Party: Sippin' T, ISHWAQ & Junglehussi
2019-10-04 23:00 - 2019-10-05 03:00 UTC | The Art School, 20 Scott Street, Glasgow, G3 6PE, United Kingdom
Celebrate SQIFF 2019 at The Art School for the official afterparty! Glasgow-based babes ISHWAQ and Junglehussi who’ll be going b2b will be joined by Sippin’ T aka Tia Simon-Campbell, DJ and co-founder of club night and curatorial collective BBZ (Bold Brazen Zamis).
Tickets are available in advance as well as on the door. £6 or £8. Choose what to pay based on your circumstances. To book, please use the button below. No one will be turned away for lack of funds – if you need a free ticket, please email ray@theartschool.co.uk in advance of the event.

ACCESS
This event is for ages 18+.
The Art School has good access for wheelchair users, gender neutral toilets, and welcomes assistance animals. Click here for The Art School’s Accessibility Guide.
A Quiet Space will be available. Strobe lights will not be used.
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.

SQIFF Shorts: Queer Islam with Hidayah
2019-10-05 12:30 - 14:30 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
A series of shorts made over several decades following queer Muslim characters as they navigate familial relationships, romantic love, and their careers. A budding filmmaker collaborates with his conservative Muslim father on a film about an iconic Muslim actor. The love between a disabled Muslim father and his queer son is tested when love is pitted against religion. Two brothers stand by each other in the face of adversity. An Arab American man learns how to love again post-heartbreak. And a rising martial arts star tries to hides her identity from her family and her small American town when under the spotlight.
Join us for a discussion after the screening with members of LGBTQIA+ Muslim charity Hidayah. Part of our strand on queerness and religion, You Gotta Have Faith.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
Films have a mixture of English and Arabic audio with English language subtitles/captions. The discussion will be BSL interpreted. Hearing loop available.
Around half the films are relatively accessible to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences with explanatory dialogue and relatively bright images. 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.

Surviving Sabu (16m)
Dir: Ian Iqbal Rashid, Country: UK, Year: 1997, Language/s: English
Funded by the Arts Council of England as part of its Moving Image series of films about ethnic identity in Britain, Ian Iqbal Rashid’s debut short deservedly won him various industry accolades upon its release. Its sympathetic depiction of a strained relationship between a budding gay filmmaker and his conservative Muslim father as they collaborate on a film about Indian star Sabu – best known for his contribution to British cinema in the 1930s and 40s – is steered by exceptional performances from Suresh Oberoi and Navin Chowdry.
Content note: Depiction of homophobia; discussion of racism and mental health issues.
Ablution (15m)
Dir: Omar Al Dakheel, Country: USA, Year: 2017, Language/s: English, Arabic
Waleed washes his disabled father Khaled five times a day for Muslim prayer. But, when Waleed’s sexuality is revealed, both father and son are torn between religion, duty, and self.
Content note: Depiction of homophobia and drug use.
Brothers (9m)
Dir: Mike Mosallam, Country: USA, Year: 2018, Language/s: None
Brothers follows a Muslim Arab boy who realizes he is different, and is fortunate to have an older brother who stands by him and encourages him to be himself in the face of bias and adversity.
Content note: Depicion of homophobi.
Breaking Fast (18m)
Dir: Mike Mosallam, Country: USA, Year: 2015, Language/s: English, Arabic
Breaking Fast is a romantic comedy drama following Mo, an Arab American man living in West Hollywood learning how to navigate life post-heartbreak. Enter Kal, a sweet All-American guy who surprises Mo by offering to break fast with him during the month of Ramadan. As they learn more about each other, they fall in love over what they have in common, and what they don’t.
Content note: Discussion of suicide.
Choke (16m)
Dir: Rolla Selbak, Country: USA, Year: 2018, Language/s: English, Arabic
A rising MMA star hides her refugee status from her small American town and the world.
Content note: Depiction of racism, violence, sexism, and homophobia.

Transfinite
2019-10-05 15:00 - 16:20 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
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 Tomgirl (10m), in which a young Filipino boy in Australia gets an enchanting crash-course in his homeland culture.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
Films have English, Navajo, Swahili, Spanish, Asura (in Japanese), and Tagalog audio with English language subtitles/captions. Hearing loop available.
Films are not very accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences with visual storytelling, minimal dialogue, and mostly non-English language. 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.

SQIFF Shorts: Queer Scotland
2019-10-05 15:15 - 17:00 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
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.

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.

A Dog Barking at the Moon
2019-10-05 15:30 - 17:35 | Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB, United Kingdom
In director Zi Xiang’s exceptional feature debut – a Teddy Jury award-winner at the Berlin Film Festival – decades of open secrets and resentment create chaos within a Chinese family. When she brings her white western boyfriend for a visit to China, pregnant Huang Xiaoyu gets caught up in her parent’s ongoing feud. Her father’s gay affairs and her worn-out mother’s seduction by a predatory cult bring matters to a crescendo as the narrative jumps cleverly between past and present. Zi Xiang expertly analyses repression which is woven into society and causes unhappiness to be passed down across generations.
Tickets are priced on a sliding scale £0-£8 depending on what you can afford. To book, please use the button below or call GFT box office on +44 (0)141 332 6535.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
Film has Chinese and English audio with English language subtitles/captions. Hearing loop available.
Film is not accessible to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences with minimal dialogue mostly in Chinese. Large print versions of handouts available.
GFT has good access for wheelchair users and welcomes assistance animals. Click here for GFT’s Accessibility Guide.
Programme content notes will be available. Click here for a list of content notes for the 2019 Festival.
If you would like to reserve specific seating, 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.

SQIFF Shorts: Some Like it Rough
2019-10-05 21:00 - 22:25 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
We delve into the varied practices of BDSM and societal attitudes towards this age-old erotic preference, which continues to be subject to stigmatisation and censorship. In Lasting Marks, one of sixteen gay men put on trial for taking part in consensual sadomasochism in late 80s England narrates his experience. Berlin-based conscious BDSM practitioner, Caritia, explains her spiritual journey through eroticism and life in Rituals + Worship. In French dramedy, Dressed for Pleasure, a young disabled woman seeks a more exhilarating sexual satisfaction. Mockumentary No Democracy Here sees a lefty dominatrix employed by right-wing Israeli men to force them into recanting their politics. The programme concludes with super hot non-binary, lesbian action with a punk boidyke given the rough-tender treatment in Driven.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 18+.
Films have English, French, Hebrew, and German audio with English language subtitles/captions. Hearing loop available.
Films are moderately accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences with two of them English language with explanatory dialogue and voiceover but the others non-English language, a fair amount of visual storytelling throughout, and a mix of dark and bright images. 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.

