Theo Angelopoulos is a director best known for his sweeping histories; his reputation is for the most part built upon the epic tragedies like The Traveling Players (1975) or Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow (2004) which weave their way through vast expanses of time and space to complete their often tragic narratives. Combining morality plays with political theatre, this directors responses to his nations turbulent political past are Brechtian in technique but overwhelmingly visual in execution.

In 1986 Angelopoulos moved away from the cinematic symphonies he is well known for and attempted a chamber piece. The resulting film was one of his most flawed if intriguing productions - The Beekeeper (O melissokomos).

Presented by Mike Dawson. Written by Mike Dawson and Stephen Souter.

Is there any other great director that is less seen than Theo Angelopoulos? He is another of World Cinema’s great unsung masters, although often noted by his peers and those of us lucky enough to see his work out side of his native Greece, his films for the most part are neglected by international distributors in favour of the older greats like Fredrico Fellini, Andrei Tarkovsky or Ingmar Bergman.

The last of my five favourite directors, starting this series with his four hour in length 1975 Brechtian masterpiece The Travelling Players.