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Sappho singing

For the first time, the lyric poet Sappho is presented as a modern woman whose opinions about equality and art still matter 2,600 years after her death. This time round she turns up in her birthplace, the remote village of Eressos on the Greek island of Lesvos and moves among its modern-day inhabitants. The stunning coastal landscapes, provide the backdrop for this unique lesbian-made production. Charmingly, a close harmony trio in twenty-first century guise sing traditional songs, recalling these lost loves. Sappho is reminded that the girls she once loved have gone, but when she moves to the nearby beach resort in summer she discovers scores of women ready to party and she takes full advantage.
Sappho's poems resonate down the ages in this humorous and touching film about love and legacy, based on a 2010 play by the acclaimed veteran writer Maureen Duffy.

  • Tzeli Hadjidimitriou
    Director
    In search of Orpheus, best Greek documentary, AegeanDocs 2019 Filmography Sappho’s Granddaughters (Grannies) 2017 Salt and Bread 2017 (Sound award, Docfest 2018) In search of Orpheus 2018 (Best Greek documentary award AegeanDocs 2019) Mr. Dimitris and Mrs. Dimitroula 2019 A land of silence 2019 Sappho singing 2020
  • Maureen Duffy
    Writer
    Great Charles (1953) Pearson (1956) (performed as The Lay Off in 1962)[52] Johnny Why (1956) Room for Us All (1957)[53] Return of the Hero (c. 1958) Corp and Slogger (1950s) Josie (1961)[52] Two and Two Makes Five (c. 1962) Treason Never Prospers (1963) Villon (1963) The Burrow (1964) The Silk Room (1966)[52] Rites (1968)[52] Solo (1970)[52] Old Tyme (1970)[52] Megrim (1972) A Nightingale in Bloomsbury Square (1973)[52] Washouse (mid-1970s?) The Passionate Shepherdess (1977)[52] Only Goodnight (1981)[52] Sarah Loves Caroline (1982) Afterword (1983)[52] Family Trees (1984) Voices (1985) Unfinished Business (1986) The Masque of Henry Purcell (1995)[52] Sappho Singing (2010)[52] What You Will (2012)[52] ”The Choice (2017)[52]
  • Anemos Dimiourgias non profit
    Producer
    In search of Orpheus, best Greek documentary, AegeanDocs 2019 Filmography Sappho’s Granddaughters (Grannies) 2017 Salt and Bread 2017 (Sound award, Docfest 2018) In search of Orpheus 2018 (Best Greek documentary award AegeanDocs 2019) Mr. Dimitris and Mrs. Dimitroula 2019 A land of silence 2019 Sappho singing 2020
  • Alison Child
    Key Cast
    "Sappho"
  • Tzeli Hadjidimitriou
    Editors
    In search of Orpheus, best Greek documentary, AegeanDocs 2019 Filmography Sappho’s Granddaughters (Grannies) 2017 Salt and Bread 2017 (Sound award, Docfest 2018) In search of Orpheus 2018 (Best Greek documentary award AegeanDocs 2019) Mr. Dimitris and Mrs. Dimitroula 2019 A land of silence 2019 Sappho singing 2020
  • Yorgos Savoglou
    Editors
    Alykes, Stavroula
  • Stefanos Vlahoulis
    Sound mix
  • Tzeli Hadjidimitriou
    Color grading
    In search of Orpheus, best Greek documentary, AegeanDocs 2019 Filmography Sappho’s Granddaughters (Grannies) 2017 Salt and Bread 2017 (Sound award, Docfest 2018) In search of Orpheus 2018 (Best Greek documentary award AegeanDocs 2019) Mr. Dimitris and Mrs. Dimitroula 2019 A land of silence 2019 Sappho singing 2020
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Lesbian, poetry, biography, love, lesbian life
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 19, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Greece
  • Country of Filming:
    Greece
  • Language:
    English, Modern Greek (1453-)
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • FilmPride - Brighton & Hove Pride LGBTQ+ Film Festival FilmPride - Brighton & Hove Pride LGBTQ+ Film Festival
    Brighton
    United Kingdom
    August, 2020
    World premiere
  • Pride Films & Plays Film Festival Pride Films & Plays Film Festival
    CHICAGO
    United States
  • Queer Firenze Film Festival
    Florence
    Italy
    October 17, 2020
    European premiere
  • Omovies Film Festival
    Napoli
    Italy
  • International Queer film festival Playa Del Carmen
    Playa del Carmen
    Mexico
    November 20, 2020
    South American Premiere
    Best short foreign documentary
Distribution Information
  • Anemos Dimiourgias NPO
    Country: Greece
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Tzeli Hadjidimitriou

Tzeli Hadjidimitriou is an independent filmmaker, fine art photographer, and writer. She has published books in Greek and English, including her bestseller, A Girl's Guide to Lesvos. She has an expert understanding of Sappho's poetry and regularly works as a consultant for BBC television on programs about Sappho and Lesvos, the Greek island where both Tzeli and Sappho were born. She studied Direction of Photography for the cinema in Rome. She worked as a stage photographer, cameraman assistant, in Greek tv series, collaborating with almost all tv channels and major Greek producers and studios. Her films have been screened all over Europe and in October 2019 her documentary, In search of Orpheus, won the Best Greek documentary award at AegeanDocs Film Festival.
Filmography
Grannies, Sappho’s Granddaughters 2017
Salt and Bread 2017 (Sound award, Docfest 2018)
In search of Orpheus 2018 (Best Greek documentary award AegeanDocs 2019)
Mr. Dimitris and Mrs. Dimitroula 2019
A land of silence 2019
Sappho singing 2020

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I am a photographer, a writer, and a filmmaker, but I am also a researcher of authenticity. I grew up on the Greek island of Lesvos, where ever since I was a young girl I was fascinated by the quality of the light there. But I left, and became a world traveler. I am an artist, moving from one to the other, following my inside need for expression. In my documentaries, I use all my experiences and capacities, aiming to give space and voice to ordinary people, who are not famous or considered extraordinary in any way, but who live their lives in simplicity, outside the daily headlines.