Summer 2019

I’ve been reading adrienne maree brown’s PLEASURE ACTIVISM and I’m hooked.  Here’s a quote from the introduction:  What is Pleasure Activism? Pleasure is a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental reform or stasis with the desire to make improvements in society.  Pleasure activism is the work we do to reclaim our whole, happy, and satisfiable selves from the impacts, delusions, and limitations of oppression and/or supremacy.

And here is what I did for pleasure this weekend! I played in the queer soccer league’s 30th anniversary tournament. I scored two goals!  I have always hoped that my movies could be about serious topics, but presented in a lighthearted and accessible way.  In these murderous times, I often feel like I am doing my cultural work wrong because I use joy/humor. Brown’s book restored some confidence that had been slipping since my days of close contact  with Dr. Joni Omi Jones and Sharon Bridgforth, my mentors and teachers at The Austin Project.

The Golden Girls soccer team for the tournament.
Fear The Golden Girls!

 

 

Drew Adair, founder of Falcons Soccer
Drew Adair, founder of the Philadelphia Falcons

 

 

 

 

 

Drew Adair began the Philadelphia Falcons Soccer League as a way for gay men to play competitive recreational soccer, and to reclaim the joy of their bodies during the height of the AIDS crisis.  He kept it going uninterrupted for years through sheer force of will.  I have so much respect for him. Thank you, Drew.

 

And now to showbiz news….

MY AUNT MAME will be shown this week:  May 30th at the Bechdel Film Festival in Akron, Ohio is showing My Aunt Mame.  I am proud to be in a Bechdel festival, and the movie certainly passes the test of centering women’s interactions. I am happy that it is showing right before pride month, as it is about unsung/unknown queer ancestors.  Philadelphia’s pride march chose Ed Rendell as a grand marshall.  The courageous actions by Black trans/queer/GNC people at Stonewall in 1969 deserve respect.  I’m sickened yet not surprised that Philadelphia’s District Attorney while the MOVE house was bombed, who went on as governor to double the number of prisoners/prisons will be honored. Some people just don’t understand that the state and the modern-day enslavement system (prisons) are the biggest predators of trans/GNC/queer/Black/POC/poor people and women. Argh!

Also, I have been re-editing the short I made about 10 (yikes) years ago about a hospitalization in mental health facility, and how gender non-conformity can be pathologized.

After the Bechdel Film Festival, here’s what’s up:

June 6, 2019
MY AUNT MAME is screening at the at Curzon Soho, in the QueerBee Identity programme  at 6.30pm.

June 20, 2019
MY AUNT MAME will be shown at 7:30pm at the Splice Film Festival being held at the Film Noir Cinema in Brooklyn.  This film is included in the “Comedy, Animation, Documentary” program.

June 22, 2019
I Am/YaliniDream  will be shown at the Splice Film Festival at the Film Noir Cinema in Brooklyn. This collaborative film will screen in the “Video Art & Erotica” program at 7:30pm.

Lately I’ve directed my attention to supporting Ayanna Ife get her Afro-futurist film project off the ground.  She’s working on the screenplay, but has the whole story ready to go in her head.  Because she is blind (and Black and queer), writing the screenplay is even more of a challenge than it is for sighted people.  She needs a piece of equipment that will help her write and edit.  You can support her work via her Patreon:  Ayanna Ife is creating poetry, music, essays, and audio/video content.

And here is a video of her talking about the project and encouraging people to support it.

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May – June 2019

What a great spring and summer 2019 is shaping up to be.  I am humbled and proud that the cultural work my friends and I are producing is getting seen by wider audiences.  Please support film festivals, they are a great place to build community and have your batteries recharged for the social justice work we continue to do.

May 11, 2019
FOUR BILLION REASONS will be shown at 16:45 at the Woodhouse Community Centre at the Leeds Queer Film Festival!
This festival initially had to be rescheduled, but the queers of Leeds are back to finish what they started. Relaunch Event!  “We’re really touched by all the love and support so can’t wait to spend four days in a cozy queer utopia at Woodhouse Community Centre.”

