Guest curation by Queer Rebels. All films in english.
Queer Rebels show “Transgressors”, a raised fist of QTPoC experimentations with a mission to transgress, to cross, to border, to aggress and to deviate.
Founded in 2008, Queer Rebel Productions showcases Queer Artists of Color, connects generations, honors their histories with art for the future and asserts the presence and critical contributions of Queer People of Color.
Transgressors
A mother and daughter find strength in global protests against injustice (FU377, Neelu Bhuman). Whitewashing, both historical and present, changes Puerto Rico’s culture (CLAVADO, Cristobal Guerra). A 2 Spirit infomercial provides tongue-in-cheek survival strategies (2 Spirit Introductory Special $19.99, Thirza Cuthand). A dead starlet reveals her memorial reel (Reveal, Nao Bustamante); these Queens will rise again (Queen Down, West Vargina (Heather María Ács) & Sequinette Jaynesfield). There is only one witness to death (Warning Shot: The Killing of James Wakasa, Tina Takemoto). An artist meditates on blackness, diasporic longing, and the natural world (Hearing in the Dark, Naima Lowe). Post-Orlando, we rise in the spirit of Sylvia Rivera with rage, love, and GAY POWER (Queer Historical Mixtape, Celeste Chan and Irina Contreras).
– Curated by Queer Rebels
Filmbeschreibungen:
FU377
Neelu Bhuman
2014, UK, video, color, sound, 5 min.
This stop-motion animation juxtaposes a young lesbian’s heartbreak over the recent revival of Indian Penal Code section 377, which is often cited in official condemnation and violation of queer Indians’ rights. The romantically spurned daughter wants to close herself off to the world, renouncing her queerness and hiding in fear. Her mother, through a collage of news coverage and interviews, helps her daughter find strength in the world’s anger; together at last they join the protests and take up the daughter’s dignity in their own hands, with the support of a global community.
2 Spirit Introductory Special $19.99
Thirza Cuthand
2015, Canada, video, color, sound, 5 min. Berlin Premiere
Don’t worry if you are just coming out as a 2 Spirited person, we have just the introductory special for you!
Reveal
Nao Bustamante
2014, USA, video, color, sound, 11 min.
This is a close to completed version of Reveal. It’s for the filmformance Silver & Gold. It plays after Maria drinks poison and has a prolonged and ridiculous death scene. It functions as a sort of dead actress memorial reel. This film is also meant to be performed with live sound. Although it is a work-in-progress, it has already been performed at USC Visions and Voices series, Los Angeles and the Whitney in NYC.
Warning Shot: The Killing of James Wakasa
Tina Takemoto
2015, USA, video, color, sound, 12 min. Berlin Premiere
One death. Three versions of the crime. James Wakasa, a 63-year-old Japanese American bachelor, was shot to death by military police at Topaz concentration camp during World War II. Was it justifiable homicide, an accidental fatality, or second-degree murder? The press said he was trying to escape, the shooter claimed it was a warning shot, the case file suggests he was killed while walking a dog. This experimental film essay uses the “Rashomon effect” to juxtapose the conflicting accounts detailing the circumstances and cause of Wakasa’s untimely death.
Queer Historical Mixtape – Part 2
Celeste Chan
2016, USA, video, color, sound, 19 min. Berlin Premiere
Post-Orlando, we rise in rage, love, and GAY POWER in the spirit of Sylvia Rivera
Wednesday, October 11th, 20h
Hilar una frase – Stringing words together
(Esp., Eng. subtitles) A critical analyses of instructional material used in so-called german “integration” courses and part of the exhibition project “man schenkt keinen hund,”, which interrogates the identitarian discourses around the concept of “integration”. followed by a discussion with the filmmaker karen michelsen castañón and the protagonist mauricio pereyra.
http://karenmichelsencastanon.com/hilar-una-frase-stringing-words-together/
man schenkt keinen hund : 1 july–24 september 2017
using various artistic approaches, the research project “man schenkt keinen hund” interrogates the identitarian discourses around the concept of “integration,” it looks at the pedagogic formulation and iconographic design of german textbooks for integration courses. for example, how the characters and individuals that appear in the photographs, illustrations, and texts are distinguished as either “immigrants” or “natives”? which definitions of the “familiar” and the “other” are inscribed in the teaching materials? how are (national) identity and language positioned in relation to each other, and what concept of culture is deployed to produce cultural difference?)
*the event will be held in english*
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Wednesday, September 27th, 20h
Une crèche en chine
(2014, hd, 30 min, esp/fr/engl/dt, eng. subtitles) a video essay about neocolonial structures in today’s educational programs, conceptions of western museums and the amnesia in germany towards its own colonial history. followed by a discussion with the filmmaker karen michelsen castañón and sandrine micossé-aikins.
Filmdescription:
The point of departure is an engraving of a French orphanage in late 19th century China. On the back of the seemingly benign image, published in a French illustrated magazine, the filmmaker discovers a racist propaganda text in praise of the “progress” brought by French missions to China. Through a variety of interviews with activists and researchers set in Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam, the film explores the tension within the image and the colonial enterprise it is supposed to justify. The interviewees, who bring to our awareness very distinct inflections and reflections on what the colonial image is saying, are Aretha Apithy (educationist and colonialism researcher), Houria Bouteldja (activist), Ramón Grosfoguel (sociologist), and Hu Ying (professor for East Asian literatures).
