Avant-Drag! offers an exhilarating look at ten Athenian drag performers who deconstruct gender, nationalism, belonging, identity, while facing police brutality, transphobia and racism. As entertaining as it is thought-provoking, Avant-Drag! challenges societal norms and reshapes perceptions about LGBTQ+ culture by capturing the intimate lives of a tightly-knit group of drag performers, proving that being othered never felt so familiar.

-- Dir. Fil Ieropoulos - 92min - 2024 - Greece --

"The queer defiance of Fil Ieropoulos’s kaleidoscopic documentary manifests not only through its subject, but also through its form. Centring on a group of drag performers and gender-nonconforming artists in Athens, this shape-shifting film celebrates a vibrant underground scene that thrives in a homophobic system, rife with state-sanctioned discrimination and violence. Introduced through an episodic structure, figures from the community light up the screen with their artistry and activism as they carve out a safe haven of their own." - Guardian

"these artists call for social justice by taking aim at conservatism, patriarchy, patriotism, racism and sexism." - Rotterdam Int. Film Fest

"As entertaining as it is thought-provoking, the film challenges societal norms and reshapes perceptions about LGBTQ+ culture by capturing the intimate lives of a tightly knit group of drag performers, proving that being othered has never felt so familiar." - Sarajevo Film Fest

"a profound and moving celebration of queerness and the art of drag" - International Cinephile Society

"every scene is full of imagination and playfulness" - High on Films

"a celebration of individual expression" - Dirty Movies

""sheer exhilarating inventiveness" - The Arts Fuse