May 13, 2019
MY AUNT MAME will screen at 7:00pm as part of Floyd Marshall Jr.’s The Film Collective.‘s last local film night at the South Street Cinema in Philadelphia.

May 15, 2019
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK  4:00pm Thrilled to announce that the collaborative film by Patricia Silva and me will be shown in the Workers Unite Film Festival.  Our movie is screening with THE WASHING SOCIETY and DIVISION AVE at the Cinema Village 22 East 12th Street NY, NY

May 30, 2019
MY AUNT MAME was selected for the Bechdel Fest in Akron, Ohio.  This film screens in Shorts Program #4, at the Akron Art Museum.

June 6, 2019
MY AUNT MAME is screening at the at Curzon Soho, in the QueerBee Identity programme  at 6.30pm.

June 20, 2019
MY AUNT MAME will be shown at 7:30pm at the Splice Film Festival being held at the Film Noir Cinema in Brooklyn.  This film is included in the “Comedy, Animation, Documentary” program.

June 22, 2019
I Am/YaliniDream  will be shown at the Splice Film Festival at the Film Noir Cinema in Brooklyn. This collaborative film will screen in the “Video Art & Erotica” program at 7:30pm.

Updated March – May 2019

One of the best things about this spring’s showings are that the films are being shown at events that are not specifically for queer audiences (Beyond Earth, Stony Brook University, PopUp Anthology, Indie Meme, Workers Unite Film Fest, Bechdel Film Festival and Splice Film Festival).  This gives me the opportunity to talk about accessibility, class, and queerness to a broader range of audiences, which is what I’ve always wanted to do.  One day I will show my movies at a sports bar!
Here is an updated listing of what’s showing where.

March 23, 2019
I DREAM/ YALINIDREAM was selected for the Beyond Earth Film Festival at Club Eco Vista New Town, Action Area II, Kolkata India.  This was the film’s World Premiere.

March 28, 2019
MY AUNT MAME will be shown at qFLIX Philadelphia on Thursday,  March 28,  7:30 PM  @  Connelly Auditorium.

Ayanna Ife at qFlix Philly
Lisa Dietrich of WGSS Stony Brook

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 5, 2019 I will be presenting some of my films at the 2019 Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Graduate Conference
“Asking for a Friend (of Dorothy): What to Expect When You’re Expecting The End of the World”.

Wicked Queer Boston 2019 GTFO Program

April 7, 2019
My Aunt Mame will show at the Wicked Queer Film Festival at the Paramount Center in Boston, Mass. Here’s the trailer.

Friday, April 19
MY AUNT MAME will be shown in the Local Animation showcase at the PopUp Anthology held at ArtWorks in Trenton, NJ.

April 27, 2019
IndyMeme Film Festival in Austin, TX will host the US Premiere of the film version of I DREAM / YALINIDREAM, which was originally created for Sharon Bridgforth’s RIVER SEE theatrical installation. This event will be held at AFS Cinema in Austin.

May 11, 2019
FOUR BILLION REASONS will be shown at 16:45 at the Woodhouse Community Centre at the Leeds Queer Film Festival!
This festival initially had to be rescheduled, but the queers of Leeds are back to finish what they started. Relaunch Event!  “We’re really touched by all the love and support so can’t wait to spend four days in a cozy queer utopia at Woodhouse Community Centre.”

May 15, 2019
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK Thrilled to announce that the collaborative film made by Patricia Silva and me will be shown in the Workers Unite Film Festival, 5/15/19 at 4:00pm at the Cinema Village in Manhattan.  Our movie is screening with THE WASHING SOCIETY and DIVISION AVE.

May 30, 2019
MY AUNT MAME was selected for the (US) Inaugural Bechdel Fest in Akron, Ohio.
The Bechdel Film Fest, in partnership with the Nightlight Cinema and Akron Summit County Public Library, will feature high quality curated films that pass the “Bechdel Test,” which brings attention to gender inequality in film and fiction. THE BECHDEL TEST: AT LEAST TWO FEMALE CHARACTERS, WHO ARE GIVEN NAMES, TALK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN A MAN OR BOY.

