Paola Revenioti

“I present the world with a very different approach, not as it was taught to us at school or in the army. I believe that each one has the right to see the society he lives in with his own particular view. I am, personally, more interested in Devil than God”- Elias Petropoulos. A restless and inquisitive spirit, a foe of academics and the status-quo, Petropoulos was the first folklorist in Greece, who dealt with social outcasts and described people and situations ignored by his country’s official history. Petropoulos takes us on a journey to unknown landscapes of our tradition and Greek-ness and acquaints us with all those people who belong to our social underground and who dominate his books. Rebetika musicians, bums, spivs, whores and homosexuals, people tormented and Greek-ness and acquaints us with all those people who belong to our social underground.

Paola Revenioti and the filmmaking team Paola Team Documentaries present their first documentary feature. Kaliardáwas the secret language of the homosexual community in Greece, from the 40s until the first years following the fall of the dictatorship in the mid-70s. Paola became acquainted with the use of kaliardá towards its end, in the 80s. We started out with an aim to record the history of kaliardá, but along the way we realized we were recording the history of the homosexual community in Greece during the twentieth century. Themes started emerging, such as love, sexuality, hangouts, problems faced by people at the time and how conditions gradually changed. In the documentary, we speak with academics and people from the street who have first-hand experience of our topic.

Paola, Betty and Eva are three trans women in their 60s who have known each other for more than forty years. All three of them started making their living early in their youth as sex workers in Athens, Greece. In “The Oleanders” Betty Vakalidou, Eva Koumarianou & Paola Revenioti revisit all the different places in the city where they used to work, socialize, get harassed or arrested by the cops, fight for their rights, have fun and find love. The unapologetic, humorous, and empowering discussion between Eva, Betty & Paola is a history of Athens as well as a history of sexuality in this region.

Greece, 1977. A proposed law brings gay men and “transvestites” together in a historic event and sparks the creation of the first Greek LGBT movement. For the next 13 years, AKOE and its magazine Amfi, would define the way LGBT Greeks think about themselves. This film celebrates their story and legacy.

A look at “Greek love” and the reality of homosexuality in Greece in 1991. Leaders of the once-called GLBT movement (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender) or simply people who dared to stand in front of the camera and speak about their lives, paint us a clear portrait – a bigger picture that might not have changed much in the last three decades.