Reclaiming Queer Icons, Recovering Queer Histories at Fringe!
For our opening night film this year, we've chosen to shine a spotlight on the fascinating and tragically accelerated life of British footballer Justin Fashanu. This unforgettable documentary recounts a soul that shone too bright for their time and circumstances, and packs a harsh reminder of how recently people struggled to find any sense of acceptance in society.
Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story unearths the reality of British society's uncomfortably recent prejudice and cruelty through the story of an icon who went from having everything to feeling as though he was nothing, and almost escaping our collective memory. Unearthing and redressing our history, especially through those enigmatic figures who dared to stand out - and be known, has always been a distinctly queer endeavour.
Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story
Though heartbreaking, this topic and the act of engaging with it as a community is vital, and allows us to heal as a community with many shared experiences amongst our differing and unique queer perspectives. Within this year's festival programme we have chosen many films, art works and events that push us to consider ourselves as a movement and a community.
Dann Parry's short animation Birds of a Feather will screen before the feature. We are thrilled to welcome Forbidden Games directors Jon Carey and Adam Darke to participate in a Q&A. Get tickets to opening night here
This year we also unearth the stories and films of queer histories in the recent past, as well as those within our lifetimes that we failed to celebrate, as an act of taking stock and adjusting our consideration of those brave enough to stand out as queers in the past and around the world presently, in times that seem as harsh and divisive as ever.
Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity
Over the festival we are celebrating the bold and vital work of special guest filmmaker Catherine Gund, whose documentaries first chronicled activist movements over the past decades, and whose films since have benefitted from building durational relationships with their gargantuan subjects.
Her 2014 work on contemporary choreographer Elizabeth Streb and the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics (STREB SLAM), Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity, remains one of the most arresting and unforgettable documentaries of recent history. A renegade, unswerving career is documented in a film so startling, the audience feels like that of a live art audience. We screen Born to Fly on Thu 16 Nov.
Chavela
Gund’s more recent doc-biopic traces the later life of Mexican ranchera legend Chavela Vargas. Known for scandalising Mexico throughout the 20th century by singing, drinking, smoking, gambling and loving ‘like a man’, Chavela chronicles Gund’s discovery of the infamous ranchera singer just before her death in 2012. This powerful work screens Sat 18 Nov.
Lust, Plenary / Keep Your Laws off My Body / Like A Prayer / KYLOMB
We also look back to Gund’s early career, presenting works from 1989-1994 in a programme called Lez be Honest. A rare opportunity to catch some of the filmmaker’s formative works, which she will also sharing during a filmmaking masterclass at the Geffrye Museum, on Friday 17 Nov, in partnership with Open City Docs. This is an amazing opportunity for queer and activist filmmakers, or those with an interest in documentary, to learn from an incredible force in cinema.
With queer feminist curating collective Club des Femmes, we are hosting an event to celebrate and reclaim the work of another female filmmaker, British feminist director Jacqui Duckworth, with An Invitation to Jacqui D. The filmmaker left three exceptional 16mm experimental dramas before her premature death in 2015. Her films are pioneering for their unflinching representation and exploration of a newly visible lesbian feminist identity, community and moving image aesthetic coming out of 80s London.
Homemade Melodrama
With speakers Mandy Merck, Cherry Smyth and Jay Bernard, join Club des Femmes and Fringe! in tribute to Jacqui D on Sat 18 Nov.
In another work of reclamation we are proud to host the UK premiere of Rafal Morusiewicz’ Uprooting Ghosts: A “Queer Fantasia” on National Themes - a tapestry of rare and banned works that queer the filmmakers’ found memories of Poland and Hungary from 1952-1989, which screened as an installation at the Research Pavilion of this year’s Venice Biennale.
A Queering of Memory: Parts 1 & 2 / Uprooting Ghosts: A “Queer Fantasia” on National Themes
Uprooting Ghosts screens alongside A Queering of Memory: Parts 1 & 2, reinterpretations of folklore by local director Timothy Smith. (top image)
The Fabulous Allan Carr
We also look to celebrate another Hollywood big wig and larger-than-life presence finally finding his place on the big screen thanks to Jeffrey Schwarz, in the riotous new documentary, The Fabulous Allan Carr. This film is the fun sort of recent-history doc that demonstrates how camp and Kitsch are vitally joyous outlets for queer sensibilities. Tracing the work of the titular producer from the hits to the misses, The Fabulous Allan Carr is a celebration of being un-changeably oneself. Screening on Sat 18 Nov.
‘Being GAY is FUN!’, My Wonderful West Berlin
Earlier in the festival week you’ll find Jochen Hick’s incredible My Wonderful West Berlin. Part of Hick’s trilogy on Gay Berlin a fascinating historical portrait of the west part of Germany’s capital that combines rare archival material with powerful testimonies from Berliners including trans* icon and David Bowie lover Romy Haag, pre-eminent German gay filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, Teddy-Award co-founder Wieland Speck and techno DJ Westbam. Screens Wed 15 Nov.
A joyous and fascinating historical document - unmissable.
LGBT Britain: Heaven
Our history strand is inspired by a collection of archival gold we’ll be screening on Sat 18 Nov, Britain on Film: LGBT Britain. Part of the Britain on Film season, LGBT Britain is comprised of incredible archive footage from the advent of moving image technology and onwards throughout the last century.
LGBT Britain: Gaylife
A treasure trove of representation throughout British moving image history, and a vital resource, LGBT Britain is wholly unmissable at this juncture in history. 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, and what a time it’s been.
As well as looking backwards for power, strength and survival strategies, this year’s Fringe! programme also looks at the energy of queer youth movements and communities worldwide in celebration. Films such as Upon the Shadow, Paris is Voguing, #BKKY and My Nature paint a picture of the situation today...
Click here to see what else is in store during Fringe! 2017.
Programme supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery.www.filmlondon.org.uk/filmhub
