Closing Film: Lesvia
October 12 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Free – £12
Since the 1970s lesbians have been gathering in the village of Eressos, Lesvia, once home to the ancient Greek poet and ‘First Lesbian’, Sappho. Lesvia is a documentary film chronicling the site of queer pilgrimage and tensions felt between local villagers and new sapphic arrivals of the last four decades. The feature will be followed by two shorts exploring Barbara Hammer and the lesbian iconography of the carabiner, respectively.
This screening will be followed by a panel discussion hosted by Nat Lall with Looking for Barbara director Helen Kilbride and Oban Lesbian Weekend organiser Maz Gordon.
Curated by Nat Lall.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, £10, or £12. To book, click here or call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900.
Accessibility:
This programme has:
- English, French, Italian, Greek with English language descriptive subtitles.
- English-BSL interpretation for the introduction and panel discussion.
- Live Captioning for the introduction and panel discussion.
This screening is 93 minutes long and has an age recommendation of N/C 18+.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2024 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2024, please get in touch with us at [email protected] or by phone on 07873 331 036.
Films in this programme include:
Lesvia, Dir. Tzeli Hadjidimitriou, 2024, Greece, 77 min
Since the 1970s, lesbians from around the world have been drawn to the island of Lesvos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. When they find paradise in a local village and carve out their own queer lesbian community, tensions simmer with the local residents. With both groups claiming ownership of lesbian identity, filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou—a native and lesbian herself—is caught in the middle and chronicles 40+ years of love, community, conflict, and what it means to feel accepted.
Content notes: Depiction of nudity, sex toys, alcohol use, cigarette use. Discussion of homophobia, sex, harassment, political legislation, oppression, gender dysphoria, body image, fatphobia, childhood trauma, xenophobia, physical violence, police violence, patriarchy, sexism, alcohol.
Access notes: Minimal flashing light in some party scenes.
Looking for Barbara, Dir. Helen Eve Kilbride, 2021, United Kingdom, 9 min
Looking for Barbara is a short experimental film exploring personal archives—photos and cine film from home. Using the filmmaker’s mid-1990s Super 8 footage, it questions memory’s significance and whose stories are prioritised. Inspired by Barbara Hammer, the film blends an ethereal soundtrack with personal testimony, offering a queer perspective on memory and how archives can be reinterpreted to amplify marginalised narratives.
Content notes: Depiction of nudity. Discussion of queer erasure, sex.
The History of The Carabiner, Dir. Gianna Mazzeo, 2023, Netherlands, 7 min
A tongue-in-cheek, historical documentary / fashion film hybrid that takes viewers on a journey through queer history to trace the origins of the carabiner as a lesbian symbol.
Content notes: Discussion of sexism, sex, homophobia.
Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨
Image Credit: Lesvia, Dir. Tzeli Hadjidimitriou, 2024