‘Bearcave’ Offers ‘Unseen Perspective’ Into Lives of Young Queer Women in Rural Greece

A mystical cave, a nettle pie and an unexpected betrayal spur a romantic adventure between two childhood friends in “Bearcave,” the feature-length debut of co-writers and -directors Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis.

Starring newcomers Xara Kyriazi and Pamela Oikonomaki, the film, which is currently in post-production, won the top prize this week in the Works in Progress section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s industry program. It’s produced by Dinopoulos, Papadakis, Arsinoi Pilou and Thanasis Michalopoulos of Greece’s Pameligo Collective, and Emily Sky Hickin of Pucci Productions.

“Bearcave” is based on Dinopoulos and Papadakis’ 2023 short film of the same name, which won the Golden Dionysus for best film at Greece’s Drama Short Film Festival and also played at the Athens Intl. Film Festival and BFI Flare.

The film follows Argiro (Kyriazi), described by the filmmakers as a “badass farmer,” and her best friend Anneta (Oikonomaki), a manicurist and local “It” girl living in a remote mountain village in northern Greece. Before Anneta starts a new life in the city with her cop boyfriend, they embark on a hike to a mysterious, mystical bear cave — a piece of folklore history that’s captivated them since childhood.

The decision to find the cave gives rise to an unexpected series of betrayals, challenging the foundations of their lifelong friendship. As the stakes are raised and their true feelings are uncovered, Argiro and Anneta must grapple with the question of whether they’ll end up together.

According to the filmmakers, “Bearcave” “shows an unseen perspective into the lives of two young queer women in Greece. It explores their relationship through the lens of youth, light and humor, in contrast to the darkness and suffering in the lives of rural queer people we have come to expect.”

The film is a collaboration born out of the friendship between Dinopoulos and Papadakis, who met while studying at Harvard. Both separately returned to Greece during the pandemic — what Dinopoulos described as a “back-to-the-roots moment” — and began looking for a way to collaborate. “We were really hungry to just shoot something,” he said, adding that the duo set about to film “a really small, self-contained, experimental, easy, low-budget project.”

Their crowdfunded short film was made in under six weeks — a “fever dream,” according to Dinopoulos. It also came about at a pivotal moment in the filmmakers’ lives, with Papadakis “slowly moving back [to Greece] with no real long-term planning,” and Dinopoulos eyeing a return to the U.S. to attend graduate school.

In the end, he punted on the master’s program, and both found themselves planting roots in their native country. “The project was essentially our way of committing to living in Greece,” said Dinopoulos. “By the end of the shoot, we both knew this was a bigger project that we needed to continue.”

The feature was financed by Greece’s Pameligo Collective, which was founded by the filmmaking team, with the support of the Greek Film Center’s micro-budget financing scheme. Hickin of U.K.-based Pucci Productions also came on board as a co-producer.

The filmmakers said the collective was established to showcase “a new perspective on the process and politics of filmmaking, conceived through a grassroots, collectivist approach.” “It’s a group of us, many of whom wear many hats, [who] wanted to create a collective of creative people working in Greece,” said Dinopoulos. “It emerged organically through the process of making this movie, but it’s something we hope to continue building.”

“It’s similar to Greg Kwedar’s model of parity that he used on ‘Sing Sing,’” added Hickin. “It’s very horizontal in structure and nature and very much about giving people the respect that they deserve when they’re working on an indie production.”

The Thessaloniki Film Festival runs Oct. 31 – Nov. 10.