Maria Katsikadakou
Directing
Biography
Maria Katsikadakou, also known by her stage name Maria Cyber, is a pioneering Greek LGBTQI+ rights activist, director and publisher. She is an iconic figure in the lesbian movement in Greece. She is the creator of the website lesvos.gr and has published the photo album “A Lesbian Life”, which documents personal and collective stories of the community. She is active as a director, with her most recent work being the documentary “We Live Among You”. The film was screened at the 28th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (March 2026) and focuses on the disease of diabetes and its challenges in everyday life. She is the founder and artistic director of Outview Film Festival, the International LGBTQI+ Film Festival of Athens.
Known For
Butch, dyke, with tattoos and a skinny green mohawk, inseparable from her wheelchair, she would roam around Camden with her lesbian posse. Diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) since her late teens, she lived her life in a way many able-bodied people would covet. So, what was it that allowed her to have this quality of life despite her disability?
Friends & Benefits
A Marky Ramone gig, a murder, a riot, and a big dildo.
Dildo Riot
“In 2014, on the tenth anniversary of Athens Pride, I grabbed a camera and asked the thoughts of different people in the community: was there any change? Opinion was divided, but the opinion that came last was that of Zak Kostopoulos – who was right!”: these are the words of the influential figure Maria Cyber, as she looks back at her first attempt in filmmaking. “I think things are changing, getting better. They’re also getting worse at the same time, strangely enough. There’s an increase in people who are very anti [-LGBTQI+] and those who are pro… Let’s see who’ll win in the end – we will!” Zak charmingly said to the camera held by Maria, with whom he had a friendly relationship, four years before his brutal murder.
10 Years Athens Pride
A diverse group of people share one unexpected bond: type 1 diabetes. Through their stories, this documentary traces a community effort that began in Athens ten years earlier to bring visibility to a condition often overlooked.