xart splitta Filmreihe 2014 – 2017


Beitragsbild Credits: Collage der Kurzfilme Queer Shorts (9. November 2016)


Wednesday, 6th of December, 19h
Short Film Program: Trans

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.

 

Queer Historical Mixtape – Part 1

Irina Contreras
2016, USA, video, color, sound, 18 min. Berlin Premiere

CLAVADO

Cristobal Guerra

2015, USA, video, color, sound, 3 min. Berlin Premiere

A piece featuring some poetry I wrote last year and visuals from my island Puerto Rico. “Clave” is an african beat that gave birth to most caribbean rhythms and it’s at the background of the whole piece, giving it some pace and reference. The piece was based on a conversation I was having with my young niece about our african heritage and they way it’s erased in our culture. – Cristobal Guerra

 

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

Guest curation from Pink Life QueerFest / Pembe Hayat KuirFest (Turkey) and discussion with Gizem Bayiksel
At: Radical Queer Trailerpark Kanal, Kiefholzstraße 74
A map for this venue: https://kanal.squat.net/?cat=11
language: the films are in turkish with english subtitles.
entrance by donation.
About Pink Life Queer Fest / Pembe Hayat KuirFest:
Pink Life QueerFest organized by Pink Life Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) Solidarity Association in Ankara, is the first queer festival in Turkey, happening since 2011. The 7th edition will be organized between 11-28 January, 2018. The festival aims to create new and fresh areas of (self-) expression of LGBTQI individuals and artists and to raise awareness on LGBTT struggle through the use of art; and it creates an opportunity for detailed discussions about Queer Theory. Although a film festival, Pink Life QueerFest is not only confined to the silver screen and tries to gather the most prominent examples of art works from literature to music, video art, theatre etc from all over the world.
About Gizem Bayiksel:
Gizem Bayiksel was born in Ankara in 1989. She has been working as a photographer and cinematographer in the film industry for over 5 years. Since 2012 she has also been working for numerous events and film festivals as a coordinator, programmer and film curator. Currently she is the festival coordinator and programmer of Pink Life QueerFest. Bayiksel’s personal interest in film and photography focuses on the female gaze and queer theory. She is currently living in Istanbul and working on her first feature film project, a sequel for her short “Child’s Play”, a lesbian couple’s story with Turkish politics on the background.
PROGRAM: (turkish translation is following)
CHILD’S PLAY
Turkey, 2014, color, 4’
DIRECTOR: Gizem Bayıksel
Becoming an adult begins with moving out from your parents’ house. While leaving the house, Derin hides an adult secret in the toy-box filled with her childhood memories. We step into adulthood sometimes voluntarily, or sometimes involuntarily and it gradually expands with inevitable confrontations.
LGBTI IN THE HOOD
Turkey, 2016, HD, color, 4’
DIRECTOR: Ada Ayşe İmamoğlu
LGBTI in the Hood is a short documentary reflecting the LGBTI community’s perspective on their neighborhoods. Every member of the community writes a story of resistance while trying to find a room in their cities and streets. In this film, Tolga will tell his own.
THE PATERNAL AUNT
Turkey, 2012, color, 20’
DIRECTOR: Veysel Akşahin
Having lost her parents, a homosexual woman returns to her village. ‘The Paternal Aunt’ explores the feelings of happiness, hopefulness, disappointment and loneliness she experiences back home.
MOIRA
Turkey, 2016, HD, color, 10′
DIRECTOR: Nilgün Küçükbatman
The photos of LGBTI+ activists who lost their lives in a traffic accident in September 2015 are shown to people who never knew them. These people are asked “What does the person you see in the photo do now?” The forms of reading/interpretation/evaluation of the photographs i.e. the image or the code of the image by these people constitute the film’s content. The film is based on a disclosure or criticism of opinion heading from the way of expression of social codes and image or the image itself.
Fragments Of A Roundtable: Pink Life Discusses Archiving
Turkey, 2016, HD, color, 5’
DIRECTOR: Esra Özban
One day Pink Life team gathers around a not-so-round-table and discusses ‘archives’. Beginning with discussing the definition of the term ‘archive’ itself, this not-so-round table discussion touches on many topics ranging from storing practices of the queer community, to the construction/destruction of archives, to archival sites as well as queer sites. These short fragments combine these topics with the team’s personal and collective memories.

