LAVENDER LANGUAGES INSTITUTE: Screening of "KALIARDA" (2015) & talk with director Paola Revenioti,
18 November  2022, 7:00 PM

Paola Revenioti, a transgender LGBT activist from Athens, and the Paola Team Documentaries present their first feature documentary on kaliarnta, a secret language of the queer/gay/trans community in Greece developed in the 40s, up until the fall of the military junta. Paola became acquainted with the use of kaliantra before it disappeared in the 70s. Started as the project simply to document the history of disappearing cant slang, it soon became clear that it was a recording of the history of the queer/homosexual/trans community life in Greece in the 20th century. Documentary depicts love, sexuality, gay hangouts and everyday problems back then and in the changing modern-day society. Interviews with the academics are complemented by street characters, the carriers of first-hand knowledge of the language.

Paola Revenioti is a documentarian, photographer, publisher, and trans* sex worker based in Athens, Greece.  Paola is a leading figure in greek LGBTIQ+ movement since 70s. She published  KRAXIMO, a magazine of “revolutionary homosexual expression” (1981) and one of the first Pride events in Greece in 90s. Among her recent work is a documentary “The Oleanders” (2021).