16th AOAFF powered by DEI & the Museum of Cycladic Art present «The Virgin Spring» by Ingmar Bergman
The 16th Athens Open Air Film Festival powered by DEI and co-organized by the Culture, Sports, and Youth Organization of the City of Athens (OPANDA), is delighted to continue its collaboration with the Museum of Cycladic Art for the third year in a row and, as part of the exhibition Jeff Koons: “Venus” Lespugue, “Cycladic Screening” featuring a Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece “The Virgin Spring” selected by Jeff Koons himself. The screening will take place on Wednesday, July 1, at Eleftherias Park at 9:30 p.m., with free entrance.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1st | Eleftherias Park, Vasilissis Sofias Ave.
21:30 THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960, 89’)
Greek Subtitles
In 14th-century Sweden, a young virgin is raped and murdered by two shepherds. In a fateful twist of fate, her murderers seek refuge in the girl’s parents’ home, provoking the terrible vengeance of her deeply religious father. Directing for the first and last time a screenplay not of his own, but by the writer Ulla Isaksson, who in turn drew inspiration from a 13th-century folk ballad, Bergman sets in the Middle Ages the definitive end of innocence for an entire world that watches its faith and values crumble in the face of God’s resounding absence and the complete prevalence of human brutality.
In the director’s first collaboration with director of photgraphy Sven Nykvist—a key and long-time collaborator throughout his subsequent filmography—the overwhelming “The Virgin Spring” caused quite a stir in its day, it was honored with a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, while 12 years later it underwent an even more brutal adaptation by Wes Craven in “The Last House on the Left”. Loukas Katsikas
Directed by: Ingmar Bergman | Starring: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson
In many of his works, Jeff Koons consistently returns to the ancient forms that connect humanity to its history, and the figure of “Venus” has fascinated him since the late 1970s. His work revisits themes of innocence and self-acceptance, the body as the source of life, and the glossy, reflective surface that is only complete when the viewer stands before it and sees himself within it. The same themes can be found, in a much darker tone, in Ingmar Bergman’s film “The Virgin Spring”. The film is set in medieval Sweden at a time when the old pagan faith was giving way to Christianity. It is a story of innocence, loss, and redemption, which, as its title suggests, seeks the source of life through the darkness.
About the exhibition Jeff Koons: “Venus” Lespugue
20 March – 31 August 2026
The exhibition Jeff Koons: “Venus” Lespugue at the Museum of Cycladic Art is an innovative museum initiative that fosters a dialogue between Paleolithic and contemporary art. Exploring the significance of the figure of Venus from the Paleolithic period to date, the Museum presents to the public for the first time the work of internationally renowned American artist Jeff Koons Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange) (2013–2019) from the Homem Sonnabend Collection of Antonio Homem Sonnabend and Phokion Potamianos Homem, in dialogue with ten Paleolithic “Venuses”, presented as certified replicas of the immovable originals housed in major European museums. The exhibition explores the female form from the Paleolithic period to contemporary art, proposing a dialogue that spans more than 40,000 years of human creativity.
For the work Balloon Venus Lespugue, Koons draws inspiration from the Paleolithic “Venus of Lespugue”, a statuette carved from mammoth ivory, which dates back approximately 28.000 years. Referencing the figure of Venus, the goddess of love and fertility, her depiction has consistently influenced Koons’ work since the late 1970s. Read more here.
The 16th Athens Open Air Film Festival, powered by DEI, is co-organized by the Organization for Culture, Sports and Youth of the Municipality of Athens and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.
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