Rembetiko (İstanbul Ekspres)

When she is seven years old, Marika needs to move with her family. They are deported from Smyrna in Turkey to the far away Greece. It is the start of a turbulent life, in night clubs and bars, where Marika’s parents get to work as singers. You follow her through a life filled with political and familial troubles, but also full of love , far away travels and arousing music. This musical drama is loosely based on the life of the popular Greek-Armenian singer, Marika Ninou (1918 - 1957).  Based on her story, larded with folk songs or rebetika, it crosses forty turbulent years of Greek history, starting in 1917.

Directed by: Costas Ferris | 1983 | English subtitled (Greek spoken) | Silver Bear Berlinale 1984 | Soundtrack by Stavros Xarchakos