The Athena Film Festival

Have you noticed that Hollywood and the media tend to be gender biased?  According to ET Weekly, in 2013, only 30% of all characters in the top 100 grossing films were women, and only 15% were the protagonist of the story.  Yet the box office ka-chings with the sound of ticket sales for films such as the Hunger Games saga(combined earnings exceeded one and a half billion) and Alice in Wonderland ($1.024 billion) proving that a female protagonist can reel them in.   In 2013, in the top 100 grossing films, films with a female protagonist grossed 20% more than films about men, reported by ET Weekly.  So you can see girl leads definitely have the cache to bring in the cash. Cate Blanchett harped on the same idea during her Oscar speech and encouraged Hollywood to think differently about the formula for making successful films.

To bridge the gap between the earning power of female leads and the lack of scripts to launch films, the Athena List was created.   Named after the mythical daughter of Zeus who was born in full body armor from inside her father’s head (after having it split open by his other son Hephaestus to end that  miserable, unbearable migraine he was having), the Athena Film Festival was born!  It ferrets out an annual slate of between 3-5 screenplays with female leaders or strong female protagonists that have yet to be made into films.  Once the scripts become real films, they are screened at the Athena Film Festival.

A Celebration of Women and Leadership

According to its website, “The Athena Film Festival is the only major film festival dedicated to the depiction of women in leadership roles. Now in its sixth year, the films feature courageous and audacious women who are making a difference in communities across the globe.”  Last year’s festival brought to realization a diverse range of films.  Some of these included:

• Dickey Chapelle – Margaret Nagle: which tells the story of a war photographer known as “The Patron Saint of the Marines” who captured photos from the front lines from Iwo Jima to Vietnam.
• Highsmith – Eliza Lee:  The story of famed crime novelist and Barnard alumna, Patricia Highsmith, and her spiral into alcoholism during the McCarthy era, when she could not put her name to the iconic lesbian novel, The Price of Salt.
• What the World Will Look Like When all the Water Leaves Us – Jenny Halper: Based on a short story by Laura Van Den Berg, this is the story of a female scientist and her teenage daughter’s obsessive quest to save endangered lemurs.

If you have ever aspired to write a screenplay with a strong female protagonist or even if you have an old one collecting dust in some back drawer somewhere, now is your chance to have it brought to life by Athena power!

Greek American Girl Gets a Dialogos at Dialogos Media…

So honored to be selected as a speaker on the weekly radio show of the award-winning journalism site “Dialogos Media“.  Founded by Michael Nevradakis, Dialogos Radio, had humble beginnings as Hellenic Radio in Austin, Texas.  It has grown to a weekly radio program that airs on nineteen radio stations across five countries and four continents; Dialogos Radio 24/7, an online radio station broadcasting quality Greek music and the best programming from the Dialogos Radio archive; and a column, “Dialogos,” which periodically appears inTruthout, the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos.

Yours truly was selected to speak about issues pertinent to the Greek Hellenic Diaspora community from a woman’s perspective.  As such I shared digital air space and bumped shoulders with the likes of renowned scholars Noam Chomsky and Henry Giroux, best-selling authors John Perkins and Diane Kochilas, fellow journalists Greg Palast, Maria Margaronis of The Nation, NASA scientist Pericles Papadopoulos, comedians such as Yannis “Mr. Panos” Pappas, economists Dimitris Kazakis and even Yanis Varoufakis, now the finance minister of Greece! 

Shout out to Michael and all the supporters and listeners of Dialogos Interview Series who have the broad-mindedness to include a feminine voice in their public dialogue of Hellenic Diaspora issues of identity.  You can listen to the podcast in both English and Greek here or directly on the Dialogos media page.

POST SCRIPT:  As always, there were things that I needed to say but did not have time to say or forgot or it they not come out the way I would want.

Why I created the site:

Because the female slant to issues and events is seriously lacking in the Hellenic Diaspora media.  I could not find the voice of someone like me, a professional woman,mother, and daughter of three cultures.  There was no magazine or print publication that catered to women such as other ethnic publications have (Latina for example) but one that spoke not just about fashion and style, but also had a “mind”.  There was no where in the traditional ethnic media that spoke candidly about the issues unique to a woman’s life represented so I launched a platform to broadcast this voice in a way to hear myself and make sense of the issues important to me.

