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Queer Wave 2024

Feature Films

 

Crossing

Levan Akin 106' 2024 Sweden, Denmark, France, Turkey, Georgia

Friday 20 Sep 21:00

Lia, a retired teacher, has promised to find her long-lost niece, Tekla. Her search takes her to Istanbul where she meets Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights, and Tekla starts to feel closer than ever.

 

Prejudice & Pride – Swedish Film Queer

Eva Beling 100' 2022 Sweden

Saturday 21 Sep 17:00

Prejudice & Pride is a roller coaster ride through Swedish film history. From Mauritz Stiller's filming of the world's first gay romance in 1916 to Sweden's exciting new wave of Scandinavian transgender films.

 

Avant-Drag!

Fil Ieropoulos 92' 2024 Greece

Saturday 21 Sep 21:00

Ten drag performers find solace in each other as they rebel against their oppressive reality and those who control it.

 

The Blood of A Poet

Jean Cocteau 55' 1932 France

Sunday 22 Sep 19:00

Told in four episodes – an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios.

 

Photo Booth

John Greyson 110' 2022 Canada

Sunday 22 Sep 21:00

A split-screen Opera-Documentary about Penguins, Palestine, and Queer BDS.

 

All of Us Strangers

Andrew Haigh 105' 2023 UK, USA

Monday 23 Sep 21:00

A screenwriter drawn back to his childhood home enters into a fledgling relationship with his downstairs neighbor while discovering a mysterious new way to heal from losing his parents 30 years ago.

 

Lesvia

Tzeli Hadjidimitriou 84' 2024 Greece

Tuesday 24 Sep 19:00

Lesvia chronicles 40+ years of lesbian identity and conflict between the locals of a small village on the Greek island of Lesvos and lesbians who arrived searching for love, freedom and community.

 

20,000 Species of Bees

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren 128' 2023 Spain

Wednesday 25 Sep 21:00

An eight-year-old child struggles with the fact that people keep addressing her in confusing ways. During a summer at her grand aunt’s among the beehives, her life and her mother's will change forever.

 

Fairy Garden

Gergö Somogyvári 83' 2023 Hungary, Romania, Croatia

Thursday 26 Sep 19:00

Fanni, a rejected trans teenager, seeks refuge in Laci's hut close to Budapest. The solitary homeless man becomes a father figure to her and together, they confront Fanni's inner demons and their harsh rejection from the outside world.

 

Grief, Those Who Remain

Maria Louka, Myrto Patsalidou 71' 2023 Greece

Thursday 26 Sep 21:00 (screening with 2 shorts – Tribute to Zak Kostopoulos)

A descent into the world of mourning and loss through three homicide stories that shook Greek and European society: the cruel murders of Shahzad Luqman, Pavlos Fyssas, and Zak Kostopoulos.

 

The Summer With Carmen

Zacharias Mavroeidis 106' 2023 Greece

Friday 27 Sep 21:00

While having a day-long swim at Athens' queer beach, best friends Demos and Nikitas recall the events of a recent summer in the prospect of turning them into a screenplay for Nikitas' feature debut. Imagining their lives as a film, will bring the two face to face with the pending conflicts in their colourful friendship.

 

Teaches of Peaches

Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer 102' 2024 Germany

Saturday 28 Sep 21:00

Seamlessly weaving together exclusive archival gems with dynamic tour footage, this documentary captures the transformative journey of Canadian Merrill Nisker into the internationally acclaimed cultural powerhouse and electroclash music icon that is Peaches.

 

Huling Palabas (Love And Videotapes)

Ryan Machado 97' 2023 Philippines

Sunday 29 Sep 15:00

In search for his long-lost father, a young boy's reality becomes mystified when two movie-like characters appear in his hometown.

 

Different from the Others

Richard Oswald 51' 1919 Germany

Sunday 29 Sep 19:00

Two male musicians fall in love, but blackmail and scandal makes the affair take a tragic turn.

 

Love Lies Bleeding

Rose Glass 104' 2024 UK, USA

Sunday 29 Sep 21:00

Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family. At once dreamy and nightmarish, Love Lies Bleeding tells of love, revenge and the magic of the endless, lonely desert roads in the US.

Short Films

Shorts I: Witches & Cowgirls (Viva La Vulva)

Saturday 21 Sep 19:00

Indulge in the sweet nectar of reclaimed bodies and gender role reversals through works that dream up and archive the personal, familial and collective resistances of queer femininities against the patriarchy – some quiet, others explosive.

 

Pistoleras

Natalia del Mar Kašik 2′ 2023 Austria

 

 

A feminist reimagining of the classic standoff – although eventually, the shooter’s biggest opponent may just be herself.