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

彩虹伴我行-01

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

These short films use poetry and animation to create and imagine resistant re_presentations, words and expressions.
filmreihe_jan_2017
Poetisch und Animiert: Kurzfilm-Program
Mit Poesie und Animation gestalten diese Kurzfilme widerständige Re_präsentationen, Worte und Ausdrücke.
Film descriptions:
Sysiphos
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.
Lilly Lilly and Rufus
Rike Salow, english, 3 min
One day Rufus noticed a monster floating below the ceiling. Lilly wasn’t afraid but wanted to sleep…
Shift
Juan Carlos Zaldivar, 2012, USA, no words, 5:00
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
spuren legen_verwehen. a feminist video_poem
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.
Project/ed
Raju Rage, UK, 2015, 4min
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.
In formation
Zavé Martohardjono USA, 2008, 4min, English
A poetic exploration of the body’s history, of how it confronts the culture and language which limits it in ‘modern life’.
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.
Land
Lares Feliciano, USA, 2011, video, color, sound, 5:49
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?
Finding home
Celeste Chan, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 3:25
What histories do we inherit, and what do we need to create? This film is an unfinished question, an obsession
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.
Crossing the Lines
Natalie Migenda, Switzerland, 2009, 1:38, no dialogue
This video is an encouragement to be feminist and a plea for free choice what being a woman means.
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.

Mittwoch, 30. November 2016, 19Uhr | Wednesday, 30th of November, 7pm

filmreihe_juli_saragosa

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

A short-film-program with seven poetic, playful and moving films on queer_ing realities, encounters and more.
Ein Kurzfilmprogramm mit sieben poetischen, bewegenden und spielerischen Filmen zu queer_enden Wirklichkeiten, Begegnungen und mehr.

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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.

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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.

2 Spirit Introductory Special $19.99
Director/Writer/Producer, RED, 4:37, 2015
New to the 2 Spirit lifestyle? Want to talk to someone in the Spirit and the Flesh instead of reading The Spirit and the Flesh? We have just the service for you! Call now and for only 19.99 a month you can get instant unlimited telephone access to traditional knowledge and support. We also provide monthly gifts for subscribers, call now and we can hook you up with this beaded whisk! Perfect for DIY spankings and pancakes the morning after your first snag! Don’t hesitate, ring those phones!

http://www.thirzacuthand.com/


Thursday, 23. Juni 2016, 7pm | Donnerstag, 23. Juni 2016, 19:00

Papa Rainbow

Popo Fan, China, 2016, 80min, Mandarin with engl. Subtitles

彩虹伴我行-01

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)

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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

magic
Magic 女夭儿
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.

lost_found

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.

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Brothers
Directed by Yaoyao

The documentary “Brothers” takes you to the female-to-male transgender community in China, a community which endures hardships that are unfathomable to the majority of Chinese society.
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.

Donnerstag, 07.01.2016 19 Uhr | Thursday, 7th of january 2016

NO!The Rape Documentary

Dir. Aishah Shahidah Simmons, 2006, 94 minutes, engl. w/ engl. Subtitles

NO_documentary
NO! The Rape Documentary is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed, groundbreaking feature length film that addresses the international atrocity of heterosexual rape and other forms of sexual violence through the experiences of Black people in the United States. Now in its tenth year since its completion, this Ford Foundation-funded film features riveting testimonials from Black women rape survivors who defy victimization. Violence prevention advocates, theologians, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, and other leading Black scholars and human rights activists provide an interdisciplinary context with which to examine sexual violence in African-American communities. They also expose how rape is used as a weapon of homophobia. Impacting archival footage, spirited music, transformational dance, and performances from award-winning poets take viewers on a journey from enslavement of African people in the United States through present day.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian documentary filmmaker, writer, international lecturer and activist based in Philadelphia, PA. An incest and rape survivor, Aishah spent eleven years, seven of which were full time, to make NO!.


Sonntag, 13. Dezember | Sunday, 13h of december

Dal Puri Diaspora

Dir. Richard Fung | Canada | 2012 | 80 min |  engl. ohne untertitel
Award winning documentary shot in Toronto, Trinidad and India follows the remarkable journey through time and space of this iconic receipe, lining colonialism, migration and the globalisation of tastes. From the home fires of India on the plains around the Ganges dal puri travelled with indentured workers to southern Caribbean colonies of
the British and Dutch Empires, to Trinidad, though to the USA changing ingredients and identity along the way. A testament to the power of sound, smell and taste to evoke memories…

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Sunday, 22nd of november

Guest Curation by Filmouflage: la última ronda

Filmouflage is a DIY film screening project that supports the exchange of short films and video art between Colombia and Berlin, aiming to break borders and communicate audiovisual producers/artists with new audiences. This is the screening of an exchange.

More infos about filmouflage: click here and on facebook: click

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Soli-donations for Filmouflage.

All films in castellano with english subtitles.

Program:

Semáforo
by Simon Wilches – 3’ Animation
Synopsis: Under the three lights of a Colombian stoplight a beautiful circus act becomes a terrifying freak show
Bajo las tres luces de un semaforo colombiano un acto de circo se convierte en un freak show.