As the interviewees interpret the image, they uncover aspects of current relevance, such as neocolonial structures in today’s educational programs, conceptions of Western museums and the amnesia in Germany towards its own colonial history. Finally, the film describes how histories are written in our bodies. The filmmaker weaves in her own personal comments along with the interviews. In this weaving, she finds a connection between the neocolonial discourse of “progress” and the violence that is at the center of modernity. She concludes by questioning her own Western-oriented education in Peru and abroad, as well as the colonial languages she was socialized with during her childhood.
http://karenmichelsencastanon.com/une-creche-en-chine-an-orphanage-in-china/
Karen MichelsenCastañón is a Peruvian-Canadian artist, visual artist, mother, filmmaker & art educator. Her work tackles questions of autobiography and cultural translation, migration and historiographies, particularly those concerned with the colonial subject. She is a member of COMPA Berlin & colectivo quellcay.
Sandrine Micossé-Aikins is a curator, arts scientist and activist. She looks into racism and empowerment in arts, the efficacy of colonial images, body politics as well as represenation and participation in the German arts and culture scene. Since beginning of 2017 Micossé-Aikins functions as managing director of the newly founded „DIVERSITY.ARTS.CULTURE – Berliner Projektbüro für Diversitätsentwicklung“.
*The event will be held in English*
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Summer Special: xart splitta Filmreihe @ Wagenplatz Kanal
Thursday, 15th of June 2017, door opens: 8pm, Films & Discussion: 9pm
Mittwoch, 17. Mai 2017, 19h
WARUM DIE WUNDE OFFEN BLEIBT
Ein Film von Marika Schmiedt, Österreich 2016, 80 min
Warum die Wunde offen bleibt beschäftigt sich mit der Aufarbeitung des Holocausts an Roma und Sinti durch die sogenannte „2.“ und „3. Generation“. Dabei verdeutlicht gerade die Relation zu aktuellen Diskriminierungen und Verbrechen gegen Roma und Sinti die Notwendigkeit umfassender Auseinandersetzungen: geschichtlicher, familiärer, psychoanalytischer und nicht zuletzt die Dringlichkeit der politischen.
Marika Schmiedt untersucht und benennt die Wunde, versucht sie zu begreifen,
greift hinein, zerrt und weitet sie. Das ist ein intensiver und schmerzhafter Prozess und der dabei entstandene Dokumentarfilm ist kein einfach zu konsumierender. Im Film wird viel gesprochen, nach 78 Minuten wird klar, dass auch über das „Unaussprechliche“ gesprochen werden kann und muss. Über Strukturen der Diskriminierung, der Gewalt und über Kontinuitäten. Marika Schmiedt und ihr Film sprechen sich allerdings gegen eine verharmlosende, oberflächliche Heilung aus, vielmehr werden Wege der Vertiefung und des Widerstands gezeigt. „Warum die Wunde offen bleibt“ beschäftigt sich mit der Aufarbeitung des Holocausts an Roma und Sinti durch die sogenannte „2.“ und „3. Generation“. Die historischen Vertreibungen, Verfolgungen und Massenmorde werden thematisiert, auch persönlich durch das biografische Erzählen der Protagonistinnen. Dabei verdeutlicht gerade die Relation zu aktuellen Diskriminierungen und Verbrechen gegen Roma und Sinti die Notwendigkeit umfassender Auseinandersetzungen: geschichtlicher, familiärer, psychoanalytischer und nicht zuletzt die Dringlichkeit der politischen.
Im Mittelpunkt des Films stehen lange Interviews bzw. Gespräche mit drei beeindruckenden Frauen: Anna Gleirscher-Entner arbeitet seit vielen Jahren als psychosoziale Beraterin und hat ein Sachbuch mit dem Titel „Das Unaussprechliche in der psychosozialen Beratung von Sinti und Roma“ verfasst. Ihre wissenschaftliche Arbeit ist von ihrer Biografie – Gleirscher-Entner ist als elftes Kind in einer Sinti-Familie aufgewachsen – nicht trennbar. Die Erfahrungen, das Schweigen über den Holocaust, die Vertreibung und Ermordung von Familienmitgliedern, führten sie schlussendlich zu dem „Tabubruch“, öffentlich über kollektive und individuelle Traumata zu reden, zu publizieren. Elisabeth Brainin, eine Psychiaterin und Psychoanalytikerin, berichtet über psychologische Hintergründe der sogenannten Mehrheitsgesellschaft, die den Nationalsozialismus und seine Implikationen gerne als Schlussstrichthema betrachtet. Das Nicht-Anerkennen und das fehlende Bewusstsein über Roma und Sinti als Opfergruppe des NS-Regimes führen zu einer erneuten Viktimisierung.
Genau dieser und ihren Mechanismen gilt es aber zu entkommen, vielleicht auch um (kämpferische, künstlerische, politische) Allianzen innerhalb einer heterogenen Gesellschaft auf gleichwertiger Ebene eingehen zu können. Im Gespräch mit der Schriftstellerin und Aktivistin Simone Schönett erfahren wir vom Verdecken, Verstecken und von Assimilation. Die Schriftstellerin schreibt dagegen an, fühlt sich aber oft alleine mit ihrer Einstellung, dass man „die Hand, die füttert, auch beißen darf“. Auf die von diversen Klischees geprägten Romabilder fallen nämlich auch die offiziellen VertreterInnen herein, sie würden als „Vorzeigeroma“ mit diesen Klischees agieren und so eine fundierte und effiziente Romapolitik, die die Gesamtgesellschaft erreichen muss, verunmöglichen. Marika Schmiedt macht die „offene Wunde“ auch als ihre persönliche begreifbar: Mit dem Beispiel der Ablehnung und Bekämpfung ihrer künstlerischen Interventionen gegen romafeindliche Politik. Die Zerstörung einer Plakatserie mit dem Titel „Die Gedanken sind frei. Angst ist Alltag für Roma in Europa.“ in Linz im Jahr 2013 könnte eigentlich als „gelungene“ Aktion, als deutlicher Angriff gegen die systemische Romaphobie in Politik und Verwaltung interpretiert werden.
