The Brave Stepped Back: The Life and Times of Laskarina Bouboulina

She built her own fleet. Captured the fortress of Nafplion. Saved hundreds of harem women. And started a revolution. Not bad for a fifty year old grandmother in the 1820s . . . Born in a prison in Constantinople, Bouboulina defied the prescribed roles for women in the 19th century by becoming one of the most powerful figures of the Greek War of Independence. Drawing on documents housed at the General Archives in Athens, the Spetses museum, and interviews with specialists in the areas of Greek and Turkish history and culture, including Bouboulina's own fifth-generation grandson, this hour-long documentary film presents a vivid portrait of one of Greece's most extraordinary heroines. (In English with Greek subtitles.)

Speakers

April Householder
Doctoral candidateUniversity of Maryland

April Householder has taught film studies courses at the University of Maryland since 1996 and completed a Master’s thesis on blaxploitation films and the politics of performance, entitled, “Race Camp.” Under the tutelage of Dr. John Fuegi and his “Women of Power” documentary film series, she is completing a multi-media Ph.D. dissertation, and will receive her doctoral degree in 2006. Her dissertation film, The Brave Stepped Back: The Life and Times of Laskarina Bouboulina, premiered at the Armata Festival in Spetses, Greece on September 8, 2005, at the request of the island’s Mayor, Mr. Evangelos Kontaxakis.