Ombligados
by Juan Camilo García, Juan Manuel Vasquez – 8’
Synopsis: In Jurubirá, a small fisher town in the colombian pacific coast, there is a ritual, which gives the newborns powers through the mystic curation of the belly button .
A piece of the baby’s belly button is planted on the roots of a tree and allows the inhabitants of this community to keep these magical virtues for life as well as a deep conection with their territory. This is a short documentary which celebrates the proudness and the feeling of belonging to the therritoty from the obligor tradition.
En Jurubirá, un pequeño pueblo de pescadores en la costa pacífica colombiana, se otorga poderes a los recién nacidos por medio de una curación mística a través del ombligo. Esto, acompañado de la siembra del trozo de cordón umbilical en la raíz de un árbol, permite que los habitantes de esta zona mantengan virtudes mágicas por el resto de sus vidas y una hermandad profunda con su tierra. Un corto-documental que celebra el orgullo y el sentido de pertenencia representados en la tradición de obligar.

Manuel un pedazo de felicidad
by Rigoberto Mendoza -15’
Synopsis:Manuel is very clever and able to face difficult situations caused by adults in his village. This innocent but naughty kid with delusions of an adult man will be responsible for changing the lives of people from his small village without them noticing it.
Manuel es un niño muy inteligente que tiene que enfrentar situaciones difíciles causadas por los adultos en su pueblo. Este niño inocente, pero travieso con ilusión de ser un hombre adulto es el responsable de cambiar la vida de los habitantes de su pueblo.

Los retratos
by Iván D. Ganoa – 14’
Synopsis: Is sunday and the farmer market takes place in town where Paulina, the grandmother, wants to find that she can’t afford to cook for her husband. She accidentally wins a Polaroid camera at a raffle and when she returns home she asks her husband to take pictures of their lives and themselves.
Es domingo de mercado campesino y la abuela Paulina quiere prepararle gallina criolla a su esposo, pero el dinero no le alcanza. Sin quererlo gana en el mercado una cámara Polaroid en una rifa, así que le propone a su esposo tomarse fotos de sus vidas y de ellos mismos. El rollo de la cámara se acaba y el hambre de gallina persiste!

Abelianas
by Miguel Jara – 4’ Animation
Synopsis: Abelianas is an animal tractatus of violence, catastrophe and movement, of trace and color contrast. Abelianas is a tribute to the archetypal image of Abel, Cain’s brother, that in such a sense represent observation and the listening of the intern animal call. The sensational experience of the overwhelming wildness of nature.
Abelianas es un tractatus de violencia, catastrofe y movimiento, de contraste de trazos y color. Abelianas es un tributo a la representación arquetípica de la imagen de Abel, el hermano de Cain, que en este sentido representa la observación y la escucha del llamado de su animal interior. La abrumadora experiencia de sensaciones de la naturaleza salvaje.

Simplicio
by Lina Rosas – 5’
Synopsis: Cecilia goes to churc. During her confession she blames herself for the death of her son, but the religious rite takes another course as she relives a past that the priest has buried years ago. As roles are reversed they fight around thedichotomy between faith and emotions.
Cecilia va a la iglesia. Durante su confesión ella se acusa así misma por la muerte de su hijo, pero la experiencia religiosa toma otro giro cuando ella revive el pasado que el párroco ha enterrado años atrás. Cuando los roles se invierten pelean al rededor de la dicotomía entre fe y emociones.

La ruta Natural
by Andres Huertas – 3′ Animation
Synopsis: Animation about children’s path in Colombia and how they are lead to participate in the war.
Animación sobre el sendero de los niños en colombia y como son llevados a hacer parte de la guerra.

Soy Negra, Soy Marica, Soy Puta
by Cas van der Pas & Hugo Meijer -21’
Synopisis: A courageous transwoman in Colombia combines prostitution, human rights activism and her career as a lawyer to change the world around her into a better one.
Una valiente mujer trans* en Colombia combina la prostitución, el activismo en el campo de derechos humanos y su carrera como abogada para cambiar el mundo alrededor de ella por un mundo mejor.


Domingo, 25 de Outubro, 19:00 horas | Sonntag, 25. Okt., 19:00

Guest Curation: „City of God – 10 years later“ // Cidade de Deus- 10 anos depois

Cavi Borges & Luciano Vidigal, Brazil, 2013, 75min, brazilian portuguese OV with engl. subs. // português-brasileiro com legendas em inglês

city of god_1

CITY OF GOD – 10 YEARS LATER investigates the fate of the actors who participated in the award winning film directed by Fernando Meirelles in 2002- „City of god“. This documentary shows the different results and impact the film had on the lives of the actors as well as in the community. It reveals how much they got paid and explores their current jobs, among other topics.

