Frameline48: Lesvia

What makes a lesbian? To the lesbians from around the world drawn to the home of ancient Greek poet and storied First Lesbian, Sappho, women-loving-women was the connective tissue of decades of community built on the beaches of Eressos. However, to locals of the area — also Lesvian-identified — the answer only becomes complicated with the arrival of droves of a brash and unapologetic other kind of lesbian.  

From the 1970s to the 2010s, the tensions, connections, and conflict over who belongs in Lesvia was documented by lesbian filmmaker and native Lesvian, Tzeli Hadjidimitriou. Incorporating archival film, photos, and personal diaries, Hadjidimitriou artfully illuminates interviews with a cadre of international lesbians who gathered in Lesvos across decades, and the locals who never left. Both celebratory and gently critical, Hadjidimitriou asks who has claim to Lesvos, what it means to belong, and how — or if — it is possible for distinct communities to accept each other’s connection, continuity, and ways of life.