Da mussten sich die vermeintlich Stärkeren mit nahezu grotesken, weil übertriebenen Mitteln, wie mit Anzeigen wegen Verhetzung gegen eine Künstlerin und ihre künstlerische Freiheit, durch Vernichtung von Kunstwerken und Anprangerung in rechtsextremen und faschistischen Medien, wehren. Das macht die Machtverhältnisse mehr als deutlich, wobei insgesamt diese Vorkommnisse aber auch als Kontinuität von Rassismus und Gewalt gegen Roma verstanden werden müssen. „Wir können gar nicht anders.“ Dieser Satz, dieses Motto für Aufarbeitung und Aktivismus wird im Film aufgrund von persönlicher Involviertheit und Familiengeschichte begründet.
Dieses „wir“ könnte im Idealfall aber auch eine Allianz von Fragenden, immer weiter Forschenden und AktivistInnen sein, die allesamt wollen, dass sich die Geschichte nicht wiederholt. Und dafür muss wohl die Wunde offen bleiben.
Text von EVA SIMMLER (https://marikaschmiedt.wordpress.com/film-warum-die-wunde-offen-bleibt/)
Special im April & Mai: Samstag, 29. April & 06. Mai, 14-18h
DIY filmmaking for absolute beginners
Empowerment through anti-discriminatory (personal) storytelling
A workshop with Juli Saragosa
Die Workshopbeschreibung auf deutsch findet ihr hier als pdf
This is a two-day workshop for absolute beginners. The workshop prioritizes spots for those who do not have access to other filmmaking workshops or education, and those who will attend both days. The 1st day (production) is mandatory for those who want to participate in the 2nd day (post-production). This workshop is also prioritized for people who feel marginalized and have stories to tell that have been shut down or shut out by the mainstream. The main language of the workshop will be in English, but translation to clarify concepts will be made to German if requested.
DIY (do-it-yourself) can mean many things depending on the context. But it is more than just fixing your own bike or doing your own home repairs. It is also a movement of people (punk and rrriot-grrrl amongst others) who take control of their own representation through the self-creation and self-publishing of their own music, films, literature, etc. – without support, judgment, censorship, or manipulation from mainstream sources of funding or sponsorship (like academic institutions, production companies or record labels). Creating art through one’s own methods and capacities can support someone to feel more empowered by sharing their voice, their opinions, their experiences in a world that shuts them out and discriminates against them.
Please note: The workshop will not provide any cameras or editing software – you will learn to use what tools you have at hand so that you can create more films on your own after the workshop is over. It will provide you with skills in planning, filming and editing your own short film. Please come to the first workshop with your idea(s) and your own camera (or your phone if that’s all you have), and to the second workshop with your own laptop, tablet or smartphone already installed with editing software. For those who do not have a phone or a computer or any other device, please let us know when you sign up that you need to borrow a camera and a computer at the space.
Sa. 29th April – 2-6pm
On the 1st day of the workshop, we will look at some examples by first-time filmmakers who had a story to tell about their experiences or how they see the world. We will then discuss some of the ideas that the workshop participants have for their films, and give each other feedback to support the planning of the production. The facilitator will introduce the participants to basic concepts of planning a film shoot, cinematography, lighting, and sound recording, and how to get the shots they need on the devices they have. The participants should shoot their film during the week that follows and be ready for editing by the 2nd day. The workshop facilitator will give a list of free software that the participants can download during the week onto their computers, tablets or smartphones.
Sa. 6th May – 2-6pm
On the 2nd day of the workshop, we’ll take a look at the footage that the participants have shot throughout the week and give each other feedback. The facilitator will introduce the participants to basic concepts of editing, post-production and distribution. Then we’ll take a look at the different kinds of editing software there is and what each participant has brought with them, and learn some basics about the tools used and what they do.
Sign-up
The deadline for sign-up is April 20th. When you sign-up please let us know some details about yourself, positioning yourself and why you want to participate in this workshop, as well as what tools you have access to – camera / phone for filming, laptop / tablet / smartphone for editing, etc.
To sign-up please fill this form and send it to juli@jsaragosa.de
Juli Saragosa is an interdisciplinary media and performance artist who has shown work at festivals worldwide; including Milan, London, L.A., Chicago, Berlin, Vancouver and Toronto. In 2005, Amoré won the Best Canadian Film award at Toronto’s International One-minute Film Festival and in 2011 the Jury Prize for Experimental Film at the Toronto Urban Film Festival. Juli’s work extends to the curatorial and educational, as a grassroots organizer of several independent festivals (The Project8 Super8 Film Festival and Mentorship Program-Vancouver, CA and the entzaubert queer DIY uncommercial film festival-Berlin, DE), a workshop leader (LIFT-Toronto, CA and VIVO-Vancouver, CA), mentor to young artists (Inside Out-Toronto, CA, Project8, and CFC-Toronto, CA), and as a media arts instructor (SFU-Vancouver, CA, UBC-Kelowna, CA and dBs Film-Berlin, DE).
http://jsaragosa.de
Mittwoch, 22. März 2017, 19:00 | Wednesday, 22nd of march 2017, 7pm
Female to What the Fuck
Katharina Lampert und Cordula Thym, 92 minutes, 2015, Austria. German with Engl. subtitles
Filmvorführung im Anschluss Q&A mit Persson Perry Baumgartinger
FtWTF begins where other trans*documentaries often end. Gender reassignment via hormones and/or surgery is only one part of the exploration of one’s identity – and not all trans people choose this or want to. Experiments into a life beyond the gender binary, the questioning of heteronormativity, the search for a livable masculinity that fits with one’s own trans* identity, friction with the wider queer-feminist community – FtWTF covers all of this. And more: coming to terms with change, grief, cyclical endings and new beginnings. Is there ever really an endpoint; an arrival?
