Filiates is located southwest of Konitsa, west of Ioannina, northeast of Igoumenitsa and southeast of Sarandë, Albania.

In antiquity the area round the city was known as Cestrine (or Kestrine) (Greek: Κεστρίνη), separated from Thesprotia by the River Thyamis.

[16] According to Pausanias (Description of Greece), Cestrine took its name from Cestrinus, the son of Helenus, having previously borne the appellation of Cammania.

[22] During the suppression of the Greek revolt of 1854 in Epirus by the Ottoman authorities armed groups of Cham Albanians inflicted extensive damage to the town.

[26] On the other hand, the local Greek population displayed tolerance towards actions by the Albanians that didn't reveal chauvinist inclinations.

[30] In 1928, representatives from the Cham Albanian communities in Paramythia, Karvounari and Filiates, requested the opening of two Muslim schools which they would fund themselves.

The Greek authorities officially rejected the request, fearing that these Muslim schools would serve Albanian state propaganda by promoting an anti-Greek sentiment among the Chams of Greece.

Regardless, the Greek government allowed their operation unofficially because it could close them as illegal at any time, and could also claim that their function fulfilled demands for Albanian schools in Chameria.

Almost the entire population of them fled during the liberation of Greece, because a large part of the community collaborated with Nazi forces.

[33] In September 1944, during the Axis withdrawal, the EDES resistance managed to quickly overcome the remaining Cham collaborator units stationed in the town.