Join us to watch the documentary Lesvia on Thursday, 9 October at 7 pm. Email us for more information.

“On the southwestern coast of Lesvos Island in Greece lies the small agricultural village of Eressos which is the birthplace of Sappho, the first female poet to write about love between women.

For centuries, Eressos had been isolated from the rest of the world but in the mid-1970’s, women from across the world began to arrive, in search for Sappho’s traces. At first, the local inhabitants felt pride that these women had come to pay tribute to the great poet, born in their lands.

But in the middle of the 1980s, more women flocked to the island, including filmmaker Tzeli Hadzidimitriou, a lesbian born and raised on the island. The women lived on the beach, there were no separations of class, country or ethnicity. Expressing larger social and political developments, they proudly claimed the right to be called lesbians and to express their identity. This was a radical experience, offering them absolute freedom from the prejudice they had experienced at home. At the same time, it led to open conflict with the local inhabitants, who felt threatened by the lesbians.

In the 1990s, lesbians began to rent rooms and buy houses. Hotels and restaurants opened run exclusively for and by women. A lesbian bar opened in the middle of the village square. The conservative villagers of Eressos embraced the new economic force. Hetero normativity was turned on its head. Some villagers sided with the lesbians, identifying with a persecuted minority. Many of the local children came to consider lesbian relationships as natural and local women appreciated the freedom of the foreign women. Great change took place.

Today, a stable lesbian community of women from across the world lives in Eressos. Filmmaker Tzeli Hadzidimitriou is one of them, spending half of the year in the village.

The documentary is based on archival films and photographs as well as contemporary filming. The materials are combined with personal testimonies and excerpts from the director’s diary, who records the story of lesbian community of Eressos through her personal experience.”

Source: https://lesviafilm.com/