Les métamorphoses / Les blessures d’un mythe
Agelastos petra (Mourning Rock)
2000 / Greece / 85 min / Color / 35mm
Director/Writer/Cinematography/Producer : Filippos Koutsaftis
Music : Konstantinos Vita
Editor : Hronis Theoharis
Sound : Yannis Haralambidis
Subtitle : Yoko Matsuoka
Distributor : Filippos Koutsaftis
Elefsina is a small port industrial area near Athens that used to be called Eleusis in ancient Greece. This town was home to the sanctuary of Demeter, the goddess of fertility who brought agricultural blessings and oversaw the harvesting of the earth. The director of the film, Filippos Koutsaftis, spent 10 years filming the transformation of this land into one of Greek’s major industrial areas at the same time the sanctuary was being eroded and destroyed due to the modernization. Film scenes include an oil factory being built over the sanctuary with concrete, a man who wanders through town collecting ancient rocks, and more… Like a lone pilgrim, the director carefully tends to the scars of a mythology swept away by modern development.
This is a poetic, melancholy documentary film that won numerous awards at the 41st Thessaloniki International Film Festival.