June 6, 2019
MY AUNT MAME will screen as part of QueerBee Film at the Curzon Soho. Get your tickets today!

June 20, 2019
MY AUNT MAME will be shown at 7:30pm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in the 2019 Splice Film Festival.

June 22, 2019
I AM/YALINIDREAM will be shown at 7:30pm at the Cinema Noir in Brooklyn also as part of  the 2019 Splice Film Festival.

 

 

 

 

March – April 2019

March 5-11, 2019
New York Feminist Film Week at Anthology Film Archives, New York Ciy
CAROL opens the festival March 5, I am in CampbellX‘s film DES!RE, which screens March 6th, and on March 8th, Patricia Silva and my collaboration All In A Day’s Work will be shown with Bixa Travesty.

March 15, 2019
MY AUNT MAME was selected to be shown at the Mosaic Film Festival at Georgia Piedmont Technical College in Clarkson, GA, in their Animated Shorts program, held at the DeKalb Conference Center.

March 21, 2019
CAROL was selected for Queers In Shorts at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge, England. They host a monthly night of short films, an exciting venture to create a new social space for LGBTQ+ people in Cambridge, England. Not only am I flattered they they chose my parody of CAROL, here’s what they said:
“OK, we’ve still got a way to go before our next Queers in Shorts but we couldn’t resist showing you this trailer for – how can we put this – a different take on the movie ‘Carol’. Produced by Krissy Mahan, who gave us the wonderful ‘Faggot Girl’, ‘Carol’ is joyful and satirical in equal parts. So get down to the Arts Picturehouse bar at 9 p.m. on Thursday, 21st March to enjoy this big-budget (well…), epic short film. And once again, it’s FREE!”

March 23, 2019
FOUR BILLION REASONS has been selected by the Leeds Queer Film Festival– a radical revolutionary film festival that I am honored/humbled to be included in again. Here is a link to the full program. My movie screens at 18:00 at the Live Art Bistro in the Pratibha Parmar space,in the same program with my friend Kai Fiáin

March 28, 2019
“My Aunt Mame” has been selected by qFlix Philly for their Philly Phamily Philms screening at 7:30pm at Connolly Auditorium.
Other films in the program are:
BATHROOM TROLL
Directed by Aaron Immediato, 2018, 17 Minutes, USA
After Cassie gets tormented for not “looking like a girl” in the school bathroom, a demonic vengeance troll awakens to avenge her – only making the nightmare worse.
QUEERBOY BEGINS
Directed by Dave Sarrafian, 2018, 22 Minutes, USA
Joss Grey must find out who’s killing people while finishing his midterm.
MY AUNT MAME
Directed by Krissy Mahan, 2017, 9 Minutes, USA
A working class, gender non-conforming woman in the 1960’s leaves a legacy for her butch dyke grand niece. This is a humanizing narrative by one queer older woman, which highlights intersecting identities that complicate discourses of sex, gender, and class.
HOW I CAME OUT
Directed by Mark Jones, 2018, 6 Minutes, USA
A man has a unique and funny coming out story, he just doesn’t know it yet.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD
Directed by Albert M. Chan and Anthony Grasso, 2017, 7 minutes, USA
This award-winning short takes a few daring steps forward in a “confessional” style, revealing one man’s message from a troubled vision to an awakening from isolation back to humanity.
THE GAYBORHOOD NHD
Directed by students from Penn Alexander School, 2018, 7 Minutes, USA
A group of 7th graders from Philadelphia present their award-winning documentary, which depicts Philadelphia’s contributions to LGBTQ+ rights, such as the Dewey’s Lunch Counter sit-in.

April 5, 2019 I will be presenting some of my films (I haven’t decided which ones yet) at the 2019 Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Graduate Conference
“Asking for a Friend (of Dorothy): What to Expect When You’re Expecting The End of the World” Read more about that below.

