The Queer|Art|Film Series is back, and this time around, it’s all about activism.
Queer|Art has just announced the latest season of screenings at the IFC centre. In keeping with last season’s theme of inspiration, this run, titled ‘Summer of Resistance,’ will feature four films centred on empowering tales of effecting change. The Summer of Resistance will be screened over four nights between May and August, and will incite post- film discussions to give depth to resistance and encourage audiences to act.
The June 26 screening will be an extra special event, as not only does it fall during Pride, but also marks the series’ 100th film.
Catch the full schedule of Summer of Resistance below:
8pm: Monday, May 8
fierce pussy presents THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975
(Göran Olsson, 2011)
In 2011, a group of Swedish journalists traveled to the U.S. with the intention of “showing the country as it really is.” The result is an extraordinary documentary that examines the Black Power Movement from 1967-1975, with appearances by Angela Davis, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. For tonight's presenters, the queer art collective fierce pussy — a group that emerged in the early 1990s from the members' participation in ACT UP — the film is “a look back at a time [that is] still very relevant today as we continue to create strategies of resistance in the current social and political moment.”
8pm: Monday, June 26
F2L presents SOUTHWEST OF SALEM: THE STORY OF THE SAN ANTONIO FOUR
(Deborah Esquenazi, 2016)
Deborah Esquenazi’s riveting documentary explores the imprisonment of four Latina lesbians who were wrongly convicted of child molestation in 1994, thanks to a potent combination of homophobia, misogyny and racism. In her quest for exoneration, Esquenazi unearths surprising details during interviews with the women and their accusers. Our guest presenters tonight are F2L, community activists who fight for queer and trans New Yorkers of color being targeted by the criminal justice system. For F2L, SOS sharply captures how “the media works alongside a racist colonial court system that aims to incarcerate criminalized queer and trans people of color.”
8pm: Monday, July 24
Bianey Garcia presents THE SALT MINES & THE TRANSFORMATION
(Susana Aikin, Carlos Aparicio, 1990/1995)
These astonishing depictions of trans life on the margins in 1990s NYC follow three homeless Latinx trans women living on the West Side Piers who must engage in sex work to support their drug addictions. But things get much darker when a Christian preacher forces one of the women to renounce her trans identity in exchange for treatment for HIV. The films are a favorite of our guest presenter Bianey Garcia, a prominent trans Latinx activist with Make The Road NY. Bianey writes, “When I saw these documentaries, it broke my heart to see how my trans sisters lived during that time. Nowadays, there are people like me who fight for a better life for our future generations!!”
8pm: Monday, August 14
Tarab NYC presents A GLASS AND A CIGARETTE
(Niazi Mostafa, 1955)
We wrap up our Summer season with a captivating classic from the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema. Tonight’s presenter Tarab NYC is the only not-for-profit of its kind, whose mission is to foster an inclusive and safe community for queer Arab, Middle Eastern, and/or North African people in the greater New York City area. A Glass and a Cigarette features several of the era’s brightest stars, including Samia Gamal who plays a woman transitioning from belly-dance stardom to domestic bliss. For Tarab NYC this film is a perfect fit for QAF, as it takes “careful consideration of gender in relation to class, career, and performativities of sexual availability.”