ABSTRACT
Film-makers attempting to render ancient Greek tragedy are faced with a number of obvious problems, especially theoretical objections to the filming of works conceived for theatrical performance, and the intensification of these objections in the context of Greek theatre. Then, too, there is the problem of translating highly formalised works conceived within a particular set of conventions into a medium which has traditionally privileged ‘realism’. Nevertheless, a number of world-famous directors — Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michael Cacoyannis, Miklós Jancsó, Liliana Cavani and Jules Dassin in particular — as well as less celebrated film-makers, have devoted themselves to the task of filming Greek tragedy, especially in the 1960s and 1970s.