 

Venus Melite

Scott Lyman 29′ 2023 Malta, USA

 

 

A queer photographer visiting the island of Malta finds inspiration and solace in a young beekeeper, but grapples with her role as an artist in the face of complex political forces.

 

My Body

Haralambos Drousiotis 3′ 2023 Cyprus

 

 

The film prompts contemplation on whether we genuinely accept and embrace our own bodies, demonstrating love and care for them. It raises questions about our perceptions of the bodies of others and our own in our surroundings, particularly in the context of feminism and queerism.

 

Mast-del

Maryam Tafakory 17′ 2023 Iran, UK

 

 

Two women lie together in bed. As the wind bashes against the window, one recalls a past date to the cinema. A love song that would never pass through the censors, Mast-del is about forbidden bodies and desires, both inside and outside post-revolution Iranian cinema.

 

This is To Be Understood

Yeliz Zaifoglu 4′ 2023 Cyprus, UK

 

 

A short poetry documentary that delves into the complexities of Cypriot identity through miniDV and archive VHS footage from 2004. With poetry subtitles guiding the narrative, the film explores the importance of heritage in shaping individuals and serves as an homage to the filmmaker’s childhood.

 

Grandmamauntsistercat

Zuza Banasinska 23′ 2024 Poland, Netherlands

 

 

Created from the Polish Educational Archive materials, the film tells the story of a matriarchal family through the eyes of a child grappling with the reproduction of ideological and representational systems.

 

Via Tze Fothkia

Petsua 2′ 2024 Cyprus

 

 

A stop motion collage music video for the song “Βία τζαι Φωθκιά” by Που Τούντους Τούτους, a punk band based in Cyprus. The film presents a world where witches and raging femininities collaborate with demons to take revenge from the church after the centuries of suffering they caused them.

Shorts II: Sumud – The Will To Resist

Sunday 22 Sep 17:00

Films that affirm the lives of queer Arabs and acknowledge the multiplicity of their existence. Stories from the diaspora, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan – and of course Palestine.

 

Neo Nahda

May Ziadé 12′ 2023 UK

 

 

Mona, a young woman in London, finds archived photographs of Arab women cross-dressing in the 1920s. Somewhere between her fantasies and reality, she starts a feverish journey of uncovering lost histories and her own identity.

 

Sultana’s Reign

Hadi Moussally 10′ 2023 France, Lebanon, Jordan

 

 

Sultana of New York is a Palestinian drag queen, performer, and artist. Reflecting on her journey from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and to New York, she recounts the challenges of performing drag in conservative societies – and her nostalgia for the glory days and glamour of Egyptian cinema icons.

 

Queer Exile

Ahmed Awadalla 10′ 2024 Germany

 

 

After escaping Egypt, following the 2011 revolution, an activist finds himself in Berlin, hoping to start a new life and find safety and freedom.

 

Never Stop Shouting

Abdellah Taïa 10′ 2023 France

 

 

The writer and filmmaker Abdellah Taïa writes a letter to his gay nephew Brahim, to help him overcome fear, to support him, to walk beside him – to let him know he loves him deeply.

 

Beirut Dreams in Color

Michael Collins 28′ 2022 US, UK, Lebanon

 

 

​He’s an openly gay frontman of a Lebanese rock band. She’s an ardent activist and fan. After one fateful night, their lives intersect and are altered forever.

 

Mondial 2010

Roy Dib 19′ 2014 Lebanon

 

 

Mondial 2010 shifts from the mainstream passive view of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict that places the victim/oppressor in the forefront of the produced imagery. A travel film that serves as a discussion of institutional borders in the modern day Middle East. Winner of the Teddy Award for Best Short in 2014.

Shorts III: Lobsters, Besties, Strangers

Monday 23 Sep 19:00

An eclectic mix of homemade, bittersweet, wholesome and euphorically romantic. Trans narratives in cinema have never known brighter days.

 

You Can’t Get What You Want, But You Can Get Me

Samira Elagoz, Z Walsh 13′ 2024 Netherlands, Finland

 

 

A unique slideshow documenting two long-haired trans men falling madly in love. A sweet and steamy celebration of T4T love with life and art all tangled up.

 

Honeymoon

Alkis Papastathopoulos 24′ 2023 Greece, France, Cyprus

 

 

Sandra accompanies Fay to the bus station, as she prepares to leave Greece for good. A transphobic attack by two co-passengers leaves them stranded on a highway in the middle of nowhere.