April 7, 2019
My Aunt Mame” has been selected by the Wicked Queer Film Festival in Boston, Mass, 6:30 at the Paramount Theater. “My Aunt Mame” was selected for the GTFO Shorts Program, “The last program of the festival. Our programmers picked a film or two each that we found outré, unique, outrageous, or that in some other way made us say “Get the fuck out!!”
The other films are:

The Story of Hawkeye Bray
A young cowboy, Hawkeye Bray, lives alone in a small white room. At night they have visions of a handsome honky tonk singer, a boy with a chain whip, and the rolling desert hills. Despite being unable to leave their room, Hawkeye learns how to manifest their dreams and desires into reality.
Directed by Zeke Aszman 12 m English US

Sammy the Salmon
Spencer, a closeted homosexual, is offered help from a talking salmon to get his love life back on track.
Directed by Jake Shannon 7 m English Australia

Are You A Gay Stereotype?
Youtube video on whether or not you’re a gay stereotype and if that is even a bad thing or not.
Directed by Michael Henry 2 m English United States

Is Your Teen a Homosexual?
‘Is Your Teen A Homosexual?’ is a short allegorical comedy that satirizes Trump’s America by using the style of “teen hygiene” educational films of the 1950s.
Directed by Tamara Scherbak 6 m English Canada

Have You Hooked Up With Too Many Men?
Well? Have you?
Directed by Michael Henry 3 m English United States

Starving Boys
A Daddy, a Twink, a Bear and a Hunk are cruising outdoor in a suburban neighborhood of Montreal.
Directed by Raphaël Massicotte 7 m French with English subtitles Canada

My Aunt Mame
A working class, gender non-conforming woman in the 1960s leaves a legacy for her butch dyke grand niece. This is a humanizing narrative made 100% by one queer older woman, which highlights intersectional identities that complicate discourses of sex, gender, and class.
Directed by Krissy Mahan 9 m English United States

Flamers: Bottoms in a Brushfire
Two selfish, narcissistic (but also beautiful and valid) bottoms are forced to pack up their apartment during a Los Angeles brushfire. Will they bring their crystal collection or their great grandma’s urn? An examination of priorities.
Directed by Capucine Berney 9 m English United States

Dear Babe
A home-alone-houseboy is hungry, and not just for breakfast. What will daddy think when he reads about the houseboy’s filthy antics?
Directed by Ethan Folk 3 m German with English subtitles Germany

Don’t Fuck With England
A love story of words, whips, fries, and chips.
Directed by Rocket Ear 2 m English United States

My Eggboy
The wicked funny side of the Stockholm syndrome.
Directed by Etienne Bellefeuille 8 m French with English subtitles Canada

Hiding in Daylight
After a gay purge, four best friends are surviving by living in fake marriages to each other.
Directed by Cheryl Allison 15 m English United States

Summer of Connor
A photographer begins seeing the face of a barista, Connor, in his work- as well as every other human being- and embraces his emerging attraction to men. He still hasn’t told his girlfriend.
Directed by Russell Goldman 9 m English United States

March 2019 All Month on PhillyCam Sunday nights at 10:30pm. Link posted when available!
Thirty minutes of programming will be broadcast to everyone with Comcast cable in the Philadelphia metro area. The 30 minute program has videos about the fight for justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal, regional organizing for healthcare for all, accessibility justice and a conversation about how Mexican-American gay men had to fight the Texas health department to get Spanish-language AIDS prevention services in the 1980s — when gay sex was illegal there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 5, 2019
Stony Brook University Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
I will be presenting some of my films at this event at Stony Brook University.
2019 Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Graduate Conference
“Asking for a Friend (of Dorothy): What to Expect When You’re Expecting The End of the World”
Keynote: Shanté Paradigm Smalls,
Assistant Professor, English,
St. John’s University
This year’s conference aims to address both how to cope, resist or even outright refuse the current state of affairs. I’m fairly sure my work was selected for the portion described as, “The role of humor, camp, irony, sarcasm and irreverence.”

