt lake on the island, where the film is set, hide the “Cyprus Question”. Today there is a “ceasefire” in place, while a definitive peace deal is worked out. It was only in April 2003 that the European Union officially confirmed the entry of Greek Cyprus into the community, representing the island as a whole. “The tone of the film”, explains the director, “was deliberately low key so that the censor would approve it. It’s the first time that an independent film about Cyprus is able to be distributed in Turkey".

(Translated from Italian)