SQIFF

Sqifflix: Vision Portraits
2020-06-15 00:00 - 2020-06-21 23:30 UTC
Vision Portraits is a vivid and hypnotic exploration by filmmaker Rodney Evans illuminating the compelling stories of four visually impaired artists – photographer John Dugdale, dancer Kayla Hamilton, writer Ryan Knighton, and the filmmaker himself. Evans contrasts their journeys with his own personal and professional one as a filmmaker gradually losing his vision and as a gay man. Evans’ self-reflexive approach emphasises how each artist adapted creatively and thrived as their process evolved with their unique perspectives. An important film for anyone interested in disability aesthetics, demonstrating how blindness and visual impairment bring about distinct artistic viewpoints.
We are pleased to be hosting a live Q&A with director Rodney Evans on Saturday 20 June at 7pm. The Q&A will take place on SQIFF’s Facebook page at facebook.com/sqiff. Hosted by Amelia Cavallo, theatre practioner, academic, and co-founder of Quiplash.
In partnership with LGBT Health & Wellbeing. Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and Lottery funding from the BFI.
Vision Portraits will be available online 15 to 21 June. Tickets are priced on a sliding scale £0-£8 on a pay what you can basis. To book, please use the button below. We will email a link to the film to ticket holders and this will be available to view/experience at any time between 15 to 21 June.

Access
Film has English audio with English language captions.
Audio description available. We will send the version of Vision Portraits that has audio description built into the soundtrack to all ticket holders.
Film is otherwise relatively accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences with some visual storytelling but a reasonable amount of explanatory dialogue and voiceover and bright images.
Age recommendation of N/C 12+.
Content note: Discussion of ableism.
Live Q&A with BSL interpretation and live captioning.

Sqifflix: TRANSFINITE + shorts
2020-06-25 00:00 - 2020-06-28 23:30
TRANSFINITE is a sci-fi omnibus feature film by Neelu Bhuman composed of seven standalone short stories where supernatural trans and queer people from various cultures use their powers to protect, love, teach, fight, and thrive. Most of us have been in situations where we feel completely powerless and deeply frustrated with the unfairness of it all. Sometimes we have lost control of life and sometimes we find a way to use our rage, resentment, and frustrations to grow a beautiful garden. In TRANSFINITE, the protagonists, like smooth warriors, choose to find that inner power and use it to transform undesirable situations into desirable ones in a snap.
Screening with shorts FETISH and Something In The Closet. In Topher Campbell’s FETISH a multi-dimensional being bestrides the streets of New York in defiance and celebration as he embodies the past, present and future of Blackness. Featuring a mesmerising original score by Mercury Prize Award Winner’s Young fathers. Something In The Closet directed by Nosa Eke is about a queer teenager struggling with her sexuality, as desires manifest their way from the depths of her eerie closet into reality.
We are pleased to be hosting a live discussion with Black queer UK artists’ responses to the films on Saturday 27 June at 7pm. The discussion will take place on SQIFF’s Facebook page at facebook.com/sqiff. Hosted by writer and programmer Harvey Dimond with filmmaker Nosa Eke and other guests tbc.

In partnership with LGBT Health & Wellbeing. Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and Lottery funding from the BFI.
TRANSFINITE + shorts will be available online 25 to 28 June. Tickets are priced on a sliding scale £0-£8 on a pay what you can basis. Films are viewable within UK and Ireland only. To book, please use the button below. We will email a link to the film to ticket holders and this will be available to view at any time between 25 to 28 June.

Access
Films have English, Navajo, Swahili, Spanish, Asura (in Japanese), and Tagalog audio with English language subtitles or captions.
Films are less accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences with lots of visual storytelling and large non-English language sections.
Loud and abrasive sound effects throughout the films.
Age recommendation of N/C 15+.
Content note: Discussion of racism including anti-blackness and violence; depiction of homophobia, transphobia, racism including anti-blackness, mild and/or animated violence, nudity, sex, vomit, and urine.
Live discussion with BSL interpretation and live captioning.

SQIFF 2020 Opening Film: Pride & Protest
2020-10-05 19:00 - 21:15
Pride & Protest is a documentary about QTIPOC communities and activists in Britain today and struggles surrounding the politics of desire, self-care, and found family. In the wake of the Birmingham protests against LGBTIQ+ relationship education in primary schools, director Blaise Singh follows various queer people of colour as they challenge homophobia and racism in their communities. They speak out against internalised shame and lack of representation, and we follow them trying to figure out their place in the world in the build up to UK Black Pride.
We are screening the film as a live watch party on Zoom. We are very happy to be joined by director Blaise Singh for a Q&A after the film. Pride & Protest will also be available on SQIFF’s Vimeo on Demand channel between 5 and 18 October.
Tickets are on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. To book, click the button below. We will send out a Zoom link for the event to ticket holders a day or two beforehand.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
The film has English audio with English language captions. BSL interpretation and live captioning provided for introduction and Q&A.
This event has live audio description. We will send instructions on how to access the live AD to all ticket holders before the event. Contact us by emailing info@sqiff.org if you would like any more information about live AD during the Festival.
The film has lots of dialogue and voiceover, all English language, and mostly bright images.
The film is 90 minutes long with a 10 minute introduction at the start, a 5 minute comfort break after the film, and a Q&A lasting approximately 30 minutes.
Content notes: Discussion of racism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia; depiction of homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, and brief racist violence.
We have a limited access fund to assist people with no or limited internet access to attend the Festival. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2020, please contact info@sqiff.org.
Tickets
Tickets for most live events are on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. Our sliding scale allows you to choose what to pay based on what you feel you can afford. No evidence or proof of circumstances is required. If you can afford to pay more, we really appreciate it as we rely on this income to pay queer people fairly for their work and keep the festival going.