Shanté Paradigm Smalls is a scholar, artist, and writer. Smalls teaches and researches Black popular culture in music, film, visual art, genre fiction, and other aesthetic forms. Dr. Smalls is currently finishing their first scholarly manuscript, Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City, which won the 2016 CLAGS Fellowship Award for best manuscript in LGBTQ Studies. Smalls’ writing has appeared in or is forthcoming in The Black Scholar, GL/Q, Women & Performance, Criticism, Lateral, American Behavioral Scientist, Suspect Thoughts, The Black Scholar, Syndicate Literature, and the Oxford Handbook of Queerness and Music.

2019 Bonanza

Hello!
Well, 2019 is starting off strong! Here’s where some things are happening:

February 14, 2019
I will be on a panel about media representation at:
Let’s Talk About Disabled Sex! YES we have IT!
“Let’s Talk about Disabled Sex is full day workshop geared towards people with disabilities, but this is an inclusive day. The morning is focused on basics, or sex 101. Participants will work in groups to explore anatomy, LGBTQIA+ terminology, sexual health, HIV/AIDS, and STD/STI prevention. The afternoon are two panel discussions, types of consent and media (mis)representation of disability and sex. We will discuss self pleasure and why it is important to know how you like your body to feel. The last workshop is provided by sexploratorium/Passional Boutique. They will present participants with adult toys and gear that can be used to have more pleasurable sex, and open discussion of how to use them. Lunch is included. This is a safe place. No pictures allowed. #disabledsextalk1

Februrary 21, 2019
FOUR BILLION REASONS will make it’s US premiere at the Corvallis Queer Film Festival, held at the Darkside Cinema. This festival is a project based in the School of Language, Culture, and Society at Oregon State University. “The CQFF seeks humanizing narrative and nonfiction films directed and/or produced by trans- and queer-identified people that highlight intersectional identities and complicate discourses of sex, gender, and intimacy.”

February 23, 2019
The World Premiere of the 2019 QueerBee Film Festival Fantasy programme at Deptford Cinema in London February 23, 2019 at 3 PM – 5 PM includes my parody CAROL.
“Fantasies are the activity of imagining impossible or improbable things. With the short films from the Fantasy Programme we explore our LGBTQI identities and imagine a different world.”

March 2019 All Month on PhillyCam Sunday nights at 10:30pm. Link posted when available!
Thirty minutes of programming will be broadcast to everyone with Comcast cable in the Philadelphia metro area. The 30 minute program has videos about the fight for justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal, regional organizing for healthcare for all, accessibility justice and a conversation about how Mexican-American gay men had to fight the Texas health department to get Spanish-language AIDS prevention services in the 1980s — when gay sex was illegal there.

March 5-11, 2019
New York Feminist Film Week at Anthology Film Archives, New York Ciy
CAROL opens the festival March 5, I am in CampbellX‘s film DES!RE, which screens March 6th, and on March 8th, Patricia Silva and my collaboration All In A Day’s Work will be shown with Bixa Travesty.

March 23, 2019
FOUR BILLION REASONS has been selected by the Leeds Queer Film Festival– a radical revolutionary film festival that I am honored/humbled to be included in again. Here is a link to the full program. My movie screens at 18:00 at the Live Art Bistro in the Pratibha Parmar space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 5, 2019
Stony Brook University Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
I will be presenting some of my films at this event at Stony Brook University.
2019 Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Graduate Conference
“Asking for a Friend (of Dorothy): What to Expect When You’re Expecting The End of the World”
Keynote: Shanté Paradigm Smalls,
Assistant Professor, English,
St. John’s University
This year’s conference aims to address both how to cope, resist or even outright refuse the current state of affairs. I’m fairly sure my work was selected for the portion described as, “The role of humor, camp, irony, sarcasm and irreverence.”