Vor der Transition ist nach der Transition – FtWTF beginnt dort, wo andere Dokumentarfilme, die sich mit Trans*biografien beschäftigen, oft enden. Der Film untersucht die Gratwanderungen und Bruchlinien, an denen Geschlecht vor, während, nach oder abseits dessen entsteht, was in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung gemeinhin als der Weg der ,Geschlechtsangleichung‘ gesehen wird. Denn die körperliche Angleichung an die gelebte Geschlechtsidentität mittels Hormonen oder Operationen ist nur ein Teil der Erforschung der eigenen Identität – und nicht alle Trans*Personen gehen diesen Weg oder wollen ihn gehen. Der Versuch eines Lebens jenseits binärer Geschlechterkonstruktionen, das Infragestellen heteronormativer Lebensmodelle, die Suche nach einer lebbaren Männlichkeit, die man mit der eigenen Trans*Geschichte vereinbaren kann und die Reibungsflächen in einer queer-feministischen Community – all das sind Themen in FtWTF. Aber auch das Überwinden von Trauer, das Beenden von Lebensabschnitten und das immer wieder Neu-Anfangen, denn ein endgültiges Ankommen gibt es nie.
Anschließendes Gespräch mit Persson Perry Baumgartinger:
Persson Perry Baumgartinger ist Wissenschaftler, Trainer und Coach und beschäftigt sich neben Queer Linguistics, Trans Studies, Kritischer Diskursanalyse, Sozialgeschichte und Kritischem Diversity auch mit Körper- und Energiearbeit. Er war Mitorganisator des jährlich stattfindenden internationalen „Transgender Day of Remembrance” in Wien und ist Begründer von „queeropedia”, einem kritischen Lexikonprojekt in unterschiedlichsten Formaten. Zusammen mit Vlatka Frketić hat er 2006 den Verein ][diskursiv begründet.
Mittwoch, 08. Februar 2017, 19:00 | Wednesday, 08th of february 2017, 7pm
Papa Rainbow
Popo Fan, China, 2016, 80min, Mandarin with engl. Subtitles
The documentary “Papa Rainbow” features six Chinese fathers who talk openly and freely about their experiences with their LGBT children.
Most families have difficulties facing their lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) children. They have to contend with common social beliefs that homosexuality is shameful, abnormal, a perverted condition caused by deviant family relationships. Many parents see their kids as their property, and fathers often assert their authority to ensure that no harm comes to the family reputation.
Speaking out against discrimination and stigma, the protagonists in this documentary redefine what it means to protect a household. They fully embrace their kids for who they are, and become pioneer activists fighting for an equal and diverse society.
There will be a Q&A with Popo Fan after the filmscreening.
Popo Fan is a queer independent filmmaker and curator based in Beijing. He is the author of Happy Together: 100 Queer Films (Beifang Wenyi Press, 2007), and he directs the China Queer Film Festival Tour, which has travelled to over 20 major cities in China since 2008. His documentary works mostly focus on LGBTQ/gender issues. His films have been shown in film festivals around the world and he has been a committee member of the Beijing Queer Film Festival since 2009.
images and descriptions from filmmaker
Mittwoch, 18.01.2017 19 Uhr | Wednesday 18th of january, 7pm
Poetic and Animated: Short Film Program
Tal Iungman, 2013, Germany, german/ deutsch, 4:09
A stop motion animation inspired by a song written and performed by berlin hip hop artist Alice Dee dealing with our sisyphic life, the ups and downs and the ways we cope with it.
One day Rufus noticed a monster floating below the ceiling. Lilly wasn’t afraid but wanted to sleep…
SHIFT follows the life of a character who is born from a tree and whose face is stolen by a wild dog. After wandering the landscape reflecting its environment, home, our character‘s vision returns in an unsuspecting turn of events. SHIFT is constructed of over 10,000 photographs taken over a year and a half
lann hornscheidt, laYla zami, Germany, 2012, 12 min, deutsch/ english
this film inspired by the book „feminismus schreiben_lernen“ explores quest_ions of language, position_ing and beLong_ing to comm_Unities beyond heteronormative mainstream. a collaboration between gender studies profx lann hornscheidt and filmmaker laYla zami, it stresses intertwined aspects of gender and race. this challenging mix of poetic documentary and experimental essay portraits people who mark temporary traces of their identities and politics in their surroundings.
Work in progress: collaboration with filmaker Zara Zandieh. A haptic moving image narrative consisting of projected archival images depicting South Asian migration onto a gendered non conforming body.
A poetic exploration of the body’s history, of how it confronts the culture and language which limits it in ‘modern life’.
Two contemporary Lebanese Australian dykes come across an old poster from Beirut in 1926 of two women dressed in suits. Some things have changed, some things haven’t.
This experimental animation introduces the audience to two queer characters struggling with the aftermath of apocalyptic disaster. What does ‘the end of the world’ really mean? How might we radically ‘queer’ our relationship to the earth in the face of human-caused destruction?
What histories do we inherit, and what do we need to create? This film is an unfinished question, an obsession
Invited to speak at an Indigenous Revolutionary Meeting, the narrator describes an intimate encounter with an Evil Colonizing Queen which leads to Turtle Island’s contraction of an invasive European flora.
