Receiving an invitation to participate in a panel on “Film critics and gender: why gender matters” at the Outview festival in Athens is that unforgettable moment of overjoy and excitement, bordering on the state of euphoria. Outview film festival, or Days of Queer cinema, is an intey!rnational LGBTQI festival, focused on films about lesbian, gay, bi. transgender, queer, intersex people and their issues and rights. Led by extraordinary joint forces of director Maria Katsikadakou and co-director Nicolas Pourliaros it is the first festival of its kind in South-East Europe.

The 12th edition of Outview festival showcased highly varied, amazing feature, documentary long and short films in several sections: Transhorts, I’s all Greek to me, Lesbian stories, Running away from home, Elderly happily ever after shorts, My young gay life-gay shorts, 40 between love and sex gay shorts, Dutch shorts, with competition programmes in feature-length and short films. Attended by many international guests, the festival screens those films that convey touching personal stories, while also foregrounding the need for socio-political engagement and the fight for human rights.
Screenings, many master classes, panels on today’s crucial gender issues, such as sex work, immigration and gender justice, press conferences and talks with film authors were held in impressive Foundation of Greek Film Archive, set in the heart of Athens’ vibrant quartier Keramikos, while various side-bar events, spectacular drag queen shows and extraordinary parties, took place in awe-inspiring venues with wonderfully delicious and abundant Greek food.

This year’s edition, under the motto “personal is political”, recalling early stages of feminist battles, paid a special tribute to Zack Kostopoulos, a young gay activist and artist who was brutally assassinated last year in Athens, a case put in the archive by the official Greek Justice with no justice served.

As a quite unusual remark in my festival reports, I’d like to draw attention to a piece of practical information (not regarded as important at mainstream festivals) that demonstrates the festival’s commitment to gender equality, social justice and human rights not only in its screened film content, but in all its organisational aspects: all toilets were unisex or gender neutral and I have never seen cleaner toilets anywhere; besides the usual toiletries, tissues and special soaps were provided to clean the toilet after one’s use.

The panel on “Thumbs down 2018: film critics and gender and why gender matters”, consisting of Poly Lykourgou (flix.gr), Elena Chistopoulou (Proto Tema), Leda Galanou (flix.gr), Wendy Ide (The Guardian), Beatrice Behn (Kino-Zeit) and myself (Camera Lucida), and moderated by one man, Thomas Abeltshauser, focused on the discussion of film criticism and its gender divide, in a way mirroring the state of the affairs in the whole film industry. The panel in medias res addressed the crucial questions of today’s film criticism, as formulated by Greek female critics, Poly Lykourgou, Elena Chistopoulou, and Leda Galanou:
“For the last couple of years, as the #metoo and #timesup movements gained popularity, issues of gender politics and gender perception of our collective professional, social and personal norms have been revaluated as well. Do we live in a man's man's world? In every aspect of our lives? Even in themovies? How is cinema treating women – in front of the camera, behind the camera? How is cinema looking at women – on the big screen or across from it? How do movies perceive female heroines, how do filmmakers and studios and distribution companies apprehend and “size up” female spectators? Last, but not least – how much does the cinematic world respect, make space and take notice of film criticism when the critic is a woman?”

In Poly Lykourgou’s words: “For too long, women have been excluded from the conversation about the movies we love or hate, or somewhere in-between. Having a predominantly male sensibility when evaluating, promoting or voting for films, we end up with an all-male definition of “the greatest movies of all time… Therefore, the #TimesUp movement got the first step right - hiring more women in positions of power in front and behind the camera. But it will not solve the problem, if the people reviewing the movies aren't as diverse.”
Our exiting and dynamic discussion lasted ‘officially’ for two hours, but, thanks to the many questions from the highly engaged and eager audience which I have rarely seen at any festivals so far – both press and non-press - carried on for many more hours in a less formal context of cheerful cinema cafés and it felt we could go on discussing for days.

With a dedicated and loving festival team, extraordinary films committed to social and gender justice, brilliant panels, master classes, beautiful venues, Outview festival is imbued with a special ambiance of human love and magic, rarely experienced at other film festivals. I can’t wait to return to the next editions.

AWARDS

The awards, which were designed by artist Ekaterini Kontarini, were transparent ballot boxes, referring to this year’s Outview film festival motto «The personal is political».

-Special mention for its cinematic value - to the documentary Irving Park by Panagiotis Evangelidis
-Award for the best documentary - to Jonathan Agassi saved my life by Tommer Heymann
The jury for documentary film competition: Manina, Zouboulaki, Konstantinos Aivaliotis, Orestis Andreadakis: “In this film we watch Jonathan Agassi a bright young man that you can’t get your eyes off him. The director Tommer Heymann followed him for eight years and revealed to us the real person behind the protagonist of the erotic, adult films. The direction of the film managed to provoke our sentimental involvement with Agassi especially in the scenes where we see his conflicting relationship with his father. We would like to make a special mention to the high quality of the editing that escalates the interest of the viewer from the beginning to the end».

-Award for the best feature film - to Sauvage by Camil Vidal Naquet
The jury for feature film competition: Dorothea Mercouri, Xristina Liapi and Orestis Plakias
“We strongly believe that the selection of these films speaks loud and clear about a part of our society that wants to be heard in a personal but mostly in a political way. This is the truth coming from people that are considered different but they are just us. We distinguished five-six films which finally made our decision very difficult. Because of its daring cinematic narration, of its unique way to present the complicated character of a sex worker, and especially of sensational interpretation of Felix Mauritaud the award goes to Sauvage directed by Camil Vidal Naquet».

-Award for the best Greek film- to The Chandelier by Antonis Glaros
Jury of the LGBTQI magazine Antivirus

-Award for the best short film - Something about Alex by Reinout Hellenthal
the jury of the association of Color Youth

-Audience award - to Searching Eva by Pia Hellenthal

Maja Bogojević