Lasting Marks (14m)
Dir: Charlie Lyne, Country: UK, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
The story of sixteen men put on trial for sadomasochism in the dying days of Thatcher’s Britain was told by the police, the prosecution, and the tabloid press — but not by those in the dock. Director Charlie Lyne has created an experimental recreation of what happened offered by the men themselves.
Content note: Discussion of sex including BDSM, homophobia, mental health issues, and police persecution.
Rituals + Worship (13m)
Dir: Morgana Muses, Country: Germany, Year: 2015, Language/s: English
A short BDSM documentary that explores the workshop culture in Berlin and focuses on conscious BDSM practitioner, Caritia.
Content note: Depiction of BDSM. Discussion of racism.
Dressed for Pleasure (17m)
Dir: Marie de Maricourt, Country: Switzerland, Year: 2017, Language/s: French
Sarah, a young disabled woman, lives with her parents. She is increasingly subject to many fantasies and sees her sexuality taking up more and more of her attention. The arrival in the house of a new cleaner, Victoria, a trans woman, will upset the family balance.
Content note: Depiction of nudity, sex including reference to BDSM, and transphobia.
No Democracy Here (25m)
Dir: Liad Hussein Kantorowicz, Country: Germany, Palestine, Israel, Year: 2017, Language/s: Hebrew
No Democracy Here deals with the topic of political domination. Liad, a lefty human rights defender dominatrix, re-educates her Israeli right-wing-leaning obedient submissive slaves to follow upstanding leftist ethos and morals, like freedom of movement, economic justice, direct democracy and human rights by using domination practices such as humiliation, doggy-training, coercion, and administration of pain.
Content note: Depiction of light BDSM and racism.
Driven (13m)
Dir: Toni Karat, Country: Germany, Year: 2018, Language/s: German, English
A punk boidyke, handcuffed, facing the wall in a sparse, empty room, breathes heavily with anxiety and expectation. And anxious she should be, for the rough treatment she will face in the 13 minutes that follow! The film is a contribution to much-needed lesbian visibility – conveying a proud and unashamed image of dyke eroticism and BDSM – also at the age of 50+!
Content note: Depiction of BDSM including consensual non-consent.

WERX @ Civic House Glasgow
2019-10-05 22:00 - 2019-10-06 02:00
Introducing WERX, a collaboration between Vogue Scotland X SQIFF and Glasgow’s own club night by and for the ballroom scene, allies and pals, get ready to dress to the 10s! DJs to be announced.
This night is open to folx from all backgrounds, experiences, sexualities, and identities and celebrates and prioritises the QTIPOC community. There will be limited tickets available in advance with the remainder on the door.
Vogue Scotland is a community and platform for the underground House Ball scene in Scotland. If you have any questions or want to get involved with any training or meet-ups please reach out on our facebook page @ Vogue Scotland.
£5. Noone turned away for lack of funds.

ACCESS
This event is for ages 18+.
Civic House has reasonable access for wheelchair users, gender neutral toilets, and welcomes assistance animals. For more information on venue access, please contact access@sqiff.org.
A Quiet Space will be available.
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.

SQIFF Shorts: You Gotta Have Faith
2019-10-06 12:30 - 14:10 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
Short films exploring what it means to have faith as a queer person today. A seemingly pious Hasidic man living a secret double life faces a challenge when his two worlds collide. A chaplain from Cheshire sets up a helpline for gay farmers and is inundated with calls. LGBTQIA+ people in Nepal use a Hindu festival as a medium to appear in public. Plus more compelling stories in this captivating selection.
Join us for a discussion after the screening with playwright and author of The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, Jo Clifford, LGBTQIA+ Muslim charity Imaan, and Rev. Jane Clarke from Glasgow’s LGBT+ Metropolitan Community Churches. Part of our strand on queerness and religion, You Gotta Have Faith.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
Films have a mixture of English, Hebrew, and Nepali audio with English language subtitles/captions. The discussion will be BSL interpreted. Hearing loop available.
Around half the films are relatively accessible to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences with explanatory dialogue and relatively bright images. 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.

Black Hat (15m)
Dir: Sarah Smith, Country: USA, Year: 2019, Language/s: English, Hebrew
A seemingly pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his black hat one night causing his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined.
Content note: Sexual content.
Two Blinks (8m)
Dir. Bruno Fraga Braz, Country: UK, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
After her father rejects her request to get a haircut, hijab-wearing Farhana searches the streets of Peckham London for a hair salon where her modesty can be protected.
Content note: Depiction of homophobia.
Landline (12m)
Dir. Matt Houghton, Country: UK, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
Landline is a short documentary about the only helpline in the UK for gay farmers set up by a chaplain from Cheshire. Through a series of recorded telephone conversations and reconstructive visuals, the film uses the helpline as a lens through which to view the experiences of LGBTQ people in the British farming community.
Content note: Discussion of homophobia and suicide.
Eden (5m)
Dir. Jędrzej Gorski, Country: Poland, Year: 2018, Language/s: No dialogue
A story of a young Catholic man who is struggling with his homosexuality. He is in love with another man but also does not want to abandon his religion. He has to choose between love and religion on one rainy day in the countryside.
Content note: Sexual content.
21st Century Nuns (10m)
Dir. Tom Stephen, Country: UK, Year: 1994, Language/s: English
Documentary about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters are an order of queer nuns. Their work covers many areas including: safer sex education, protests and demonstrations, outreach to the gay community, and providing ritual to the gay population. Their goal is to “expiate all stigmatic guilt and promulgate universal joy…”
Content note: Sexual content and depiction of homophobia.
The Visible (4m)
Dir. Atikah Zainidi, Country: Brunei, Year: 2019, Language/s: English
A short documentary exploring what it’s like to be a girl in Brunei.
Content note: Discussion of homophobia, transphobia, and sexual violence.
Gai Jatra (20m)
Dir. Gopal Shivakoti, Country: Nepal, Year: 2019, Language/s: Nepali
Traditionally, Gai Jatra is literally translated as procession of cows and is an age-old festival commemorating the death of loved ones. Since 2001, LGBTI people in Nepal have been using Gai Jatra festival as a medium to appear in the public, flaunt their true selves with pride, and pay tribute to the deceased members of their community.
Content note: Discussion of mental health issues, suicide, homophobia, and transphobia.