CIDADE DE DEUS- 10 ANOS DEPOIS investiga o destino dxs atorxs que participaram do premiado filme de Fernando Meirelles „Cidade de Deus“ em 2002. Esse documentário mostra os diferentes impactos que o filme teve na vida dxs atorxs bem como na comunidade onde eles se inserem. É revelado ainda quanto eles elxs foram pagxs, como se encontra sua(s) situacação(s) atual(is) entre outros tópicos.

Followed by an Q&A (German-Portuguese) – A exibição do filme será seguida de um bate-papo em alemao/português
SOLI to „Projeto Reaja“ – SOLI para „Projeto Reaja“ 
Reaja is a Pan Africanist organization of transnational fight against racism, neo colonialism and the genocide of black people. Acting in favelas and prisons, supporting families of victims and victims of white supremacy. – Campanha Reaja é uma organização panafricanista de luta transnacional contra o racismo, o neo-colonialismo e o genocídio do povo negro. Atuando em vilas, favelas e presídios apoiando familiares de vítimas e vitímas do supremacismo branco.

Special thanks to: Sidney Martins from „cinemanegro Filmproduktion GmbH“ – Agradecimentos especiais: Sidney Martins- „cinemanegro Filmproduktion GmbH“


Sunday, September 27th, 7pm | Sonntag, 27. Sept, 19:00

Guest Curation: Queer Rebels – ANCIENT FUTURE. 

Queer and trans people of color experimental films. Total run time: 55 minutes

 

ANCIENT FUTURE: From a queer apocalyptic land, to a 70 year-old bodybuilder, to a young girl fleeing Iran at night, what does our collective future/freedom look like?ANCIENT FUTURE is irreverent, rejecting exotification – and paying homage to the wisdom of our ancestors and homelands. ANCIENT FUTURE – we claim it queer with these cosmic creations.

About Queer Rebels: Artists KB Boyce and Celeste Chan founded Queer Rebels in 2008. Their vision: break down doors for queer/trans artists of color, connect generations, and honor our histories with art for the future. www.queerrebels.com and www.facebook.com/QRProductions

Program below!

filreihe september 2015

Program:

Desert Lullabies (Monely Soltani, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 15:00, UK premiere). One magical full moon night, Tara and her mother must flee Iran through the desert, in search of freedom, and with hope for a more liberated life but first, they must let go, unite and let the knowledge of their ancestors guide them.

Keep it in, Keep it out (Wizard Apprentice, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 2:00, UK premiere). “There’s so many realities….to navigate at any given moment.” “Keep it In, Keep it out” is the title track from Wizard Apprentice’s newest album due to be released in Fall/Winter of 2014.

Land (Lares Feliciano, USA, 2011, video, color, sound, 5:49, UK premiere). 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?

Words of Sonny (MOON RAY RA/KB Boyce, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 3:25, UK premiere). “People have the misconception that age makes you old,” says Sonny, a 70 year-old African American bodybuilder. Set to an experimental sound track, this film is a meditation on aging and mortality.

Finding home (Celeste Chan, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 3:25, UK premiere). What histories do we inherit, and what do we need to create? This film is an unfinished question, an obsession.

We Come from Earth, We Come from Space (Black Salt Collective, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 8:37, UK premiere). Black Salt Collective is the work of Sarah Sass Biscarra-Dilley, Anna Luisa Petrisko, Grace Rosario Perkins, and Adee Roberson. Black Salt embodies cultural and contemporary narratives. The work is cultural, but not “cultural” in the anthropological sense of the word, as cultural art is often seen through a Western lens. Black Salt calls on ancestral and embodied knowledge with the intention of creating a vibrant future in which complex identities can coexist. Originally a performance component, “We Come from Earth, We Come from Space” features footage from six hours of tape filmed on location throughout the Southwest and the homesites of one member. Black Salt Collective’s upcoming web based project will use non-linear and experimental narratives to create a working archive exploring themes such as creation stories, language, memory, and ritual. Music by Mother Popcorn and Jeepneys.

Molten Tea (Laura Kim, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 3:30, UK premiere). A cosmic romance uncharted as the infinity of the universe:
“I set the controls for the heart of the universe,
You broke down near a shanty town…”

ABSENCE: no fats, no femmes, no Asians (Celeste Chan, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 7:17, UK premiere). An experimental documentary contemplating race/racism, queerness, fat, femininity, and belonging, ABSENCE is a fiercely honest quest—for community, for visibility, for that queer fat API femme utopia.

