This first feature from Greek director Tzeli Hadjidimitriou is a delicate, beautifully crafted documentary that tells a story both personal and public. It focuses on the lesbian community that grew up around the town of Eressos on the island of Lesbos (also called Lesvos). Hadjidimitriou is from the island, but not from Eressos itself, which was once home to the 7th-century BC poet Sappho, whose love poetry runs through the film. Given that history, lesbians—including the director—have been visiting Eressos for years to pay tribute. By the 1970s, the growing number of queer visitors began to form not just a scene, but a real community, initially centered around a nudist beach where many women camped out.
Throughout the film, Hadjidimitriou also weaves in her own still photographs, capturing the beautiful sensuality of these often naked women, most of whom look thrilled to have found a little corner of heaven where they can be themselves. But relations with the local people weren’t always easy, and unsurprisingly, the tourists had to deal with homophobia of varying degrees, as well as aggressive invasions of their women-only spaces. Luckily, as one woman recalls, there were usually a few butches around to help chase the intruders away. Over time, tolerance grew, helped along by the money visitors brought to the island, and eventually, female-run bars and hotels started to appear.
If it had ended there, it would be a utopian story of paradise found. But things went wrong, likely linked to Greece’s economic crisis that began in 2009, which exposed the country’s financial instability. Within a few years, most of the lesbian bars and women-run hotels closed down, and now the community seems much more marginalized.
Hadjidimitriou builds her oral history through interviews with many women from around the world who knew Eressos in its golden years. The result is a touching film, and despite the place’s faded glory, it continues on, with younger generations still visiting. The sound design, which almost always includes the sea, adds an evocative layer. Lesvia is available on digital platforms from August 3. This article was amended on July 28 to correct the film’s star rating.
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