Tzeli Hadjidimitriou

Tzeli Hatzidimitriou was born and raised in Lesbos She is an awardwinning filmmaker visual photographer and writer Her photographs have been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Australia China Italy Turkey and Greece and have been published in numerous albums The Holy Water Thermal Springs of Lesvos 1996 39 Cafes and a Barber Shop 1997 Conversing with the spirits of the stone 2009 etc She fell in love with cinema through seminars she attended with Michelangelo Antonioni while continuing her studies in photography in Rome From 1990 he started filming photographing and writing about the lives of the people of Lesvos Her book A Girls Guide to Lesbos 2012 is the first guide to the island that talks about the history of the lesbian community in the village of Eresos and its connection with the ancient poetess Sappho She is a founding member of the Athensbased AMKE Anemos Nairatis which is oriented towards the creation of projects that support gender sexuality and cultural diversity through a multitude of media films documentaries photo exhibitions visual arts symposia etc a Her short films have been shown around the world and have won many awards In her short documentary Looking for Orpheus 2018 she meets local fishermen who tell stories about their lives and the place intertwined with the myth of Orpheus Her most recent short films focus on gender such as Sapphos Granddaughters 2018 where the older women of Lesvos tell their story Dimitrakis and Dimitroula 2019 about story of a gender dysphoric person in Sykamia Lesbos who tragically died after being unjustly detained in a mental institution as well as the film Sappho Singing 2020 an ode to Sappho who visits modern Lesvos again The film Lesvia is her first featurelength documentary