We are Mangos (Jeepneys and Low Leaf, USA, 2014, video, color, sound, 4:22, UK premiere).  Jeepneys and Low Leaf, cosmic parrot sisters of the infinince, forever frolicking upon the nebular fields of the many dimensions we inhabit, intersect heartminds and find a universe of creatures. Together they dance joyfully between the folds of space and time. Low Leaf, an eternally expansive being, Earth’s beloved fairy swung from a crescent moon, beacon of divine ancestoric light force! As she climbs the palm tree of divine destiny she meets Jeepneys on the other side. Jeepneys, the alien bird mestiza, whose laughter creates stars across a void. Eyeing each other through the pyramid of palms, they see that they have been together since before the beginning of time. WE DO NoT PLACE ANY HIERARCHY TO TIME NOR SPACE NOR FLESH. OUR GARDENS LIVE ON METEORS AND MOONS. WE GIVE BIRTH TO UNIVERSES AND THEY GIVE BIRTH TO US.


Sunday, 19. Juli 2015, 7pm

Kumu Hina

filmstill aus dem film kumu hina

Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson; Hawai’i; 77min; English with engl. Subtitles

Kumu Hina is a powerful feature documentary about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized society of modern day Hawaiʻi. It is told through the lens of an extraordinary Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident māhū, or transgender woman, and an honored and respected kumu, or teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader. During a momentous year in her life in modern Honolulu, Hina Wong-Kalu,uses traditional culture to inspire a student to claim their place as leader of the school’s all-male hula troupe.

(filmdescription by filmmaker – filmbeschreibung vom filmemacher)


Sunday, 21. Juni 2015, 7pm

filmstill aus dem film

Mama Rainbow by Popo Fan

With the filmmaker present
Entrance by donation. 0€ – 10€ for the travel costs of the filmmaker

Mama Rainbow

Popo Fan, China, 2012, 80min, Mandarin with engl. subs

For many parents, finding out that their kid is gay usually presents a major tragedy, with the big majority utterly unable to accept the homosexuality of their son or daughter. During recent years a fresh rainbow wind has been blowing over the Chinese mainland: a pioneer generation of Chinese parents has been stepping up and speaking out on their love for their gay kids.
This documentary features 6 mothers from all over China, who talk openly and freely about their experiences with their homosexual children. With their love, they are giving a whole new definition to Chinese-style family bonds.
After the film the director Popo Fan will be available for Q&A
(Filmdescription by the filmmaker)


Sunday, 31. May 2015, 7pm

image may2015
Work in Progress: Identity, Community and (Self) Love
A Short Film Program – Ein Kurzfilmprogram
Soli für/ for CuTie.B.POC Festival Berlin

In formation
Zavé Martohardjono USA,2008, 4min, English
A poetic exploration of the body’s history, of how it confronts the culture and language which limits it in ‘modern life’.

The Homecoming
Carine Parola, France, 2011, 9min, French with English Subtitles
Just as in a “Homecoming”, the three trans protagonists of this film find their identity, which was always theirs in spite of the conditions and the glances of the others. A reflection on the relation to oneself and the relation to others.

Crossing the Lines
Natalie Migenda, Switzerland, 2009, 1:38, no dialogue
This video is an encouragement to be feminist and a plea for free choice what being a woman means.

Project/ed
Raju Rage, UK, 2015, 4min
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.

Felicia
Tim O’Hara USA, 2008, 8min, English
This short film shows one of San Francisco’s most loved transwomen: Felicia Elizondo and her life as a single senior.

Mind If I Call You Sir?
Mary Guzman USA, 2004, 34min, English

Mind If I Call You Sir? looks into lives of Latina butches and FTM Latinos, with a discussion that seeks to find the places to come together.

Filmdescriptions mostly from the filmmakers

Sunday, 26. April 2015, 7pm

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BE A WOMAN

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Fan Popo, China, 2011, 84min, Mandarin with english Subtitles

BE A WOMAN focuses on the daily ins and outs of the “Only Love” bar in Nanning, a city in the south-western Guangxi province. It delves into personal stories behind the flashy costumes, glamorous accessories, dazzling stage sets, and sensual dancing. Director Fan follows four performers over a span of three years to depict a touching and realistic perspective beyond the glamour, giving insights into their lifestyles as well as their hopes, joy, and pain. “Be A Woman” offers an original, intriguing and important perspective on a population rarely heard and seen in mainstream reports on China, and is a poignant commentary on life, love, exclusion, and minority questions more broadly in the country. “Be A Woman” has been screened at numerous international film festivals in the last years and received much critical acclaim.