I wanted to explore issues that pertain to our unique identity; we are hybrid or hyphenated people, whether Greek Australians, Greek Americans or Greek South Africans.  The perspective that comes from having a dual cultural identity creates both conflict and possibility. I wanted to highlight stories that speak to our mixed identity. Stories that our native Greek cousins would not be able to understand (for example, the tensions in dating a non-Greek or the conflict involving a woman’s moving out of the home).

I wanted to focus media attention on dynamic successful women of the Greek diaspora which tend to be ignored or overlooked in our culture that does a good job of praising it’s sons more than its daughters.

I wanted to create a forum where women from all over the world, united by their ethnic heritage, could forge bonds and speak to one another across borders about the issues important to them. I’m sure that even while separated by distance and other language barriers, they would find that they share similar struggles.  It would be a way to universalize the Greek woman’s voice

What is this site about? how does it differ from others? 

This site serves to strike a balance between the serious and the “fluffy.”  It hopes to provide something for women of all age groups.  It is different from others in that its aim is global. Many media organizations are localized, and that brings the danger of becoming provincial, even myopic. We cannot be so fixated on Greek pride that we only report on the awards one syllogo gives one of its insiders or which convention met last Friday.  The wide world is burning! We can’t just talk about who won the Ms greek Independence contest.  There are so many topics that go beyond “look at me how proud I am to be Greek.” As Greeks we have to get over being Greek so that we can become global Hellenic citizens. We have to get over ourselves to broaden and save ourselves. We won’t survive and be globally successful as an ethnic group if we don’t. It is time we acted as global Greek citizens instead of localized provincial village idiots. We can build a cultural empire much like Alexander’s using our global presence and reigning the power of the world wide Web.

Christina Tettonis and Nancy Papaioannou Honored at 2nd Annual…

It came a month and three days late, but the celebration of Greek Independence Day under the auspices of NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Councilman Kosta Constantinidis at City Hall in NYC on April 29th brought out the kefi for both Greek and non Greek alike.  This year’s honorees included two note-worthy women, Nancy Papaioannou and Christina Tettonis.

Tettonis serves as the principal of the Hellenic Classic Charter School in Brooklyn, another tally on the honor roll of successful Hellenic charter schools in the country.  Councilman Vincent Gentile, the long-standing representative from Bay Ridge introduced Tettonis as “one of the best principals in the entire country” and a “protege of the public school system under Chancellor Farina.” He commented on the legacy of the Tettonis family as the part of “bedrock”  of  his corner of Brooklyn as so many members are active in the local civic life.  “Wherever you turn,” he cited, “there is a Tettonis somewhere involved in the Bay Ridge community.”   As the oldest daughter of an immigrants, Tettonis served as a public school teacher and then administrator of his old alma mater, PS 70, before taking the post as principal of the Hellenic Classical Charter School.

“When it comes to education, Christina believes in cooperation and trust and not the technocratic style used by some school leaders,” Gentile remarked.  “Inside and outside of school Christina treats her students like family from the Old Country.”

Tettonis accepted the Councilman’s Award and in turn garnered the award to  her parents Vasilis and Stavroula Poulos attending in the audience to honor them “for teaching me the importance of values, faith, determination and the importance of education, the appreciation of Greek heritage culture and religion.” She attributes her upbringing with providing the solid foundation to pursue her endeavors.  “By reflecting on lessons and values of Hellenism we can be better Americans who contribute to our entire state,” Tettonis remarked.  She was quick to cite her family and friends as source of encouragement and motivation, especially her two twin sons who were not present at the ceremony as they are attending college and taking final exams. She encouraged families and educators to continue to encourage their children to love and respect their ethic heritage.

The second woman to be honored was Athanassia “Nancy” Papaioannou, the first woman to lead the Hellenic Chamber of Congress,  and  first female president of Atlantic Bank investment division.  Speaking in a thick Greek accent, Papaioannou recognized the contributions for equality liberty and that the Greek heroes of independence lent the world a struggle still ongoing in the present day.