This video is an encouragement to be feminist and a plea for free choice what being a woman means.
Through a piece of spoken word Azara Megie demands to be accepted as a woman and present as she wishes.
Mittwoch, 30. November 2016, 19Uhr | Wednesday, 30th of November, 7pm
Learning to Milk a Cow – Lernen eine Kuh zu Melken
Film premiere and discussion with the filmmaker Juli Saragosa and a protagonist from the film.
Filmpremiere uns Diskussion mit der Filmemacherin Juli Saragosa und Film-Protagonistin
Juli Saragosa, 64 minutes, 2016, Canada/Germany; English/Ukrainian/German u. deutsche Untertitel
When the filmmaker’s grandmother was 19, she was taken from Soviet Ukraine to Germany to work on a Bavarian farm under National Socialism. She had the luck and perseverance to survive hardships of the forced famine in her homeland and forced labour in the new one. The stories of her everyday life – learning how to milk a cow, falling in love – are interspersed with three generations of reflections on politics, longing, feelings of displacement and loss. Hand-processed black & white film, colour film, photographs and official documents create a montage of different perspectives. The hand-touch aesthetic combines with the acousmatic effect of disembodied voices, in this deeply intimate portrait obscured by memory loss, mis-translation, fear and trauma.
Mit 19 wurde Raja, die Grossmutter der Filmemacherin von der Sowietischen Ukraine nach Deutschland verschleppt, um während dem Nationalsozialismus auf einem bayerischen Bauernhof zu arbeiten. Glück und Durchhaltekraft ermöglichten ihr den Holodomor (Tötung durch Hunger) in ihrem Herkunftsland und die Zwangsarbeit in Deutschland zu überleben. Der Film verwebt Geschichten aus Raja’s Alltag – wie sie lernte eine Kuh zu melken und sich verliebte – mit Reflektionen von drei Generationen zu Politik, Wünschen, Gefühlen von nicht-Verortung und Verlust. Durch Elemente von hand-prozessiertem schwarz-weiss Film, Farbfilm, Fotos und offiziellen Dokumenten entsteht eine Montage aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven. Dadurch malt der Film ein tiefes und persönliches Portrait begleitet von Erinnerungslücken, Fehl_Übersetzungen, Angst und Trauma.
Finding a Place to Sleep
Juli Saragosa, 2013, 7:13min Germany; english u. ukrainisch/deutsche Untertitel
Based on stories her grandmother told her, the filmmaker re-imagines while working as a cleaner, the experiences of her ancestors during the Holodomor (forced famine) in Ukraine during the Stalinist-Soviet era.
Basierend auf Geschichten, die ihr ihre Großmutter erzählt hat, denkt die Filmemacherin während ihrer Arbeit als Putzkraft über die Erfahrungen ihrer Vorfahren nach während dem Holodomor (Tötung durch Hunger) in der Sowjetära vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg.
About the Filmmaker – Über die Filmemacherin
Growing up in an immigrant family, encouraged to try everything and the economic necessity to use what’s at hand (like a home photography darkroom) Juli became an artistic experimenter. Her short films have shown at festivals worldwide. In 2005 Amoré won Best Canadian Film at Toronto’s 1minute Film Festival and in 2011 the Jury Prize for Experimental Film at the Toronto Urban Film Festival. She enjoys working collectively and with dedication to community through collective projects like the entzaubert queer DIY film festival.
Aufgewachsen in einer Immigrant_innen-Familie, unterstützt dabei alles zu versuchen und die finanzielle Notwendigkeit das zu Nutzen was da war (wie z.B. eine selbstgemachter Foto-Entwicklungsraum zu Hause) wurde Juli eine künstlerische Experimentierer_in. Ihre Kurzfilme wurden weltweit auf Filmfestivals gezeigt. In 2005 gewann Amoré Bester Kanadischer Film in Toronto’s 1 Minute Film Festival und 2011 den Jury Preis für experimentelle Filme an dem Toronto Urban Film Festival. Es ist ihr wichtig kollektiv und für die Community zu arbeiten durch Gemeinschaftsprojekte, wie das entzaubert queer DIY film festival.
Filmmaker Filmography:
http://jsaragosa.de/projects/ film-video/
Mittwoch, 9. November 2016, 19:00
Queer Shorts
Ein Kurzfilmprogramm mit sieben poetischen, bewegenden und spielerischen Filmen zu queer_enden Wirklichkeiten, Begegnungen und mehr.
Too Wide
Dir. Moyin Saka, UK, 2016, 7mins, english
This deceptively simple film has many layers. Cleverly shot through a surveillance camera, it references the feelings of being under constant social scrutiny that many trans people and cis women feel. Travis Alabanza demands the right of freedom from the gender binary through spoken word narration.
Boxx, episode 1
Dir. Joy Gharoro- Akpojotor, UK, 2016, 8mins, english
Boxx is a web series drama following two Black, trans, London-based artists as they make a documentary about their lives. This engaging show references Cheryl Dunye, with its mix of narrative and talking heads that seems to go in and out of character.
Manspreading
Dir. Rachel Ara, UK, 2015, 1min, english
Manspreading encapsulates the new terminology ‘Manspreading’ (the usually male behaviour of taking up space with little regard or consideration as to whose space you are invading) and suggests a way of dealing with this problematic behaviour.
Netkix and Chips
Dir. Helen Wright, Scotland, 2015, 6mins, english
A sweet, hilarious drama written and produced in 48 hours. Working in a chip shop, Tammy begins to notice that her job is starting to impact on her dating experiences. Tonight, however, she has a date lined up. So what could possibly go wrong?
