MONDAY 18 DECEMBER 2023
CINE ELEUSIS
Central Hall
15:00-17:00
Masterclass
EVA STEFANI
“Reality as a mystery”
17:00
BIG DAYS
FANI MPITOU
Premiere
(2023, 51΄)
SUMMARY
Priya is from India and for the last two years she has permanently settled in Greece. Living in Megara with her husband, Harjot, and their 18-month-old daughter Dilnoor, she spends her days trying to cope with her new reality.
THE BEAUTY OF IMPERFECT THINGS
GIORGOS KRAVVARITIS
Premiere
(2023, 46΄)
Discussion with the directors will follow.
SUMMARY
The film describes moments from the everyday life of Nontas Lechris in Erythres, Attica.
19:00
KAPR CODE
LUCIE KRÁLOVÁ
(2022, 90΄)
SUMMARY
A documentary-opera on the controversial life of progressive composer and communist Jan Kapr (1914-88), a Stalin Prize-winningcomposer whose work was later banned in socialist Czechoslovakia. As Kapr’s life escalates towards pivotal moments, we watch opera songs that reflect these critical junctures in his life, moments that determine an artist’s fate. The film explores the nature of memory and storytelling, using Kapr’s personal, unedited amateur films, that reveal his humour, inner struggles, and desire to leave his mark for eternity.
20:45
THE LANDSHIP
TIMECIRCUS COLLECTIVE
(2023, 15΄)
In February 2023, Elefsina welcomed TimeCircus, and with them the largest pilgrimage procession in the 3,500 years of this city’s history. The members of the Belgian collective set off from Antwerp on 27 May 2022, and travelled 3,000 kilometres on foot over nine months, crossing the whole of Europe, towing the Landship, which moves exclusively by human power. Their long journey was an exercise in being “on the road” and a vivid commentary on the 21st century of recession, climate change, and unmitigated consumption of natural resources. At the same time, it was an act of encouragement, strength, hope, and participation by all European citizens, as well as a valuable contribution to the Opening Ceremony of 2023 Eleusis. Right after arriving at Elefsina, TimeCircus began the construction of The Ark (Mystery 99 The Ark). Within a few months, they created a space for culture, recreation, and creativity in the heart of the city, the ARKOPOLIS.
25km
ΕΛΙΑΝ ΡΟΥΜΙΕ
(2022,10΄)
SUMMARY
25km is a site-specific project inspired by the city of Eleusis and the ancient history of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated in the Sacred City of Eleusis once a year, in honour of goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Although they were considered the highest religious ceremony in Ancient Greece, their focus was the human being rather than the gods. A significant ritual of the Mysteries was the Procession, which reverently traversed the Sacred Way from Athens to the Sanctuary of Demeter in Eleusis. It is said that this particular route led the participants to a higher mental and spiritual state, vital for their earthly life and beneficial for their afterlife. Starting from the very beginning of the Sacred Way in Athens to eventually reach the archaeological site of Ancient Eleusis, four women walk 25 kilometres in silence as a new Procession, tracing their own meanings and their own emerging truths. The project 25km was realised in the framework of 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture and the artistic programme U(R)TOPIAS Academy of Choreography. 25km was also supported by the Cultural and Development Non-Profit Organisation NEON through its Annual Grants Programme.
PERSEPHONE STREET
KLEOPATRA HARITOU
(2023, 30΄)
SUMMARY
Sacred Way / Persephonis Street is a hybrid visual documentary about the contemporary Iera Odos [Sacred Way]. Playing on the myth of Persephone, a woman whose life is completely defined by others − her mother in life, her husband in death, and the mortals who manage the earth to bear fruits and for the seasons to alternate − the film presents the protagonist as a modern Persephone who sets out on Iera Odos from Kerameikos to Elefsina, in order to bring spring. The distance from one end of the Iera Odos to the other is defined as the intermediate distance from the Underworld (Hades/Kerameikos) to the surface of the earth (Eleusis) during the Anthropocene era.
CHAMOMILE – TRANSIT
PANOS OIKONOMOU
(2023, 3΄)
Playing on a moving bus, the band My Wet Calvin presented their album Chamomile three years after it was first released. The route was drawn from the same point where initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries started the procession in Kerameikos to conclude in Elefsina, traversing Iera Odos [Sacred Way] and Kavalas Avenue, passing by the Sunday scavengers’ flea markets, under the Kifisos river, among the ghosts of the Seat Ibiza cars on Thivon Avenue, outside Dromokaiteio Hospital, driven by Zampetas’s bouzouki melodies and the pure, liberating, undeniable, engulfing, redemptive faith in Saint Athanasia of Aigaleo.
