Pembe Mentesh, an Australian born Cypriot, once relocating to Cyprus, sets out to find out the fate of her great aunt Fetine, who was forced into marriage and sent to Palestine, never to be seen again.
Forced to marry at a young age, Fetine Memish left for a foreign land and never saw her family or homeland again. Her plight and that of thousands of other girls who left under similar circumstances is explored when her brother's granddaughter begins a search to find her.
SYNOPSIS
The Director
Yeliz Shukri was born in Australia but moved to Cyprus in her mid-20’s, when the checkpoints that divided her homeland, opened. Since then she has worked tirelessly in TV and film production making films that help promote unity, peace and understanding between the communities in
Cyprus. Yeliz works for the Cypriot national
broadcaster and is a freelance documentary
filmmaker. In 2017, Yeliz became a board
of director for The Cyprus Refugee Council
(CyRC), an independent, non for profit
organization, that focuses on refugees, asylum
seekers, detainees, trafficking victims and survivors of torture. In mid-2017 she was awarded a Women’s ‘Inspirational Award’ for her work and efforts in peace building. ‘Missing Fetine’, is her second feature length film. She is married and has two children.
Director’s statement about the film
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I was 7.5 months pregnant when we first started filming for this documentary. It was not the ideal time to start production of a feature length film, but when things come together as they did, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity. There was a missing generation of women that was not being sought after and I was intent on finding out more. Why were these women married off in exchange for money? Why did so many families lose contact with these girls? Why did so many die without seeing their family and their birthplace ever again? And above all why was this not spoken of in our community? When my close friend Pembe Mentesh posted a help message on Facebook looking for information about her great aunt, I knew that it was the right time to find the answers to all my questions. This film is both personal and investigative. It follows Pembe’s personal need to find her aunt and the means of locating her in the Middle East. Pembe, despite the decades long disappearance of her aunt, works tirelessly to not only track her down but to shed light on the reason why she was forced into marriage and why she was not sought after.
“Missing Fetine”, was made out of a need to find one woman but also to uncover the truth about an entire generation of women that left Cyprus and often never came back.
How does FETINE relate to women’s rights?
Fetine was forced into marriage because she, as a woman, had no say. She as a woman, had to obey her family’s decision and despite her rebellion did as they said. Fetine went and married the man chosen for her but Fetine did not merely submit. Fetine rebelled in every way she could. She always sought a better life for herself and her children.
Pembe Mentesh, her great niece, despite her family’s disapproval, seeks to find her great aunt and travels far and wide in order to make amends, to fill the void of her missing relative and to fulfill the need to know what happened.
Pembe inspires us all to not accept the easy way out and to follow our instincts when in need of the truth. Her courage and passion not only allowed her family to look at things from a different perspective but encouraged many other families to seek their missing loved ones.
Filmography:
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May 2012-2017 Tetraktys Films Ltd Independent Feature length documentary: ‘Missing Fetine’,
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October 2010 Crew House Production House UNDP-ACT Short documentary: ‘Hamam Awakening’.
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July 2007-2010 Tetraktys Films Ltd Independent Feature length documentary: 'Murid’
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October 2005: Tetraktys Films Ltd PIO Short documentary: “Mosaics of Cyprus”
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July 2005- 2007: Tetraktys Films Ltd UNDP-ACT Short documentary: “Eleven Steps to the Future” (Ast. Director)