萌犬偷渡记[电影解说]

Yiannis is a man who loves his dog, Jimi. He lives in Cyprus, where the country has been divided into two parts for decades, with each side having its own government and laws. Yiannis's job is to bring his dog back from the other side of the border, but it's not easy. One day, Jimi wanders across the U.N. buffer zone and into the section of the island that Turkey seized more than forty years ago. This unregulated state is not recognized by the rest of the world, and Yiannis soon realizes that bringing a dog back over the border is not as easy as walking straight home. To get Jimi back, Yiannis enlists a mismatched band of accomplices from every side of the Cyprus dispute. They work together to find a way to bring Jimi back across the border, but they never leave the land they call home. Writer and director Marios Piperides has been producing films in Cyprus for more than a decade. His inside knowledge pays dividends in this narrative feature debut—a whip-smart comedy on legality, disputed nationality, and the frameworks that are erected to maintain a fragile peace. Piperides demonstrates his compassion for locals on both sides of the divide. He tenderly captures their struggle to find hope and make a living in a divided land. Such serious themes pair perfectly with Piperides's sense of humor. As Yiannis's efforts dip farther into absurdity, they offer a send-up of the forces that prolong a conflict that has been poorly understood and largely forgotten by the outside world.