(SACRED)* SEA ROUTE
MENELAOS KARAMAGHIOLIS
(2023, 5΄)
SUMMARY
The seaway to Elefsina and its sanctuary (a site of pilgrimage for the faithful who flocked to be initiated into the rites of the goddess) was the second route for reaching this religious destination famed across the ancient world. The sanctuary had two entrances: one to the north-west, where the famous Iera Odos [Sacred Way] from Athens culminated over land, and one to the south, through which those who came by sea entered. The (Sacred)* Sea Route, a maritime voyage of cultural experientiality, starts from the famed port of the country, Piraeus, with a uniquely significant and interesting floating cultural/tourist route and runs through seven historic municipalities, before it concludes to Elefsina. Following in the footsteps of Plutarch, who made mention of the maritime connection to Ancient Eleusis, the (Sacred)* Sea Route can reveal all the cultural and historical riches of this pristine and unspoiled mythic area reaching from the Gulf of Salamis to that of Elefsina. Taking in remarkable historical events and landmarks (the waters where the Battle of Salamis was fought; the Throne of Xerxes; the island of Salamis, homeland of Ajax; Ancient Eleusis, birthplace of Aeschylus; the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries; and more), as well as the industrial sprawl, this maritime experience – an initiatory rite of passage through the abatons [sacred precincts off limits to the uninitiated] of the area – seeks to spotlight a misunderstood and underexposed part of Attica with the contribution of multimedia and performing arts. How does an experiential cultural voyage encompass sounds and voices, images and events – the hidden aspects of this notable land?
* A route is called sacred (iera) when it leads to the sanctuary of a city.
AFTER THE PERFORMANCE:
PERSIANS – A Journey in the Array of Souls
DIMITRIS KAMAROTOS
(2023, 12΄)
SUMMARY
Aeschylus’ Persians, translated by Giorgos Blanas and directed by Nikita Milivojević, featuring dramaturgy and music by Dimitris Kamarotos, was staged twice on 28 and 29 July 2023 in the framework of the project Mystery 35 Persians – Α Journey in the Array of Souls. The Parodos was performed in Perama Megaridos, and then the spectators boarded the ship where the first episode took place; the rest of the play unfolded after their disembarkation in Salamis and concluded, when night had fallen, in front of the sea field where the naval battle was held. This exceptional conjunction of place, project, and participants was designed to leave a film-like footprint. As such, the necessary shootings and sound recordings were arranged and, after some time editing in the studio, the film announced here will be presented in a 12-minute excerpt. Because the theatrical experience is unique and stems from participation in the event itself, not only a video recording was made, but the filmic medium was also used during the performance, so that the latter would have its own rhythm and connection with the audience.
22:30
CHÓRES
Kafkos [Traditional Cretan rizitiko song]
HARIS KOUSIOS
(2023, 5΄)
Unique women came together led by their fervent need to express their artistic nature, which perhaps had been hidden until then, and one of the most unusual rizitika songs, titled the song “Kafkos” in a way depicts landscapes, not necessarily through the prism of the rizitiko folk tradition, but by weaving, condensing, and treating music as a global, timeless, and universal field of expression, ecstasy, and customary utterance, regardless of its place of origin or era. “Kafkos” (lover), is their first video clip. Through it, the audience gets to know the CHÓRES of Elefsina as faces, gazes, moving bodies, and as a voice in a collective walk on the land of the Thriasian Plain, which united them. The arrangement of the song “Kafkos” in a way depicts landscapes, not necessarily through the prism of the rizitiko folk tradition, but by weaving, condensing, and treating music as a global, timeless, and universal field of expression, ecstasy, and customary utterance, regardless of its place of origin or era.
STEREO NOVA VIDEO CLUB
SPYROS SKANDALOS
(2023, 7΄)
SUMMARY
Two musical archaeologists from the future arrive in Elefsina today. They collect data on the rhythm of the noise produced by people and machines as they age. The images of their decay are turned into music.
MYSTERY 0
Mysteries of Transition – Opening Ceremony
VASSILIS KOTRONAROS
(2023, 63΄)
SUMMARY
A document (or a documentary film, or a document captured on film) for the Opening Ceremony, which drew inspiration from the history and mythology of the city itself: the Processions and the link between the Upper World and the Underworld. The universal opening celebration of 2023 Eleusis unfolded with a spectacular event on the coastal front and a “colourful” programme of exhibitions, concerts, DJ parties, and events throughout the city. An idea and concept by General Artistic Director Michail Marmarinos, directed by distinguished British director Chris Baldwin.
