26 Aug

21:00

Kriterion

Roetersstraat 170, Amsterdam

A programme of short films exploring queer lives across different generations and places, from Germany, Argentina, the US, and China.

Out of the Archival Closet: Queer Shorts Programme

More info & tickets

This programme brings together various short films exploring queer lives across different generations and places.

Shorts in this Programme

Liebe, Eifersucht, Rache (Love, Jealousy and Revenge)

Michael Brynntrup | Germany | 1992 | 7'

In this absurd experimental short, queer filmmaker Michael Brynntrup plays with the ties between language and desire. The short is framed as a language-learning film for non-German speakers, and takes place in a gay leather bar, where a phone call between a patron and a drag-dressed escort turns into a story about translation and miscommunication, all the while honoring queer performance.

Playback. Ensayo de una Despedida (Playback: An Essay of Farewell)

Agustina Comedi | Argentina | 2019 | 14'

Using a stash of VHS tapes and the recollections of “La Delpi,” the last living member of a community of transgender women and drag queens in Córdoba, Agustina Comedi pieces together a history that is left out of the official records. Playback is set in Argentina during the late 1980s, showing how lipstick, playback shows, and homemade costumes doubled as acts of resistance against police brutality and social rejection.

Straightboy Lessons

Ray Rea | United States | 1999 | 10'

Beginning the transition from female to male, a transguy seeks counseling from a cisgender male pal. Come along for an illustrated lesson on the do's and don’ts of being a straight boy, in some ways a throwback to the late 1990s and in other ways, a timeless story of friendship and change.

Damned If You Don't

Su Friedrich | United States | 1987 | 42'

Su Friedrich’s Damned If You Don't blends fiction with archival footage to investigate the connections between religion, sexuality, and repression. Inspired by a classic convent-set melodrama, the film follows the building attraction between a young lesbian woman and an isolated nun.

New Beijing, New Marriage

范坡坡Fan Popo David Cheng | China | 2009 | 18'

On February 14, 2009, the Valentine’s Day, a gay couple and a lesbian couple chose to have their wedding photos taken on the Qianmen Street. It was a beautiful Spring Day in Beijing. People who witnessed the event include local residents and tourists from all over the country. Would they understand what was going on? Did the branded ‘New Beijing’ also bring about ‘new concepts’ about love and marriages?