TACK

2024, 96', Greece

Director | Cinematographer | Editor

The Olympian who pioneered Greece’s #MeToo movement inspires a younger athlete to come forward with her own abuse. In a milestone trial, Sofia stands with Amalia, who is seeking justice for the systematic abuse she endured at the hands of her coach when she was a child.

When Olympic medalist Sofia Bekatorou reveals her rape by a powerful figure within the Hellenic Sailing Federation, it sparks Greece’s #MeToo movement and turns her into a national symbol for abuse victims.

Inspired by Sofia, sailing champion Amalia, decides to seek justice for herself –she was systematically abused by her coach between the ages of 11 and 13. As Sofia champions legal reforms to empower abuse victims, Amalia takes her abuser to court in what becomes Greece’s first #MeToo trial.

With deep compassion, the film follows the two women for two years as they navigate this seismic shift in Greece. Animated sketches bring the courtroom drama to life where Amalia faces intense victim blaming, humiliation, and attempts to discredit her. Sofia, whose own case has expired, stands by her side, as she copes with her own trauma and confronts her relationship with her father.

The two women achieve a measure of justice but realise that their fight to modernise Greek social norms has only just begun.

So, they must tack like sailors manoeuvring through the winds of adversity to keep moving forward.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

TACK is a deeply intimate documentary that follows two women and elite athletes –Sofia, 43 and Amalia, 22– whose lives intersect as they seek justice. Sofia and Amalia’s paths cross when Amalia reaches out to Sofia, a two-time Olympic medalist who shares her own harrowing experience of sexual assault by a strongman within the Hellenic Sailing Federation and becomes the catalyst for the #MeToo movement in Greece. From that moment on, a legal battle begins against Amalia’s former coach. Over the course of two years, the film follows and observes the two women as they navigate complex and painful legal proceedings.

Their lives in the film run in parallel:

I began filming Sofia as she became a national symbol and met Amalia shortly after she made the difficult decision to take her abuser to court. Throughout these two years, and especially during the trial, my camera became a sort of repository for their thoughts and we grew extremely close.

Focusing on them allowed me to begin a deep exploration of complex trauma, revealing the profound impact it has on victims and their loved ones. It also allowed me to move beyond the life of the protagonists to tell the story of a broken criminal justice system, and to show how the insularity of small towns ends up isolating and stigmatising victims -including children.

– Vania Turner

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

2024

26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival | Greece | Newcomers Competition

FIPRESCI Award for Best Greek Documentary, Youth Jury Award, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation Award, Golden Alexander Special Mention - International Newcomers Competition, WIFT GR Award

26th One World International Human Rights DFF Documentary Film | Czech Republic | Right To Know

Regional Jury Award & Abakus Foundation Audience Award for Exceptional Discussion (chosen out of 141 debates)

8th MOLDOX | Moldova | Echoes of One World

11th International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra | Greece

Best Original Score & 2nd Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary Film

20th Freedom FilmFest | Malaysia | Official Selection

10th International Documentary Festival Visioni dal Mondo| Italy | International Documentary Competition

17th IFF for Women's Rights | South Korea | FIWOM.Choice

FIWOM Grand Prix

12th Chania IFF | Greece | Official Selection

31st Women Make Waves International Film Festival | Taiwan | Not a Pretty Picture | Official Selection

17th Inconvenient Films Human Rights IDFF | Lithuania | Impact Competition

53rd Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist | Ukraine

International Documentary Special Jury Prize

4th Under Our Skin IFF Human Rights | Kenya | Official Selection

5th Orient Express Film Festival | Switzerland | Official Selection

5th TerraViva Film Festival | Bologna | Italy

International Documentary Competition Special Jury Prize

10th Peloponnisos International Documentary Film Festival | Greece | Equality Competition & Jury Prize Best Greek Film Competition

28th PriMed, Le Festival de la Méditerranée en images| France

Première oeuvre Award

8th Baturu International Cultural Festival | China | Official Selection

2025

GrecDoc Ciné-Club 2025 | Paris, Marseilles, Nice | France | Official Selection

22nd San Fransisco Greek Film Festival | USA | Documentary Competition | Documentary Award, Astron Audience Award for Best Documentary

5th Impacte Human Rights IFF of Catalonia | Spain | Official Selection

10th Berlin Greek Film Festival | Germany | Documentary Competition

Documentary Award

19th Beloit International Film Festival | USA | Official Selection

UPCOMING

22nd Millennium Docs Against Gravity | Poland | Women Change The World | Documentary Competition

IMPACT

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, PARLIAMENT, CZECH REPUBLIC, MARCH 2024

Tack | Debate: Abuse Survivors Face Difficult Road to Justice | Irena Hůlová, Amnesty International & Daniel Bartoň, Human Rights Lawyer