Lounge – Small Screens
20:00-00:00
SMALL SCREEN 1 | MYSTERIES: ONE YEAR IN ONE HOUR
SUMMARY
Can just one screen fit all the Mysteries of an entire year? The following Mysteries appear – rawly and randomly: Mystery 3 Elefsina Mon Amour, Mystery 16 Τogether! A Circus Invitation, Mystery 19 Visual Arts Initiator III – But Don’t Tell Anyone, Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator –Narrative Archaeology, Mystery 34 Faces of Elefsina, Mystery 38 Music From the Inside, Mystery 42 Futuring Waters, Mystery 43 School of Waves and Weeds, Mystery 48 Constellations, Mystery 57 Climbing Over Elefsina – Revisiting the Landscapes of Elefsina, Mystery 60 metamorphoSEA, Mystery 62 Nuits de Lenteur – À Propos du Temps, Mystery 69 Greekies, Mystery 73 Cinema Paradise: Industries of Coexistence, Mystery 76 Don’t Look Back, Mystery 89 Elefsina by Night, Mystery 91 Magnetic Dance, Mystery 99 The Ark, Mystery 100 Sacred Songs, Mystery 106 Chamomile – Transit, Mystery 109 The Higgs Particle, Mystery 113 A Celebration to Change the World, Mystery 114 Everything Open, Mystery 115 Big and Small Ships, Mystery 118 Through Rupture Comes the Flow, Mystery 119 Humanosphère, Mystery 127 Horses in Love, Mystery 128 Crows, Mystery 132 Sky Above Elefsina, Mystery 134 Persephone, the Red Carpet, Mystery 139 Alienation, Mystery 140 Blind Guide, Mystery 142 Oh So Now Eleusis Is Growing Wheat!, Mystery 154 Live Music Acts, Mystery 166 State of Emergency, Mystery 168 Mobile Solar Cinema, Mystery 182 Sunday’s ADVENT, Mystery 183 Apothéri Project: An Experimental Contemporary Street Festival, Mystery 189 Myths and Legends of Elefsina: The Mysteries of Clay, Mystery 200 Mythological Gardens, Mystery 299 How to Change our Mind to Change the World.
SMALL SCREEN 2 | MYSTAE: THE ELEFSINIANS PARTICIPATE
Throughout these years, there have been projects that have traversed the Elefsinian and wider Thriasian Plain, opening up to their local communities, exchanging thoughts and ideas, gradually and steadily creating new ceremonial ways of dealing with reality. From the colourful mosaic of Elefsina to the rural communities of Aspropyrgos and the manufacturing centres of Megara, a network of mystae [initiates] began to set up and operate in West Attica. These are some of the most defining moments in their formation, always committed – and therefore decisive – to the realisation of the artistic vision of 2023 Eleusis.
SMALL SCREEN 3 | DEMYSTIFICATIONS: THE CREATORS IN THE LIGHT
Some of the most renowned and acclaimed contemporary creators came to Elefsina, experienced the energy of the place, and presented their works as confessions of this experience. The third section is dedicated to these testimonies. The following individuals and collectives stand before the lens of Pantelis Ladas and Aggeliki Nikolari: Patricia Apergi and the six choreographers from the Academy of Choreography, Beforelight, Romeo Castellucci, Eleftheria Deko and the Dancetheater company, Marina Fokidi, Panos Giannikopoulos, Katerina Gregos, Gemma Hanson, Yannis Houvardas, Lampros Liavas, Yolanta Markopoulou, Sasha Waltz & Jochen Sandig, Iannis Zannos, and the visual artists from V.A. Initiator (Vlad Brâteanu, James Bridle, Athina Koumparouli, Esmeralda Momferatou, Susan Philipsz, Angelo Plessas, Yorgos Sapountzis, Flavia Stagi, Heidi Voet, Alexander Wolframm).
OLD ORFEAS MOVIE THEATRE
17:00-21:00
MYSTERY 110 ORFEAS
EVA STEFANI
(art installation)
A work in the window of the old Orpheas cinema, next to the archaeological site of Elefsina. A story through broken images about man’s transition from darkness to light. Man alone, facing the inevitability of death and the inevitability of life. While wandering, he strives to free the soul from matter.