Papaioannou was born, raised and educated in Athens, Greece, where she attended Arsakion, a prestigious preparatory school, as well as the French Academy. At the age of 18, she joined the National Bank of Greece and in 1990, was transferred to its U.S. affiliate, Atlantic Bank of New York.

Once in New York, Papaioannou continued her academic studies, majoring in Accounting and Banking, and graduating from Marymount Manhattan College with a degree in Business Management. Building on her extensive experience and her education, she became the manager of the Premier Banking Group of Atlantic Bank of New York in February 2001. In 2006, when Atlantic Bank of New York was acquired by New York Commercial Bank, Papaioannou continued in her leadership role with Premier Banking.
Two non-Greeks in attendance brought an outsider’s view to the event. Anna Vierra, a Brazilian personal assistant, 53,  worked in a Greek restaurant and fell in love with Greek food music and culture. “Greeks are easy to be with and are happy people,” she cited. “Music and philosophy are their greatest contributions.”

Carolle Elie, a librarian, 60, was introduced to Greek culture through a college friend who she used to take to Haitian restaurants.   “As someone from the islands, I like their joie d’vivre,” she explains.  “Greeks are very welcoming. They are not the kind to isolate people;they embrace everybody.  We accept each other and we make great friends.”

The Princess Goes to War: Feminist Fairy tale and…

The Princess Goes to War, a delightful production staged by Eclipses Theater Group, written and directed by Ioanna Katsarou, played its run at the Hellenic Cultural Center from November 29th-December 7th.  Based loosely on a folktale from Northern Greece, it is a modern-day fairytale with a strong female protagonist, who like Anna in Frozen, flips the stereotypical female role of the sleeping princess waiting for the knight-in-shining-armor  and becomes the real hero by saving herself and her kingdom.  It is as much an anti-war statement piece as a feminist fairytale. It is also partly a musical that featured unique songs such as “Craft Your Own Fairytale” with lyrics in Greek such as “I free the imprisoned butterfly from its glass container to flutter its velvet wings” and “From inside your fairy tale find your forgotten secret path/Tell again and find again your little song.” It is a tale that ferrets out the latent independence and inner power that is locked up in traditional princesses through the vehicle of the imagination.  As such it holds much power just as Bruno Bettelheim argued in The Uses of Enchantment.  It is also partly a fable that cautions about the horrors of war and that the only way to win a war is to stop it.  From the open eyes and wide mouths of the youngsters who crawled out of their seats and shuffled their way to the edge of the stage for a close up view of the action, it was clear that it had struck a chord.

The play plays with the bicultural identity of its audience and even makes fun of itself by interspersing jokes from popular American and Greek media culture and alluding to Suleiman the Magnificent, a successful miniseries on Greek TV, as well as Charley’s Angels.  The genie while she has an Italian last name carries a thick American accent.

The story starts with two sisters, Rinio (Ioanna Katsarou) and Rodoula (Elena Paloumbis), as different as night and day: Rinio is the traditional beauty concerned with all the things girls are supposed to find interesting, fashion, make up, cooking while her sister Elena is the tomboy who struts on the stage kicking a soccer ball and making goals.  Both princesses cater to the hypochondriacal, pathetic, self-centered king their father who chastises them for bringing water that’s too cold for his taste or for taking too long to turn on the TV (he’s been sitting on the remote control that’s why.)  Then, from a sudden news flash in the characteristic high-pitched theme to the ERT News, they receive word that the kingdom is at war.  The king gets into a panic and passes out.

The princesses quickly surmise that their country is doomed if left in the hands of their father who has taken refuge in his bed.  Rodoula answers the call by garnishing her panoply–a red strainer for a helmet, a ladle for a sword, and a pot cover for a shield.  She is determined to go off to war, gather up the country’s army, and fight for victory.  On the road to find the army, she has no idea where, Rodoula bumps into Spithas (aka “Sparky”) (Dimitris Bonaros) who turns out to be the lone soldier of the king’s army. He is more interested in the contents of his stomach than in the war and would gladly end the march for some souvlaki or fasolada at the local taverna.  His initial encounter with Rodoula is one of ridicule:  “Where’s your cooking pot?” he asks her when he sees her weapons. She alternately jabs him for being “sloppy” and undisciplined (he dances the salsa instead of marching to the rhythm of 1,2, 1, 2).