Watch Party: Tongues Untied
2020-10-08 20:30 - 22:15
In his own words, Marlon Riggs aimed to shatter the “nation’s brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference” with his 1989 film Tongues Untied. A challenging and captivating work, many of Riggs’ key messages still resonate with the Black queer experience in the USA and Europe.
Screening with Beyond ‘There’s always a black issue Dear’ by Claire Lawrie, exploring and celebrating black LGBT identities to demarcate the huge influence that Black LGBT culture has had upon Fashion, Fine art, Dance, Music and Language, much of which has been appropriated by the cultural mainstream.
Curated by Harvey Dimond, who will introduce the event. Presented in partnership with Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) for Black History Month.

Tickets are on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. To book, click the button below. You can book a ticket up to one hour before the start time. We will send out a Zoom link for the event to ticket holders a day or two beforehand.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
The films have English audio with English language captions. BSL interpretation and live captioning provided for introduction.
The films are 90 minutes long with a brief introduction at the start.
Content notes: discussion of racism including anti-Blackness, homophobia, and transphobia: depiction of nudity and violence.

Tongues Untied contains some abrasive sound effects and disorientating editing.

We have a limited access fund to assist people with no or limited internet access to attend the Festival. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2020, please contact info@sqiff.org.
Tickets
Tickets for most live events are on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. Our sliding scale allows you to choose what to pay based on what you feel you can afford. No evidence or proof of circumstances is required. If you can afford to pay more, we really appreciate it as we rely on this income to pay queer people fairly for their work and keep the festival going.

Q&A: Game on: queer disruptions in sport
2020-10-12 18:00 - 18:45
Game on: Queer Disruptions in Sport is a documentary which shines a light on the experiences of those with diverse identities within grassroots sport. The film features the stories of gay runners Csaba and Benjamin from Hungary; Natalie, a Scottish lesbian boxer; Pol, an intersex rower from Bulgaria, and a German trans woman footballer called Jessi. Join us for a live Q&A with the film’s director Maria Takacs, protagonists from the film, and LEAP Sports.
Presented in partnership with LEAP Sports Scotland, promoting LGBTI participation and ending LGBTI-phobia in sport. The Q&A will also be live-streamed to Facebook.

Free event. To book, click the button below. You can book a ticket up to one hour before the start time. We will send out a Zoom link for the event to ticket holders a day or two beforehand.

ACCESS
The event has BSL interpretation and live captioning.
The event is 45 minutes long.
We have a limited access fund to assist people with no or limited internet access to attend the Festival. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2020, please contact info@sqiff.org.

Watch Party: The Wound + South African Shorts
2020-10-13 19:00 - 21:30
Despite a rich queer history and long fight to guarantee the rights of queer people under the first democratic government of Nelson Mandela, queer and trans South Africans face many challenges, which intersect with class and cultural identities. This screening attests to those challenges but demonstrates that love and support comes from surprising and subversive places. The Wound explores the relationship between traditional Xhosa initiation rituals and queer identity, also alluded to in My Transgender Life (12m) by Yonela Simetu. The Men Who Speak Gayle (11m) celebrates a secret language used during the apartheid era to hide queer identities from the authorities.
Curated by Harvey Dimond and followed by a Q&A with Yonela Simetu, a Cape Town-based filmmaker and the director of My Transgender Life. Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and Lottery funding from the BFI.

Tickets are on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. To book, click the button below. You can book a ticket up to one hour before the start time. We will send out a Zoom link for the event to ticket holders a day or two beforehand.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
The films have Xhosa and English audio with English language captions. BSL interpretation and live captioning provided for introduction and Q&A.
The films are 2 hours long with a brief introduction at the start and a 30 minute Q&A after the films.
Content notes: discussion of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, swearing, and violence; depiction of nudity, sex, violence, blood, death, and graphic depictions of animal slaughter.
We have a limited access fund to assist people with no or limited internet access to attend the Festival. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2020, please contact info@sqiff.org.
Tickets
Tickets for most live events are on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. Our sliding scale allows you to choose what to pay based on what you feel you can afford. No evidence or proof of circumstances is required. If you can afford to pay more, we really appreciate it as we rely on this income to pay queer people fairly for their work and keep the festival going.

Pride & Protest: Live Watch Party + Q&A with director Blaise Singh
2021-02-20 18:00 - 20:00
Pride & Protest is a documentary about QTIPOC communities and activists in Britain today and struggles surrounding the politics of desire, self-care, and found family. In the wake of the Birmingham protests against LGBTIQ+ relationship education in primary schools, director Blaise Singh follows various queer people of colour as they challenge homophobia and racism in their communities. They speak out against internalised shame and lack of representation, and we follow them trying to figure out their place in the world in the build up to UK Black Pride.
The film will screen on Zoom as a live watch party followed by a Q&A with director Blaise Singh and other members of the cast and crew. We will send out a Zoom link for the event to ticket holders on the day. We are partnering with An Lanntair to host this event to mark LGBT History Month 2021 this February.
This event is a ‘Pay What You Can’ event – come for free or pay what you can afford. To book, click the button below or call An Lanntair on 01851 708 480.

ACCESS
The film is English language with captions and the Q&A will have live captions available. The event is suitable for ages 12+. If you have any questions or access requests for this event, please get in touch by emailing info@sqiff.org.
Content notes: Discussion of racism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia; depiction of homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, and brief racist violence.