Shanté Paradigm Smalls is a scholar, artist, and writer. Smalls teaches and researches Black popular culture in music, film, visual art, genre fiction, and other aesthetic forms. Dr. Smalls is currently finishing their first scholarly manuscript, Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City, which won the 2016 CLAGS Fellowship Award for best manuscript in LGBTQ Studies. Smalls’ writing has appeared in or is forthcoming in The Black Scholar, GL/Q, Women & Performance, Criticism, Lateral, American Behavioral Scientist, Suspect Thoughts, The Black Scholar, Syndicate Literature, and the Oxford Handbook of Queerness and Music.

Pembe Hayat / KUIR Pink Life QueerFest

Pink Life QueerFest organized by Pink Life Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) Solidarity Association

January 24-27, 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey
Screening “Four Billion Reasons” as part of the accessibility strand An Unashamed Claim To Beauty organized and presented by Theresa Heath of Wotever DIY Film Fest.
Pink Life QueerFest organized by Pink Life Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) Solidarity Association in Ankara, is the first queer festival in Turkey. Film enthusiasts have an opportunity to watch LGBT-themed films from different countries from all around the world. First edition of the festival was held in 2011 in Ankara. Starting from the 4th edition the festival takes place both in Ankara and Istanbul and from the 5th edition, it travels to Denizli, Mersin, Çanakkale and İzmir. The 8th edition will be organized between 10-27 January in Ankara and Istanbul.
Türkiye’nin ilk trans hakları derneği olan Pembe Hayat LGBTT Dayanışma Derneği, 30 Haziran 2006 tarihinde Ankara’da kurulmuştur. Dernek adını Alain Berliner’in yönettiği ve erkek bedeninde doğmuş bir kız çocuğun hikayesinin anlatıldığı Pembe Hayat (Ma vie en rose, 1997) adlı filmden almıştır.
Wotever DIY Film Festivali’nin kurucusu Theresa Heath ise hazırladığı İşte Böyle Güzeliz! Engel(siz)lilik Kesişiminden Kısalar / (An Unashamed Claim to Beauty: Short Films at the Intersection of Queerness and Dis/ability) başlıklı seçkiyle kuirlik ve engel(siz)lilik kesişiminden kısaları KuirFest takipçilerine sunuyor. Seçkinin Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy’deki gösteriminin ardından Heath’in katılımıyla bir soru-cevap etkinliği yapılacak.

February/March 2019 Showbiz News

February 21, 2019 Four Billion Reasons will be shown in Corvallis, Oregon as part of the Corvallis Queer Film Festival held at the Darkside Cinema.
Corvallis Queer Film Festival, Corvallis, Oregon

23 February 2019 Carol makes her QueerBee Film Festival debut in their FANTASY programme at Deptford (London, UK) cinema on Saturday  at 3pm
Cinema/tickets page: http://deptfordcinema.org/new-events/queerbeefest-fantasy
Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2321177251239574/

March 5-10, 2019 My parody of Carol opens the New York Feminist Film Week on March 5. The opening night film is  Bixa Travesty.  This festival is held at Anthology Film Archives. On March 6, my friend the filmmaker CampbellX will be recognized in an evening dedicated to his film work.  DES!RE (in which I appear)  will shown. On Friday March 8,  Patricia Silva and my collaborative film, All In A Day’s Work, screens on March 8th.
New York Feminist Film Week (NYC)

March 21-25, 2019 Four Billion Reasons proudly and triumphantly returns to one of the best, most progressive and trailblazingly accessible festivals – The Leeds Queer Film Festival, held at Live Art Bistro, Leeds.
Leeds Queer Film Fest (Leeds, UK)

March 21 2019 My parody of Carol will change the ways audiences view that dud on a night of a queer film night curated by Elmira and Ramona Zadissa, at the Arts Picture House Cambridge.
Queers In Shorts (Cambridge, UK)

March 2019 My Aunt Mame screens in their monthly curated film program held at Pride Films & Plays | Pride Arts Center.
Pride Films and Plays, Chicago

 