What I Love About Being Queer
Dir. Vivek Shraya, Canada, 2012, 18 mins, english
34 beautiful Queers. One big question.
Swipe
Dir. Jay Gash, USA, 2016, 04.45
Ryan is searching the internet for that perfect match but has no luck. Maybe the answer lies closer to home. A sweet film, which promotes self-care and spending time with yourself while negotiating the superficial world of internet dating.
I am a Woman
Co Dirs. Kay Fi’ain & Azara Meghie, UK, 2016, 3.00
Through a piece of spoken word Azara Megie demands to be accepted as a woman and present as she wishes.
film descriptions from filmmakers and woteverfilmfest
Mittwoch, 12. Oktober 2016, 19 Uhr
Short films: Arts and Re_presentations
A short-film program on identity, resistance and re_presentation through arts. Ein Kurzfilmprogramm zu Identität_en, Widerstand & Re_präsentationen in Kunst.
The Worlds of Bernice Bing
Madeline Lim, USA, 2013, 35 mins, engl. subtitles
Bernice Lee Bing (1936-1998) came of age during a time when ‘lesbian’ was a bad word, racism was rampant, and women were expected to be housewives.
The Worlds of Bernice Bing illuminates the life and times of Bernice Bing – artist, Chinese American, lesbian, and activist. The powerful story of a woman who used color, paintbrush, and canvas to speak from her heart.
Through archival footage and interviews with scholars, colleagues and friends, this film documents the importance of Bing’s art and life’s work in American art history. From her art studio in North Beach, to her groundbreaking community work and her later life in rural northern California, Bing chose not to follow the trends of the day and created art on her own terms. Her story is an inspiring model for our times and this film gives her the attention she so well deserves.
Not Your Inspiration 3: Maki
San Alland, UK, 2014, 9min, engl. subtitles
The third of Sandra Alland’s short films about queer &trans D/deaf & disabled artists in Scotland. Musician and visual artist Maki Yamazaki discusses visible and invisible disabilities, barriers to access for disabled and trans artists, and the intersection of race, gender and ability. Featuring Maki’s performances, recordings and visual art.
The locations of the m/othership
Jamika Ajalon, Germany/UK, 2009, 20 mins, engl. subtitles
An experimental visual introduction to the idea of black women as Fugitive Archetypes of Resistance using Sci-fi as a reference…..beginning as a live installation – integrating live sounds, with digital video loops – now transformed into a single screen video.
Not Your Inspiration 4: Liz
San Alland, UK, 2015, 15min, engl. subtitles
Liz is a Scottish singer-songwriter. The film interweaves Liz’s compelling live performances with intimate discussion of her mental health, how her struggles have limited her ability to make music, and how music has helped her heal. Liz tackles difficult subjects including suicide, self-harm, depression and hospitalisation – but also has us rolling in the aisles with her unique brand of humour.
filmdescriptions by the filmmakers | filmbeschreibungen von den filmemacher_innen
Monday, 08. August 2016, 19h
Thirza Cuthand Retrospective Screening
Alle Kurzfilme auf Englisch (einige mit Untertiteln). All films in English – some have german subtitles.
After the screening there will be a q&a with Thirza Cuthand. Do not miss!
Thirza Cuthand’s Through the Looking Glass
Writer/Director/Editor, digital video, 14:00, 1999
Half-breed Alice attempts to become queen and struggles with the Red Queen and the White Queen’s disapproval of her racial transgressions. A funny and quirky take on race, starring Cosmosquaw as the Red Queen, Shawna Dempsey as the White Queen, and Thirza Cuthand as Alice.
Helpless Maiden Makes an “I” Statement
Writer/Director/Editor/Producer, digital video, 5:00, 2000
By using clips of evil queens/witches this video plays off the sadomasochistic lesboerotic subtexts commonly found in children’s entertainment. A helpless maiden is tiring of her consensual s/m relationship with her lover, and “evil” queen. She wants to break up. An impassioned monologue in a dungeon with our heroine in wrist cuffs quickly becomes an emotionally messy ending in flames.
Anhedonia
Writer/Director/Editor/Producer, 16mm/digital video fusion, 9:00, 2001
Anhedonia doesn’t play to the back of the church. It shoots directly to the point with poetry and images that evoke controversy in one mind set and passion in another. Depression and suicide are met head on with Cuthand’s honesty. Anhedonia shocks people into opening their eyes to thesource of the illness in the Aboriginal community. Statistics, split images, words and flesh meld together making this short film long on compassion, screaming out for help and recognition of the mentally ill’s dream of someday having a normal life.
Love & Numbers
Writer/Director/Editor/Producer, digital video, 8:03, 2004
A Two Spirited woman surrounded by spy signals and psychiatric walls attempts to make sense of love, global paranoia, and her place in the history of colonialism. Spliced in between her monologues are the binary codes of all the psychiatric drugs she has taken.
You Are A Lesbian Vampire
Director, Editor, Producer, Digital Video, 3:17, 2008
In the dark night of a prairie city, a vampire considers her future with a fetching mortal. But requiring blood for sustenance brings a host of problems to the relationship.
Sight
Director/Editor/Producer, Super 8, 3:23, 2012
Super 8 footage layered with Sharpie marked lines and circles obscuring the image illustrates the story of the filmmaker’s experience with temporary episodes of migraine related blindness and her cousin’s self induced blindness later in life. Paralleling the experience of Blindness with Mental Illness, Cuthand deftly elucidates that any of us could lose any of our abilities at any time.
