ORFEAS2021

FYTA/Fil Ieropoulos YTA / Greece / 2021 / 111 min / English subtitles
Saturday 8 October, 17.30, Färjeterminalen, Stadshamnen 26

ORFEAs2021 is 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. Do you follow? It is an opera of the first gay prime minister of Greece, who struggles to carry the legacy of LGBT-history at a time of post-truth alt-right dystopia.

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 opera is influenced by and dedicated to the memory of Zak Kostopoulos/Zackie Oh, a queer performer and activist, murdered in 2018 in the centre of Athens.

The Swedish opera singer Isabella Lindström will introduce the film with a short performance. After the film there will be a Q&A with participants from ORFEAS2021 and Isabella, moderated by the opera scholar Tove Dahlberg.