Abstract

My paper examines the role of masculinity in the film submissions to the 2025 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. I analyze the representation of masculinity in Greek cinema through different themes, storylines, and characters. Firstly I watched the following films: The Luthier (2025), Golden Fingers (2024), The Goals of August (2025),  Athens Midnight Radio (2024), and Maldives (2024), and then examined how gender roles are portrayed and how they often reflect overarching societal pressures and expectations. 

I used an extensive number of external sources to help me understand what factors influence and shaped masculinity in Greek cinema. Firstly, Hall, S. (1997). Representation & the Media. The Media Education Foundation theoretical framework allowed me to conceptualize how media and film are able to convey notions of masculinity. Hall highlights how gender roles and social identities are constructed and represented. On the other hand, Kyriakou, A. (2013). In Hadjikyriacou, A. Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema examines various turning points such as the Greek Civil War and World War 2 which shaped Greek masculinity. Additionally,  Papanikolaou, D. (2021). Greek Weird Wave: A Cinema of Biopolitics. Edinburgh University Press helped me write my essay as it depicts the correlation that Greek cinema has to politics and the power plays that affect the way that society operates. Other sources helped me explore the films through different knowledgeable perspectives which deepened my understanding of the ways that masculinity is represented in Greek Cinema. 

 In the The Luthier (2025), I examined the main character Nikos who is a classical representation of a man who discredited his own emotions through his work as a lonely craftsman. Golden Fingers (2024) on the other hand is an example of a man who embodies traits of toxic masculinity through his excessive need for dominance. The Goals of August (2025) portrays the role of masculinity through the film’s demonstration of competition in sports and how it can lead to overly toxicity. Maldives (2024) depicts masculinity through a different lens, showcasing male vulnerability and emotional openness. Finally Athens Midnight Radio (2024)  showcases various broad elements of masculinity such as the focus on duty, service, and suffering in silence. Overall these Greek films from the 2025 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival  all reveal how vulnerable masculinity truly is, marked by emotional instability, repression, and the inevitable collapse and lashing out that results when the illusion of masculinity is unravelled. 

In conclusion, various themes, characters, and storylines showcase masculinity as a construct that often masks true insecurity lying beneath. These films unveil harsh realities and pressure that lies at the core of masculinity.