International Queer Film Festival Hamburg 2015

Opening Night – Gala and Film

Kampnagel, Tuesday, 14th October at 7.30 pm
Lobby opens at 6.30 pm
Our host tonight is singer Bernadette La Hengst who will guide us through a fabulous evening featuring the German premiere of GRANDMA, headed by a stunning Lily Tomlin and featuring Laverne Cox in a supporting role.

A sign language interpretation will be provided for the Opening Night Gala.

The Opening Night Gala is supported by Blundstone and the U.S. Consulate General Hamburg.

We strongly recommend you to buy your tickets in advance for this evening! Tickets

Opening Film

Grandma
Paul Weitz, USA 2015, 79’, English original with German subtitles

Elle, a grumpy, aging poet, is in deep mourning for Vi, the love of her life, when her granddaughter, Sage, shows up in desperate need of money for an abortion. As every grandma would do, Elle puts Sage into her car and takes to the road to raise the money. Which also involves a confrontation with her daughter/Sage’s mother. GRANDMA is not only a touching movie about three generations of women, but also the hilarious Lily Tomlin’s big screen comeback.

Centrepiece 1

Stories of our Lives
Jim Chuchu, Kenya 2014, 60’, English and Swahili original with German subtitles

Metropolis, Thursday 22nd October, 6 pm

The Kenyan artists collective NEST, formed to explore identities, pasts and futures, have been gathering stories that characterise the queer experience within Kenya’s homophobic culture. Five compelling episodes form the basis of this visually stunning movie that provides an insight into the daily lives of marginalized youths whose feelings range between hope and despondency, as they try to achieve self-determination in a climate of refused acceptance. A graceful film that blurs the lines between fiction and reality.

Followed by a video conference with representatives of the NEST Collective.

In cooperation with umdenken Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Hamburg e.V.
Funded by the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Hamburg

Centrepiece 2

A Escondidas | The Secret Friend
Mikel Rueda, Spain 2014, 96’, Spanish original with German subtitles

Passage 1, Thursday 22nd October, 8 pm

Ibra from Morocco faces a lot of problems in Spain, as his legal status is still pending. One is blatant racism, which is part of his daily life. No wonder he is suspicious when native Rafa shows an interest in him. However, Rafa doesn’t give up and eventually the two become closer. Unfortunately, they’ve reckoned without the immigration office: Ibra decides to take off, leaving Rafa behind, devastated. Not only a coming-of-age romance, but also a relevant political tragedy about human rights in Europe.

In presence of the director Mikel Rueda.

Closing Night – Reception and Prize Giving

Metropolis, Sunday, 25th October at 9 pm
Reception from 8 pm in the Metropolis Bar

Don’t miss the best films of the festival! After a reception with complimentary drinks, we’re delighted to welcome you to the prize-giving ceremony where the Jury Prize and the six Audience Awards will be revealed. The winners of the three URSULAs and the MADE IN GERMANY prize will be screened, as well as excerpts from the winners of the GLOBOLA, the DOKULA and the JURY PRIZE.

The Closing Night Reception is sponsored by Barefoot Wine.

Les Nuits d’été | Summer Nights
Mario Fanfani, France 2014, 100’, French original with English subtitles

Passage 1, Sunday, 25th October, 5.30 pm

“Summer Nights” is a song-cycle by Berlioz for tenor or mezzo-soprano. Michel, too, feels like he has two voices inside, but his other identity as Mylène can only to be lived out clandestinely in 1959 provincial France. In public, he’s an earnest lawyer, at home, a patriarch, who loves his wife Hélène. Can Hélène embrace the two voices inside of Michel/Mylène and accept his need to sometimes dress as a woman? A touching drama that gently portrays the atmosphere of a bygone era.

Winner of the Queer Lion 2014.

In the presence of director Mario Fanfani and actress Zazie de Paris.