Vision Portraits
2019-10-06 17:30 - 19:00 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
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.
Screening with Fashion in the Dark I and II (8m) by Emily Ford-Halliday exploring fashion and identity with people who are visually impaired or blind. Presented in association with Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland. With an introduction by filmmaker and poet, Ross Wilcock, and filmmaker and academic, Emily Ford-Halliday.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
Films have English audio with English language subtitles/captions. BSL interpretation for introduction. Hearing loop available.
Audio description available. Films are relatively accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences with some visual storytelling but a reasonable amount of explanatory dialogue and voiceover and bright images. 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.

We Are Parable presents: Dirty Computer: An Emotion Picture by Janelle Monae
2019-10-06 19:45 - 21:00 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
As part of their season “The Art of the Black Visual Album” We Are Parable partner with SQIFF to present a special screening of Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer visual album or, as she calls it, “emotion picture.” Set in a dystopian nightmare, Jane 57821 (played by Monae) is being subjected to having her memories removed or “cleaned,” ones that mainly involve her relationship with Zen (Tessa Thompson). As the removal of her thoughts and feelings takes place, we’re taken on a journey to find out who Jane really is, with her emotions displayed as songs from Dirty Computer.
Preceded by our Closing Night speeches and awards. After the screening, we invite you to a listening party where CC TIME and SQU!SHY will perform a homage to Janelle Monae, playing Dirty Computer in its entirety alongside other tunes. Includes tasty beers sponsored by Drygate Brewing Co.
This screening is part of the BFI Musicals nationwide season.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
Film has English audio with English language subtitles/captions. BSL interpretation for introduction. Hearing loop available.
Film is relatively accessible to blind and partially sighted audiences – there is a lot of visual storytelling but a reasonable amount of explanatory dialogue and lots of song lyrics. 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.

SQIFF Shorts: Gross Out
2019-10-06 20:00 - 21:00 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
With supposed tolerance and acceptance of LGBT people in western public life comes enforced sanitisation and respectability. Straight society pats itself on the back for allowing (some of) us to get married and feature in shiny corporate advertising but is still repelled by our bodies and sex lives. To counter the continued suppression of fleshly and carnal appetites and practices, we went on a hunt for the grossest, most yucky films we could find. Featuring experimental musing on why we find our bodies disgusting and scary; some gay sex-tinged body horror; literal shit in a variety of forms; and a performance involving an empty stomach and a large jar of honey. Please note this programme requires resilience for what some would consider stomach-churning and gruesome imagery.
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.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 18+.
Films have English and Spanish audio with English language subtitles/captions. Hearing loop available.
Films are not very accessible to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences with a lot of visual storytelling and ideas and dark images. 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.

Ämber (6m)
Dir: Remmi E. Välja, Country: UK, Year: 2019, Language/s: No spoken sound
Ämber is an experimental film about the basic functions of the human body. The film studies affect; it seeks to raise the question of why we sometimes find our own bodies and their natural existence to be unpleasant, disgusting, and scary. The aim of the film is to make the audience uncomfortable in a humorous way.
Content note: Depiction of bleeding.
Estigma (14m)
Dir: David Velduque, Country: Spain, Year: 2018, Language/s: Spanish
It’s Friday night, the bell rings and Alex opens the door to the worst of his fears. “Estigma speaks to us about that inner prison we build because of fear of rejection and not being loved for who we are. This is the starting point of a story that I’ve intended to face as a personal matter, dealing with my complex relationship with illness and rejection.” David Velduque
Content note: Depiction of injury with body horror elements.
Next Level Shit (11m)
Dir: Gary Jaffe, Country: USA, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
Taylor wants to be squeaky clean downstairs before his big third date with dreamboat Chris, but his efforts backfire, sending the relationship spiralling to a whole new level of intimacy.
Content note: None.
Bear (13m)
Dir: Fred Guerrier, Country: USA, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
A bear-suit wearing dancer ignores the news of his estranged father’s death but begins to see his ghost. Meanwhile, an ex-lover’s infatuation quickly devolves into something more sinister (and stinky). The line between reality and fiction get blurred during the terrifying showdown between the Bear, the ghost, and the lover.
Content note: Depiction of death.
Force Feed (15m)
Dir: Alan Vincent, Country: USA, Year: 2018, Language/s: No spoken sound
Performance for video. One empty stomach, one pound of honey.
Content note: Depiction of overeating.

Black History Month: Portrait of Jason
2019-10-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
Portrait of Jason shows sex worker and entertainer, Jason Holliday, recounting his life story for filmmaker Shirley Clarke.
Jason is the sole on-screen presence in the film. He narrates his life story to the camera, behind which Clarke and her partner at the time, actor Carl Lee, provoke and berate Jason with increasing hostility as the film progresses. The film alleges to employ avant-garde and cinéma vérité techniques to reach the tragedy underlying Jason’s performative persona. However, Portrait of Jason is one of if not the first documentation of black queer experiences and trauma exploited by white ‘gatekeepers’ for the sake of the artist’s cultural and financial capital gains.
Although Portrait of Jason is a landmark film, there is a need here to discuss the fuzzy problem of ‘visibility’ within the white/capitalist domination of visual culture. Are the lines between exposure and exploitation blurred in Portrait of Jason?
Curated and hosted by Sequoia Barnes, an art/design scholar and doctoral candidate at The School of Design with Edinburgh College of Art. Presented as part of Black History Month in partnership with Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER).
Free. To book, please use the button below or call CCA box office on +44 (0)141 352 4900.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
Film has English audio with English language subtitles/captions. If you would like to attend this event and require BSL interpretation for the introduction/discussion, please email access@sqiff.org at least 2 weeks in advance.
Film is moderately accessible to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences with a lot of visual storytelling but some explanatory dialogue and all English language. 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.
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.