Rodoula and Spithas, notwithstanding their barbs and bickering,  embark on a journey to find the war front.  They venture into a deep dark wood where they are attacked by a tiger who threatens to devour them.  Rodoula, not losing her cool, negotiates with the tiger into letting her free if she is able to answer three of his riddles.  Of course, she does, because she actually thinks before she speaks not like the dim-witted, rash Spithas.

(Just in case you like riddles, here they are:

1 Across from you you see me, but touch me you cannot. What am I?

2 From high it falls to the ground but break it cannot. What is it?

3 In spring I bring you pleasure, in summer I bring you shade, in fall I feed you and in winter I warm you.  What am I?

In order to check your answer, make a comment at the bottom and we will give you the answer.)

Not only does the female heroine solve the three riddles, but she answers another one to save Spithas from the clutches of the tiger.

In this story, it’s the women that save the men.  Yet, Spithas is whiny and spineless to the point where Rodoula has had enough and asks him to go his own way.  They have a falling out and at that point when Rodoula is at a low point in the woods, alone, afraid, and not knowing where to go, she stumbles upon a magic lamp under some leaves. The lyric of the song explains the truth behind this: “Just when you don’t know where to go, magic appears as a spark in the dark.”

This unleashes a magic genie, a blonde beauty named Jeannie Mangini with a thick American accent, who grants Rodoula three wishes.  It is through the thoughtful working through of these three wishes that Rodoula finds the solution and wins the war. How does she do it exactly?

The answer is atypically a feminine one.  During her chance to make three wishes, Rodoula strategizes and asks three questions that would help her gain victory.  First, she asks to know who is the enemy; secondly, who are the allies of the country.  The genie grants her a vision to see the answers to her questions: a young soldier on the eve of a major battle writing what he thinks might be the last letter to his mother; a camp of lonely, sad soldiers gathered round a campfire blowing out a depressing tune on their harmonica.  Before she asks for her third wish, the genie prods her not to rush but to sleep on it and let her subconscience, the deep part of her that knows the answer and the truth to most problems, find the solution.  Spithas reenters the scene and they have a reconciliation. Spithas and Rodoula sing a ditty “You and I together”  to the melody of the Toy Story “You got a friend in me” and sleep on it. And sure enough, when she wakes shortly later she has the eureka moment: Fasolada!

Fasolada! That is the antidote to war.  It is clear that no one wants war, either one side or the other, so why engage in it?  Spitha’s constant references to food have stuck to her as fasolada, bean stew, was one dish he kept harping on.  The genie provides such massive amounts of fasolada to both sides in the war that the men, famished from hunger, eat so much that they are unable to fight.  Anyone who has eaten a bit too many beans can understand–the camp was filthy from flatulence, bloated stomachs, etc.  The soldiers had no underwear to go into battle as their dirty underpants had to be washed, the entire military camp spread with lines and lines of laundry and underclothes waiting to dry.

The Greek folk  insight is that the root of peace lies in the pit of the stomach. Both camps ate so many beans that instead of fighting they were squatting so the battle became a “kouradomachia” (only Greek can do justice to the idea.)   They were too full to fight.  Hmmm… now there’s an idea!

Spithas and Rodoula become romantically inclined exchanging lyrics in a song “One kiss is not enough”. Spithas excuses the extramarital kiss by rationalizing that he has a wife outside the woods but not inside (a typical Greek man excuse at that.)

Rodoula then returns to her father and sister in the castle and summarizes what she has learned on her journey. Victory is to stop the war not to win it. No one wants war. Fear is a lie. They propose to make fasolada the national dish.  Rodoula resolves that some “major changes” are necessary.  She takes on the official scepter of the kingdom and it is assumed she will have to enact laws that stop all wars. The production ends with all characters holding hands and singing something to “peace on earth” “love and understanding to all.”

