AEF2026: Starry Sky – Starry Nights

This summer, Athens Epidaurus Festival's main city venue, the former industrial complex in Pireos 260, celebrates 20 years as one of the city’s most vital cultural meeting points. Under the artistic direction of Michail Marmarinos, this year’s landmark programme unfolds across two months of theatre, dance, music, performance, and multidisciplinary works, bringing together more than 50 events by acclaimed international artists alongside some of the most exciting voices from Greece’s contemporary scene. Pireos 260 will live through the Athenian summer as a dynamic space where emerging creators, established names, and curious audiences come together to explore what contemporary performance can be today. New collaborations, technology-driven works, and immersive experiences sit alongside bold theatrical productions, live music, and cutting-edge choreography.

Amongst these multi-genre experiences is Starry Sky – Starry Nights, a brand-new initiative that transforms Hall D into an open-roof cinema at midnight. Set against the industrial architecture and quiet summer nights of Athens, this event screens highly unique film documentations of ephemeral stage works just as the city begins to slow down.

Rather than simple archival recordings, these selections are artistic, non-conventional cinematic transpositions that preserve the raw tension, rhythm, and dramaturgical quality of the original live performances. Bringing together theatre, dance, and cinema, this polyphonic screening series fosters a captivating dialogue with some of the most landmark stage works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Under the stars, the historic venue invites audiences to witness how the fleeting magic of past stage actions can be captured, preserved, and beautifully reimagined in the present.