Black History Month: Calalai: In Betweenness + shorts
2019-10-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
Calalai: In Betweenness by filmmaker Kiki Febriyanti depicts women in South Sulawesi Bugis culture, which for centuries has accepted gender diversity as implicit, believing humans consist of 5 genders, one of them being calalai. The film takes a closer look at the definition of femininity and masculinity in the Bugis culture. What or who is calalai? What are the dynamics of gender, spirituality, and performance? How do these dynamics define the everyday life of the Bugis people?
Screening with accompanying short films and discussion on queerness in Indonesian cultures outside of white, colonialist impositions.
Curated and hosted by artist and researcher Claricia Parinussa. Presented as part of Black History Month in partnership with Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER).
Free. To book, please use the button below or call CCA box office on +44 (0)141 352 4900.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
Film languages tbc with English language subtitles/captions. If you would like to attend this event and require BSL interpretation for the discussion, please email access@sqiff.org at least 2 weeks in advance.
Accessibility of films to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences tbc. 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.
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.

Sqifflix: Fighting for Justice
2020-04-27 17:30 - 2020-05-27 17:30
Click here to access the full programme.
In our very first Sqifflix outing we showcase activist short films in which people fight for their right to exist and against oppressive forces. The movies cover identities including Deaf, Disabled, and Two Spirit, battle against patriarchy, white supremacy, and ableism, and feature hip-hop, a robot, and superhero finger puppets.
All films have English language subtitles or captions. See notes below for each film’s language/s, level of accessibility for blind and partially sighted people, age recommendation, content notes, and if the film contains flashing lights or sound levels that might be disturbing for some. These notes are also found on each film’s page on vimeo.
The films are all free to watch with thanks to the filmmakers. Click here to donate to LGBT Unity Scotland to support LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

Regalia: Pride in Two Spirits (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: David Ng, Jen Sungshine, Country: Canada, Year: 2016
The story of Duane and his journey as someone who identifies as Two Spirit – a queer Aboriginal person.
Language/s: English

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover; mostly bright images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Discussion of homophobia.

Like a Riot (2m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Krissy Mahan, Country: USA, Year: 2016
“Like anyone who grew up with the Muppets and Fraggle Rock, I have always wanted to have a puppet self. And of course I want my puppet self to hang out with Campbell X’s puppet self. Krissy Mahan has made it happen!” So Mayer
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Only song lyrics with lots of onscreen text and visual storytelling; mostly bright images
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: None

Trans*march (2m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Simon Schultz von Dratzig, Country: Germany/Canada, Year: 2013, Language/s: English
As the most politicized of the three marches during Pride week in San Francisco, trans*march, which had been running for ten years at the time this film was made, has a tradition of raising visibility of a marginalised group within queer culture. This documentary records queer voices during the 2013 march and reflects political discussions concerning trans* and LGBT movements.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover/dialogue; bright images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Discussion of transphobia and racism.

Amar: Deaf is an Identity (4m) [click here to watch]
Dir: David Ng, Jen Sungshine, Country: Canada, Year: 2016
Amar shares his journey as a queer South Asian activist, and explains how it intersects with his identity and culture as a Deaf person.
Language/s: ASL
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: No spoken sound, all in ASL with subtitles; mostly bright images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: None

Tax on Me (4m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Kiana Kalantar-Hormozi, Country: UK, Year: 2017
Local authorities in Scotland charge people for their care costs, obliging people with disabilities to pay more than others to achieve the same basic human rights. Tax on Me is a hip-hop music video by filmmaker Kiana Kalantar-Hormozi and media coop responding to the Care Tax and the effect it has on people who need support.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Quite a lot of voiceover and dialogue; mix of bright and dark images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Discussion of ableism.

Until Justice Rolls (4m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Krissy Mahan, Country: USA, Year: 2013
Faggotgirl, a butch dyke superhero action figure, and her friend Robot want to meet for a drink. But the New York City public transportation system is barely accessible for people with different kinds of bodies and their journey is thwarted by stairs, gaps, and poorly maintained curbs.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Only song lyrics with lots of onscreen text and visual storytelling; mix of bright and dark images
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Discussion of ableism.
Disability Justice for Palestine (1m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Sins Invalid and Micah Bazant, Country: USA, Year: 2014
Disability Justice for Palestine is a Public Service Announcement created by Sins Invalid during the extended attacks on Gaza in the Summer of 2014. “We add our words and faces to a movement for global solidarity with the people of Palestine, articulating the struggle for Palestinian liberation as a disability justice issue.”
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover/dialogue; mix of bright and dark images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Discussion of violence.

Sqifflix: Funny Stuff
2020-04-28 17:30 - 2020-05-27 17:30
Click here to access the full programme.
Funny Stuff features comedy shorts with queer narratives and musings involving love potions, a mystery trail of takeaway food, Fisher Price characters brought to life, cyborgs, and zombies!
All films have English language subtitles or captions. See notes for below for each film’s language/s, level of accessibility for blind and partially sighted people, age recommendation, content notes, and if the film contains flashing lights or sound levels that might be disturbing for some. These notes are also found on each film’s page on vimeo.
The films are all free to watch with thanks to the filmmakers. Click here to donate to LGBT Unity Scotland to support LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

Floozy Suzy (25m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Otavio Chamorro, Country: Brazil, Year: 2015
A hilarious-love-potion-gone-wrong tale where the aim is to win the love of the hottest guy at school.
Language/s: Portuguese
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: All in Portuguese; bright images.
Sound design access notes: Loud music and sound effects.
Age recommendation: 18+
Content note: Depiction of misogyny, homophobia, ableism, and mild violence.

The Usual (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Ruth McNally, Country: Ireland, Year: 2014
In a small country pub, three Irish farmers are enjoying an afternoon’s drink when an unusual stranger walks in. His curious behaviour entertains them for a while but they won’t want someone like him hanging around their local for too long.
Language/s: English (Irish dialect)

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Limited dialogue with lots of visual storytelling; mostly bright images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Reference to homophobia.

