SQIFF Shorts: Queer Scotland

We present a round-up of the excellent, idiosyncratic new queer filmmaking produced within Scotland. We welcome the return of filmmakers who have screened at SQIFF before including Michael Lee Richardson, Wei Zhang, Siri Rødnes, Eleanor Capaldi, and Natasha Lall, and are excited by a whole host of new names bringing very impressive work packed with stylistic invention and stimulating ideas. Gender roles in ballet, a queer reimagining of a working men’s club, sending naked pics via dating apps, Chinese mythology and human binaries, trans masculine culture, BSL poetry, LGBT people in the asylum system, and loads more are explored in our 2019 Queer Scotland programme.

We hope to be joined by a number of the filmmakers for a Q&A. With a cash prize for Best Scottish Short sponsored by Gender Studies at University of Stirling in memory of Kat Lindner.

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale £0-£8 depending on what you can afford. To book, please use the button below or call CCA box office on +44 (0)141 352 4900.

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ACCESS

This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.

Films have English audio and BSL with English language subtitles/captions. BSL interpretation and Speech to Text for the Q&A. Hearing loop available.

Audio description available. Films are otherwise all English language but not hugely accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences with lots of visual storytelling and minimal dialogue. Large print versions of handouts available.

CCA has good access for wheelchair users, gender neutral toilets, and welcomes assistance animals. Click here for CCA’s Accessibility Guide.

A Quiet Space and programme content notes will be available. Click here for a list of content notes for the 2019 Festival.

Comfy seating (bean bags) are available. If you would like to reserve this, please contact access@sqiff.org.

We have a limited travel fund to assist people to come to the Festival for those who could not otherwise afford to attend. If you would like to apply for this, please contact access@sqiff.org.

Tickets

In order to make SQIFF more accessible to those on a low income, we use a sliding scale ticket price of £0-£8 for our events. You can choose what you pay based on your circumstances – you won’t be asked for any proof / ID, we just ask that you are honest! Our ticket sales go towards supporting the vital work of LGBTQ+ filmmakers, artists and organisers. If you have a free ticket and can no longer use it, please contact the relevant venue box office to let them know so it can be used by someone else. For more info on what you should pay, click here.

Frontiers (4m)
Dir. Eve McConnachie, Year: 2019
Frontiers questions traditional gendered roles in classical ballet by refusing to adhere to dated stereotypes: women powerfully command the space, men intimately embrace each other. Frontiers contrasts the fluidity of the human form with the brutalist concrete motorways that cut through the heart of Glasgow.

Content note: None.

we were always here (4m)
Dir. Michael Lee Richardson, Garry Mac, Year: 2019
A queer reimagining of the working men’s club. A dance-powered journey through space and time.

Content note: None.

Acceptable Face (6m)
Dir: Holly Summerson, Year: 2019
“The sort of person who someone might say: ‘oh he’s gay, but he’s lovely!’” Acceptable Face is an animated discussion about the ‘ideal’ respectable queer person. How would they look, act, and let people know that they’re not “that kind of gay”? Based on a series of interviews with LGBTQ+ people, this experimental charcoal animation explores the pressure to be a ‘good example’, and the joy of refusing to conform.

Content note: Discussion of homophobia and transphobia.

Dix Pix (4m)
Dir. Steven Fraser, Year: 2019
Dix Pix is a short animated documentary that looks at the gay male/trans/non-binary body and why it is common for people to send naked pictures via dating apps. The documentary takes an experimental approach in its visual style and tackles themes of masculinity, queerness, solitude, and the body.

Content note: Depiction of animated nudity and sex.

2x+xy=1 (12m)
Dir. Wei Zhang, Year: 2019
Wei Zhang’s practice is an experimental film created by multi post-production technologies, including 3D animation. 2x+xy=1 is constructed by the abstract fluid matters and concrete polygons to display the feature of the non-binary and the binary, the expression of emotion and the symbol of predicament.

Content note: Depiction of nudity.

None of the Above (16m)
Dir. Siri Rødnes, Year: 2018
Embarking upon a distinctly postmodern cyber experiment, Cassie charts her dating odyssey on her personal vlog, posting regular updates to her ever-growing number of followers. But when sensitive rendezvous footage goes viral, she becomes a media pariah.

Content note: Depiction of homophobia, mental health issues, and suicide (graphic).

Roberta Cowell’s Story (1m)
Dir. Melissa J Clifford, Year: 2019
Roberta Cowell’s Story is a one minute short detailing the life and achievements of one of the most prolific British Trans Women of the 20th century. It originally debuted as one of five short films in DOCMA filmmaking challenge #39 AMBITION. The short was created by Melissa Joan Clifford, a trans woman, and was made in the style of an archival film.

Content note: Reference to transphobia.

A Woman is Her Most Beautiful on Her Wedding Day / Someone I Hate (3m)
Dir. Nastia Nikolskaya, Year: 2019
Titled both A Woman is Her Most Beautiful on Her Wedding day and Someone I hate, this film draws on the filmmaker/artist’s own upbringing in a more conservative and gender constrained environment. Employing ubiquitous wedding videography x perfume advertisement tropes, the work is a humorous exploration of how the narratives we have absorbed dictate our daily lives, driving our short-term and long-term decisions.

Content note: None.

Glue (4m)
Dir. Eleanor Capaldi, Year: 2019
When you’ve been dreaming of the past for so long, what do you do when she’s finally there? Agnes meets her ex, Anna, for the first time since their break up and needs to decide whether to stay stuck in the past or move on to the new.

Content note: None.

Possessive Skin (2m)
Dir. Myles McEachan, Year: 2019
“To accept yourself against the face of adversity, is the purest form of courage.” A self-reflective insight into the fundamentals of culture within the Trans masculine community, and how in an age that prides itself on inclusion, we still find segregation and discrimination within even the most marginalised of people, which reflects us inwards.

Content note: Description of mental health issues and transphobia.

What Is Happiness? (6m)
Dir. Claire Clark, Year: 2019
What Is Happiness? is a British Sign Language poem shining a light on some of the elements of that impossible question and showcasing positive representation of BSL poetry as an art form.

Content note: None.

The 16mb, Future Sounds & A Mini City (15m)
Dir. Natasha Lall, Year: 2018
The 16mb, Future Sounds & A Mini City explores retrofuturism through the lens of a shy and naïve queer. 3 short sci-fi, lo-fi films shot in Glasgow.

Content note: None.

Crypsis (9m)
Dir. Christopher McGill, Year: 2019
After fleeing for his life, a gay refugee files for asylum in Scotland. Lacking evidence, he decides to photograph himself in the dark techno world of a queer underground scene. Based on accounts of real-life African LGBT refugees and the challenges they face during the asylum process, Crypsis is a raw depiction of a grim reality obscured by vitriolic public debate about refugees and the broken system that surrounds them.

Content note: Discussion of homophobic violence; depiction of trauma.