 

An Avocado Pit

Ary Zara 20′ 2022 Portugal

 

 

Larissa, a trans woman, and Cláudio, a cis man, meet one night, in the streets of Lisbon. Two people, two realities, who dance their differences away till morning light. A story filled with light and hope for the better days yet to come.

 

Queen Size

Avril Besson 19′ 2023 France

 

 

This morning, Marina has an appointment with Charlie to sell her a mattress. This evening, she will cancel her plane for Reunion. But they don’t know that yet.

Shorts IV: After Me Comes The Flood

Tuesday 24 Sep 21:00

The personal becomes political in this programme where colonialism is reimagined, self-documentation asserts existence, globalisation is satirised, mythological creatures are reawakened and selling property carries the weight of guilt and post-war trauma.

 

Wild Fruits

Bernardo Zanotta 35′ 2024 Netherlands, France, Brazil

 

 

16th century: After a period overseas in the Antarctic France, Jean Aurand finds refuge as a servant in the house of French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, where a series of fantastical events change the lives of these two men forever.

 

The Archive: Queer Nigerians

Simisolaoluwa Akande 25′ 2023 UK

 

 

With Nigerian queer history erased from the national narrative of Nigeria, Queer Nigerians in the UK gather to tell their stories, documenting their experiences so that they can never be erased again.

 

Paradise Europe

Paulo Menezes, Leandro Goddinho 17′ 2023 Brazil, Germany

 

 

As thousands of people hit the streets to protest against unaffordable rents in Berlin, a gay Brazilian immigrant is kicked out of his apartment and struggles to find a new room. His personal life falls apart, just like the city around him. Winner of the Silver Leopard at the 76th Locarno Film Festival – Pardi di Domani International Competition.

 

Detours While Speaking of Monsters

Deniz Şimşek 18′ 2024 Germany, Turkey

 

 

A 4000-year-old aquatic monster resists falling into oblivion, living on through the tales of the few. Its myth dates back to the ancestors of Armenians and Kurds around Lake Van, a region that witnessed the ethnic cleansing of both peoples. Meanwhile, old gods are upset with us, and I am upset with my father.

 

Down Payment

Marios Piperides 14′ 2014 Cyprus

 

 

Cyprus, 2014. Yiannis, trying to find a way to change his monotonous life and make his business dream come true, is faced with a dilemma.

Shorts V: Stages of Grief

Wednesday 25 Sep 19:00

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – and five short works that could have suggested their meaning in a dictionary of films.

 

Midnight on MSN

Elise Levy 23′ 2023 France

 

 

2008, beginning of summer, end of school.
At night, Laure secretly talks to Alix on msn. But during the day, in their girls’ school, she avoids her – like everyone else. When Laure invites Alix to her house, something changes between them.

 

Oxide

Emma Daelman 6′ 2023 Belgium

 

 

Two traumatised creatures, seeking closeness within an abandoned bus shelter, grapple with the blurred lines between connection and separation.

 

Totems

Arthur Cahn 25′ 2023 France

 

 

When Bastien dies, his group of friends decide to get hold of his sex toy collection before his mother finds out. A story of friendship, love and farewell.

 

Cherry, Passion Fruit

Renato José Duque 5′ 2024 Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Brazil

 

 

Nature contains both the flowing waterfall and the consuming fire. Inside a mysterious rainforest, lust takes shape between love and pain.

 

Anapidae (Call Me)

Mathieu Morel 43′ 2024 France

 

 

At Naarièges cemetery, Mino guards the gates, takes care of the dead, and also the mourners. Next to him: a ghost, a widow and a huge spider. They are busy, panicking, blossoming, lovesick.

Shorts VI: Spiritual Cravings of The Flesh

Friday 27 Sep 19:00

This year we partnered with Satyrs and Maenads: the Athens Porn Film Festival, to bring you a short programme on the spiritual appetites of the flesh. Together we have selected films that explore the incorporeal aspects and extensions of desire. The flesh and the spirit, sex and religion, humans and nature meet and clash. Φέτος συνεργαστήκαμε με το Σάτυροι και Μαινάδες: το Φεστιβάλ Πορνό Ταινιών της Αθήνας, για να σας φέρουμε ένα πρόγραμμα μικρού μήκους με θέμα τις πνευματικές ορέξεις της σάρκας. Επιλέξαμε μαζί ταινιες που εξερευνούν ψυχικές πτυχές και προεκτάσεις της επιθυμίας. Η σάρκα και το πνεύμα, το σεξ και η θρησκεία, ο άνθρωπος και η φύση συναντιούνται και αναμετριούνται.

