Meet: Konstantinos Menelaou
- Written byEleanor Harvey
- Published date 15 June 2026
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Filmmaker Konstantinos Menelaou’s work explores themes of memory, identity, queerness and popular culture, often blurring the boundaries between past and present.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins (CSM), UAL MA Fine Art programme in 2009, his work is defined by curiosity and a desire to reimagine familiar narratives. He’s often drawn to overlooked figures and misunderstood cultural images, like in his latest project ‘Female’, a bold re-examination of one of Greek culture’s most iconic figures.
He spoke to us about his time at UAL, his multidisciplinary approach to filmmaking and why, despite founding The Queer Archive, he’s not necessarily focussed on preserving the past.
Can you tell us a bit about you and your background.
I'm a filmmaker based in Athens, Greece. My work moves between cinema, visual art, archives and research, but storytelling is always at its core. I've always been interested in people and images that have been misunderstood, overlooked or reduced to simple narratives and stereotypes. A lot of my work explores memory, identity, popular culture, queerness and the ways personal stories become collective myths.
Although my films often involve research and historical material, I'm not interested in history as something fixed. I'm more interested in how the past continues to live in the present and how cinema can create new ways of looking at familiar people, places and stories. At the end of the day, I'm mostly driven by curiosity.
You graduated in 2009 from CSM with an MA in Fine Art. How was your time at the college?
My time at UAL was transformative. It was the first time I found myself in an environment where experimentation was not only encouraged but expected. Coming from Greece and finding myself in London, I was exposed to a completely different artistic ecosystem. I met people from all over the world, learned new ideas and was challenged to rethink many of my assumptions about art, image-making and life in general.
What I appreciated most was the freedom and the strong emphasis on developing your own voice rather than fitting into a particular model. That sense of artistic independence has stayed with me ever since.
What was your experience of the Fine Art MA? Any highlights?
What I remember most is the intensity of it. It was a period of dialogue, experimentation and self-discovery. One of the highlights was being surrounded by artists working in completely different mediums and coming from very different cultural backgrounds. The conversations I had with them influenced me enormously.
The MA also encouraged me to move between disciplines. I never felt restricted and that openness eventually became an important part of my practice as a filmmaker. Looking back, it wasn’t about acquiring technical skills, but more about learning how to trust my instincts and develop a critical relationship with my work.
You've described your recent film ‘Female’ is an "academic and artistic exploration of feminism, queer experience, star studies and patriarchy". Can you tell us more about the project?
'Female' is a cinematic reimagining of Aliki Vougiouklaki, probably the most iconic figure in Greek popular culture.
Rather than making a conventional biography, I wanted to create a dialogue with her image and legacy. The film uses 3 performers to embody different aspects of Aliki and explores ideas around femininity, stardom, queerness, freedom and performance.
What interested me most was the gap between the public icon and the many possibilities hidden beneath that image. The film moves between reality and fiction, archive and imagination, asking not only who Aliki was, but who she could have been and what she can still mean today.
'Female' is a film about love, freedom and the power of reinterpreting cultural myths.
Has film always been the medium you’re most drawn to?
Yes. Films have always been there for me in a magical way. What drew me to cinema in a professional way was its ability to bring everything together. Film can combine image, sound, performance, text, memory, music and time in a way that feels incredibly rich and alive. I also love its collaborative nature. Making a film is never a solo act. It emerges through conversations, encounters and collective creativity.
Tell us about your creative process – where does a project start for you?
Most of my projects begin with an obsession rather than an idea. It can be a person, an image, a phrase, a feeling that refuses to leave me alone. I spend a long time researching, collecting materials, taking notes and at some point, the project begins to take its form. I rarely start with a fixed structure. Curiosity is probably the most important part of my process. I'm interested in asking questions rather than providing definitive answers.
You're also the founder of The Queer Archive. Can you tell us more about this?
The Queer Archive is an online gallery, a film company and a platform through which I develop many of my own projects and collaborations. I created it out of an interest in memory, history and queer culture, but I'm less interested in preserving the past than in creating new dialogues with it. Through exhibitions, films, publications and collaborations with other artists, research becomes alive and accessible. In many ways The Queer Archive reflects my artistic practice.
And lastly, what advice would you give to someone who's just about to graduate?
Don't wait for permission.
It's very easy to think that opportunities, recognition, or validation will arrive before you begin making the work you really want to make. In my experience, it's usually the opposite.
Be curious.
Stay open.
Build meaningful relationships with people whose work you admire.
Don't be afraid of taking risks or changing direction.
Try not to compare yourself to everyone else. We all have our own journey.
The most important things often come from mistakes.
