The Bright Night

Clash of the Titans

June 1981 •English

To win the right to marry his love, the beautiful princess Andromeda, and fulfil his destiny, half-God-half-mortal Perseus must complete various tasks including taming Pegasus, capturing Medusa's head and battling the feared Kraken.

Hercules in New York

February 1970 •English

Hercules is sent from Mount Olympus to modern-day Manhattan, where he takes up professional wrestling before getting mixed up with a gang of mobsters.

Oedipus Rex

January 1957 •English

The story of Oedipus' gradual discovery of his primal crime, killing his father and marrying his mother, filmed by the famed British theatrical director Sir Tyrone Guthrie. This elegant version of Sophocles' play adds a brilliant stroke: the actors wear masks just as the Greeks did in the playwright's day.

The Bacchae

September 2009 •English

A talented ensemble cast bring Euripides masterpiece to life. The Bacchae (also called The Bacchants or Bakchai in Greek) tells the story of the god Dionysus who comes to the city of Thebes disguised as a charismatic young man accompanied by a throng of erotic female maenads. The immortal play is a study in fanatical religions and confronts the personal balance that we all must find between order and spontaneity.

Argonauts

December 1971 •Russian

A cartoon version of the voyage of the Argonauts (Greek Mythology) with the aim of getting the Gold Fleece.

The Gorgon

October 1964 •English

In the early 20th century a village experienced a series of inexplicable murders. All the victims were young men who had been turned to stone. The perpetrator of these deaths was a being so repulsive that she transformed the onlooker using the power of her deadly stare. Much of the time the creature took the form of a beautiful and seductive woman, but during periods of the full moon she becomes a living horror, vicious and deadly. A professor has come to investigate the deaths, bringing with him his beautiful assistant whose knowledge of the Gorgon is more intimate than anyone would ever realise.

Clash of the Titans

March 2010 •English

Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus is helpless to save his family from Hades, vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus and unleash hell on earth. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, Perseus and his warriors will only survive if Perseus accepts his power as a god, defies fate and creates his own destiny.

Medea

January 1970 •Italian

Based on the plot of Euripides' Medea. Medea centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed her for another woman.

Hercules

August 1983 •English

Hercules, a semi-divine being, squares off against King Minos, who is attempting to use science to gain power and take over the world. With the help of a benevolent sorceress, Circe, Hercules tries to save his beloved Cassiopeia from being sacrificed by Minos, and struggles against laser-breathing creatures and an evil sorceress.

Echo

September 2023 •English

A reframing of the classic tale of Narcissus, the director draws on snippets of conversation with a trusted friend to muse on gender and identity. Just as shimmers are difficult to grasp as knowable entities, so does the concept of a gendered self feel unknowable except through reflection. Is it Narcissus that Echo truly longs for, or simply the Knowing he possesses when gazing upon himself?

The Legend of Daphne

February 1910 •French

An ancient Greek legend comes to life, courtesy of the Gaumont studios.

Une petite fille dans les tournesols

December 1984 •French

The young teacher Marelle goes in search of her husband who mysteriously disappeared while attending the funeral of a childhood friend.

Ulysse est revenu

July 1978 •French

The Illiac Passion

December 1967 •English

Prometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of his imagination. After meeting the Muse, he proceeds to the "forest." There, under an apple tree, he communes with his selves, represented by celebrated personages from the New York "underground scene" who appear as modern correlatives to the figures of Greek mythology. The filmmaker, who narrates the situations with a translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, finds the personalities of his characters to have a timeless universality.

The Return

September 2024 •English

After twenty years away, Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The king has finally returned home, but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war.

PYRAMUS & THISBE

December 2016 •Estonian

In this modern adaptation of the classic Greek myth two young lovers bound by a tragic fate plot to escape their homes to start a new life somewhere far from their families.

Orpheus

September 1950 •French

A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.

About the Looking for and the Finding of Love

January 2005 •German

Director helmut Dietls and Patric Susskinds illustrate a legendary story of two lovers who cant keep themselves away from death.

Minotaur

March 2006 •English

Long ago in the Iron Age, a shadow loomed over a lonely village. For generations, the village youths are stolen from their families and delivered as sacrifice to a mythical beast - the Minotaur, that dwells beneath a great palace. Theo, haunted by the loss of his love in an earlier sacrifice is convinced that the beast isn't real and that his girl still lives as a slave within the palace.

Greek Gossip

November 2020 •English

In a world where Greek mythology is reality, Ben, a lonely reporter, finds his morals swayed by his desperation for affection.