Περιμένοντας τους Βαρβάρους / EN ATTENDANT LES BARBARES / WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS by Georges Sifianos | Greece, France | 2026

Duration: 00:11:45

In a city reminiscent of the Roman Empire, the arrival of the “Barbarians” is announced. The inhabitants hold their breath, imagining every possible future. But who are these “Barbarians”? And what if they never come?

DIRECTOR : Georges Sifianos
WRITER : Constantin Cavafy
TRANSLATION, VOICE, ANIMATION : Georges Sifianos
PRODUCER : Galina and Laurent Guine, IMAKA Films/Paris
IN COLLABORATION WITH : Panagiotis Kyriakoulakos
MUSIC : Dimitri Mastrogioglou
SOUND DESIGN : Andrea Martignoni
Acknowledgments: Georgios Alexopoulos, Michael Dudok de Wit, Laurent-Galina Guine, Stathis Katsaros

CONTACTS / LINKS Profile (FilmFreeway) Profile (IMDB) 

Director’s statement
The word “barbarian” is inherently ambiguous. Originally, it referred to the foreigner whose language was reduced to indistinct sounds — “bar, bar, bar…”. Over time, it came to signify brutality and lack of culture.

Written in the early twentieth century, Cavafy’s poem Waiting for the Barbarians preserves this ambiguity. The barbarian is both threat and promise, embodying an alterity that remains misunderstood, at once fascinating and unsettling.

The film draws on this tension while refusing any fixed interpretation. Guided by Cavafy’s poem, it juxtaposes contemporary manifestations of barbarism: the erosion of bureaucratized parliamentarism, ecological collapse, violence as spectacle, state violence, rigid rationalism, and the rhetoric of appearances. Amid this collective noise emerge the flows of migrants, leading to mass drownings. The film assigns no responsibility and offers no conclusions, leaving open a fundamental question: who, in fact, are the barbarians?

Structured as a sensory polyphony, the film brings into dialogue French and Greek, extended through English and Spanish subtitles, alongside poetry, voice, music, drawing, and soundscapes — creating a cosmopolitan space where meaning is gradually constructed with the viewer.

Animation and dance are central to this exploration. The drawing remains vibrant and often unfinished, inviting the spectator’s imagination to complete it. Butō movements encounter other choreographic forms — geometric, expressive, or free — playing on the tension between structure and release.

Rejecting cinema as mere distraction, the film proposes a poetic and critical experience, seeking to expand cinematic language and question the contradictions and possible futures of our societies.

Bio
Georges Sifianos, born in Greece, is a filmmaker, visual artist, and Doctor of Philosophy. In 1995, he founded the Department of Animation Studies at ENSAD (Paris), where he taught for over twenty years, and has lectured internationally. He contributed to the founding of CARTOON, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and NEF Animation, and has served on international juries. His research on animation aesthetics led to an original, unpublished study, The Symphony of the Parthenon Frieze. He is the author of The Aesthetics of Animated Film (McLaren–Lambart Award 2014; Hemingway Grant 2015). His films include Smile, Odeur de ville, Tutu, C’est môa, The Blind Writer (around twenty international awards), Waiting for the Barbarians and the feature-length documentary Petrochemicals: The Cathedrals of the Desert. In 2025, he received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies at Animafest Zagreb.

The following works served as inspiration or models for certain animations:
Butoh at Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine, Japan Danser: Imre Thormann (Switzerland)
Drakos, by Nikos Koundouros
Fragments, Endless flow, by Ilan Rivière
Hammer, by Alexander Ekman
Video game, Zangief vs Blanka – Street Fighter 5
2015 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, Bulgaria.
Serpentine Dance, by Loïe Fuller
Swan Lake – Pas de Quatre (Dance of the Small Swans) rehearsal Pacific Northwest Ballet
Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett

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