A Bondage Landscape

DjPan Koumpare 18′ 2020 Cyprus

 

 

An unexpected adventure appears for Debbie to explore Feti
shism in a natural setting under the
subversive authority of the Rigger (Nawashi). Together they invite us to witness their exploration for the
maximum pleasure.

Shibari Turk I

Yavuz Kurtulmus 9′ 2023 Turkey

 

 

Shibariturk is a BDSM group who are doing brave things in Istanbul. In this video you will see Serkan and Lena’s bondage. It is a love and chain.

Shibari Turk II

Yavuz Kurtulmus 6′ 2023 Turkey

 

 

Janet sees herself as a sadist. When we ask her what the film is about, she says: ‘You are any object that I want. My chalkboard, carpet, chair and sometimes a toy that’s good for my boredom. You are what I want!’

So Quiet: The Performativity of a Pussy

Maria Cyber 9′ 2018 Greece

 

 

Most of the people are born with a specific sex organ. I realised that one of the sex organs is much more ‘silent’ than the other one. One day I got the idea to visually represent that.

Prima Vista

Squareheart, Cornpop Bright 3′ 2024 Greece

 

 

Through the lens of a woman’s eyes, we watch a private performance where sight transcends mere observation, becoming a vessel for connection and empathy.

Ikaros Reborn

Menelas 7′ 2024 Greece

 

 

In this poetic retelling of the myth of Ikaros, creators Menelas and The Peacock give us a different interpretation of the story and a much happier ending. Shot on location in Ikaria Island, this ancient cautionary tale about the hubris of youth becomes a BDSM love story.

Angelo

Helias Doulis 14′ 2024 Greece

 

 

Far from home, a boy’s heart is tested as love demands the pennies he never had in his pocket of desire.

The Third World After The Sun

Analú Laferal,
Tiagx Vélez 20′ 2024 Colombia

 

 
 

Shorts VII: Dance To That Beat That Keeps You Going

Saturday 28 Sep 19:00

Music is a driving force in this selection where dystopia, dancing, indigenous lands and enemy soldiers all collide and crescendo to a climax.

 

Slimane

Carlos Pereira 19′ 2023 Germany

 

 
 
 

PTPD – Put The Phone Down

Nicolas Karatzas 6′ 2023 Cyprus

 

 
 
 

Bolero

Nans Laborde-Jourdàa 17′ 2023 France, Italy

 

 
 
 

Dipped In Black

Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch 24′ 2023 Australia

 

 
 
 

Buffer Zone

Savvas Stavrou 16′ 2023 Cyprus, UK

 

 
 

Screening with LESVIA

Tuesday 24 Sep 19:00

 

On This Wondrous Sea

Kalliopi Legaki 17′ 2022 Greece

 

 
 

Screening with FAIRY GARDEN

Thursday 26 Sep 19:00

 

A Bird Called Memory

Leonardo Martinelli 15′ 2023 Brazil, UK

 

 
 

Tribute to Zak Kostopoulos

Thursday 26 Sep 21:00

 

This Is Right: Zak, Life And After

Gevi Dimitrakopoulou 13′ 2020 Greece

 

 

This is a portrait of Zackie Oh/ Zak Kostopoulos, a prominent queer AIDS activist who was publicly lynched to death in Athens in September 2018. Zak’s chosen family and community highlight his activist life and the response that his murder galvanised.

 

Bitter September

Sophia Farantatou 26′ 2022 Greece

 

 

After the assassination of the Greek-American LGBTQ activist, Zak Kostopoulos, his childhood friend Sophia Farantatou returns to Greece and finds herself stuck in a dead end.

Special Screening + HIV/Syphilis Testing & Info Session

 

 

Zak Kostopoulos – A Positive Story

Kyriakos Hatzimihailidis 30′ 2019 Greece

 

 

The film is based on Zak’s experience living with HIV, shared through an interview with the director. (The screening will be accompanied by an HIV/Syphilis Testing & Info Session in collaboration with AIDS Solidarity Movement – Cy Checkpoint. A walk-in clinic will run 12:00-15:00.)

20 – 29 September 2024

Special Events

 

Opening Ceremony

Friday 20 September ‘ 21:00

Tahini Molasses invites us on a sonic journey where rituals, transness and tradition are intertwined. A queer portal experience that will take you away and make you oscillate between these worlds. Music by: Hijac and Tahini Molasses

 

Where The Sun Never Sets: 3 Shorts

Saturday 21 September ‘ 15:00 – 17:00

Summers in Cyprus by Kris Adem satermarks/ a handshake by Seta Astreou-Karides TRIPPIN’ AIYA NAPA, INNIT?! by Emiddio Vasquez (Curated by Dimitris Chimonas) Three short film commissions centred around Viktor Szeri’s performance “fatigue”. An informal roundtable discussion with the artists will follow the screenings.

