Purple Heirloom

A movie shot entirely with a drone flying.

"The past is only one, it is common and concerns us all.." - Kostas Gur

"A unique movie made with drone that revives the everyday life of a Greek-Jewish family living in the greek city of Didymoteicho during the interwar period." - CineDoc Greece

Synopsis:
The Greek-Jewish community of Didymoteicho was one of the oldest Jewish communities in Greece and the largest in Thrace. It was formed by Greek-speaking Jews in the years of the Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, who crowned in Didymoteicho as the king of the Romans.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish Community of Didymoteicho experienced days of prosperity. First, the Tsar of Bulgaria Ferdinand and later the King of Greece Alexandrer, resided in the majestic house of Raphael Behhar.
The Jews of Didymoteicho were owners of commercial and craft shops as well as craftsmen. More generally, however, the incorporation of Didymoteicho in the Greek territory in 1920, accelerated the development of the Jewish community and increased its members until the time of persecution when it numbered about 1,000 souls.
In April 1941, the Nazis invaded the city. Some Jewish families had escaped to relatives in Turkey. Very few managed to survive in Palestine, while the rest were returned by the Turks to Greek islands in order to meet the fate of the other Greek-Jews.
On May 4, 1943, 740 Greek-Jews from Didymoticho were arrested, packed in animal wagons and transported to Thessaloniki and from there to Poland, Auschwitz, on a trip without return.
From the 1000 souls in total, only 33 survived.
Since 1985, at Didymoteicho, there is no Jewish family left.

The drone short narrates in a poetic and symbolic way, the story of the mansion "Purple Heirloom" and the tragic fate of the Greek-Jewish family that built it in late 19th century. All died in Auschwitz, only a son managed to survive.

The story of Purple Heirloom:
When I first saw a recently renovated mansion-museum, which is called Purple Heirloom, in my home town, Didymoteicho, far up in northern Greece, my mind was filled with fantastic scenes, images and music; happy moments of the Greek-Jewish family who lived there in the years between the two world wars.
The past is only one, it is common and concerns us all, thus I decided to film 'Purple Heirloom', a unique drone short.
Instead of 'flying' my camera over the town, I literally 'flew' it inside this mansion-museum while making a dip into the past, a century back, the 1920s. I tried to fly with my camera as close as I could to the lives and moments of these good and virtuous people, our neighbors and fellow citizens, whose lives were interrupted violently in 1943. There was a part of Didymoteicho that has been forgotten. Let's remember it again.

---- Kostas Gur wrote ----

The short was filmed just with a drone that was constantly on the fly. Even on the seemingly constant scenes, the drone was always in the air.