A Quest for eternity. A documentary about the historical and political aspects of Theo Angelopoulos’s work.

Abstract

The research documentary A Quest for Eternity (2020) is dealing with four different chapters of Theo Angelopoulos’ form and style. The first chapter focuses on the historical and political aspects of Theo Angelopoulos’ films, especially on the film shot during his first period up until Alexander the Great. The second chapter emphasizes on the connection between Theo Angelopoulos’ work with the estrangement techniques of Bertolt Brecht. This chapter reshapes our knowledge regarding this connection and elaborates on the debate between the traditional Brechtian approach of Angelopoulos’ work and the post-Brechtian approach. The third chapter stresses the importance of the Greek coffeeshop (kafeneion) as an ideal location in Theo Angelopoulos’ films, while the last chapter talks about the birth of the Greek Weird Wave movement in the contemporary Greek cinema, as well as how this new gaze could be influenced by Theo Angelopoulos’ work.