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FYTA
ORFEAS2021
Based on Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo
A Greek National Opera production
Athens premiere at the Greek Film Archive
19 & 26 January 2022 / Starts at: 21.30
Libretto: Andriana Minou, Foivos Dousos
Director, video editing: Phil Ieropoulos
After having entered the Film Forward International Competition Section of the 62nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the video-opera ORFEAS2021 by FYTA, a Greek National Opera production, will receive its Athens premiere at the Greek Film Archive, with two screenings, on 19 and 26 January 2022, at 21.30. The screenings will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s creative team.
The work ORFEAS2021, based on Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo, is the first queer opera in Greek that tells the story of the fight of Orfeas, the first gay prime minister of Greece, against the long-established state of oppression of “Live your Myth in Greece”. It is a postmodern experimental work with elements of baroque melodrama, DIY collage, post-internet aesthetic and virtual reality. The libretto was penned by Andriana Minou and Foivos Dousos. Phil Ieropoulos directed and edited the video. The opera is inspired by and dedicated to the memory of performer and activist Zak Kostopoulos/Zackie Oh.
The production is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.
A retro-futurist story of utopian politics, ideological conflicts, supernatural leaders and totalitarian spectacle. Cyberpunk queer pirates against rainbow homo-capitalist normies. Revolution vs reformism; logic vs affect. The trappings of post-internet identity politics through a contemporary take of the myth of Orpheus.
The first gay prime minister of Greece struggles to carry the legacy of LGBT history at a time of post-truth alt-right dystopia. The mysterious algorithm of the collective unconscious and heavy-handed tradition of “the land of heroes” proves unshakable. Will liberal Europe and its so-called ‘freedom of speech’ provide an alternative or is it just another platform for neo-reactionary culture wars?
Oscillating between operatic melodrama, queer DIY collage, 80s-inspired post-trash hauntology and VR/AI aesthetics, the film creates a kaleidoscopic take on political purity, alternative histories and institutional critique. The synthetic consciousness of techno-utopian inevitability seems to have transformed from post-human complexity to deepfake apocalypse. In the end, melancholy, trauma and despair are the only remnants (and perhaps weapons) on the bruised body of political movements.
Ticket prices: 7€, 5€ (reduced)
Tickets available at: the Box Office of the Greek Film Archive
Tickets go on sale on: Thursday 13 January 2022
The film will be screened with English subtitles
Lead Donor of the GNO
