Lefkanthia: The TRaces OF Sacrifice
Lefkanthia are white lillies which grow in the coast of Amani, a region of 500 people in Northen Chios, Greece. The flower is vulnerable to environmental changes but yet durable since its roots grow deep inside rocks and sand to draw water. Leukanthia: The Signs of Sacrifice, through using the local religious myth of Saint Markella, discusses the contemporary issues of Amani. As the area has endured neglect from the state for decades and now faces the possibility of an environmentally destructive antimony mine, the film aspires to explore the possibility of agency and resistance in a seemingly futile situation. The filmmaker navigates these complex dynamics in the region by using the tragic myth of Saint Markella: a local story of a young girl who was desired and murdered by her own father. Through the use of landscape and appealing affect and emotion, Belegri questions: What does one do when they are considered ‘already dead’?
