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SALONICA is about Thessaloniki, the northern Greek city at the crossroads of the Orient and Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. What makes this city historically unique is the fact that for 450 years it was mainly Jewish and the predominant language was Spanish. This is because Thessaloniki was populated by the Jews who were expelled from Catholic Spain in 1492 and who subsequently found refuge in the Ottoman Empire up until their almost total annihilation by the Germans during the Shoah in 1943. There has never been another predominantly Jewish city of this size anywhere in Europe. Against this background, SALONICA takes a close look at the city today, introducing us to some of its diverse residents: Jewish survivors, Russian immigrants, Gypsies, Greek nationalists. Their stories paint a cinematic fresco of a place and a century torn apart by violence.
Paolo Poloni
Born 1954 in Lucerne, film maker since 1989. Some of his films include Volver, Asmara, and Viaggio a Misterbianco.
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