Filmmaker Statement

Growing up as an ethnically Greek, third generation migrant, I was always told by close family eventually I’d become curious about where I came from. They weren’t talking about Greek history and myth—which has been commoditised and made consumable by today’s media—but our very personal family sagas. It wasn’t until recently that they proved to be right. And through the process of learning about where I came from, I not only discovered the profound sacrifices that previous generations had made for me, but the horrible secrets that I’d largely been shielded from. The loveless, arranged marriage of my grandparents was one of those untold stories. Gorgo, inspired by Ovid’s Medusa poem, contemporarises the myth in order to cast a critical gaze on the modern Greek practice of προξενιό (‘proxenio’), or arranged marriage. Medousa (her Hellenized name) is a character deeply ingrained in modern popular culture, but also one that has evolved into countless iterations over thousands of years.