“The Elefsinians”, the latest film by Filippos Koutsaftis, a production of Eleusis 2023, will be screened at Danaos Cinema beginning on Thursday, April 11th.
Two decades after “Agelastos Petra” [Mourning Rock], Filippos Koutsaftis returns to Elefsina to explore the paths that connect the past with the present and pave the way for the future.
The documentary premiered last December at the 1st IN SITU REALITIES – Eleusis Documentary Festival, as part of the Closing Ceremony of Eleusis 2023, Mystery 1 CLOSING: OPENING, A Ceremony.
SYNOPSIS
The new film by Filippos Koutsaftis is a cinematic mosaic that attempts to assemble the dynamic portrait of Elefsina through snapshots of everyday life, oblique glances at the historical past of the city, from Antiquity to the 20th century, and above all through the micro-histories that the director has compiled, collecting testimonies from residents about their life in Elefsina and their particular relationship with the city. Thus, the portrait of Elefsina appears as a sum of individual portraits and the term “anthropogeography” takes on an almost literal dimension, in that the city is essentially composed of its citizens, prominent and anonymous, past and present, living and dead.
The foundation for the project consists of more than 80 hours of archival material, which the director acquired during the shooting of his first film about Elefsina, Agelastos Petra, over a period of twelve years, from 1988 to 2000. To this material, which is an expression of nativeness and a reservoir of cultural memory, new elements are added which the filmmaker collected in the 21st century, with testimonies from younger residents and images that depict the tectonic changes that have occurred in the character of Elefsina over time.
The creative interweaving of timelessness and synchronicity sets the tone for the whole film (which is constantly in progress, like Elefsina itself), whether on the micro level, with testimonies from old and young residents and images of everyday life, or on the macro level, with reflections and snapshots that shed light on the cultural heritage and local history, as well as on the developments that are gradually shaping the new character of the city and bringing about decisive changes in the conditions and lifestyle of its inhabitants.
Taking the Eleusinian Mysteries as a discreet but perceptible and persistent reference point, utilising their universal implications and existential extensions, Filippos Koutsaftis ultimately attempts to extrapolate and transcribe his material into an ontological horizon of reference, so that the portrait of the concrete and historical Elefsina is at the same time a portrait of a marginally symbolic and visionary Elefsina, a city that transcends geographical boundaries and is the spiritual capital of the European and the Western world in general.
CONTRIBUTORS
Writer – Cinematographer – Director: Filippos Koutsaftis
Script Editor & Consultant: Kyriakos Margaritis
Director – Researcher: Thanasis Milisis
Assistant Director: Tasos Palaioroutas
Editing: Ioanna Spiliopoulou, Dimitris Peponis
Music: Konstantinos Bhta
Production Management: Pan Entertainment
Producer: Konstantinos Moriatis
A production by 2023 Eleusis
“The Elefsinians” documentary is realised in the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” with funding from the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
