Blessed Ω

Blessed Ω, 2:19mins, 4K video, color, 2022

Blessed Ω is both a written and visual poem, a short experimentation on the “poetry-film” genre. The poem on which the film is based was written in 2022 by Athanasios Anagnostopoulos for a queer poetry publication that will be launched in 2023 in London, UK.
The film’s narrator speaks about Makaría, daughter of Hades and goddess of an honourable death in greek antiquity, and traces the etymological derivatives of her name across cultures and historical changes; from byzantine funerary delicacies to italian pasta, to the modern-day melo-makarona cookies. From Macaría the story passes on to the 18th century proto-queer, proto-capitalist figure of the Macaroni, whose metonymical name was conceived so as to evoke his South European mannerism and his queer appearance. The narrator switches between English and Greek, and between a lulling narration and an atmospheric singing in byzantine style. The visual narrative includes footage shot in a cemetery and a marble quarry on the island of Tinos in Greece, followed by a night sky with a full moon and an archival etching of an 18th century popular caricature of the figure of the Macaroni. The gravure floats next to a rocky mountain ink-drawing that resembles the biblical desert landscapes of eastern orthodox art iconography. The film reflects poetically on the perception of time, language, and History as death.

Concept, image, text, editing:
Athanasios Anagnostopoulos

Original music & sound mastering:
Kleitos Kyriakides

Commissioned by
Callie’s resident artist Sophie Lee. Screened at Callie’s, Berlin.