The weakness of the production is that while engaging for children is overly simplistic for an adult audience.  Can the antidote to war be fasolada? The set was a bit boring as well.  It needed some more visual and audio pizzazz, possible with a little imagination even for a theater on a limited budget.  While the actors were engaging, the fact that there were only three made the production, well, a bit claustrophobic.

But for its strong themes, how to defeat fear, finding the answers deep within yourself, and the power that little girls have within them to change the course of history, The Princess Goes to War should be staged again.

Phoebe Center holds Conference on Women Deaconesses in NYC

Ready to rile the cause of female involvement in the Church, girls?  Here’s your chance.

Women & Diaconal Ministry in the Orthodox Church: Past, Present & Future

Saturday, December 6, 2014 / 9 AM to 5 PM Union Theological Seminary / 3041 Broadway @ 121st St., NY, 10027
THE PAST Build a solid understanding of the female diaconate in the early and medieval Church with presentations and discussion that explore the ministry and the attempts at the restoration of the office in the modern era through the work of Evangelos Theodorou, the decisions of the Rhodes Consultation, and the churches of Russia and Greece.
THE PRESENT Learn about the ‘diaconal’ work that women are doing today as chaplains, spiritual directors, ministers of the Word, and parish administrators and outreach coordinators. THE FUTURE Explore why an ordained ministry is necessary, how a deaconess would/could serve today, and what short-term and long-term steps could be taken for restoration of the office as well as rejuvenation of the entire diaconate—male and female—for the building up of the Church today.
SPEAKERS include Sister Rebecca of New Skete Monastery; Valerie A. Karras, ThD., PhD; AnnMarie Mecera; Clio Pavlantos, MDiv; Teva Regule, PhD (candidate); Caren Stayer, PhD; Rev. Fr. Steven Tsichlis; and Phyllis Zagano, PhD.
CONFERENCE WILL INCLUDE presentations, a panel discussion, breakout session, Q&A after each session, and the opportunity for networking. Full program, speakers, and lodging information available at www.orthodoxdeaconess.org.

St. Phoebe the Deaconess at Cenchreae near Corinth

REGISTRATION FORM & FEES
$50 until November 15/ $60 after November 15 / $35 Students. Includes lunch, light refreshments & all conference materials. Make checks payable to ‘St. Phoebe Center’ and mail to: St. Phoebe Center,
c/o Ann Marie Mecera, P.O. Box 24, Plain City, OH 43064.
NAME_____________________________________________________________________
STREET____________________________________________________________________
CITY__________________________________________STATE______ZIP_______________
EMAIL ADDRESS____________________________________PHONE___________________ □ I have enclosed a check for $_______. □ I would like to help defray costs of the conference with a donation $______________. □ I would like to sponsor a student @ $35. Email confirmation will be sent upon receipt of check & registration form. Questions? Email annmarie.mecera@gmail.com.

Greek Street Art Meets Chicago Graffiti

Whenever there is political and social turmoil, artists and writers take to the streets.  When the street becomes your canvas and paper, you get incredible wake-up calls while walking down a sidewalk.  Street art and graffiti is as old as antiquity. Greeks have been a complaining sort of set from the beginning of time.  Street artists have the pulse of the zeitgeist on their wrists as they shock and wake up the somnambulant passerby with images and slogans.  They transform public spaces, sidewalks, municipal walls into open-air museums.  Their work is a pleasant surprise for us city dwellers and in creating art in public spaces, itself an anti-establishment act of protest, makes their message even more piercing.

The street art scene coming out of Greece in the time of crisis is cutting-edge.  The National Hellenic Museum is about to launch an exhibit dedicated to this phenomenon named, The Street Is My Gallery, opening September 22nd.

As it explains, “A major exhibit on the street artwork movement sweeping Greece as a result of the political and social crisis happening. Our large Calamos Hall will feature many works of art from 6 prominent street artists in Greece as well individual works from many others. There will be life size replicas, original artwork and educational programming integrating Chicago street art as expression.”

I would trek out to Chicago just to check out this and perhaps tape giagia’s story about her coming to America in the Kamberos Oral History Center at the NHM.