(Filmdescription from the filmmaker | Filmbeschreibung von Filmemacher)


Sunday, 8. March 2015, 7pm | Sonntag, 8. März,19:00

DurchGaertenTanzen_DVDcover

DANCING THROUGH GARDENS

art_documentary_feature film by Oxana Chi & Layla Zami (present)
Germany/ Indonesia/ France, 2014, 140 Min, deutsch with engl. Subtitles

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The dance_music_performance “Durch Gärten” (Through Gardens) is a contemporary femmage by Oxana Chi to the chinese-jewish-latvian dancer Tatjana Barbakoff, who is barely represented in today’s art-historiography. This film shows Oxana’s travel, following the story of Tatjana from the Verborgenes Museum, Berlin to theatres in Paris. Behind the camera is mostly Oxana’s partner Layla Zami, who shows Oxana on and behind stages, in public and private moments.

This unconventional narration interwaves history, present and future. It blurrs the lines between documentary and fiction.
Filmbeschreibung von den Filmemacher_innen | Filmdescription by the filmmakers


Sunday, 22. February 2015, 7pm

Every month is Black History Month!

A short film programme
Entrance by donation. 0€ ­ 10€

negra soy - they shout at me black

Negra Soy – ­ They shout at me black!

Alexia Apolinario Figueras and AnouchK Ibacka Valiente

This short film is a performance of the poem of Victoria Santa Cruz Negra Soy. Through this short film the filmmakers aim to make a femmage to the poem and the poet itself.

 

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»Mein Viertel 100«

Juli(a) Rivera, 35 min, (2010), deutsch with engl. Subtitles

»My Quarter 100 ­ 25. national meeting of Black People in Germany« is a subjective short film, which follows the question how the Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD Bund e.V.) organizes and what stands behind their annual meeting.

 

 

red_lips_klein

Red Lips ­ (cages for black girls)

Kyisha Williams Canada, 2010, 10min

This film begins to explore black/ racialized/ criminalized/ queer/ trans/ identity and its relationship with the prison industrial complex. it articulates links between interpersonal and systemic violence­ while celebrating the ways in which we survive and celebrate ourselves. (description by the film makers)


Sunday, Jan. 25th 2015, 7pm

By Hook or by Crook

Screen Shot 2014-11-26 at 22.20.33Harry Dodge and Silas Howard, USA, 2001, 96min, english

BY HOOK OR BY CROOK is an emotionally gripping and ultimately transformative buddy film that chronicles three weeks in the life of a handsome, small-town dishwasher with a nagging messiah-complex. Defeated since the death of their father, Shy (Silas Howard) heads to the big city to sink themself into a “life of crime”. Shy is quickly distracted by Valentine (Harry Dodge), a deliriously expressive, wise-acre adoptee on a misguided search for their birthmother. The two grifters join forces and learn the true meaning of “poise under pressure” in a visually stunning anti-authoritarian tale of friendship, trust and redemption.

Shy and Valentine live in and around this world with the intimacy of insiders, as well as the wariness of those who have been relegated to the outside. With acutely unique stories and styles, this film deftly circumvents stereotype and posturing and rises to the task of portraying gorgeous human intricacy, with incisive, self-reflective wit and generosity. (film description from the filmmakers)


Filmscreening in cooperation with
Network non-discriminatory Communities (Diskriminierungsfreie Szenen für alle)

exceptionally on Sunday, Dec. 14th 2014, 7pm

Entrance by donation. Soli in support of refugee struggles. 0€ – 10€

Freeugee Movement – The Calling !

Till Egen, Berlin, 2014, English, 4min
Right now there is an undeniable urgency in recognising the worsening situation for Refugees around Europe, especially in Berlin. Throughout the struggles the Freeugee Movement came together as a form of musical resistance.

(In)visible

Miles Rutendo Tanhira, 2014, English, Sweden
(In)visible is a journey through the lives of LGBTQ newcomers in Sweden. Their experiences are often not talked about in wider society and in this film, they are reclaiming space and speaking up. These stories show a microcosm of the encounters of LGBTQ refugees with Swedish establishment officers in municipalities, employment agencies, schools and LGBTQ spaces.

Wir wollen nicht euer Mitleid, wir möchten eure Solidarität

Feminist Meeting, Germany, 2010, 42, deutsch/ english, german sub.
This film shows the living situations of female migrants in the german camp system.


Montag, 24. November 2014, 19:00 | Monday, November 24th, 7pm
Berliner Filmemacher_innen | Berlin Filmmakers

Entrance by donation. Soli to support the refugee struggles in Berlin.
An evening with five short films from filmmakers, based in Berlin.