Boi Oh Boi
Director/Editor/Producer, HDV, 9:32, 2012
After a long period in life identifying as a Butch Lesbian, Cuthand considers transitioning to male. This experience involved a six month period of her life during which she went by the name Sarain, which she would have been called had she been born a boy, and asking to be called by male pronouns. Complicated by mental health crises, Cuthand found themselves in a mental health group home for women, having to hide their gender dysphoria. After a considerable amount of thought and discussion, Cuthand changed her mind and decided to remain a Butch Lesbian. Explaining her decision, she touches on the desire to maintain a connection to the Lesbian community, as well as the sexy genderfucking that happens when one is a masculine woman. Shot partially on location in Hamburg, Germany, riding back and forth on the UBahn is a metaphor for her eventual acceptance of fluctuating between a masculine and a feminine gender. In a nod to her two spirited ancestors, she mentions that she would have been able to make up her own gender had colonization not happened.
Just Dandy
Director/Editor/Producer, HDV, 7:37, 2013
Invited to speak at an Indigenous Revolutionary Meeting, the narrator describes an intimate encounter with an Evil Colonizing Queen which leads to Turtle Island’s contraction of an invasive European flora.
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Director/Writer/Producer, RED, 4:37, 2015
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Thursday, 23. Juni 2016, 7pm | Donnerstag, 23. Juni 2016, 19:00
Papa Rainbow
Popo Fan, China, 2016, 80min, Mandarin with engl. Subtitles
The documentary “Papa Rainbow” features six Chinese fathers who talk openly and freely about their experiences with their LGBT children.
Most families have difficulties facing their lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) children. They have to contend with common social beliefs that homosexuality is shameful, abnormal, a perverted condition caused by deviant family relationships. Many parents see their kids as their property, and fathers often assert their authority to ensure that no harm comes to the family reputation.
Speaking out against discrimination and stigma, the protagonists in this documentary redefine what it means to protect a household. They fully embrace their kids for who they are, and become pioneer activists fighting for an equal and diverse society.
There will be a Q&A with Xiaogang Wei after the filmscreening
Popo Fan is a queer independent filmmaker and curator based in Beijing. He is the author of Happy Together: 100 Queer Films (Beifang Wenyi Press, 2007), and he directs the China Queer Film Festival Tour, which has travelled to over 20 major cities in China since 2008. His documentary works mostly focus on LGBTQ/gender issues. His films have been shown in film festivals around the world and he has been a committee member of the Beijing Queer Film Festival since 2009.
Xiaogang Wei has followed the production of Papa Rainbow closely and works with Popo Fan in the Beijing Filmfestival and Queer Comrads. He is the Co-curator of the Beijing Queer Film Festival and a board member of the Beijing LGBT Centre. In 2007, he founded the LGBT webcast “Queer Comrades”, for which he hosted and directed more than 50 half-hour episodes.
images and descriptions from filmmaker
Thursday, 05. Mai 2016: Interventions: re_writing places and narratives (50min)
Welche Geschichten werden erzählt, welche werden verschwiegen? Welche Leben werden geehrt und betrauert und welche vergessen? Wem gehören die Strassennamen, die Internet-Chat-Räume und Hinterhöfe? Diese Kurzfilme zeigen Interventionen in machtvolle Raum- und Erinnerungskultur, eine Rück_aneignung von Räumen und Narrativen.
// Which stories are told, which are silenced? Whose lifes and deaths are honored and mourned, whose forgotten? Who defines street-names, internet-chat-rooms and backyards? These short films show interventions in powerful spacial and commemorative culture, a reappropriation of space and narratives.
Berlin HEROS – under urban skin
Jamika Ajalon, Germany/UK, 2013, 1 min 45
Work in progress – experimental documentation of public intervention on street signs in Berlin – the names of celebrated colonisers were replaced with names of afro-german artists/activist who lived between the 1930-70s.
Eine experimentelle Dokumentation öffentlicher Interventionen in Berliner Strassennamen – die Namen gefeierter Kolonialverbrecher wurden ersetzt durch afro-deutsche Künster_innen/Aktivist_innen, welche zwischen 1930 und 70 lebten.
Vigil 5.4
Paul Wong, Canada, 2010, 9mins
At the 2002 Talking Stick Festival in Vancouver Paul Wong recorded Rebecca Belmore’s performance commemorating the lives of missing and murdered aboriginal women who have disappeared from the streets of Vancouver.
Beim 2002 Talking Stick Festival in Vancouver nimmt Paul Wong Rebecca Belmores Performance auf. Diese erinnert an die Leben vermisster und ermordeter First-Nation Frauen, die von den Strassen Vancouvers verschwunden sind.
Single White Male
Vivek Shraya, Canada, 2010, 2 min 20
Vivek Shraya’s first short film, a study of a brown body in (queer) white spaces.
Vivek Shrayas erster Kurzfilm ist eine Studie eines rassifizierten Körpers in (queeren) weißen Räumen.
In The Ladies Lounge
Fadia Abboud, Australia, 2007, 12 mins
Two contemporary Lebanese Australian dykes come across an old poster from Beirut in 1926 of two women dressed in suits. Some things have changed, some things haven’t.
In der Gegenwart finden zwei libanesisch australische Lesben ein altes Poster aus Beirut von 1926, auf dem zwei Frauen in Anzügen abgebildet sind. Einige Sachen haben sich verändert, andere nicht.
Ache in My name
Vivek Shraya, Canada, 2011, 2 min 16
Is a name how it’s pronounced or how you pronounce it?
Ist eine Name, so wie es ausgesprochen wird, oder so wie du es aussprichst?
When the Kid Was a Kid
Anahita Ghazvini Zadeh, Iran, 2011, 17 mins
A group of children living in the same block explore what it means to be an ‘adult’.
