• +
• -
• Text size

Related content

Topic tags

culture, Cyprus, documentary, Film, mocumentary

Follow the mail on Twitter.

AN unrealistic vision of the future or one that is in fact still quite tangible? 

These were some of the questions raised by the 20-minute bi-communal mocumentary The Nine O’Clock News in the Year 2030 that premiered on Wednesday night at Chateau Status in Nicosia.

The fake news bulletin, anchored by Greek and Turkish Cypriot news presenters, is set 19 years in the future post reunification, with its main aim to plug the economic benefits of such a solution.

In this scenario, the reunited island has a female president and a plethora of bi-communal businesses, with the buffer zone having been turned into an enviable wildlife park destined to be the best in the Mediterranean. 

Meanwhile, for the benefit of the peripatetic in the audience, the bulletin announced a new travel package deal starting in Athens and covering Cyprus and Istanbul.

Also headlined in the news from the 2030 was the success of a Greek Cypriot woman and Turkish Cypriot man who had joined forces to produce “Friendship Olive Oil”, and the transfer of a local football player – offspring of Greek and Turkish Cypriot parents - from “Nicosia United”, who was sold for a hefty sum to Arsenal. 

Judging from the chuckles emanating from the appreciative audience, this version of the future is clearly appealing to some islanders.

“We were always happy with the Turkish Cypriots; it’s something that is happening now and not later,” said one Greek Cypriot woman in the audience.

A Turkish Cypriot counterpart, meanwhile, likened the documentary to what it was like in the 1950s, adding “we lived together during those years and it’s important not to forget them”.

The mocumentary came under the auspices of the Economic Interdependence Project implemented by the partnership between the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE). 

Funding was provided by the United Nations Development Programme – Action for Cooperation and Trust (UNDP-ACT).

Halfway through post-screening discussions, KEVE head Manthos Mavromattis clarified that the mocumentary was not necessarily implying it would take until 2030 for the progress featured to manifest. 

“Already five bi-communal businesses have been given grants and are working well,” he noted.

Another very recent example of successful cooperation between the two communities’ chambers came soon after the July 11 Mari naval base blast, when the two bodies struck a deal whereby the north would provide the Republic of Cyprus with electricity.