QUEER CINEMA IN THE MOUNTAINS was an international youth exchange we organised for 26 participants in Bad Ischl in Austria from 22-28 September 2022. We reflected, questioned, listened and watched a lot of films. We also explored lakes, rivers, waterfalls and mountains. And towards the end of the project, we even created our own short short films and curated film screenings in collaboration with each other.
A week of queer empowerment in the mountains
The stories that queer people and especially marginalize groups within the queer community (e.g. queer people of color or trans people) see on screen are often very limited. It‘s rare that we feel represented by identities and narratives in films. If there is queer representation in mainstream film, we are usually sidekicks. If stories are told with a queer protagonist, they are usually white and cisgender. This creates the feeling for many queer people that they are not important or invisible and it contributes to people around us not understanding queer realities, lifestyles and experiences.
QUEER CINEMA IN THE MOUNTAINS wanted to look at the intersections of queer activism, film making and film curation. Queer youth from all over Europe could try out being curators, filmmakers and storytellers. In this youth exchange they acquired basic skills and knowledge in film making and how to use visuals to challenge norms and power from a critical perspective.
Berlin-based film makers and curators Ragil Huda, Sarnt Utamachote and Katrina Singleton facilitated workshops.
Partner organisations
- SCI Austria (Austria)
- Colored Qollective (Netherlands)
- Change Multipliers (Greece)
- Lambda Szczecin (Poland)
Outcome of the project
Around 15 short films and videos were created as part of this projects. Here a selection of four films that participants created during an exercise of the project:
Untitled
by Alisa Nazaire
Wait
by Feli
Skin Stripes
by Sunny Paparose
Don’t You Remember?
by Monika “Pacyfka” Tichy and Nora Rodziewicz
