elc team
The highly anticipated feature-length version of the award-winning short film Bear Hole, written and directed by Chrysianna Papadaki and Stergios Dinopoulos, is set to make its world premiere in the competition section Giornate degli Autori at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.
Bear Hole was first introduced to audiences in September 2023, when the short film of the same name won the Golden Dionysus at the 46th Drama International Short Film Festival, as well as the Best Actress Award.
The film takes us to Elati, Trikala (also known as Tyrna), a small village at the foot of the Pindus mountains, where Anneta (Pamela Oikonomaki) and Argyro (Chara Kyriazi) live, two young women bound by an unusual and profound friendship. Their relationship unfolds against the backdrop of the forest, a local village legend, and the unique yet authentic landscape of rural Greece, exploring themes of female desire, sexual identity, self-determination, and social isolation.
With its distinctive folkloric atmosphere and an approach that blends realism with lyricism, Bear Hole continues the cinematic tradition of merging the purity of the Greek countryside with the unspeakable, as the filmmakers note, “a film about the things that are never said, yet live among us.”
The film is an independent production by the filmmaking collective Pame Ligo Collective, made with limited resources, relying largely on crowdfunding campaigns and the dedication of a small team of collaborators. The effort was also supported by the Greek Film Centre, while the participation of the short version at the BFI London Film Festival attracted the interest of international co-producers, who played a crucial role in bringing the feature film to completion.
The world premiere of Bear Hole in the competition section Giornate degli Autori at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival marks a significant moment for contemporary Greek cinema, reinforcing the momentum of queer storytelling and independent Greek filmmaking on the international stage.
In addition to the Giornate degli Autori awards, Bear Hole is also competing for the Queer Lion Award, presented to the best overall queer-themed film of the festival, as well as the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future, awarded to the best debut feature director.
