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Cacoyannis Film Series

Date: Friday, June 23, 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, June 24, 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Location: Getty Villa, Auditorium
Admission: Free; a ticket is required.

This inaugural film series at the Getty Villa in Malibu features internationally acclaimed director Michael Cacoyannis's adaptations of classic tragedies by ancient Greek playwright Euripides (485–406 B.C.).

Iphigenia

The Trojan Women

Electra



Iphigenia

(1977, 127 min.)
Friday, June 23, 8:00 p.m.

The weekend begins with Iphigenia, the last in Cacoyannis's Euripides trilogy. The film is a faithful adaptation of Iphigenia at Aulis, which takes place before the Trojan War.

Cacoyannis cast the stunning 13-year-old Tatiana Papamoskou as Iphigenia, sacrificial victim to the gods in the cause of war. Playing Clytemnestra, her heartbroken mother, is Irene Papas. "Owing to the time lapses between films," says Cacoyannis, "Papas became a vital link in the trilogy by portraying three women of different ages belonging to the same family."

Following Iphigenia, Cacoyannis did not make another film for nearly a decade.


Iphigenia film still

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The Trojan Women

(1971, 105 min.)
Saturday, June 24, 4:00 p.m.

The second installment in Cacoyannis's Euripides trilogy, The Trojan Women recounts the woeful plight of the women of Troy, who were treated as spoils of war.

Cacoyannis shot The Trojan Women in Spain on a modest budget with a cast headed by four brilliant actresses—Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Geneviève Bujold, and Irene Papas—who each took token fees of $25,000.


Trojan Women film still

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Electra

(1962, 110 min.)
Saturday, June 24, 8:00 p.m.

Electra, the first in Cacoyannis's Euripides trilogy, is charged by a powerful central performance by Irene Papas, with whom Cacoyannis would work regularly over the next 20 years. Cacoyannis says of Papas, "Her unique classical beauty, her intelligence and emotional power, were just the right ingredients for the title role in Electra, which I scripted with her in mind."

The film remains true to Euripides' basic story of Electra's marriage and the ensuing double murder. Yet it evokes the classic tragedy rather than simply adapting it. Cacoyannis made vivid use of violence and a harsh landscape in telling its anti-heroine's epic tale of woe. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign language film.


Electra film still

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How to Get Here
The Getty Villa is located at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, approximately 25 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. See Hours, Directions, Parking for directions and parking information.


All images courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.