23 October – 30 November 2025
Long Takes
'The world needs cinema now more than ever. It may be the last important form of resistance to the deteriorating world in which we live.' – Theo Angelopoulos
The most prominent Greek filmmaker of the post-1968 era, Theo Angelopoulos' command of time and space has rarely been equaled in the history of cinema, and certainly not with such sincerely humanist intentions. His investigations into the history and politics of Greece and the surrounding region are both breathtaking in their imagistic power and resolutely grounded in the lives of ordinary people.
Born in 1935 and raised during the tumult of the German Occupation of World War II and the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), during which time is father was arrested and almost killed by the secret police, it is perhaps not surprising that Angelopoulos would eventually revisit these years again and again in his films.
After initially studying to be a lawyer, Angelopoulos would move to Paris in the late 1950s to study Cinema. During his time in Paris he would work for filmmaker Jean Rouch and also usher at the Cinémathèque Française. In 1964, still under the influence of the films of Welles and Mizoguchi, he returned home to a country in the midst of a political crisis, one that would eventually lead to the military junta of 1967-1974.
Spanning nearly five decades, Angelopoulos' body of work is, in a truly homeric tradition, an epic journey through myth and history. From the astonishing tracking shots that seem to collapse any distinction between time and space, to the travelling players, exiles and artists, whose stage keeps shifting beneath their feet. At its heart, the cinema of Theo Angelopoulos is one of movement, an endless voyage, an eternal search for home, and a reckoning with our pasts, both personal and collective.
The ICA is delighted to present a complete retrospective of the work of one of cinemas most singular artists. Beginning in October the retrospective will include guest introductions and a programme of contextualising screenings still to be announced.
Priority booking opens on 4 August.
General booking opens on 11 August.
Long Takes
'The world needs cinema now more than ever. It may be the last important form of resistance to the deteriorating world in which we live.' – Theo Angelopoulos
The most prominent Greek filmmaker of the post-1968 era, Theo Angelopoulos' command of time and space has rarely been equaled in the history of cinema, and certainly not with such sincerely humanist intentions. His investigations into the history and politics of Greece and the surrounding region are both breathtaking in their imagistic power and resolutely grounded in the lives of ordinary people.
Born in 1935 and raised during the tumult of the German Occupation of World War II and the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), during which time is father was arrested and almost killed by the secret police, it is perhaps not surprising that Angelopoulos would eventually revisit these years again and again in his films.
After initially studying to be a lawyer, Angelopoulos would move to Paris in the late 1950s to study Cinema. During his time in Paris he would work for filmmaker Jean Rouch and also usher at the Cinémathèque Française. In 1964, still under the influence of the films of Welles and Mizoguchi, he returned home to a country in the midst of a political crisis, one that would eventually lead to the military junta of 1967-1974.
Spanning nearly five decades, Angelopoulos' body of work is, in a truly homeric tradition, an epic journey through myth and history. From the astonishing tracking shots that seem to collapse any distinction between time and space, to the travelling players, exiles and artists, whose stage keeps shifting beneath their feet. At its heart, the cinema of Theo Angelopoulos is one of movement, an endless voyage, an eternal search for home, and a reckoning with our pasts, both personal and collective.
The ICA is delighted to present a complete retrospective of the work of one of cinemas most singular artists. Beginning in October the retrospective will include guest introductions and a programme of contextualising screenings still to be announced.
Priority booking opens on 4 August.
General booking opens on 11 August.
Become an ICA Member to access priority booking.
Become a Member
Programme
Thursday 23 October, 6.30pm
Opening Night
Reconstruction
A striking fusion of documentary, drama, and myth, Angelopoulos' debut feature is a haunting tragedy that draws from both Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy and film noir to reconstruct a crime and its consequences.
Saturday 25 October, 4pm
Days of '36
Theo Angelopoulos' second feature, and the first part of his trilogy of history, Days of '36 leans further into the procedural tendencies of his debut as he crafts a densely layered investigation into the machinations of political corruption.
Sunday 26 October, 2pm
The Travelling Players
A sweeping journey through Greek history and an intimate epic of love and death, Angelopoulos' landmark film follows the travails of a travelling theatre troupe, as they are swept along by the bloody tides of history from Nazi occupation to civil war.
Saturday 1 November, 3pm
The Hunters
History is upended as a bourgeois New Years Eve party is thrown into disarray by the discovery of a rebel soldiers corpse seemingly from the Greek Civil War more than twenty-five years prior. An exorcism of the personal and collective ills of a nation, The Hunters is a haunting coda to Theo Angelopoulos' trilogy of history.
Sunday 2 November, 2pm
Alexander The Great
With his fifth feature, Theo Angelopoulos turns to the dawn of the twentieth century for a politically charged fable centred upon the leader of a revolutionary commune, who causes an international incident when he takes a group of British aristocrats hostage.
Thursday 6 November, 8.40pm
Athens, Return to the Acropolis + Broadcast
Commissioned for a television series on Europe's cultural capitals, Theo Angelopoulos' ode to the city of Athens draws from the poetry of George Seferis, the music of Manos Hadjidakis and the paintings of Tsarouchis. Preceded by Angelopoulos' first completed film Broadcast.
Sunday 9 November, 4pm
Voyage to Cythera
The first part of his acclaimed trilogy of silence, this tale of a former resistance fighter's return to his homeland after decades in exile, marked a key transition point in Angelopoulos' work, from the collective histories that preceded it to the profoundly personal films that would follow.
Thursday 13 November, 6.30pm
The Beekeeper
Following his daughters wedding and his retirement from teaching, a beekeeper embarks upon a journey across Greece with his bees, just as his father and grandfather did before him. The second part of Angelopoulos' trilogy of silence, The Beekeeper is a haunting meditation on the necessity of letting go.
