PRESS RELEASE
17th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival
«Shift Your Gaze to the Unseen»
BBB in the Neighbourhood – Queer Survival and Parallel Worlds:
Ethno-graphing Kaliarda (the queer greek argot)
November 15th, 2026 | Greek Film Archive, Athens
What can a form of hidden language reveal to us about the stories and experiences of a community that is so often being marginalised?
As part of the 17th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival, the experiential workshop “Queer Survival and Parallel Worlds: Ethno-graphing Kaliarda” explores the spoken idioms, history and meeting places of queer communities in Greece, bringing to the fore stories that often remain invisible in the collective memory. The workshop will take place on Sunday, November 15, 2026, at 12.00 at the Greek Film Archive.
Kaliarda is not just an argot but a way of crypto-language that was connected to the need of queer people to express themselves, to recognise each other and to create communities in a time of social exclusion and repression. Through social anthropology, the workshop examines how language became a means of communication and survival, but also how the streets, squares and social places of Athens shaped queer life from the 1960s onwards.
The workshop combines discussion, references to Greek pop culture and creative activities, exploring how urban spaces are connected to local queer histories, and is divided into 3 parts:
1. Introduction to Kaliarda and Greek queer history: Through examples from Greek pop culture and an ethnographic approach, participants will learn that Kaliarda acted as a linguistic code of communication and survival while exploring the history of queer communities in post-war Greece.
- Photo walk: Through a walk through downtown Athens, we will explore specific social places associated with queer life, sex work and networks of encounter from the ‘60s to the ‘80s and ‘90s, discovering how urban space was shaped through the experiences of transgender women, gay men and queer individuals. Participants will use their cameras or mobile phones as visual storytelling tools, capturing images and details of the city through their own eyes.
3. Create a digital collage: After returning from the walk, participants will use their photographs, images from Greek pop culture, and words or phrases used in Kaliarda to create their own digital collages, combining images and language to highlight these queer stories in these parallel worlds.Through the combination of image and speech, we will experiment with different ways of storytelling, connecting personal observations with less visible stories and experiences of the city.
Powered by anthrogrounds
An informal group of young anthropologists and (visual) artists that bring social anthropology closer to everyday life through experiential workshops and creative activities.
Event information
Date: Sunday, November 15, 2026
Time: 12.00 – 16.00
Location: Greek Film Archive
Participation: Free contribution / Completion of the participation form is required
Speakers
Jim Tsakiris is a social and cultural anthropologist and the creator of the informal youth group anthrogrounds. His research interests focus on the relationships between dietary practices, migration, gender and the urban environment, with a particular emphasis on the visualisation of ethnography. He has studied Ethnology and Social Anthropology, specialising in the anthropology and history of Southeast Europe, and has research experience in the study of ethnic and migrant communities in cities. He has collaborated with applied anthropology organisations in Amsterdam and with NGOs in Greece.
Konstantinos Giatras is a social researcher and a graduate of the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies of the University of Macedonia. He works in social and visual anthropology, with an emphasis on issues of identity, migration and gender, combining methods of visual storytelling through ethnographic research and cinema. He is a member of the informal youth group anthrogrounds, where he contributes to the communication and development of workshop design.