In this biography of a city, award-winning filmmaker Maria Iliou and historical consultant Alexander Kitroeff tell the story of Iliou's ancestral home, the port of Smyrna (now Izmir) which grew on the Aegean coast of the Ottoman Empire into a thriving, international center of culture, commerce and tolerance, only, literally, to be reduced to ashes in eight days, in 1922, by the flames of nationalism which raged in the aftermath of World War I. In layers of measured historical commentary, never before seen film footage and photographs, Iliou and Kitroeff bring this epitome of a cosmopolitan ideal back to its remarkable life. This moving documentary testifies to the best and worst of humanity -- an early 20th Century prophecy of the turbulence to come, and a harsh but inspiring warning at the start of the 21st.
| Directed by | Maria Ilioú |
| Written by | Maria Ilioú |