COSTAS SFIKAS

Born in Athens in 1927.He was a postal employee from his adolescence. Costas Sfikas embarked on the adventure of the self-taught filmmaker in 1961 with his short film Inauguration It was followed by the documentary Wait in1962 and Dawn in Thera in1968 which he made in collaboration with the late Stavros Tornes and where the influence of the neorealistic school is prevalent. His aversion for representational film and the vision of a dialectical materialistic cinema, capable of giving form to the conquests of Marxist philosophical thought, led him to make the films Model 1974, (Award for best artistic film at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in 1974). A copy of the film can by found at the Georges Pompidou Museum of Modern Art in Paris). This was followed by Cathedrals 1975, Allegory 1986, Paul Klee's prophetic bird of sorrows 1995, Prometheus enantiodromon (Prometheus Retrogressing) 1998 and THE WOMAN OF...AND THE COLLECTOR", ALLEGORY III,"VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF CONTE DIONISIU SOLOMOU". Since 1976 the television program "Backstage" with its open investigative character offers the possibility of making a significiant number of essays: -The Violinist Tatsis Apostolides -Lament for Yanni Christou 1978 (20') -The Circus of Sofia 1979 (20') -The Gospel according to Saint Mark 1979 (20') -Voices and haunts of the rebetico music 1980 (20') -Expressionism in the cinema 1980 (20') -The montage of Eisenstein 1982 (20') -The poetry of A ndrea Ebiricu 1982 (25') -The misanthrope by Moliere 1982 (20') -The apocalypse of sovereign 1992 (25') -The enigmatic Mr Jules Verne-Nemo Allegory II 1992 (50')

 THE LONELY ROAD OF COSTAS SFIKAS:
 MADE FOR TELEVISION

 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK / Kata Markon evangelio

Greece 1979. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yorgos Kavayas. Editing: Vangelis Goussias. Production: Cinetic for Paraskinio. Beta Colour 22'

Excerpts from the gospel comment, in parallel motion, on the progress of a priest and his procession at a synod, on the suffering of the passion, on the atrocities of a religious war, on earthly and heavenly battles.

 LAMENT FOR YANNIS CHRISTOU / Thrinos yia ton Yanni Christou

Greece 1980. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yorgos Kavayas. Editing: Vangelis Goussias. Production: Cinetik for the TV programme Paraskinio. Beta Colour 20'

The parallel motion of the camera over musical scores/symbols and scenes during which certain happenings of the composer Yannis Christou are recreated under the guidance of his collaborators, Ismini and Nikos Avgeris, who participate in the execution of the scenes.

 EXPRESSIONISM IN THE CINEMA / O expresionismos ston kinimatografo

Greece 1982. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yannis Daskalothanassis. Editing: Vangelis Goussias. Production: Cinetik for the TV programme Paraskinio. Beta Colour 20'

The camera moves over photographs of some of the greatest works of Expressionist cinema, with its relative interactions as a universe.

 THE POETRY OF ANDREAS EMBIRIKOS / I piisis tou Andrea Embirikou

Greece 1982. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yorgos Kavayas. Editing: Vangelis Goussias. Featuring: Costas Sfikas, Clara Sfika-Saslidi, Takis Saslidis. Production: LERTAS for the TV programme Our Poets. 16mm Colour 25'

Verses by Andreas Embirikos appear at the window of a real/imaginary space made from works by surrealists, where we watch the anguish of a couple that is trying in vain to transcend the alienating effect of the modern world.

 THE MONTAGE OF EISENSTEIN / To montaz tou Eisenstein

Greece 1983. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yannis Daskalothanassis. Editing: D. Maroulakou. Artistic Variations: Dora Lelouda-Papailiopoulou. Production: Cinetik for the TV programme Paraskinio. Beta Colour 20'

Artistic variations on excerpts from Battleship Potemkin and October.

 THE REVELATION OF THE SOVEREIGN / I apokalypsi tou igemona

Greece 1992. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yorgos Kavayas. Editing: Vangelis Goussias. Production: Cinetik for the TV programme Paraskinio. Beta Colour 55'

Penetration into illustrated material depicting various forms of exercising authority and repression during the periods which, in The Prince, Machiavelli refers to as the Biblical period.

 THE ENIGMATIC MR. JULES VERNE-NEMO - ALLEGORY II
 Ο enigmatikos kyrios Ioulios Vern-Nemo - Alligoria II

Greece 1993. Direction-Screenplay: Costas Sfikas. Cinematography: Yorgos Kavayas. Editing: Vangelis Goussias. Production: Cinetik for the TV programme Paraskinio. Beta Colour 50'

An allegory of the struggle of a revolutionary who is wandering across the globe, using the engravings and other illustrations of the works of Jules Verne.

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