The second Queerfest Norwich film night’s fabulous programme. We have tried to capture the spectrum of how film can be used by artists.

Running Order

Man ; EMERGENCE OCCURRED ; Misnomer ; Phreaking Gender ; Phreaking Gender ; Immortal: A Trans Tattoo Project ; N19 5TZ ; Joy ; Pillow Chocolate

Narrative films, while still non-traditional and artistic in their own ways, are more traditional to how people expect a film to appear.

Misnomer

Misnomer / 12min / is a short film written and directed by AELLA JORDAN-EDGE
Lily clings on to the past as her partner redefines their identity.

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Pillow Chocolate

PILLOW CHOCOLATE Drama / 9m 25 / 2023 For trans man Jamie, a one-night stand is more than just sex, it’s a question of self-worth.

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How it Feels to Be Loved

How it Feels to Be Loved (6 min) Lucy Rose Shaftain-Fenner (she/her) – Lucy is a photographer and filmmaker based in Cambridge, UK. Her goal is to produce creative and diverse projects.

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Immortal: A Trans Tattoo Project

“IMMORTAL: A Trans Tattoo Project”  (2021-2023) Grayson Colbert

Color video, Running time: 4:09
This short film captures a “Trans Tattoo Project” in which Colbert asked trans and nonbinary people to choose a word they feel connects to or encompasses their relationship to their gender and experience of transness. Colbert then tattoos those words on their backs as an immortal memoriam to their identities. This is an ongoing project, and since its start in December 2021 there have been over 80 participants. This tattoo project was featured in The New York Times in January 2023.

Tattoo Artist: Grayson Colbert
Videographer: Leo Xander Foo
Co-Editors: Grayson Colbert & Leo Xander Foo
Movement Director: Meadow Cloud
Tattooees: Meadow Cloud, Zephyr Steiner, Kyng Williams, Jay Mimes, Toby Herbster, Auguste DuBois, Indie Cusack, Aile Langley

Any trans or nonbinary person is welcome to become a part of this project, please reach out to the artist via Instagram DM: @softxprince or email: softxprints@gmail.com

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The art films connect with the exhibition ‘Interrupt’, demonstrating how visual media can be used as a medium for experimental art. 

Phreaking Gender

PHREAKING GENDER /30 min / expands the themes of Nicole O’Reilly’s titular documentary into an installation art show. O’Reilly teams up with Luke ‘Luca’ Cockayne to create a space for all to explore their relationship to gender and the ways that art can support and enhance The Transgender Experience™. In the face of oppressive paternalistic medical systems that deny trans people bodily autonomy, and at a time when our very existence is threatened, PHREAKING GENDER provides a techno-anarchist manifesto, showing that self-augmentation and the creation of radical queer communities is not just a necessity for wellbeing, but as an act of empowerment and rebellion in itself.
Content Warnings:
– Discussion of gender dysphoria, suicide, familial abuse;
– Depiction of nudity, needles, kinky activities, sexual content, drug use, transphobia, body fluids.Access Notes:- Strobe light.

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N19 5TZ

N19 5TZ / 3 min, 42 Sec / Paul Francis Bryan.
Content Warnings:
Contains audio descriptions of violence and homophobic language 

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Joy

Joy 2023 /11 mins /Fiction / Digital 35mm 4K / Julieta Tetelbaum
Joy is the sequel of the queer feminist short film “Wake Up! It’s Yesterday” filmed in New York in 2020. The film is a journey through the mind of a 65-year-old working-class lesbian who’s addicted to sugar and can’t stop thinking about her ex-girlfriend from youth. She lives with her partner—a mannequin that she’s built to look like her ex. The tragicomic piece delves deep into moments of intimacy, loneliness, sexuality, joy and the desperate longing to be loved

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Man

Man 2019 / 3 min 42 sec / Animation/ Fin McMorran – Lesbian/Queer artist/animator exploring gender in animation, also making films about feisty little old ladies, and sheds who dream of flying. It asks the questions: what if we didn’t assume something was male unless it was labelled “female”? what if it isn’t either, or if it doesn’t matter? and what if we saw and shared people’s thoughts, swimming round like fishes…instead of just our own assumptions?
It’s a bit surreal, a bit cross, and a lot positive.

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Emergence Occurred

Emergence Occured/ 5 mins / Laurie Green The video attempts to convey something of my own experience of interruption and the emergence of a more fluid, loving, and caring queer-self.