 

Free HIV/Syphilis Testing & Info Session + Special Screening of Zak Kostopoulos – A Positive Story

Sunday 22 September 12:00 – 15:00

In collaboration with the AIDS Solidarity Movement – Cy Checkpoint, we are setting up a 3-hour walk-in clinic at NiMAC from 12:00 to 15:00 on Sunday 22 September. Queer Wave audiences and the general public are welcome to drop in anytime for HIV/Syphilis testing without any prior booking.

The film is based on Zak’s experience living with HIV, shared thourgh an interview with the director.

 

Workshop: Embodying Archives | Zuza Banasińska

Sunday 22 September 15:00

Archives are usually considered as ‘objective’ collections of traces of the past, where they are grouped and contextualised together in order to generate meaning. Yet that meaning is not inherent within the material, but shaped through how the archive is organised, governed and disseminated.

During the workshop, Zuza will talk about their process of embodying archives, looking for affective and visceral ways of organising knowledge, and searching for new meanings within existing materials.

The workshop will include a special screening of this year’s winner of the Teddy Award for Best Short, Grandmamauntsistercat.

 

An Introduction to Cocteau | Nicolas Raffin

Sunday 22 September 19:00

Cinema holds the unique position of always remaining contemporary, of being perpetually out of, and of its, time. A film never truly becomes history, it is never truly resigned to the past.

Every time it’s screened, every time someone is influenced by it, it becomes contemporary once again. This introduction will challenge the rigid concept of the film canon and invite the viewer to (re)discover The Blood of a Poet through a contemporary, queer lens. It will suggest approaching Jean Cocteau’s early film and his subsequent works through the spectrum of plurality, rejecting any form of labelling or binarism.

The introduction will be followed by a screening of The Blood of A Poet (1932).

 

Masterclass: Queer Filmmaking, the Greek Edition | Zacharias Mavroeidis

Saturday 28 September 12:00

How difficult or easy is it to make an out & proud film in Greece today? Are there sources of funding? Screening rooms? An audience?

A conversation with Zacharias Mavroeidis, director of the queer comedy The Summer With Carmen about the film’s journey from writing the script to distribution in cinemas and platforms in Greece and internationally.

 

Closing Event: Trash Your Gender – 9 3/4 Edition

Saturday 28 September 23:00

Trash Your Gender: the 9 ¾ glitchversary

One of the earliest queer events of the island, Trash Your Gender is a political laboratory to experiment with gender expression. Its glitchy existence has flickered across time, a cocoon that nurtured a therapeutic deconstruction of the daily self. Unfolding, it is now a shimmer imbued with age.

Credits:
Organisation:
Anastasia Demetriou – Co-Organiser Alexandros Efstathiou – Co-Organiser Aycan Garip – Co-Organiser Pedro Siammas – Social Architect & Co-Organiser

Performers:
Labronna Saskapsi 🌸 Mitote Garose 🌹

DJs have no identity during Trash Your Gender but we like to be cute:
Dominatrix Lestrange 🌙 Kuya Yakovlev

 

The (N)e(u)rotic Archive | @theneuroticarchive

20 – 29 September

The Neurotic Archive is a series of homoerotic drawings derived from pornographic and erotic content sourced online. Consisting of a collection of more than 300 drawings, it is a testament of a voyeuristic exploration of homosexuality, an artistic gesture of navigating forms of eroticism oscillating between the suggestively erotic and the explicitly sexual. As an almost exclusively online endeavour, The Neurotic Archive dips its toes for the second time into the physical realm of public display in conjunction with the 5th edition of Queer Wave. The latest series of drawings, treated as scandalous explicit adult content, is tucked away in a discreet room on the premises of NiMAC. Their presence and placement in the architecture of the festival grounds ponders the value of the public display of audiovisual arts drawn from erotic and pornographic content.

Queer Wave this year also returns with a selection of soft pornographic and erotic works, this time curated in collaboration with Satyrs and Maenads: the Athens Porn Film Festival. After the screening on Friday 27 Sep at 19:00, Shorts VI: Spiritual Cravings of the Flesh, a Q&A will follow with the artistic director of the Athens PFF Menelas Siafakas. The conversation will start from the definition of porn and ask what is gained by sharing it in public – as opposed to indulging in it in private.

The works in the Neurotic Archive, derived from audiovisual porn and erotica, will create a space where these questions can be visited and revisited, before and after this screening, throughout the festival’s 10 days.