My Name is Eftihia

Angelos Frantzis's 2019 Greek film tells the life of the lyricist Eftihia Papagianopoulou. Born in 1893, she escaped the burning of Smyrna, reached Greece, and became one of the best-loved lyricists of the rebetiko tradition, working with composers including Vassilis Tsitsanis, Apostolos Kaldaras and Manos Hadjidakis. The film presents her not as a victim but as a woman who gambled, smoked and wrote on napkins, cigarette boxes and bills. Karyofyllia Karabeti plays the older Eftihia and Katia Goulioni the younger, and the continuity between the two performances is well built. The film's strongest element is showing how a woman lyricist remained unpaid and unnamed in a male-dominated music business; the songs were on everyone's lips while the person who wrote them stayed invisible. It runs past two hours and some sections repeat. Who it's for: viewers interested in rebetiko and the history of Greek popular music. Who it's not for: anyone unfamiliar with Greek music who will not feel the weight the songs carry, or who is tired of the biopic template.