ROUNDTABLE: Queer Performance: Chances/Challenges/Chances
January 25, 18.00, Dramaqueer
The conceptual framework of Tanz im August comes to QueerFest with Brenda Dixon-Gottchild’s permission and the moderation of Gizem Aksu. Brenda Dixon-Gottchild presents a conceptual framework for three women choreographers from three different continents. In this discussion, we will focus on chance, conflict and transformation that lie in the interaction of the political, economical and socio-cultural aspects within the personal histories of the artists. The roundtable participants include Liad Hussein Kantorowics, with her film There Is No Democracy Herescreening in the Queer Documentaries category, Maria Dolores from Athens Queer Arts Museum, Hülya Dolaş from Dramaqueer and performance artist Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu.
TALK: QUEER WORKERS IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY SPEAK
January 25, 19.15, Kıraathane Istanbul Edebiyat Evi
A conversation with queer textile workers, titled “Queer Mensucat Inc.: Queer Workers in Textile Speak”, will follow the screening of the film Electric Body in the Under the Rainbow category. In this talk, discrimination against LGBTI+ people working in the labor-intensive textile industry will be discussed.
Short Selections
There are frame breaking productions in the Masculinities! Shorts Selection. Thomas Hakim, the director of Still Waiting will meet the QueerFest audience at a question-answer event. Still Waitingis a special story on the experiences, dreams and desires of Anton after Alexandre’s death. 13:00 Kıraathane İstanbul Edebiyat Evi
London based “Fringe! Queer Arts Festival” prepared the section entitled Fringe! Shorts Selection: You came in Like a Wrecking Ball. The section features innovative productions that explore the boundaries of cinematic expression. After the screening , Fringe! Queer Film & Art Festival programmer Muffin Hix will meet with the audience at a question-answer event. 15:00 Kıraathane İstanbul Edebiyat Evi
Mix Copenhagen Nordic Lights Short Selection by Mix Copenhagen LGBT Film Festival is prepared for this year’s QueerFest and features themes of body and prejudice. Andrea Coroma programmer of Mix Copenhagen LGBT Film Festival who prepared the selection will meet with the audience at question-answer event after the screening at the Tasarım Atölyesi Kadikoy. 13:00 Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy
Theresa Health, founder of Wotever DIY Film Festival, shares the selection of shorts at the intersection of queerness and Dis/ability with the title An Unashamed Claim to Beauty: Short Films at the Intersection of Queerness and Dis/ability. Following the screening of the selection at Tasarım Atölyesi Kadikoy, Health will join the question- answer event. 15:00 Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy
Queerness of Memories selection will introduce shorts questioning individual and collective memories on 15:00 at Fransız Kültür Merkezi
Queer Documentaries
Another interesting feature of the selection is a documentary Lunadigas or ‘Concerning Childfree Women, where the directors share their own stories as they discover the stories of women from a variety of different backgrounds, who can not or do not want to have children. After the screening of the film on 25th January at Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy, directors Nicoletta Nesler and Marilisa Piga and producer Susi Monzali will be with the audience for the question and answer event. 17:45 Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy
Kaliarnta, will be shown in memory of the LGBTI + activist Zak Kostopoulos, who was murdered in a mob lynching in Athens. The documentary focuses on the Greek queer slang known as Kaliarnta. The film screening will be followed by a talk with the director Paola Revenioti. 19:30, Kıraathane İstanbul Edebiyat Evi
Bixa Travesty won the TEDDY Best Documentary Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Witness the striking personality and dizzying world of Linn da Quebrada, a black trans performer and activist from the favelas of São Paulo. We recommend you not to miss the opportunity to meet with Quebrada who describes themself as a “gender terrorist”. Quebrada uses art and nudity as a radical tool to rebel against the heteronormative order. 21:00 Fransız Kültür Merkezi
cULT
The restored version of Buddies 1985 will be screened in the ‘cULT’ section today at Fransız Kültür Merkezi. Buddies has a special place in cinema history in terms of breaking down the prejudices about HIV positive people. 17:45 Fransız Kültür Merkezi
Queer Series
This year for Queer Series section, Mixed Messages, 2017 will be screened. The mini-series depicting a lesbian Londoner’s dating adventures in Berlin’s queer environments conveys the unsuccessful and sometimes unfortunate experiences of its hero who eventually realizes that they are looking for love in the wrong places. 16:30 Fransız Kültür Merkezi
Don’t forget to share your festival memories with the hashtags #ÇokGüzelsinYasakMısın and #URPrettyRUBanned