MQFF Midsumma Movies: Avant-Drag!

MQFF brings you a sizzling weekend of the newest and most fabulous queer cinema

A burgeoning, boundary-pushing drag scene has been enlivening Athens in recent years. In Fil Ieropoulos’ exhilarating, kaleidoscopic documentary, which enjoyed its World Premiere at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam, you’ll meet a tight-knit clutch of ten defiant, determinedly activistic Athenian drag performers who find solace in one another as they dismantle constructs of gender, ethnicity, religion and sexuality in the highly conservative contemporary Greek context. The Orthodox Church retains a lot of control over the Greek body politic, but the Church’s patriarchal power is far from the only orthodoxy these inspirational drag artistes are hellbent on challenging...

Through the highly politicised antics of Kangela Tromokratisch, Er Libido, Aurora Paola Morado, et al, you’ll discover how the art of drag, operating at a few removes from the mainstream reach of the likes of the Drag Race franchises, can still be a radical force at street level to transform reality and create safe spaces for people marginalised in a too-often hostile society.

• Director: Fil Ieropoulos
• Country: Greece (2024)
• Rating: Unclassified 18+
• Runtime: 93 minutes