20-year-old Constantina is the protagonist of Holy Human Angel, a new creative documentary feature directed by Athens-born Angeliki Aristomenopoulou (Citizen Europe) and presented at this year’s Thessaloniki Pitching Forum.
The project, currently in development, is produced by Yuri Averof and Rea Apostolides for Anemon Productions (Greece), Vicky Miha for Asterisk* (Greece) and Heather Millard for Compass Films (Iceland).
The project notes explain how 20-year-old Constantina was born as a boy into a middle-class family on the Greek island of Chios. She is an artist with an online audience of thousands of followers. Until now, she has only appeared under the name Anthr0morph, wearing masks and exoskeletons that she makes inspired by nature’s creatures and cyborg theory.
The film begins with Constantina’s decision to go through a painful facial feminization surgery and captures her journey as an artist who delves into human metamorphosis. We follow her transition and how it affects her art and her relationship with others, especially her family…
“We have worked with Angeliki [Aristomenopoulou] on several successful projects with the participation of ARTE, Screen Ireland, ABC Australia and other film funds,” said Averof during the project presentation at Agora. “What initially appealed to us of our main character Constantina were not her struggles as a queer person [living] in a very conservative Greek society, and on a Greek island. What really make her strong are – notably – her family and her art. This is the unique, special focus of Angeliki’s film.”
“The family offers Constantina a safe space of acceptance. She uses her artistic expression to find her voice and claim her own space in the world,” Averof continued.
The floor was then given to Aristomenopoulou, who talked through her lead character: “Until now, she has only appeared wearing masks and exoskeletons inspired by animal creatures that represent the rejection of boundaries, especially those who separate humans from animals.”
“The film captures Constantina’s journey as she delves into human metamorphosis. It begins when she decides to go to Belgium to make a very painful facial feminisation surgery. Through personal films, Polaroid photos and extensive filming on the island of Eos, we recreated the timeline of her transformation through her art and through her family.”
“The current year has proven to be particularly challenging for Constantina. [Now] based in London, she is coming to terms with the consequences of her surgery while also exploring her sexual identity. At the same time, she is about to embark on a very significant collaboration with artist James Merry in Iceland, who is [best] known as the creative director of Björk. James and Constantina share similar views on the natural world and tension between tradition and modernity.”
Aristomenopoulou added that Merry and Constantina will be creating “a large scale artwork on the environmental crisis,” through which the latter hopes to finally bathe in the international spotlight. “Athens, Eos, Antwerp, London and Iceland [are set to] create a natural and urban background where Constantina experiments, demands acceptance and seeks to express herself through her art,” she further explained.
Averof revealed that the doc is planned to be released into two versions – feature-length for theatrical, and a 52-minute version for TV broadcast. The team is currently looking for an additional European co-producer, as well as pre-sales, sales agents and funding from art institutions.
Speaking about the budget, Averof added: “We’ve so far secured approximately 20% of our budget, with development grants from the Greek Film Centre and MEDIA, which have allowed us to kickstart filming with Constantina during her scheduled surgery. We also intend to apply for film and TV funding in Iceland. […] We aim to deliver the film in the autumn of 2024.”
