FILM SCREENINGS & DISCUSSION
Mysteries of Transition: Ancient Narratives and Modern Eleusis
February 13-15, 2025, UNH 1000
Host and Curator: Prof. Katerina Zacharia
Curation Advisor: Isavella Karouti
The city of Elefsina (Eleusis), with its deep mythological and historical significance, has long been a site of transformation. As one of the most sacred places in antiquity—home to the Eleusinian Mysteries—its legacy continues to inspire contemporary artistic expression.
The program Mysteries of Transition: Ancient Narratives and Modern Eleusis presents a curated selection of films and documentaries that explore the city’s complex identity, bridging its ancient past with its evolving present. This screening series brings together works that document, interpret, and reimagine Elefsina’s myths, landscapes, and contemporary social fabric. From experimental performances to documentary studies, these films illuminate the city's enduring power as a space of ritual, memory, and artistic innovation. The audience is invited to engage with Elefsina not just as an ancient site, but as a living, breathing entity—one that continues to evolve and inspire. We hope these screenings serve as a catalyst for dialogue on the intersection of mythology, performance, and contemporary cultural narratives.
This cinematic journey includes multiple works produced throughout the artistic program of 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture (ECoC), The Mysteries of Transition and constitute part of its intangible legacy. Elefsina, throughout its title year as an ECoC, was activated as never before. For 16 months the city was an informal “factory of the arts” or a place for “permanent artistic hospitality” (artistic residency), since alongside its daily life it constantly hosted an “unclassified” population of art workers from all over the world. At the same time, residents of Thriasio were activated and participated in the program, guiding the artists to get to know the place, as witnesses of hidden stories, as professionals, as creators or protagonists.
The Classics & Archaeology department celebrates 25 years of Greek Cinema at LMU.
The film screenings constitute part of Prof. Zacharia’s spring 2025 courses on Representations of Greece: Ancient and Modern and of the Classics & Archaeology Learning Community Series.
For dates and details, view the film screening schedule for Mysteries of Transition: Ancient Narratives and Modern Eleusis
The event is free and open to all.
For more information about the screenings, please contact: katerina.zacharia@lmu.edu
