Assemblage, Identity, Citizenship

Abstract

This chapter returns to one of the most influential Greek films of the 21st century, Strella (2009, dir. Koutras), a new queer cinema classic whose central trans character became an iconic reference for the ‘trans lives matter’ movement in Greece. Koutras’s film is read alongside the short Mom, I’m back (2017; Katsimiris), but also assessed in the context of the protest mobilization after the killing of transqueer activist Zak Kostopoulos/Zackie Oh (September 2018). It is argued that the new movement for gender and sexual identity politics in Greece, also in its dialogue with visual representations, foregrounds a radical poetics of assemblage which potentially provides an answer to a number of questions asked throughout this book. Intriguingly, this new queer poetics of assemblage incorporates, makes do with, but also directly challenges, biopolitical realism.