Big Queer Failure (7m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Rebecca Tritschler and Ellie Fawcett, Country: UK, Year: 2017
A DIY film celebrating and asserting our right to fail at life as individuals and communities.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover and bright images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: None
My Aunt Mame (9m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Krissy Mahan, Country: USA, Year: 2015
A funny/sad dramatization of a woman’s childhood visits to her working-class butch great aunt, and what happened when she came out to her mom, told through Fisher-Price people in homemade sets.
Language/s: English with one line in Irish Gaelic
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover/dialogue and bright images.
Sound design access notes: Some loud music
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Discussion of sex, the AIDS crisis, and hospitalisation; depiction of hospitalisation.

Mymy (14m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Anna Helme, Country: Australia, Year: 2014
In a mythic cyberfeminist universe, a frustrated young man yearns for affinity and connection. In an age of digital avatars, he crafts a version of himself that is far more corporeal – by stitching together parts of himself to become his own cyborg twin. However, his new clone has been corrupted by a techno-magick virus…
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Little spoken dialogue, mostly image-based storytelling; mix of light and dark images.
Sound design access notes: Some loud and abrasive sound effects
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Depiction of sex and nudity.

The Deaf vs The Dead – Episode 1: “Outbreak” (7m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Dickie Hearts, Country: USA, Year: 2017
When the undead apocalypse breaks out in Los Angeles, an out Deaf man must find a way to survive and protect his loved ones, even if it means teaming up with some unlikely people.
Language/s: ASL and English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Limited spoken dialogue, lots of visual storytelling; quite bright images.
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: Depiction of ableism and comedy violence.

Sqifflix: Queer Horror Stories
2020-05-15 17:00 - 2020-06-15 17:00
Click here to access the full programme.
In Queer Horror Stories we showcase provocative, bizarre, sometimes gory, sometimes scary films that delve into the terror of queerness and oppression. In a dystopian 2064, a federation of African States initiate an annual cull of men; a young gay man in Russia has a surprise in store for the ultranationalists who attack him; the unbearable weight of family expectations and difficulty of being stuck in unhealthy relationships are explored through formal film experiments; the movies of horror director Kang-Chien Chui are given a queer reading; and two queer feminist crews tackle violent forces in a surreal present.
All films have English language subtitles or captions. See notes for below for each film’s language/s, level of accessibility for blind and partially sighted people, age recommendation, content notes, and if the film contains flashing lights or sound levels that might be disturbing for some. These notes are also found on each film’s page on vimeo.
The films are all free to watch with thanks to the filmmakers. Click here to donate to LGBT Unity Scotland to support LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

2064 (12m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Joseph Adesunloye, Country: Botswana, Year: 2019
Devastating population growth, famine, and mass internal displacement pushes Africa to the brink. Many of the continent’s animals are wiped out due to hunting, ever-warming climate, and a ballooning population. A federation of African States is created and institutes an annual cull of four million men. Soon the policy is successful, and the continent’s wildlife begins to flourish again. In 2064, a nascent freedom movement led by the ‘Ladies in White’ is fighting for the emancipation of the condemned men and to put an end to the human cull.
Language/s: Tswana

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Only Tswana spoken and mostly visual storytelling; relatively bright images.

Sound design access notes: Some abrasive sound effects.

Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Discussion and depiction of death and suicide.

Cheat (2m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Ania Urbanowska, Country: UK, Year: 2015
At what cost to ourselves are we complicit in our families’ expectations for us? This is a film about breaking that unspoken contract; about the moment when cheating them of the person they want us to be stops feeling like a choice.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Small amount of surreal and poetic voiceover; dark images.
Sound design access notes: Loud and abrasive sound effects.
Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Discussion of suicide.

PYOTR495 (15m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Blake Mawson, Country: Canada, Year: 2016
Set in present-day Moscow, 16-year-old Pyotr is baited by an ultranationalist group known for their violent abductions and attacks bolstered by Russia’s LGBT propaganda law, but Pyotr has a dangerous secret his attackers haven’t accounted for.
Language/s: Russian

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: All Russian language with some dialogue and some image-based filmmaking; quite dark images.
Sound design access notes: Abrasive horror sound effects.

Age recommendation: 18+
Content note: Discussion of sex including BDSM; depiction of homophobia, xenophobia, and graphic, degrading, and gory violence.

Stuck (11m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Ania Urbanowska, Country: UK, Year: 2013
Have you ever been in relationship where you can’t see its problems…?
Language/s: No spoken language

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: No dialogue, only music and sound effects; quite dark images.

Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Depiction of drug-taking.

Yi-Ren (the person of whom I think) (14m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Tzuan Wu, Country: Taiwan, Year: 2015
A love letter in collage style, consisting of found footage and a queer reading of the work of Kang-Chien Chui, screenwriter of classic East Asian movies such as The Bells of Death and Twin Blades of Doom.
Language/s: Mandarin

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: All in Mandarin, poetic voiceover; dark images.
Sound design access notes: Abrasive sound effects.
Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Suggestion of distress and violence.

Swarm of Selenium (23m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Maude Matton & SJ Rahatoka, Country: Germany, Year: 2015
In the surreal dystopian present, two queer feminist crews cohabit the shells of an abandoned malt factory. As a troubling pattern begins to emerge from their mouths in the form of shattered glass, all are shaken, but some are hit harder than others. Through dance, visual work, and anti-work, they merge forces to try to care for one another and combat the insidious violent process which seems to increasingly come from within.
Swarm of Selenium is a queer sci fi short film about collective healing, trauma, and other world-making. It was shot in Berlin in spring 2016 by a crew of more than 40 women, nonbinary, and trans artists.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Sparse and surreal dialogue; relatively dark images.

Sound design access notes: Lots of loud and abrasive sound effects and music.
Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Depiction of violence.

