Faster than Light

Thomas Anthony Owen & Kentaro Kumanomido

Dates

31-05 —02-06-2019

Prices

Free admission with entrance tickets

Location

Athens

Time & Date

Day

Time

Venue

Day

Friday 31 May

Time

21:00

Venue

Upper Stage

Day

Saturday 1 June

Time

21:00

Venue

Upper Stage

Day

Sunday 2 June

Time

21:00

Venue

Upper Stage

Information

General

Age guidance: 18+
The film-live performance contains strong language and nudity scenes

Tickets

Your “Faster than Light” ticket is for Free(dom)

With every ticket 5€ goes to support Zak’s family in their legal fight for justice.
For reservations, please contact infotickets@sgt.gr (providing name, surname and mobile phone number)
Entrance tickets will be available 1 hour before the event.

“Faster than Light” tells the story of a network of LGBTQI+ people as they bridge multidimensional pathways for healing, justice and grief within a surreal fabric of relations.

And now, we must be brave.

A journey of challenges begins when someone exists as (s)he is. Following the work-in-process presented at Onassis Stegi in June 2018, Thomas Anthony Owen and Kentaro Kumanomido, return to Onassis Stegi with a transmedia activism project created in collaboration with members of the LGBTQI+ community of Athens, Greece and consists of an art film and live performance at Onassis Stegi Upper Stage.The feature length film tells the story of a network of the LGBTQI+ people as they bridge multidimensional pathways for healing, justice and grief within a surreal fabric of relations, following the violent loss of Zak Kostopoulos (Zackie Oh) an HIV+ activist and drag performer, on the 21st of September 2018, in broad daylight in the city center of Athens during the course of production. What is it like for a whole community to be living comfortably in fear? How can togetherness be accomplished in a society that sees difference to be something beyond their eyes?

I don’t want to physically fight to be who I am

Zak Kostopoulos

The visual poetry of “Faster than Light” includes a collage of personal interviews, video portraits, speculative fictions, social practices and dance to offer multiple platforms for the complexity of Zackie Oh’s story and her community’s relations to be expressed. The film is intended to facilitate the audience’s relationship to these stories of oppression, resistance and hate, on a local and global level, as a form of media activism, and as a moving portrait of modern times. The improvised video portraits move towards the empowerment and authenticity of the cast members as they navigate life, grief and resistance with complexity and beauty.

Throughout the documentary screening there is a live drag & dance performance, spotlighting queer power and h(er)stories. A performative journey along the margins of consciousness, "Faster Than Light" brings back the first artists in residence of the EMAP/EMARE platform at the Onassis Stegi in Athens.

Photo: Kentaro Kumanomido & Thomas Anthony Owen

Kentaro Kumanomido and Thomas Anthony Owen are filmmakers based between Europe and the United States of America. They have presented works at festivals & galleries in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Berlin, Athens, Stockholm, and beyond. Together, they form the core of electric shepherds (est. 2015), an art-as-research production company focused on creating femme-forward contexts for radical queer embodiment, new-media practices, and quasi-mystical encounters.During their two month residency at Onassis Stegi as a part of the EMAP / EMARE program, Kumanomido and Owen researched stories of non-digital urban networks, choosing to work closely with members of the LGBTQIA+ community of Athens. After the EMAP research residency, Kumanomido, Owen and their Athens-based cast continued the initial collaborate to further develop Faster than Light into a feature film and hybrid live performance project.

Credits

Co-Directed
Kentaro Kumanomido &Thomas Anthony Owen
Performers
ActiVista / George Kounanis, Atossa / Paraskevi Damaskou, Candee Kareola / Dimitra Stylianou, Chraja / Chrysos Synodinos, George Miliarakis, Glastra Kareola / Harry Doumouras, Kangela Tromokratisch / Angel Torticollis, Kephi / Efi Karagiannopoulou, Khalid Prem, Nonika Kareola / Harris Andreou, Space Manifesto / Thanos Papadogiannis, Tila Kareola / Georgia Xanthopoulou, Tracey Fischer
Panelists
ActiVista / George Kounanis, Prokne/ /Anna Apostolelli, Fil Ieropoulos, Louisa Doloksa
Film Participants
ActiVista / George Kounanis, Atossa / Paraskevi Damaskou, Alexandra Kontiza, Alexandra Mani, Alex Tokarczyk, Avraam Vrohidis, Candee Kareola / Dimitra Stylianou, Chraja / Chrysos Synodinos, Despina Michaelidou, Evi Tsaklanou, George Miliarakis, Gerasimos Christodoulou, Giorgos Kalogeropoulos, Irene Palm, Ioanna Athanasiou, Katerina Mani, Kephi / Efi Karagiannopoulou, Khalid Prem, Lala Kolopi / Giorgos Pitenis, Manolis Vamvounis, Maria Dolores, Maria Michailidou, Natasha Liberopoulou, Newt Petride, Nonika Kareola / Harris Andreou, Panos Thanos, Philippe Missas, Raphael Papad, Space Manifesto / Thanos Papadogiannis, Stravroula Louzi, Tila Kareola / Georgia Xanthopoulou, Tracey Fischer, Zackie Oh / Zak Kostopoulos
Camera
Kentaro Kumanomido, Nikolas Pottakis, Thomas Anthony Owen, Zinzi Buchanan
Editing
Ainsley Tharp, Kentaro Kumanomido, Thomas Anthony Owen, Yannis Kanakis
Sound and sound mixing
Manos Paterakis
Sound
BLANKIE, Stratos Bichakis, BONEBROKK
Make up support
Anastasia Athanasiou, Stavroula Louzi
Translation
Anis Alexandros El Namparaoui, Christina Georgopoulou, George Miliarakis
Special thanks
AMOQA, Christine Machiraju, Maria Dolores, Apostolos Kalogiannis, Vera Zouka, Athens School of Fine Arts and Remember Fashion, Wet Gala Miniball (and) Fat Unicorns
Produced by
Onassis Culture

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