Yiannis doesn’t have much going for him, save for his adorable dog, Jimi, and his fast-approaching date to get out of Cyprus for good       But when Jimi wanders across the U      N       buffer zone and into the section of the island Turkey seized more than forty years ago, an unregulated state unrecognized by the rest of the world, Yiannis learns, bringing a dog back over the border is not as easy as walking straight home       He enlists a mismatched band of accomplices from every side of the Cyprus dispute to find a way to get Jimi back, while never leaving the land he calls home      　　Writer and director Marios Piperides has been producing films in Cyprus for more than a decade, and 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       He demonstrates his compassion for locals on both sides of the divide, as 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