Part of the Allegory trilogy by Kostas Sfikas, this film is a philosophical and experimental cinematic essay. It explores themes of representation, power, decay of systems, and the nature of reality itself. Influenced by Marxist thought and Greek poetic tradition (notably Dionysios Solomos), the film rejects traditional narrative in favor of symbolic imagery and reflective narration.
CLASSICAL FILM SELECTION
THE WOMAN OF… AND THE COLLECTOR - ALLEGORY III
English title:
The Woman of… and the Collector - Allegory III
Original title:
Η ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ ΤΗΣ... ΚΑΙ Ο ΣΥΛΛΕΚΤΗΣ - ΑΛΛΗΓΟΡΙΑ ΙΙΙ
Director:
Costas Sfikas
Country:
Greece
Genre:
experimental documentary
Year:
2002
Length:
67’
Cast:
Narrator: Takis Mendrakos, Vassiliki Saslidi
A quote for the film:
“Who demolishes a rotten universe?”
Selective list of festivals and awards:
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
Director’s bio:
Born in Athens in 1927, Costas Sfikas began his career as a self-taught filmmaker in 1961 after working as a postal employee. His early works, including Wait (1962) and Dawn in Thera (1968, co-directed with Stavros Tornes), reveal the influence of neorealism, before he developed a radically experimental cinematic language. Rejecting representational cinema, Sfikas pursued a dialectical, materialist approach to film, seeking to translate philosophical and Marxist thought into cinematic form. In 1968, together with Stavros Tornes, he co-directed the short documentary Theran Matins, later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. His major works include Model (1974), awarded Best Artistic Film at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and preserved at MoMA in Paris, followed by Cathedrals (1975), Allegory (1986), Paul Klee’s Prophetic Bird of Sorrows (1995), and Promitheus Enantiodromon (1998). From 1976 onwards, Sfikas expanded his practice through the television series Backstage, an experimental platform for essays on cinema, music, and literature. He remains a key figure of European experimental cinema, treating film as a space for philosophical inquiry and formal radicalism.
