MAIN COMPETITION
Waiting for the Barbarians
Directed by Georges Sifianos
Country Greece
Year 2026
Running time 12′
In a city evoking, without precise detail, a town of the Roman Empire, the poem portrays a state of expectation: the arrival of the “Barbarians” has been announced, the emperor himself seems ready to submit to their authority, and any hypothesis about the future is possible. The city holds its breath waiting… But who exactly are these “Barbarians”? And what if they don’t arrive?
Georges Sifianos
Georges Sifianos, born in Greece, is a filmmaker, visual artist, and PhD in Philosophy. In 1995, he founded the Animation Department at ENSAD in Paris, where he taught for over twenty years. He contributed to the founding of CARTOON, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and NEF Animation. He is the author of The Aesthetics of Animated Film (McLaren-Lambart Award 2014). In 2025, he received the Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies Award at Animafest Zagreb.