Happy Profiling

Wassan Ali, Germany, 2012, 4:13, english / deutsche Untertitel
‘Happy Profiling’ is an answer to letters and emails I got from the Postbank in 2010. The film is about ‘terrorist lists’ and about how arbitrary security measurements affect people based on what name they have. Not only are people put on ‘terrorist lists’ without being heard in a fair trial beforehand, but also people who have names similar to those on terrorist lists’ are subjected to security measurements. The film wishes to bring forward a discussion on the legality of ‘terrorist lists’, and opposes that names are becoming inherently suspicious.

Finding a Place to Sleep

Juli Saragosa
, 2013, 7:13min Germany; english u. ukrainian/ deutsche Untertitel
Based on stories my grandmother told me, I re-imagine while working as a cleaner the experiences of my ancestors during the Holodomor (forced famine) in Ukraine during the Stalinist-Soviet era. The „film“ image is re-invented through digital video to enact a sense of ambiguity between authenticity and fiction, as can also be present in the act of oral storytelling. This is one chapter in “Stories for a Future Generation,” a series of shorts which together tell the stories of my family’s and my own migrations, and the inter-generational impacts of those upon our lives and on those of our family’s future generations.

spuren legen_verwehen. a feminist video_poem

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.

Jan’s Body

Jasco Viefhues, 
Germany, 2012, 30min, deutsch / english subtitles
Thomas comes to Berlin to collect the ashes of his son Jan, who died in an accident. He dissolves Jan’s flat – the flat of a person whom he didn’t know anymore for a long time. During Jan’s lifetime they weren’t close anymore and in the beginning everything seems new and alien. He is following the steps of Jan and slips more and more into Jan’s skin, meets his friends and starts to understand him and discover new sides of himself.

Fragments of Ava

Zara Zandieh, Germany, 2012, 12:24, deutsch / english subtitles
Ava wakes up and rushes to her job, where she encounters an unexpected customer. A film about a woman, a sex worker and an (almost) ordinary working day.


Monday, October 13th 2014, 7pm

Chuppan Chupai (Urdu, Punjabi/ engl. subtitles)

Soli for Aks Film & Dialogue Festival, Pakistan. A Transgender Festival.

Chuppan Chupai (Hide and Seek)
Saadat Munir and Saad Khan, Pakistan/ Denmark, 2013, 68min, Urdu, Punjabi/ engl. subtitles
A debut film by Saad Khan and Saadat Munir. The film features four individuals and focuses on their internal conflicts and their constant play of ‘hide and seek’ from the mainstream population in the urban areas of Pakistan. We follow Jenny, a transgender college student who recently underwent surgery. Kami, a fearless cross-dressing gay dancer, who openly lives with his boyfriend, Waseem, an effeminate wedding entertainer and a veteran dancing boy, and Neeli who played a huge part when the supreme court in Pakistan changed the constitution in favor of the ‘third gender’. (Film description from film makers)

To find out more about the upcoming Aks Film & Dialogue festival, Pakistan:
www.aksfestival.com | Facebook.com/aksfestival
To support the festival with online donations:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/aks-film-dialogue-festival-pakistan/x/8423286


Monday, September 15th 2014, 7pm (please come in time)

trans_gressing sanity

A short-film programme with 12 films around “mental health”, madness, (psycho)pathologization, self-care and friendships.

This program has been realised with the support of entzaubert diy filmfestival. http://entzaubert.blogsport.de

Door opens at 6:45pm. Seats are limited.
Entrance by donation: 0€ – 10€

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Lilly

Natalie Migenda and Rike Salow, english, 2min
Lilly is a young woman that wears a blue raincoat and lives in a street with no end. There´s a lot of traffic and everything seams to be as it had ever been – but it isn´t.

Boi Oh Boi

Thirza Cuthand, 2012, Canada, english, 9:15
After a long period in life identifying as a Butch Lesbian, Cuthand considers transitioning to male. Shot partially on location in Hamburg, Germany, riding back and forth on the subway is a metaphor for her eventual acceptance of fluctuating between a masculine and a feminine gender.

Shift

Juan Carlos Zaldivar, 2012, USA, no words, 5:00
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.

Unkempt

Laura Ralph, Canada, 2003, 14min, english
“Unkempt” pieces together bits of the story of puppet who winds up certified in the psychiatric ward. The piece is very D.I.Y. using cut up dolls as the actors…

Lilly and Rufus

Rike Salow, english, 3 min
One day Rufus noticed a monster floating below the ceiling.
Lilly wasn´t afraid but wanted to sleep…

The hysterical body

Carolina Soares, 2011, Portugal, french, english, spanish subtitles, 6:06
Images are stolen from western visual culture’s scholar mainstream to establish an associative rela- tion between the myth of Pygmaleon and Galatea – the sculptor whose statue becomes alive and then he wants to keep her – and the representation of a female body by a male perspective. The editing is divided in five different parts, each one for the five states of hysteria that Jean-Martin Charcot invented: Appeal, Threat, Supplication, Erotism and Ecstasy.

