#queer documentary

About the documentary

Three men are expecting their first child. Kristopher, David, and Sindre, all in their early thirties.

Choosing Children: Launching the Lesbian Mom Boom was released in 1985. I was initially drawn to it because of the many different voices and approaches to motherhood. Lesbians choosing motherhood navigated social, political and legal hurdles around raising their families which were placed there by the very people who claim families are the cornerstone of society.

A clip of Achebe Betty Powell from the documentary Word Is Out: The Story of Our Lives (1977). Word Is out spliced the interviews of 26 queer people together and is a notable landmark in queer history. The documentary is 2 hours and 12 minutes long.

Powell was an activist with the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and what was originally called the National Gay (now LGBTQ) Task Force. Powell was the first Black lesbian to serve on the board of directors of the National Gay Task Force for several years and served as the director of the Kitchen Table Press.

When people talk about feminists ruining the Black community, they're including women like Achebe Betty Powell who were pioneers and visionaries who in the fight for human rights. These are not nameless faceless people or ideologies, they were human beings who actually existed and were working to make the world a better place.

This history is our history, too.

Στο ποιητικό ντοκιμαντέρ Avant-Drag! παρακολουθούμε τη ζωή δέκα drag performers από την Αθήνα, καθώς δημιουργούν τους δικούς τους προσωρινούς κόσμους ως καταφύγιο απέναντι σε μια εχθρική πραγματικότητα. Ερχόμαστε σε επαφή με μια νέα σκηνή που ανθίζει τα τελευταία χρόνια και ανακαλύπτουμε μέσα από αυτούς πώς η τέχνη του drag μπορεί να μεταμορφώσει την πραγματικότητα και να δημιουργήσει ασφαλείς χώρους για ανθρώπους που βρίσκονται στο περιθώριο της ελληνικής κοινωνίας.

Οι πρωταγωνιστές του Avant-Drag! θέτουν μια σειρά από ερωτήματα σχετικά με το φύλο, την εθνικότητα, τη θρησκεία και τη σεξουαλικότητα στο σύγχρονο ελληνικό πλαίσιο. Ακολουθώντας μια σπονδυλωτή δομή, το Avant-Drag! παρουσιάζει καλλιτέχνες με διαφορετικές έμφυλες ταυτότητες, υπόβαθρα και προσεγγίσεις στη ζωή, οι οποίοι όμως όλοι εκφράζουν τη δημιουργικότητά τους ως πολιτική πράξη. Διεκδικούν μια ισότιμη και ασφαλή ύπαρξη, ενώ παράλληλα εξερευνούν καινοτόμους τρόπους καλλιτεχνικής έκφρασης. Η ταινία κορυφώνεται με τη συνάντηση των συμμετεχόντων σε ένα δείπνο όπου διεξάγεται μια συζήτηση σχετικά με την τέχνη του drag, την ενσωμάτωση της queer εκπροσώπησης στο mainstream και τον αντίκτυπο της δολοφονίας της Αθηναίας drag queen Zackie Oh στην τοπική queer σκηνή.

Το Avant-Drag! σπάει τις συμβάσεις των queer/ταυτότητας ντοκιμαντέρ που συχνά υιοθετούν μια δημοσιογραφική/κινηματογραφικά απλή και απόμακρη, "αντικειμενική" προσέγγιση, δημιουργώντας αντ’ αυτού ένα σουρεαλιστικό κολάζ στο οποίο οι αφηγήσεις και οι εικόνες χτίζονται παράλληλα με τα ίδια τα θέματα που παρουσιάζονται. Μια κοινότητα μιλάει για τον εαυτό της χωρίς τη διαμεσολάβηση της ματιάς ενός εξωτερικού παρατηρητή.

Προγραμμα:

documentaries about trans people, starting in the year 1953. I don't speak to filmic quality or whether or not something is problematic, what matters here is simply the testimony and the stamp of existence (including in those where the subject matter is spoken about, rather than getting to speak for themselves)

(I haven't seen every one of these yet, so some of them have slightly shorter texts to go along with them)

while (as you'll see) most of these are US-based movies, they are from all over the world. I'd be curious about whether there are any focused specifically on the intersection of transness and disability, I don't personally know of any, although of many speak to issues with access to healthcare (for example southern comfort)

all the ones that have links connected to them are watchable for free

some of these can be watched for free on the archive, youtube, vimeo, many could do with a few coins thrown their way: many of the movies, for example the the aggressives can be rented on vimeo, transgender tuesdays is free on youtube but accepting donations for trans women of colour, lotus sports club is doing festivals currently and is accepting donations to support the team and the vulnerable trans (now men) who have had to leave it to find work, call her ganda is accepting donations to support the family's legal costs in bringing justice for their daughter

remember, finding the stories that have been graciously shared is one thing, supporting our community is the next step

Langa Pride

When I was doing a 6 month course at Bridges earlier on in the year, one of the facilitators, now homie approached me about a documentary about queer people in the townships. As someone who likes things, naturally I was intrigued.

What started off as a roundtable discussion about our experiences turned into us hosting the first pride kwaLanga and we shot this beautiful documentary.

We recently had an exhibition in Amsterdam to raise funds for the documentary and to host pride kwaLanga again next year.

You can find out more about us here: langapride.com