Out of 141 debates, the debate on the film Tack emerged victorious, having been held in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, AUGUST 2024

Tack | Freedom Talk: Sexual harassment in sports: Are we safe? | Sarina Sundara Rajah, President of Safe Sport Malaysia & Keshika Subbarao, Professional Football Coach & Scout

VILNIUS & KAUNAS, LITHUANIA, NOVEMBER 2024

Tack | Staying safe: Self-defence basics | Ieva Ruzgytė, Activist - Vilnius & Kaunas, Lithuania, November 2024

DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO CHINA, BEIJING, NOVEMBER 2024

Tack | International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

ATHENS, GREECE, DECEMBER 2024 | TACK TALKS SERIES, DECEMBER 2024

Tack | Justice and the Legal Framework | Theoni Koufounikolakou, Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child, Clio Papapadoleon, Human Rights Lawyer and director Vania Turner

Tack | Abuse in Sports and the Greek Framework | Maria Georgatou, Olympic Champion and Vania Turner

Tack | Safeguarding Children in Sports | Xeni Dimitriou, Honorary Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Dr. Anna Kavoura, Sports Psychologist and Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Ioannina and director Vania Turner

Tack | Sex Education in Greece – Why it still Doesn't Work and Why it Matters | Lina Lykomitrou, School Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Trauma Therapist, Filipi Rouvali, Educator, Actress, and director Vania Turner

Tack | Trauma, Mental Health, and the Responsibility of Filmmakers | Georgía Despoti, Psychologist and Psychotherapist, and director Vania Turner

Tack | Greece child protection services 'disjointed and inadequate' | Olga Themeli, Professor of Criminological Psychology and director Vania Turner

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

UNIVERSITIES & SCHOOLS

MARSEILLES, FRANCE - DECEMBER 2024

Tack | Teenagers Confronting Abuse | 255 High School Students from Lycée Victor Hugo, Lycée Honoré Daumier, Lycée Pro Frédéric Mistral, Lycée Saint Exupéry, Lycée Périer, Lycée Honoré Daumier, Lycée Marcel Pagnol - Micro Lycée

ATHENS, GREECE - JANUARY 2025

Tack | Sexual Abuse and the Politics of Shame | Director Vania Turner and Sociologist Stamatia Papagiannopoulou | Harokopio University of Athens, Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Committee (E.I.F.K.D), Harokopio University Students' Association, the Center for Gender Equality Studies (K.E.T.I)

ATHENS, GREECE - MARCH 2025

Tack | Sexual Abuse and Sports| Director Vania Turner, Psychotherapist & Olympian Sofia Bekatorou, Sociologist Neli Kabouri | Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Committee (E.I.F.K.D), Center for Gender Studies

CRETE, GREECE - APRIL 2025

Tack | Breaking the cycle of gender-based violence and silence | Equality Forum | Hellenic Mediterranean University, Crete

Tack | What's wrong with how we treat children and survivors of sexual abuse? | Director Vania Turner in conversation with Olga Themeli, Professor of Criminological Psychology | University of Crete

ATHENS, GREECE - MAY 2025

Tack| Victim's Rights: Sexual Abuse of Minors/The Barnahus Model | Law University of Athens

SELECT REVIEWS

"Tack, not only examines how sexual abuse upended the lives of its two subjects, but explores the impact on their loved ones and the ways in which gender-based discrimination and sexual violence continue to affect millions of women in Greece." - VARIETY

"Turner provides an exciting narrative full of hand-held, emotionally charged shots, depicting moments of the trial behind the closed doors of the court. She shows a great talent not only at capturing the exact atmosphere of the period but also at creating a fascinating portrait of two women who know exactly how to tack their boat, sailing in a sea full of hungry, angry or totally indifferent males... What a ride! And what a debut…" - FIPRESCI

"Its rhythm resembles a courtroom thriller, yet it manages to remain deeply human. Turner captures profoundly difficult moments with sensitivity, respect, and, above all, quiet courage, shedding light on the hidden trauma long buried in the stagnant waters of Greek society."- FLIX

"An emotionally charged documentary that carefully supports its subjects while highlighting the wrong-headedness of victim blaming, and suggests the road to justice continues to be far too difficult a journey." - SCREENDAILY

"A brave woman behind the camera capturing two even braver women in front of it. Or, more accurately, one brave and one extraordinary—because without her courage to break the long-standing silence, the path would have remained closed to all." -MOVEITMAG

"A gripping account of two women who broke their silence. The director, working under extremely challenging conditions handles her subjects with deep respect." -ΡΙΖΟΣΠΑΣΤΗΣ

"Calm, unflinching, brutally honest" -AΘΗΝΟΡΑΜΑ

"Devastating." -ΝΑΥΤΕΡΜΠΟΡΙΚΗ