About this Event
ARMY OF LOVERS
The Sacred Band of Ancient Greece
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1088717234?share=copy
Teaser:
Website: https://www.anemon.gr/film/army-of-lovers/
Army of Lovers, tells the epic saga of the Sacred
Band of Thebes, an elite force of 150 pairs of male
lovers, who became the most formidable warriors of
the ancient world.
A team of leading international archaeologists and
historians re-examines newly uncovered evidence and
gains unprecedented insight into the story of the
Sacred Band. Their findings challenge us to revise our
understanding of Ancient Greece and our perceptions
of heroism, gender and love across time.
The film is directed by Lefteris Charitos, produced by
Anemon (Greece) and Epo-Film (Austria), and is a co-
production with ERT, ZDF / ARTE and ORF in
association with SBS, Hearst Networks, History Italy,
TV5 Québec and co-funded by the Hellenic Film &
Audiovisual Centre, Fernsehfonds Austria and Creative
Europe. It is distributed by ZED.
About the film:
The Sacred Band was formed by the city of Thebes in 379 BCE to end Spartan domination.
Fighting for four decades undefeated, it was annihilated by the forces of Philip II of Macedon
and his son Alexander in the Battle of Chaeronea. Buried on the battlefield where they fell,
the 300 were forgotten by history, until pioneer archaeologist Panayiotis Stamatakis
discovered the mass grave in 1880.
Stamatakis never published his findings and the grave was covered up, leading somehistorians to claim that the Sacred Band never existed. It was only in 2019 that a missing
skeleton was found in the basement of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, as well
as the excavation logs with detailed drawings of the mass grave: they depicted an army of
300 men likely lying in pairs, their arms linked together.
Directed by Lefteris Charitos, Army of Lovers uses forensic archaeological research, unique
archive, ancient artworks and animation to tell the story of the rise and fall of the Sacred
Band and reveal the enduring relevance of antiquity in contemporary culture. Historian James
Romm (Bard College, USA) is the film’s historical advisor.
The film’s central characters are scholars that comment and interpret the recently found
evidence, including archaeologist and skeletal biologist Maria Liston (University of Waterloo,
Canada) and contributors John Ma (Univ. of Columbia), Paul Cartledge (Univ. of Cambridge),
Reine-Marie Berard (French National Centre for Scientific Research), Peter Krentz (Davidson
College), Thierry Lucas (Collège De Marly), Jennifer Ingleheart (Durham University) and
Panagiotis Iossif (Museum of Cycladic Art/Radboud University, Nijmegen).
About the Director:
Lefteris Charitos is a fiction and documentary director. He studied film at the Royal College of
Art in London. He is best known for the successful historical drama series Wild Bees (ANT1
TV 2019–2022) and The Witch (ANT1 TV 2023–2025).
His feature documentary Dolphin Man (2017) received the IRIS Awards for Best Documentary
and Best Debut Director in 2018. It was featured in several international film festivals
including CPH:DOX, Tokyo, Angers, and Vancouver, and had a successful theatrical release in
Greece, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Japan, and Canada.
Lefteris has directed numerous documentary series for Greek television, such as Rescued-in-
Time (Cosmote TV), and has co-directed the series The Journey of Food (SKAI TV) and 1821
(SKAI TV).
Since October 2022, he has been serving as President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic
Film Academy.
About Anemon Productions:
The company was founded in 2003, in Athens, Greece, bringing together the expertise of
Greek filmmakers, producers and media professionals. Special focus is given to projects
promoting inter-cultural and historical understanding across Europe, human rights and
sustainable living. Anemon is a member company of the Documentary Campus, based in
Munich and Berlin.Recent documentaries include Thessaloniki Mermaid Award and Greek Film Centre Award
winner “Lesvia“, the Greek-French-Spanish-Korean co-production”The Perfect Meal“, the
landmark natural history series by Boréales “Mediterranean, Life Under Siege” (France
Televisions, BBC studios), “A Marble Travelogue” which premiered in competition at IDFA
2021, Focal Award winner “Antoine the Fortunate” (ORF, Cosmote TV, Histoire TV, CNC) and
Greek BIFF Oscar contender “When Tomatoes Met Wagner” (Cosmote TV, Greek Film Centre).
In parallel, cross-media projects and exhibitions Foodprint, Twice a Stranger, A Balkan Tale,
War & Peace in the Balkans and Metsovo 1900 produced with leading museums, foundations
and educational institutions in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus and
the Balkans, have sought to influence public perceptions of the Ottoman Empire across the
Balkans, by using recent historical research to help resolve political conflict. Cross-media
exhibition History Lost traced the looting of archaeological sites around the world,
demonstrating how objects lose their historic value when taken out of their native setting.
Our latest cross-media project, Foodprint, is a photography exhibition and educational
programme about the Mediterranean Diet and why it is relevant to our lives today.
Since 2009, Anemon co-organises CineDoc and Cinedoc Kids, an innovative public media
initiative, screening award winning documentaries that can impact our lives.
https://www.anemon.gr/
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Seminar Room 56, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Oxford, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
