Avant-Drag!

Film program, GR 2024, 92 min., gr. OV + engl. UT

By: Fil Ieropoulos

With: Kangela Tromokratisch, Veronique Tromokratisch, Parakatyanova, SerGay Parakatyanov, Er Libido, Cotsos, Aurora Paula Morado, McMorait, Lala Kolopi, Cruella

“The system destroys by hating and drag destroys by loving” said drag performer and protagonist Parakatyanova during a Q&A. The use of the word “destroy” is key here, since the film’s cast & crew was criticised on social media for holding up a banner saying DESTROY GREECE after the Greek premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, following riots two days before, where two queer people were chased by a mob, following the passing of the new bill supporting gay marriage in Greece.

Avant Drag! is not your typical talking heads documentary, it’s a performance collage. A kaleidoscope of performative testimonies in the streets of a city that is a hotbed of creativity and simultaneously a site of oppression, a city that has been experiencing severe austerity and is currently facing aggressive gentrification. The drag performers touch upon issues that question gender, ethnicity, religion and sexuality in the contemporary Greek context and dare to do it in the public space.

The film is an homage to drag performer Zackie Oh! who was murdered in the streets of Athens in September 2018.

Trigger warning: mention of murder, police brutality, trauma and grief

Alex Tsoli