Winter Into Spring 2019

Hello and Happy Healthy 20 Bi-Teen!
I am happy to share the screenings that are on tap for early this year:

January 25, 2019   Four Billion Reasons (Dört Bilyon) screens in Istanbul, Turkey as part of the touring dis/Ability program “Un-Unashamed Claim To Beauty” curated by Theresa Health-Ellul.
Pembe Hayat (Ankara, Turkey)

February 21, 2019 Four Billion Reasons will be shown in Corvallis, Oregon as part of the Corvallis Queer Film Festival held at the Darkside Cinema.
Corvallis Queer Film Festival, Corvallis, Oregon

February 2019 My Aunt Mame screens in their monthly curated film program held at Pride Films & Plays | Pride Arts Center.
Pride Films and Plays, Chicago

March 5-10, 2019 My parody of Carol opens the New York Feminist Film Week on March 5, followed by the opening night film Bixa Travesty.  This festival is held at Anthology Film Archives. On March 6, my friend the filmmaker CampbellX will be recognized in an evening dedicated to his film work.  DES!RE (in which I appear)  will shown. On Friday March 8,  Patricia Silva and my collaborative film, All In A Day’s Work, screens on March 8th.
New York Feminist Film Week (NYC)

March 2019 My parody of Carol will change the ways audiences view that dud on a night of a queer film night curated by Elmira and Ramona Zadissa, at the Arts Picture House Cambridge.
Queers In Shorts (Cambridge, UK)

March 21-25, 2019 Four Billion Reasons proudly and triumphantly returns to one of the best, most progressive and trailblazingly accessible festivals – The Leeds Queer Film Festival, held at Live Art Bistro, Leeds.
Leeds Queer Film Fest (Leeds, UK)

NYFFW 2019 New York Feminist Film Week

The 2019 edition of the NYC Feminist Film Week is presented in partnership with WOMEN MAKE MOVIES.

The 2019 NYC Feminist Film Week presents its third annual film program committed to increasing the visibility of women and of all trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming filmmakers. Our program aims to foster critical dialogue among filmmakers and the general public, using queer/trans/feminist approaches to interrogate cultural constructions of gender, sexuality, race, class, age, and dis/ability.

Organized around the ongoing theme of feminist film genealogies, the series asks the following questions: What might a genealogy of feminist film look like in its ethics and aesthetics? How do feminist film practices function as forms of political and critical intervention? What strategies do they employ to unsettle and dismantle racism, heterosexism, transphobia, classism, and stigmas around sexuality, illness, and dis/ability? And how do feminist film and media practitioners articulate queer, trans, POC, working class, immigrant, dis/abled, and other marginalized experiences and identities?

Inspired by international feminist film festivals like Cineffable and the London Feminist Film Week, the NYC Feminist Film Week focuses on the social and material aspects of filmmaking, placing feminist film production within specific historical and geographical contexts while also creating connections among films, filmmakers, communities, and audiences across space and time. This year’s program focuses on issues surrounding sexuality with a focus on pleasure as a feminist strategy for resistance and community building. The FFW’19 line-up thus celebrates the intertextuality of film while recognizing the unique contributions of feminist film pioneers alongside new and emerging filmmakers.

Here are the events which include my work (Carol and All In A Day’s Work) and face (DES!RE).

Tuesday, March 5

7:30 PM
NYC FEMINIST FILM WEEK 2019: PROGRAM 1: OPENING NIGHT
Film Notes

Krissy Mahan in person.

SHAKEDOWN is the story of the Los Angeles black lesbian strip club scene and its genesis. Owned and operated by women, underground and illegal in nature, the club Shakedown is the darker, faster, younger iteration of this dance culture. SHAKEDOWN chronicles the explicit performances and personal relationships of the party’s dancers and organizers including Ronnie-Ron, Shakedown Productions’ creator and emcee; Mahogany, the legendary “mother” of the community; Egypt, their star performer; and Jazmine, the “Queen” of Shakedown. The documentary is preceded by Krissy Mahan’s animated parody CAROL, which uses DIY techniques and Fisher Price toys to deconstruct class dynamics in Todd Haynes’s film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 classic of lesbian literature, THE PRICE OF SALT.