Sunday 16 November, 4pm
Landscape in the Mist
Two children set out on a long journey in the hope of finding the father they've never known. Accompanied by Eleni Karaindrou's sublime score, Landscape in the Mist is a profoundly moving road movie filled with the magic and horror of a fairytale.
Wednesday 19 November, 6.30pm
The Suspended Step of the Stork
A deeply affecting meditation on the contemporary history of the Balkans, the first part of Angelopoulos' Borders trilogy follows a television journalist who, while interviewing refugees in a border town, stumbles upon a man who may or may not be a famous politician, who mysteriously disappeared many years prior.
Sunday 23 November, 2pm
Ulysses' Gaze
A Greek-American filmmaker embarks upon an epic journey through the breadth of the Balkans, from desolate borders to cities under siege, in search of what is believed to be the very first film shot in the region.
Thursday 27 November, 6.30pm
Eternity and a Day
An elegiac journey through memory, Theo Angelopoulos closes his Borders trilogy with the tale of an unexpected friendship between a dying poet and a young refugee.
Saturday 29 November, 3pm
The Weeping Meadow
In the first part of his final (and ultimately unfinished) trilogy, Theo Angelopoulos draws even further into Greek history to trace a saga of forbidden love across generations. In many ways the culmination of Angelopoulos' work, The Weeping Meadow is an aching ode to love and music.
Sunday 30 November, 3pm
Closing
The Dust of Time
The past and present finally meet in what would prove to be Theo Angelopoulos' final film. Intended as the middle section of a trilogy bridging Greece's history from post-WW1 to the present day, The Dust of Time centres upon an American filmmaker attempting to reconcile past and present while making a film about the journey of his mother.
Thursday 23 October, 6.30pm
Opening Night
Reconstruction
A striking fusion of documentary, drama, and myth, Angelopoulos' debut feature is a haunting tragedy that draws from both Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy and film noir to reconstruct a crime and its consequences.
Saturday 25 October, 4pm
Days of '36
Theo Angelopoulos' second feature, and the first part of his trilogy of history, Days of '36 leans further into the procedural tendencies of his debut as he crafts a densely layered investigation into the machinations of political corruption.
Sunday 26 October, 2pm
The Travelling Players
A sweeping journey through Greek history and an intimate epic of love and death, Angelopoulos' landmark film follows the travails of a travelling theatre troupe, as they are swept along by the bloody tides of history from Nazi occupation to civil war.
Saturday 1 November, 3pm
The Hunters
History is upended as a bourgeois New Years Eve party is thrown into disarray by the discovery of a rebel soldiers corpse seemingly from the Greek Civil War more than twenty-five years prior. An exorcism of the personal and collective ills of a nation, The Hunters is a haunting coda to Theo Angelopoulos' trilogy of history.
Sunday 2 November, 2pm
Alexander The Great
With his fifth feature, Theo Angelopoulos turns to the dawn of the twentieth century for a politically charged fable centred upon the leader of a revolutionary commune, who causes an international incident when he takes a group of British aristocrats hostage.
Thursday 6 November, 8.40pm
Athens, Return to the Acropolis + Broadcast
Commissioned for a television series on Europe's cultural capitals, Theo Angelopoulos' ode to the city of Athens draws from the poetry of George Seferis, the music of Manos Hadjidakis and the paintings of Tsarouchis. Preceded by Angelopoulos' first completed film Broadcast.
Sunday 9 November, 4pm
Voyage to Cythera
The first part of his acclaimed trilogy of silence, this tale of a former resistance fighter's return to his homeland after decades in exile, marked a key transition point in Angelopoulos' work, from the collective histories that preceded it to the profoundly personal films that would follow.
Thursday 13 November, 6.30pm
The Beekeeper
Following his daughters wedding and his retirement from teaching, a beekeeper embarks upon a journey across Greece with his bees, just as his father and grandfather did before him. The second part of Angelopoulos' trilogy of silence, The Beekeeper is a haunting meditation on the necessity of letting go.
Sunday 16 November, 4pm
Landscape in the Mist
Two children set out on a long journey in the hope of finding the father they've never known. Accompanied by Eleni Karaindrou's sublime score, Landscape in the Mist is a profoundly moving road movie filled with the magic and horror of a fairytale.
Wednesday 19 November, 6.30pm
The Suspended Step of the Stork
A deeply affecting meditation on the contemporary history of the Balkans, the first part of Angelopoulos' Borders trilogy follows a television journalist who, while interviewing refugees in a border town, stumbles upon a man who may or may not be a famous politician, who mysteriously disappeared many years prior.
Sunday 23 November, 2pm
Ulysses' Gaze
A Greek-American filmmaker embarks upon an epic journey through the breadth of the Balkans, from desolate borders to cities under siege, in search of what is believed to be the very first film shot in the region.
Thursday 27 November, 6.30pm
Eternity and a Day
An elegiac journey through memory, Theo Angelopoulos closes his Borders trilogy with the tale of an unexpected friendship between a dying poet and a young refugee.
Saturday 29 November, 3pm
The Weeping Meadow
In the first part of his final (and ultimately unfinished) trilogy, Theo Angelopoulos draws even further into Greek history to trace a saga of forbidden love across generations. In many ways the culmination of Angelopoulos' work, The Weeping Meadow is an aching ode to love and music.
Sunday 30 November, 3pm
Closing
The Dust of Time
The past and present finally meet in what would prove to be Theo Angelopoulos' final film. Intended as the middle section of a trilogy bridging Greece's history from post-WW1 to the present day, The Dust of Time centres upon an American filmmaker attempting to reconcile past and present while making a film about the journey of his mother.
no. 236848.