Djam, a Greek girl, is sent to Istanbul on a mission to find a motor-boat part of her uncle, a former sailor and great fan of the Greek musical style rebetiko. In the city, she meets Avril, a French woman who works as a volunteer with refugees but who has run out of money and not known in Turkey. Generous, fearless and unpredictable, Djam leaves with Avril to Mytilene – a journey of music and encounters.

In his movie, Tony Gatlif demonstartes his passion for Rebetiko, a Greek musical style created in the 1920s by the Asia Minor Greeks, while fleeing from Turkey to seek refuge on Lesbos Island. If music has this particular role in DJAM, it is because it tells the story of a new exil, the one of Syrians and antives of Arab and African countries. For some, this perilous journey has stopped at Lesbos Island, as many Greeks from Asia Minor a century before.

To sum up, DJAM offers an optimistic story, embedded within the political and humanitarian reality of the European refugee crisis. In order to brudge the gap between the story and its reality, the Eurociné consortium organises, after the screening, a debate moderated by Jérôme Vignon, advisor on migrations’ issues at the Jacques Delors Institute and author of the report: “For a European policy on Asylum, Migration and Mobility”

Booking recommended at the following email address: benoit.malmontet@eurocite.eu.

If you want more information on this session or the Eurociné project, you can consult the dedicated page on the Eurocité website, in which you will find all the past and future programming.