Eine Gruppe von Kindern leben im selben Wohnblock und erkunden, was es bedeutet ‘erwachsen’ zu sein.
filmdescriptions by filmmakers | filmbeschreibungen von den filmemacher_innen
Donnerstag, 14. April 2016: Verhältnisse durch_tanzen / Thursday, 14th of april: Dancing Through Relations (57min)
These four short films show different ways to challenge social (power-) relations and re_presentations through dance and movement – on stage, in trains, or through language.
Diese vier Kurzfilme zeigen unterschiedliche Wege durch Tanz und Bewegung gesellschaftliche (Macht-)Verhältnisse, Identitäts-Vorstellungen und Re_präsentationen zu durch_queeren – auf der Bühne, in der U-Bahn, durch Sprache.
Invisible
Topher Campbell, UK, 2012, 3 mins, no dialogue/kein dialog
A collaboration between the director and choreographer Jean Abreu, INVISIBLE is a meditation on freedom, loneliness, angst and surveillance culture.
Diese Zusammenarbeit mit dem Choreographen Jean Abreu ist eine Meditation zu Freiheit, Einsamkeit, Angst und Überwachung.
Voguing Train
Kemar Jewel, USA, 2014, 3 min, no dialogue/kein dialog
The beautiful ballroom of life…Watch the closing doors!
Der Schöne Ballroom des Lebens… Vorsicht beim Schliessen der Türen.
Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Claim to Beauty
Patty Berne, USA, 2013, 33 mins, engl. with engl. Subtitles | engl. mit engl. Untertiteln
Sins Invalid witnesses a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralising artists of colour and queer and gender-variant artists. Since 2006, its performances have explored themes of sexuality, beauty, and the disabled body, impacting thousands through live performance. Including interviews with cast members and project director, the film features performances by Nomy Lamm, Cara Page, Maria Palacios, ET Russian, Antoine Hunter, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha , seeley quest, Mat Fraser and Rodney Bell.
Ein Performance Projekt, welches Künstler_innen feiert, die beHindert werden. Im Zentrum stehen queere und genderqueere Künstler_innen of Color. Der Film ist eine Kombination aus den Live-Auftritten zu den Themen Sexualität, Schönheit und Körper, die beHindert werden und Interviews mit Künster_innen und der Projektdirektorin.
trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=7gjP0Wtlrpg
Tom / Trans / Thai (2011)
Jai Arun Ravine, USA/Thailand, 2011, 20mins, no dialogue, written engl&thai
Tom / Trans / Thai is a short experimental film on tom and trans-masculine identities in Thai and Thai American communities and the transnational relationships between gender and language.
Ein experimenteller Kurzfilm zu tom und transmaskulinen Identitäten in Thai und Thai Amerikanischen Communities und zu dem transnationalen Verhältnis von Gender/Geschlecht und Sprache.
trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=o4vmA_yYhFU
filmdescriptions by filmmakers.| filmbeschreibungen von den filmemacher_innen
THURSDAY, 18. February 2016, 7PM | DONNERSTAG, 18. Februar 2016, 19:00
Guest Program from Beijing Filmfestival
Shortfilms and following discussion with the curator Xiaogang Wei
导演:李更白 Directed by Li Gengbai
During recent years, the “yao’er” culture, which developed within trans* sex worker communities in Northeast China, frequently appears in a mainstream discourse permeated with stigma and prejudice.
In the film “Magic”, two actresses use humour to talk about trans* concepts and to showcase their daily reality. To them, trans* is more than a simple term: it is their daily reality, and constitutes an important part of their identity.
The leading ladies in “Magic” courageously share their own stories and the stories of their sisters with the public. They introduce the viewers to the little-known world of “yao’er”, showing how they understand and live freedom, diversity, pleasure and multi-partner relationships.
三生 Lost and found
导演: 曾磊 Directed by Zeng Lei
Qianbi goes missing on Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The Beijing office of Malaysian airlines promises to send the family members of missing passengers a parcel containing search results.
Xiangpi, Qianbi’s boyfriend, goes to Qianbi’s hometown Chongqing. He takes a job as a mailman, hoping to intercept the parcel containing information on Qianbi’s fate. At the same time, the girlfriend of Qianbi’s mother is also waiting for news in Chongqing. She hopes she will receive the parcel on 16 May…
In a confusing and confused society, where everything that is right looks like it’s wrong, two people are longing for a parcel at the same time – throughout their waiting process, they discover what is true.
Brothers
Directed by Yaoyao
It documents the life of Tony, who forms part of a group of female-to-male transgendered people who call each other brothers. The film shows Tony’s road to self-acknowledgement, his troubles at work, his decision to undergo sex reassignment surgery and all the difficulties he encounters on his path.Xiaogang Wei was born and raised in Xinjiang, China. He was trained as an actor at the drama department of the Xinjiang Arts Institute in Urumqi and at the Shanghai Drama Academy. During recent years he started to engage himself on the production side of various film- and other productions benefiting different social movements in China. In 2007, he founded the LGBT webcast “Queer Comrades”, for which he hosted and directed more than 50 half-hour episodes. Since 2010, he’s the executive director of the NGO Beijing Gender Health Education Institute (BGHEI) which houses the webcast Queer Comrades. Founded in 2002, it constitutes one of the first Chinese NGOs to focus on issues of gender, sexuality and sexual health, thus fulfilling a pioneering role in Chinese society. Together with the BGHEI, he launched a series of groundbreaking events in China, including the China AIDS Walk, the China Rainbow Awards and the China LGBT Community Leader Conference. Xiaogang is the Co-curator of the Beijing Queer Film Festival and a board member of the Beijing LGBT Centre.