The Greek historic epic film Smyrna My Beloved which recounts the cosmopolitan life of Smyrna and its destruction by the Turkish army in 1922 had its New York Premiere on 29 April at the Directors Guild Theater in Manhattan. A subsequent showing of the film on 1 May at the city’s Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria was sold out.

The film shown in New York under the auspices of the Hellenic Film Society (HFS) is based on a play by Greek actress Mimi Denissi which ran successfully in Athens for three years. Ms Denissi co-wrote the script and starred in the film directed by Grigoris Karantinakis.

The epic drama follows the lives of a wealthy Greek family in the cosmopolitan city which they are forced to abandon when Turkish forces captured and destroyed much of the city in 1922.

The National Herald said the film draws parallels between the refugee crisis of 1922 and the current Syrian refugee crisis as it begins in the present when a young Greek-American woman, Helen, goes to Mytilini with her grandmother Filio Williams (Jane Laportaire) to help Syrian refugees fleeing the civil was in their country. In the process she uncovers her own family history and their experiences fleeing Smyrna a century earlier.

A scene from “Smyrna My Beloved” in which Greek actress Mimi Denissi in role as Filio Baltazi with English actor Rupert Graves who plays George Horton the US Consul General to Smyrna. In his 1926 book The Blight of Asia, Horton described events leading to the Great Fire of Smyrna. Photo: Tanweer Productions

In writing the script, Ms Denissi carried out extensive research to present the events recounted in the film in an accurate and unbiased way.

She takes on the role of the aristocratic Fillio Baltazi (grandmother of Filio Williams) who is forced to flee her beloved city.

Greek-American actress Joanna Kalafatis plays the historical character of Minnie Mills who was the Dean of the American Girl’s School in Smyrna. As the fire broke out in the city, the school became a refuge for staff, pupils and 1,200 of the city’s women and children. Ms Mills refused an offer of safe passage from the US navy and stayed on to ensure the children’s safety.

She witnessed the role of Turkish soldiers in feeding the fires that ravaged the city. And went on to make a statement to the newspaper, the New York Tribune, in which she reported that the fires and the massacres were carried out as Allied ships moored close to the city, did nothing to help the refugees crammed in the city’s harbour.

The sequence of the torching of the city took two and a half months to prepare and was filmed at Faliro in Athens. Filming also took place in Lesvos, Chios, Athens and Piraeus.

Ms Denissi was also the film’s executive producer and ensured that a strong cast of Greek and international actors were cast.

HFS President Jimmy De Metro said at the New York premiere that Smyrna My Beloved was “an important film not only for what it represents to Greek cinema but, of course, for the subject matter as well.”

“For Greek and Armenian people, the name of Smyrna carries special significance, and I think it’s very important to remember our history, don’t forget, and films like this are valuable because they bring the past to mind and hopefully we learn from it.”

“The burning of Smyrna was a seminal event in modern Greek history, seared into the consciousness of Greeks, many of whom immigrated to the US as a result of that atrocity. Against the backdrop of the current refugee crises around the world, this is an important story to tell and we are privileged to be able to show this moving film.”