Sqifflix: Sexual Content Warning
2020-05-26 17:00 - 2020-06-26 17:00
Click here to access the full programme.
For anyone after some slightly xxx-y content to make lockdown more pleasureable, we bring you Sexual Content Warning. A sweet night cleaner has his work cut out in Canada’s busiest gay bathhouse. Disability activist Andrew Gurza reflects on his first sexual encounter and how the event shaped his identity. Scottish filmmaker John Walter addresses cruising and sexual risk, in particular around the ‘cottage,’ a public toilet that is repurposed as a space of sex. Gustavo is a photographer who captures the bodies of naked men in public spaces in Sao Paulo. And writer and poet Aurora Levins Morales, a.k.a. The Gimp Gourmet, prepares a very special recipe!
All films have English language subtitles or captions. See notes for below for each film’s language/s, level of accessibility for blind and partially sighted people, age recommendation, content notes, and if the film contains flashing lights or sound levels that might be disturbing for some. These notes are also found on each film’s page on vimeo.
The films are all free to watch with thanks to the filmmakers. Click here to donate to LGBT Unity Scotland to support LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

The Night Cleaner (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Blair Fukumura, Country: Canada, Year: 2016
As the night cleaner in Canada’s busiest gay bathhouse, Travis has his work cut out for him. With good humour he shyly takes us on an amusing and sometimes harrowing tour through his nightly duties.
Language/s: English

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover/dialogue and bright images.

Sound design access notes: Some abrasive sound effects.

Age recommendation: 18+
Content note: Discussion of sex, bodily fluids, and brief reference to sexual harrassment; depiction of sex and bodily fluids.

Bedding Andrew (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Blair Fukumura, Country: USA, Year: 2014
On the eve of his 30th birthday, Andrew, a man with Cerebral Palsy, reflects on his first sexual encounter and how the event shaped his identity as a gay man.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Lots of voiceover/dialogue and bright images.
Sound design access notes: Loud and abrasive sound effects.
Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Discussion of sex and ableism.

Courtship Disorder (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: John Walter, Country: UK, Year: 2015
Courtship Disorder addresses cruising and sexual risk, in particular around the ‘cottage,’ a public toilet that is repurposed as a space of sex. Cruising for sex in real space has not disappeared despite the development of online cruising apps. ‘Courtship Disorder’ refers to a controversial term used by sexologists such as John Money to describe a spectrum of human behaviours, especially in men, including exhibitionism, voyeurism, toucherism, rubbing, and sexual assault.
Language/s: English

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Film is mostly visual with surreal monologues; bright images.
Sound design access notes: Some abrasive sound effects.

Age recommendation: 18+
Content note: Discussion of sex; depiction of sex and nudity.

Lightrapping (22m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Marcio Miranda Perez, Country: Brazil, Year: 2016
Gustavo is a photographer who captures the bodies of naked men in public spaces in Sao Paulo. One night, young Pedro follows him, curious and undecided about participating in the project.
Language/s: Portuguese

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: All in Portuguese with sparse dialogue; very dark images.

Age recommendation: 18+
Content note: Discussion of sex; depiction of possible sexual violation.

Pussy Vinaigrette (3m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Patty Berne, Country: USA, Year: 2011
The Gimp Gourmet prepares a very special recipe! Starring, written by and with fruit carving by Puerto Rican Jewish writer and poet Aurora Levins Morales. Does activist filmmaking have room for this much sexiness…?
Language/s: English

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Poetic monologue with some visual ideas. Not very bright images.
Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Depiction of sexual imagery and suggestiveness.

Sqifflix: Vision Portraits
2020-06-15 00:00 - 2020-06-21 23:30
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: More Love from Neelu
2020-06-22 17:00 - 2020-07-22 17:00
Click here to access the full programme.
Our special shorts programme More Love from Neelu showcases films by award-winning artist and filmmaker Neelu Bhuman, whose feature film TRANSFINITE we are screening online 25 – 28 June. Neelu’s work explores social and political themes as they play out in close relations. Playfully evoking insights into the workings of difference in intimacy, their films blend viewpoints ranging from race, gender, sexuality, culture, class, and romance.
In FU377, the dignity of queer people in India is under attack through Section 377, which the Supreme Court had recently re-introduced, re-criminalising ‘gay sex,’ when the film was made in 2014. Meanwhile, an adorable Indian mother is totally down with gay sex and wheels out some choice lines for her heartbroken queer daughter in an effort to cheer her up.
More Love. Less Prepackaged Bullshit. (2017) is set to the soul beat of Assata Shakur, and features a trio resisting dystopia with a bowl of joy, intimacy, and love.
Neelu’s 2016 short ṣadāqa is a kaleidoscopic view of friendship transcending borders.
All films have English language subtitles or captions. See notes for below for each film’s language/s, level of accessibility for blind and partially sighted people, age recommendation, content notes, and if the film contains flashing lights or sound levels that might be disturbing for some. These notes are also found on each film’s page on vimeo.
The films are all free to watch with thanks to Neelu Bhuman. Click here to donate to LGBT Unity Scotland to support LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants. Click here to donate to the Wahala Film Fund, a film completion fund for Queer, Transgender and Intersex People of Colour filmmakers based in UK, Europe and the Global South co-founded by Neelu Bhuman.

FU377 (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Neelu Bhuman, Country: UK, Year: 2014
Basic dignity of queer people in India is under attack, yet again. The scorching IPC Section 377 is re-unleashed to police to criminalise “gay sex” in India. While the law and the Supreme Court dated themselves back a few hundred years, an adorable Indian mother has her knowledge of “gay sex” in mint condition, wheeling out a tidbit or two for her heartbroken queer daughter in an effort to cheer her up. The pair are shocked into action by the Supreme Court’s latest rejection.
Language/s: English

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Quite a lot of dialogue with some visual ideas; bright images.

Sound design access notes: None

Age recommendation: 15+
Content note: Reference to sex.