An exploration of my Schizophrenia

Sophie Norman, 2013, Scotland, english mit deutschen Untertiteln
An in-depth analysis of the filmmaker’s schizophrenia: she attempts to conquer her fears and climb the Glasgow Necropolis.

Psychic Capital

Jess MacCormac & Rae Spoon USA, 2009, 15min, english
An experimental animation exploring how identity development is informed (and sometimes controlled) by psychiatry’s relationship with capitalism and its broader political objectives.

Sysiphos

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.

Sight

Thirza Cuthand, Canada, 2012, 3:33, english
A meditation on the connections between blindness and mental health and the fragility of ability in us all.

Galore: Investing in the Trivial

Brescia Nember Reid, Canada, 2011, 12:00, english/ english subtitles
Genderqueer Kelka and Mave explore a series of different topics: Relationships, anxiety, depression, isolation, friendship and support, dreams, mortality, and love. They wonder: Is everything pointless or is life in its temporariness splendorous? A 10 min explosion of stop- motion galore!

Lilly and Matti

Rike Salow, 3 min, english
One day Lilly got mail. It was a postcard from her uncle Matti. ” Come, visite me in Finland!” it said. She was enthused about it. Never in her life had she gone on such a far journey….


Monday, August 4th 2014, 7pm

Discussion after the film with one of the directors
Door opens at 6:45pm. Please come in time, as we only have limited space. The space is wheelchair accessible with assistance. Contact us if you have questions.
Entrance by donation: 0€ – 10€. Soli for „Projeto Esperança“ supporting travestis/ Trans people with HIV

Trans*lucidx

Tamíris Spinelli
2013, Brazil, Brazilian Portuguese, engl. Subtitles, 10min, 
deutsche Flüsterübersetzung, oder Transkript erhältlich
From self documentary images made by trans* people and posted online, this cinematography essay seeks to expand the look upon their bodies, focusing on the subjectivities that transform the matter body.

Bombadeira

Luis Carlos de Alencar
2007, Brazil, Brazilian Portuguese, engl. Subtitles/ deutsche Untertitel, 75min,
Bombadeiras is how the travestis / trans women are called, who transform their customers bodies with illegal silicone applications. This documentary follows the journey of a group of travestis / trans women in their daily lives and the problems of construction of gender identity, racism and social segregation which circumscribe their realities.


Monday, 14th July 2014

Door opens at 6:45pm. Seats are limited.
With a discussion with Filiz Demirova, http://derparia.wordpress.com
Entrance by donation: 0€ – 10€Juli Bild

VERMÄCHTNIS. LEGACY

Marika Schmiedt, Österreich, 2011, 42min, deutsch with english subtitles

The work VERMÄCHTNIS.LEGACY (2009–2011) is devoted to artist Ceija Stojka and her offspring. Stojka is a Roma woman painter, musician, and writer from Austria, one of the few survivors of the mass murders on Sinti and Roma in the concentration camps. Her fear is kept alive by her memories of a gruesome childhood in the deathcamp and the raising persecution of Roma in Europa. She passed this fear on to her children and grandchildren – together with her love for life.
http://marikaschmiedt.wordpress.com/

Rethinking Visibility

Era Trammer, Deutschland/ Ungarn, 2011, 34 min, 
deutsch/ungarisch mit deutschen Untertiteln (english whisper translation possible)

How could a nuanced perception of Sinti and Roma by society beyond stereotypical images be created? What culture-political function can art have in this process? Three artists and one curator give insights into the contemporary artistic and cultural theory and practices of Sinti and Roma and the way arts can influence representation, identity politics and resistance.


June 16th 2014

U People

Hanifah Walidah & Olive Demetrius, USA, 2006, 76min

U People is an incidental documentary exploring issues of ethnicity, gender identification, family, arts and activism in contemporary Black queer women’s and trans communities. The first ‘rockumentary’ of its kind, U People brings viewers behind the scenes of a not­ so­typical music video shoot for out Black lesbian artist Hanifah Walidah’s single “Make A Move,”. Directed by Hanifah Walidah and Olive Demetrius, the film was made from the 20 hours of downtime footage consisting of an unprecedented cast and crew of thirty queer women, straight women and transpeople of Color between the ages of 25 and 40 living in New York City. What the camera caught introduces hilarious, heartbreaking, candid and very human voices of young queer women and transpeople of Color into discussions of gender, race and humanity. (description from the filmmakers: http://suckaforlife.wix.com/hanifahwalidah)

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