To mark the start of LGBT+ History Month, the Royal Anthropological Institute, in partnership with Spectra, Queer Non-Fiction Films, presents a special screening of Avant-Drag! followed by a Q&A with writer and film collaborator Foivos Dousos moderated by Dieter Deswarte
Avant-Drag! Radical Performers Re-Imagine Athens offers an exhilarating look at ten Athenian drag performers who deconstruct gender, nationalism, belonging, and identity, while facing police brutality, transphobia, and racism. As entertaining as it is thought-provoking, Avant-Drag! challenges societal norms and reshapes perceptions of LGBTQ+ culture by capturing the intimate lives of a tightly knit group of drag performers, proving that being othered has never felt so familiar.
The film captures the vibrancy of Athens’ underground drag scene and its role in pushing boundaries and expressing dissident identities, going beyond mainstream drag representations to focus on the more radical, explicitly political, and raw performances. Influenced by the Greek ‘Weird Wave’ cinema movement, Avant-Drag! aims not to be just another ‘pride’ documentary of pensive talking heads, but to juxtapose magical realism, political commentary, and outrageous performances. It is also a love song to the Greek capital, a city that can be as oppressive as it is a refuge for art freaks and a hotbed of creativity. Examining the use of public space and street performance as acts of visibility and protest by the drag community, the doc also addresses the problem of gentrification and the effects of more than a decade of austerity and extreme financial hardship.
Screened at over 50 international festivals, Avant-Drag! has received widespread acclaim, including the Critics’ Choice Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Best Documentary at the Berlin Porn Film Festival and Wicked Queer Boston, the Youth Jury Award at EDOC Ecuador, and Special Mentions at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival and MixNYC, among many others.
“a precious film… it might be considered the Greek Paris Is Burning” Anreas Kyrkos, Avgi
“visionary... a cinematic journey like no other” Martin Schlutt, Kaltblut
“creative, weird and, above all, combative and highly political… outstanding”, Thomas Abeltshauser, Taz