More Love. Less Prepackaged Bullshit. (1m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Neelu Bhuman, Country: USA, Year: 2017
Set to the soul beat of Assata Shakur, a trio resists dystopia with a bowl of joy, intimacy and love.
Language/s: English
Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: No dialogue – only music lyrics and sound effects; quite bright images.
Sound design access notes: None
Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: None

ṣadāqa (5m) [click here to watch]
Dir: Neelu Bhuman, Country: UK, Year: 2016
A kaleidoscopic view of friendship transcending borders.
Language/s: English and Arabic

Accessibility for blind and partially sighted people: Small amount of English dialogue and some Arabic but mostly visual ideas; quite bright images.
Sound design access notes: None

Age recommendation: 12+
Content note: None

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 Shorts: A is for Asexual
2020-07-15 10:00 - 2020-07-17 10:00
We are taking part in DIVE IN Cinema, a two-week online screening series in collaboration with other film festivals and exhibitors in Scotland.
DIVE IN Cinema will offer a mixture of features and short films across fiction, documentary and experimental work, as well as a few filmmaker conversations. Each screening will be programmed by one of the contributing exhibitors and will be available on demand for 48 hours from its start time, with a new programme released at 10am every day.
SQIFF’s programme is called A is for Asexual and will be available to view online for 48 hours from 10am on Wednesday 15 July.
Highlighting new work around perhaps the most under-represented identity in queer cinema, this programme celebrates films by and about asexual people of colour. Garima Kaul’s documentary Desire? explores the wide range of experiences of asexual individuals and communities in India, whilst multi-award-winning Brazilian film Infinite While It Lasts follows the budding relationship between asexual Danny and allosexual Seiji.
Click here to register to access all the films in DIVE IN Cinema for free. All screenings are FREE to view, however DIVE IN are collecting donations for Scottish charities The Unity Centre and Ubuntu Women Shelter. The Unity Centre provides advice and support to asylum seekers and migrants in Scotland. Ubuntu Women Shelter is a Glasgow-based charity that provides emergency accommodation needs for women with no recourse to public funds. There is a payment link to donate when you enter the hub.
Screenings are captioned for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences. Content notes per film will be listed on the online platform as appropriate.
Desire? (30m)
Dir: Garima Kaul, Country: India, Year: 2019
The everyday realities of some people who identify as asexual, creating small ruptures in the homogenising culture of hyper and heteronormative sexuality.
Language/s: English, Hindi

Content note: Depiction of asexual denial and acephobia; discussion of asexual denial, acephobia, homophobia, sexual/emotional abuse, masturbation, and caste discrimination.

Fixers – Asexuality (3m)
Dir: Fixers, Country: UK, Year: 2013
Fixers are young people using their past to fix the future.
Language/s: English
Content note: Depiction of asexual denial; discussion of asexual denial and suicide.

Infinite While It Lasts (17m)
Dir: Akira Kamiki, Country: Brazil, Year: 2019
After falling in love at a party, Danny and Seiji just want to be together, but their differences might prove stronger than their feelings.
Language/s: Portuguese

Content note: None

All The Feels!: Ultimate Queer Fanvid Playlist
2020-10-05 00:00 - 2020-10-18 23:30
Fanvids are short films using music, edited by fans in an expression of all the feels around their favourite fandoms. Even with today’s films and television bursting with more queer characters than ever, we still fight for true recognition, representation, and stories that go beyond the sometimes disappointing and limiting storylines we are given. Every fanvid is a DIY work of art, combining music and clever edits to celebrate favourite shows, rework plots, commiserate in collective sadness, and whatever feels there are to be had!
Curated by Tara Brown, queer crip Black fat femme and Fringe! Queer film & arts fest and freelance film curator.
Click here for Tara’s YouTube playlist.
ACCESS
This playlist has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
The fanvids have English audio. Some have English language captions or a transcript. Transcript of the other vids coming soon. With apologies for the lack of captions on all videos thanks to YouTube removing the option for community captions. Click here to sign a petition for YouTube to reverse this decision.
The playlist is 34 minutes long.
Content notes: Discussion of homophobia, biphobia, and racism; depiction of brief nudity, sex, violence, and blood.

The videos in All the Feels!: Ultimate Queer Fanvid Playlist include some loud music and fast 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.

Many Black Moons Ago, To Go...
2020-10-05 00:00 - 2020-10-18 23:59
Time as it is Queer.
Blackness as it is Queer.
What comes next after the end of the world?
A digital exhibition programme of Afrofuturist films and writings in response to the re/imagining of Black alternative future(s). Curated by Scottish-Zimbabwean artist, researcher, and curator Natasha Thembiso Ruwona. Sign up to receive a link to access the exhibition website during the festival dates, 5th to 18th October.
Short films available as part of the exhibition across the 2 weeks include NEGRUM3 (2018) by Diego Paulino, Reifying Desire 5 (2012) by Jacolby Satterwhite, and Time Travel Experiments Pt. 2 (2017) by Black Quantum Futurism. Born in Flames (1983), depicting a future where a socialist government gains power and a group of women decides to organize and rebel, will be available to view as part of the exhibition on our Vimeo on Demand channel 12th to 13th October. Please note all films will screen with English language captions. Further access information will be available on the film’s Vimeo on Demand pages.

There will be artists’ responses to the programme by Sequoia Barnes and Naomi Gessesse.
Sequoia Barnes’ work is predominately centered around making processes, rituals, and modes of fashioning. Trained in semiotics, she deploys research through praxis often in her artistic explorations of black diasporic symbolisms, storytelling as performance, and positioning the creative process as a performance/ritual. Her scholarly work currently explores the design techniques and aesthetic semiotics of late fashion designer, Patrick Kelly. Her most recent artistic works include her artist responses to Senga Nengudi (Fruitmarket Gallery) and Nick Cave (Tramway) with performative works entitled Sew Me A Quilt. Tell You A Story. (2019) and The Burden I Bear Is Heavy (2019), respectively.
Naomi Gessesse is a movie watcher and Aries sun from Glasgow. They have written for several publications and wrote an undergraduate thesis on the politics of space at the lgbtqia+ film festival. Naomi now works for Berwick Film And Media Arts Festival while continuing to write.
A reading group led by Martha Williams on Sunday 18 October will conclude the series. Click here to book a free ticket to the reading group event, Call & Reponse. The event will have BSL interpretation, live captioning, and live audio description. The films in the exhibition all have English language captions.
Born in Flames is preserved by Anthology Film Archives with restoration funding from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation. Distributed by Cinenova.

