Within the context of the Agora Talks of the 65th Thessaloniki Film Festival, the discussion titled “Navigating the Fine Line” was held on Tuesday November 5th at MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, in partnership with the Mediterranean Film Institute (MFI). The panelists were: Josef Kullengård, Head of Industry at Göteborg Film Festival, Pantelis Panteloglou, Artistic Director at Olympia Film Festival for children and young people and President of the European Children's Film Association and Apostolia Papaioannou, director at Mediterranean Film Institute. The moderator of the discussion was Christopher Vourlias, journalist, film critic and correspondent at Variety.
The discussion began with a comment by Chris Vourlias, who stated that during the last few years, political correctness and its definition are constantly changing. At this point, Josef Kullengård described political correctness as a very complex term, which has been lately overused in political context. In an attempt to define the term, he described it as the language, the actions and the policies that are adapted in order to avoid marginalizing, offending or excluding people based on their character or their basic features. He emphasized that it is challenging to isolate political correctness, as it is deeply connected with society and its values.
Then, Pantelis Panteloglou took the floor, underlining the fact that political correctness is a matter of language, and language is power. It is hereby crucial to use it as a tool to successfully navigate our social life. Regarding the negative aspect of political correctness, he described it as the conversion of the early tolerance to an act of self-censorship. He mentioned certain incidents which have piqued the interest of the Greek general public in the past and brought the matter of political correctness into focus: the movie Shower Boys, which was received with a hail of criticism, and the documentary Stray Bodies by Elina Psykou.
The conversation continued with Apostolia Papaioannou, who referred to political correctness as a phenomenon that emerged from society’s necessity to eliminate discrimination. She added that, unfortunately, political correctness itself ended up being a discriminating factor in the film industry, which resulted in limited freedom of expression and authenticity. She then stated that film industry professionals are much more sensitive nowadays and that especially younger professionals can castigate and rebuke without becoming impolite. Finally, this year’s Agora ambassador, Victoria Hislop, who attended this Agora Talk, stated how proud she feels for the TV adaptation of her book Cartes Postales from Greece. The series stands as a landmark, as it portrayed the first kiss between two women in the history of Greek television.