Leila Weinraub
SHAKEDOWN
(2018, 72 min, digital)Preceded by:
Krissy Mahan CAROL (2016, 6.5 min, digital)

Thursday, March 7 7:30 PM
NYC FEMINIST FILM WEEK 2019: PROGRAM 3: CAMPBELL X
Campbell X has been a key reference in contemporary British queer cinema since their first feature film was released in 2012. A romantic comedy about LGBT life set on the multicultural streets of East London, STUD LIFE centers on the adventures of JJ, a Black lesbian stud, and her best friend Seb, a white gay man. Made in collaboration with various queer and POC London communities and including street slang and patois, Campbell X’s first feature proposes a daring Black queer aesthetic while evoking the early work of filmmakers like Cheryl Dunye and Spike Lee. The feature film will be shown along with the short DES!RE, a meditation on feelings of attraction for people assigned female at birth who now define as non-binary, gender non-conforming, trans, lesbian, bisexual, or queer.
STUD LIFE
(2012, 91 min, digital)Preceded by:
Campbell X DES!RE (2017, 9 min, digital

Friday, March 8

6:30 PM
NYC FEMINIST FILM WEEK 2019: PROGRAM 4: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Krissy Mahan and Patricia Silva in person.

This program explores the intricacies of community as a practice of individual and collective belonging, kinship, creativity, and desire. In TRANNY FAG, Claudia Priscilla and Kiko Goifman document the life and the work of Linn da Quebrada, a black transgender Brazilian singer whose political interventions span both music and activism. The documentary is preceded by the short film ALL IN A DAY’S WORK, where two working class queer bodies stand a little too close for (other people’s) comfort, thus exposing the institutionalized assumptions society projects on both bi+ and butch women.

Claudia Priscilla & Kiko Goifman
TRANNY FAG / BIXA TRAVESTY
(2018, 75 min, digital. In Portuguese with English subtitles.)

Preceded by:
Krissy Mahan & Patricia Silva ALL IN A DAY’S WORK (2018, 10 min, digital)

SQIFF 2018 Notes

CampbellX and Krissy Mahan

SQIFF 2018 was a fabulous success!  I saw most of my queer film family, although didn’t have nearly enough time to just hang out with them and catch up.  But the precious time we did have together will always be treasured.  Some highlights were the World Premiere of Patricia Silva and my film collaboration All In A Day’s Work (2018), lots of discussions about accessibility at film festivals, and of course CampbellX (in photo) curating the Opening Night Shorts and seeing his new film VISIBLE.

I attended the shorts programs Queer Arab Lives, Unearthing Trans Legacies, Bodies and Borders (in which our film showed), Overcome, the Bishop Black Retrospective, and Gay As In Hysterically Funny.  I attended the discussions Deaf & Disabled Aesthetics in Film, part of Creating Online Content with BBC: The Social, and Meet The SQIFF Programmers (so interesting!)

Old and new friends at the Filmmakers Social

Between programs, I enjoyed meeting with other filmmakers, particularly Sonya Mulligan and the brilliant duo from CinemQ in Shanghai, who are both in this photo: It had been a year since I was able to travel – and actually it was to SQIFF 2017! These annual gatherings of trans-affirming, feminist, committed-to-accessibility film people nourish me to keep producing my films all year. I know that this group of people is exactly the people with whom I want to move into the future of film. 

 

We wanted to launch of All In A Day’s Work at SQIFF, and worked diligently to have it completed on time.  I know the film will do good work in the world, with such a send-off among good people.

Thank you, Team SQIFF, Helen Wright, Marc David Jacobs, Alison Smith, Samar Ziadat, Kate Adair, Leanne Dawson and Laura Wylie and (special warm thanks to Guest Coordinator) Lucy Rosenstiel,  – for creating a welcoming, rigorous, accessible film adventure for all of us.

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