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: Tchindas
2020-10-06 19:00 - 21:30
Tchindas explores queer identity and acceptance in the Cape Verde archipelago, and follows Tchinda, a transgender woman who is a national heroine, as she prepares for Carnival month. The camera closely follows Tchinda and her cohorts – an engaging, closely knit group of trans women and gay men – as they take the lead in preparing their neighbourhood for the festivities. Screening with short The Whole World is Turning (21m) by Ada M. Patterson.
Followed by a conversation with Ada M. Patterson examining the themes raised. Ada M. Patterson (Bridgetown, 1994) is a visual artist and writer based between Barbados, London and Rotterdam. They work with masquerade, textiles, performance, video and poetry, telling new stories or rethinking old stories in new recuperative ways. Click here for Ada’s Instagram.
Part of Islands and Oceans curated by Harvey Dimond. Tchindas and The Whole World is Turning will also be available on SQIFF’s Vimeo on Demand channel between 5 and 18 October. 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. 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 Cape Verdean Creole audio with English language captions. BSL interpretation and live captioning provided for introduction and Q&A.
The films are 115 minutes long with a brief introduction at the start, a 5 minute comfort break after the film, and a discussion lasting approximately 30 minutes.
Content notes: discussion of homophobia, transphobia, and swearing.
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[at]sqiff.org.
If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2020, please contact info[at]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.

Workshop: Filmmaking with Wahala Film Fund
2020-10-08 18:00 - 19:30
Wahala Film Fund is a short film completion fund for Queer, Transgender, and Intersex People of Colour filmmakers based in UK, Europe, and the Global South. Wahala’s aim is to challenge the pervasiveness of the marginalisation of Queer People of Colour within films and film industries and also empower the many talented QTIPOC filmmakers who struggle to make work, or who stop continuing to make work because of the systemic pressures we face in actualising work which prioritises QTIPOC people in front of and behind the camera. Wahala co-founders and filmmakers Campbell X and Neelu Bhuman will lead this workshop for queer filmmakers of colour to find their voice and discuss their place in the industry.
This event is only open to QTIPOC (queer, trans, and intersex people of colour).

Tickets are free. 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 workshop has an age recommendation of 18+.
BSL interpretation, live captioning, and live audio description are provided for the workshop. 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 workshop is 90 minutes long with a comfort break in the middle.
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: 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.

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.

Workshop: Queer Speculative Fiction with Katalina Watt
2020-10-14 18:00 - 19:00
Katalina Watt is an Edinburgh-based author and publisher with a background in digital publishing, copywriting, and bookselling. A champion of representative voices and stories, she has been published in various anthologies and magazines, and was longlisted for Penguin Random House UK’s 2020 Write Now programme. She is currently working on her debut Horror-Fantasy short story collection inspired by folklore of the Philippine islands. As part of the festival’s focus on all things speculative and fantastic, this informal event will feature an introduction to Katalina’s work, discussions around representation in new writing, and a chance for writers in the audience to talk through some next steps on what to do with their own work.
With thanks to the Scottish BAME Writers Network.

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 workshop has an age recommendation of 15+.
BSL interpretation and live captioning are provided for the workshop.
The workshop is 1 hour 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: Lesbian Shorts by Shu Lea Cheang
2020-10-14 21:00 - 22:00
Shu Lea Cheang’s work from the early-to-mid 1990s demonstrated an exciting fusion of identity politics and erotic exploration, making her one of the period’s most prominent queer media artists.
This collection presents two of her solo works and two collaborations, alongside a Q&A with Cheang hosted by scholar and critic B. Ruby Rich.
Part of our Shu Lea Cheang Retrospective, Cruising the Future. Cheang is a multi-media artist working in experimental video and net art since the early 1980s. Her work deals with the techno body, queer erotics and politics, race relations, and governmental and institutional power. Click here to access Cheang’s 2000 feature film I.K.U. on our Vimeo on Demand. Click here to access Fluidø (2017).

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 on the day.

ACCESS
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 18+.
The films have Japanese and English audio with English language captions. BSL interpretation and live captioning provided for introduction and Q&A.
Content notes: discussion of cancer, death, and sex; depiction of nudity and sex.
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.

PROGRAMME
Sex Fish (6m)
Dir: Shu Lea Cheang, Country: USA, Year: 1993, Language/s: English
An erotic lesbian video involving swimming upstream, female power, and fish love. Made as a collaboration under the name E.T. (Ela Troyano) Baby (Jane Castle) Maniac (Cheang).
“In Sex Fish water provides the common denominator for nature imagery and explicit sex. Unlike 1970s feminist imagery, however, nature is sexualized rather than sex naturalized. Dripping from the faucet, spraying against a shower curtain, swirling down a toilet, water leads viewers from one sex scene to another, private to public and back again. Swimming through the video are various fish, seemingly unaware of the derogatory pun they enact, and all gulping enviously as cunnilingus surrounds them.”
—Chris Straayer, Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies: Sexual Re-orientations in Film and Video (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996)
Sex Bowl (8m)
Dir: Shu Lea Cheang, Country: USA, Year: 1994, Language/s: English
All forms of human sport become sites for sexual play and celebratory eroticism.
“The tape’s images are quick, suggestive, and sexy: fingers moving into bowling balls, shoe-smelling and toe-sucking, a dog wearing chain jewelry, fish being wrapped at the market, young naked couples having sex…. Edited like a music video, the image track is a constant flow of fetishes that lure us into the promiscuous pace of girls who keep lists of their sexual encounters.”
—Chris Straayer, Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies: Sexual Re-orientations in Film and Video (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996)
Fingers and Kisses (5m)
Dir: Shu Lea Cheang, Country: Japan, Year: 1995, Language/s: Japanese, English
Cheang has taken her camera to the streets for a candid glimpse of lesbian public sexuality. If Asian women and lesbians share a certain amount of invisibility in the culture, Fingers and Kisses offers not only a bold representation of both, but a challenge to the question “What do lesbians do?” Tokyo’s own out-and-loud music by Chu punctuates the narrative as what begins in the streets continues under the sheets.
Coming Home (5m)
Dir: Shu Lea Cheang, Country: USA, Year: 1995, Language/s: Japanese, English
This humorous video begins with two women—one white, the other Asian—attempting to fit into a Japanese bathtub. The awkward fitting of bodies into a small space is just one of the allegorical scenarios dramatized in a pressing appeal for lesbian rights. In a game of hanafuda (flower cards), the terms of lesbian domesticity are cleverly played out according to such legalities as joint property, social security, and pensions.