B-Movie, Friday, 23rd October, 10.30 pm

To get in the mood, we’re beginning with

been too long at the FAIR, Charles Lum/Todd Verow, USA 2015, 6’, English original
TON POIDS SUR MA NUQUE/YOUR WEIGHT ON THE NAPE OF MY NECK, Frédéric Labonde, France 2015, 10’, English original

Followed by

Nova Dubai
Gustavo Vinagre, Brazil 2014, 53’, Portuguese original with English subtitles

A luxury real estate development, “New Dubai”, is threatening the living space of a group of friends. Their reaction? Wild sex on the construction sites, taking gay sex out of virtual and private spaces and placing it directly in the public domain. An outstanding new voice in young Brazilian cinema, Gustavo Vinagre has created, with his own circle of friends, a poetic, sexually-explicit and political essay about public and private places – and how much space we need or want to live in.

In the presence of director Gustavo Vinagre.

Focus: The Art Of Fighting

This year we address the US “Second Wave Feminism” of the 60s/70s, looking especially at lesbian artists. How do US filmmakers position themselves within artistic interventions and how are queer-feminist issues currently debated?

She’s Beautful when She’s Angry
Mary Dore, USA 2014, 92’, English original
Passage 1, Thursday 22nd October, 5.30 pm

“The bitter lesson is that no victories are permanent” states one of the protagonists in Mary Dore’s documentary. The heroines of that time, among them Rita Mae Brown and the “Our Bodies, Ourselves” collective, tell of their influential fight. Turf battles between straight and lesbian women are highlighted, as well as the 
exclusion of the black community and the hierarchies between intellectuals and women who felt expelled from this group. A long overdue film that reminds us not to forget.

Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer
Jack Walsh, USA 2015, 83’, English original
Passage 2, Friday 23rd October, 6 pm

Yvonne Rainer, revolutionary modern dancer and winner of the 1997 Teddy Award, is the subject of this documentary. The eighty-year-old has spent a lifetime working on the central questions of feminist theory through her art. In the 60s she renewed dance through prosaic, everyday movements. Then she turned to film, thematising aging, breastcancer and her coming out in the late 90s.

The Royal Road
Jenni Olson, USA 2015, 65’, English original
B-Movie, Saturday, 24th October, 6 pm

A film is shot in static sequences with California city and landscape scenery that fails to redeem film’s greatest promise – the depiction of people – thus fulfilling a central requirement of feminist film: the destruction of the voyeuristic gaze.

Focus: Queering TV

So many TV stations are now developing scripts with complex and interesting queer characters that it’s hard to catch up. But if everybody’s at home streaming, how’s that going to affect queer film festivals? Although queer lives are becoming accessible to a broader audience, it’s the experience that counts. As B. Ruby Rich mentioned during her lecture at last year’s LSF, watching queer stories together and talking about them in real time, is what builds community spirit. That’s the “magic of queer film festivals”. So let’s watch TV TOGETHER – we’ve selected two outstanding productions and – entry is FREE!

Banana
Episode 1 „Dean“ 
Director: Lewis Arnold, Screenplay: Russell T Davies, 23’
Episode 6 „Amy“ 
Director: Al Mackay, Screenplay: Charlie Covell, 23’
Episode 4 „Helen“ 
Director: Lewis Arnold, Screenplay: Charlie Covell, 23’
UK 2015, 70’, English original
B-Movie, Friday 23rd October, 8.15 pm

The maker of “Queer as Folk”, Russell T Davies, aired his newest series-threesome “Cucumber/Banana/Tofu” (named after a scale for describing erectile hardness… Aha…? Duh!) on the UK’s Channel 4 in January. We’re showing three choice episodes from “Banana”, each one a completed story focussing on the varied spectrum of contemporary queer experience. Dean, Amy and Helen all have their problems in life, but it refreshingly, sexuality is not one of them!

TORKA ALDRIG TÅRAR UTAN HANDSKAR | Don’t ever wipe Tears without Gloves

Simon Kaijser/Jonas Gardell (Screenplay), Sweden 2012, 174’, Swedish original with English subtitles
Passage 1, Saturday 24th October, 2 pm

The Eighties: student Rasmus moves from a rural area in Sweden to Stockholm. Celebrating his new freedom, he explores the gay life of the city. When he falls in love with Benjamin everything seems to be perfect. But then Rasmus is diagnosed with AIDS. The mini series shows how the scars of the AIDS era still influence today’s gay communities, and is also a heartbreaking hymn to youth and freedom.