Cast & crew

Recycling Medea: Not an Opera Ballet Film

2013
1h 15m

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Recycling Medea: Not an Opera Ballet Film (2013)

Not just a music film. Not just a ballet film. Not just a political film essay. Here, an antique Greek tragedy serves as an astute metaphor for GreeceÂ’s and EuropeÂ’s current tragedy. Medea kills her own children. Society has turned against its offspring and thus ending their future.

The balletic retelling of a mother murdering her two kids, choreographed by Renato Zanella, is based on EuripidesÂ’ play and features music by Mikis Theodorakis. Script, sound and dance join forces in a powerful film that reflects the desperation of a society that spent all of yesterday turning its children into todayÂ’s lost generation.

The film begins with the first bars of TheodorakisÂ’ music and ends with the final notes of his work, framing the occasional spoken word. Six solo dancers Â– among them the extraordinary Maria Kousouni as Medea Â– appear in expressive close-ups, lyrical dance scenes, revelatory moments in rehearsals; a blend of traditional ballet and modern expressionist dance, interlaced with images of masked teenagers rebelling and the heavily armored, incensed police. Protagonists from a different, merciless realm that has taken over our everyday reality.

These protagonists are flanked and contrasted by the disturbingly mild-mannered 15-year-old Bella, the storyÂ’s innocence incarnate, who is destroyed by the hand of a hostile and selfish world. Against this background, she seems almost unreal; a fictitious character. On the other hand, certainly not fiction, are the words of Anne Frank's, hidden away in her Amsterdam hideout and filling the pages of her diary. They contribute to Bella's sense of isolation and provide her Â„voiceÂ“ and thoughts.

Medea, Jason, Bella and Anne Frank, composer and protestor-extraordinaire, Theodorakis, the choreographer Renato Zanella, the cameraman, the dancers and the rebelling, hooded teenagers hurtling stones at advancing police Â– they all become (in)voluntary actors in this complex tragedy spanning the ages.

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The balletic retelling of a mother murdering her two kids, choreographed by Renato Zanella, features music by Mikis Theodorakis in a powerful film about today's lost generation.The balletic retelling of a mother murdering her two kids, choreographed by Renato Zanella, features music by Mikis Theodorakis in a powerful film about today's lost generation.The balletic retelling of a mother murdering her two kids, choreographed by Renato Zanella, features music by Mikis Theodorakis in a powerful film about today's lost generation.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

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9Critic reviews

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Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

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Recycling Medea

Recycling Medea

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7.624

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Details

Release date
- July 18, 2013 (Greece)
Countries of origin
- Germany
- Greece
Official site
- Official site
Languages
Also known as
- Anakyklonontas tin Mideia
Filming locations
- Syros Island, Greece
Production companies
- Asti Music
- November Film
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Box office

Budget
- €150,000 (estimated)

See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

Tech specs

Runtime
- 1h 15m(75 min)

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