Queer Wave is getting ready to turn the public’s attention once more to Michael Cacoyannis’ landmark film and invites viewers who grew up with it, as well as those discovering it for the first time, to watch it simultaneously in four districts through a fresh queer lens.

Mark your calendars for Tuesday at 8.30pm, as Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos tune in for a collective experience as part of the Cultural Programme of the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council.

Seventy-one years later, the film Stella remains relevant and invites audiences to reflect on the significance of gender roles in society. In his second feature, showcasing celebrated contributions from Yannis Tsarouchis, Manos Hadjidakis, Vassilis Tsitsanis, Sophia Vembo and the iconic Melina Mercouri, who embodied the eponymous protagonist before skyrocketing to international fame, the Limassolian director invites viewers on a journey of social defiance that shook the society of its time.

Stella became a symbol for the emancipation of every woman who wishes to transcend the boundaries of a patriarchal society and define, on her own terms, the limits of her romantic desire and fate: a tragic figure – what has changed today?

Beyond an account of the historical trajectory of gendered struggle, Queer Wave aims through this event to highlight a silenced queer dimension of the director’s work. Cacoyannis himself stated: “I lived a good life, regardless of the fact that I never had a family. I loved beings who loved me back with even greater passion; I often broke the romantic conventions imposed by the morality of the time. I loved my work, however, much more.”

His choice to place dynamic female figures at the centre of his work was a notable departure from the conventions of his time: Stella (1955) was followed by Electra (1962), Iphigenia (1977), and The Trojan Women (1971). In Zorba the Greek (1964), the tenderness between the two male protagonists often tends to exceed the limits of the platonic, while later Cacoyannis would become the first Cypriot creator to include a gay protagonist and members of the trans community in his film Up, Down and Sideways (1992).

This screening of Stella thus comes to reposition Cacoyannis’ work within a framework of modern dialogue, illuminating aspects of the film that remain essential, timely and politically urgent. The film’s storyline follows Stella, a singer at the nightclub Paradeisos, who is constantly pursued by men with different intentions. Strong-willed and uncompromising, Stella sets her own terms in her relationships, creating ruptures with what society expects of her.

The screenings will take place simultaneously on Tuesday at Pantheon Theatre in Nicosia, at Rialto Theatre in Limassol, Lefkara Conference Centre in Larnaca and the House of Arts and Literature in Paphos.

Stella

Film screening of Michalis Cacoyannis’ 1955 revolutionary film. March 31. Pantheon Theatre, Nicosia. Rialto Theatre, Limassol. Lefkara Conference Centre, Larnaca. House of Arts and Literature, Paphos. 8.30pm. In Greek. With subtitles in English and Turkish. €7 for Nicosia and Limassol. Free admission for Larnaca and Paphos. Tel: 96-361628 (Larnaca), 99-434923 (Paphos). www.queerwave.com