SQIFF Shorts: A is for Asexual
2020-07-15 10:00 - 2020-07-17 10:00 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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 UTC
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.

Discussion: Film Programming for QTIPOC
2020-10-15 18:30 - 20:00 UTC
A conversation with QTIPOC film programmers from across the UK. We’ll be tackling questions such as: What does it mean to programme for us, by us? What unique and specific challenges are we facing? How do we curate safe and nourishing spaces for our communities? How do we take care of our selves while doing this grassroots work? Guest speakers include queer crip Black fat femme and Fringe! Queer film & arts fest and freelance film curator, Tara Brown, Director of CineQ and Festival Manager of SHOUT Festival, Rico Johnson-Sinclair, and Scottish-Zimbabwean artist, researcher, and curator, Natasha Thembiso Ruwona.
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
BSL interpretation, live captioning, and live audio description provided for the event. 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.
We have a limited access fund to assist people with no or limited internet access to attend the Festival. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2020, please contact info@sqiff.org.

Watch Party: The Cancer Journals Revisited
2020-10-16 18:00 - 20:10 UTC
The Cancer Journals Revisited is prompted by the question of what it means to re-visit and re-vision Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde’s classic 1980 memoir of her breast cancer experience today. At the invitation of filmmaker Lana Lin, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, twenty-seven writers, artists, activists, health care advocates, and current and former patients recite Lorde’s manifesto aloud on camera, collectively dramatising it and producing an oration for the screen. The film is both a critical commentary and a poetic reflection upon the precarious conditions of survival within the intimate and politicised public sphere of illness.
Followed by a Q&A with director Lana Lin hosted by Anahit Behrooz. Anahit is an arts journalist based in Edinburgh, currently working as events editor at The Skinny and commissioning editor at Bella Caledonia, with bylines in The List, Girls on Tops, and Club des Femmes among others. Presented in partnership with Scottish Documentary Institute.

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, Spanish, and German audio with English language captions. BSL interpretation and live captioning provided for introduction and Q&A.
The film is 98 minutes long with a brief introduction at the start, a 5 minute comfort break after the film, and a 30 minute Q&A.
Content notes: discussion of racism including anti-Blackness, violence, cancer, and death.
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.

Call & Response: Reading and Writing for the Future
2020-10-18 14:00 - 16:00 UTC
A workshop and reading group led by Martha Williams. The discussion and activities will be based around one or more of the texts selected for the Many Black Moons Ago, To Go programme. Texts will be sent to participants prior to the workshop.
The workshop is for Black people only.
Martha Adonai Williams is a writer, facilitator, and community organiser. She is a coordinator for the Black Feminist Bookshop and runs the Black womxn/non-binary writing space, Call+Response.

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

ACCESS
The event has an age recommendation of 18+.
BSL interpretation, live captioning, and live audio description provided for the event. 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 2 hours 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.

Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America
2021-02-03 - 2021-02-18
Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America is a feature-length documentary revealing the untold stories of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers who have fled intense persecution from their home countries and who are resettling in the United States. As leadership in America continues to demonize immigrants and drastically restrict the flow of refugees and asylum seekers into the U.S., Unsettled follows Subhi, a gay Syrian refugee, Cheyenne and Mari, a lesbian couple from Angola, and Junior, a gender non-conforming gay man from the Congo, struggling to create new lives for themselves.
Click here to rent Unsettled on our Vimeo on Demand channel up until 17 February. You can rent the film on our pay what you can sliding scale of free to £8. Please note the film is only available to rent within the UK.
We are holding two free online events to discuss the themes of the film and the situation for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in the UK on 4 and 11 February. To book for our discussion 7-8pm on Thursday 11 February with Leni Candan from UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group and Solomon Adebayo LGBT Unity Scotland responding to the film, click the button below. We will send out a Zoom link for the event to ticket holders on the day.

Presented in partnership with LGBT Unity Scotland, a community-led group providing essential support to LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants, and Scottish Borders LGBT Equality for LGBT History Month. Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

ACCESS
The film and events have an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
The film has English audio with English language captions. Live captioning provided for online discussions.
The film has quite a lot of dialogue and voiceover, all English language, and mostly bright images.
The film is 84 minutes long. Each discussion event is 1 hour long.
Content notes: Discussion and depiction of homophobic violence, honour-based violence, trauma, emotional distress, and substance abuse.

If you have any questions about accessibility for the film and events, please contact info@sqiff.org.
Film rental price

Rental of the film on our Vimeo on Demand is on a sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, or £8. Our sliding scale allows you to choose what to pay based on what you feel you can afford. No evidence or proof of circumstances is required. If you can afford to pay more, we really appreciate it as we rely on this income to pay queer people fairly for their work and keep the festival going.

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

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

Sanctuary shorts in association with SQIFF + Q+A
2021-10-03 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Online
This community-curated programme* explores the acceptance of identity, self, and of the world around us, while highlighting the universal experience of being queer–with a special focus on being lesbian. The films’ instinctive narratives show the lows of being ‘othered’, and the highs of finding a safe space within that, no matter what age, country, or time period. Join us for powerfully diverse stories, told with heart, honesty, and a perfect amount of humour. You’ll leave the event with a new community of queer film-lovers: your very own sanctuary.
*Back in July, Sanctuary collaborated with SQIFF producer and co-founder Helen Wright to offer 2 online workshops for LGBTQIA+ people, aged 18+, to learn about film programming. Participants worked together to watch a selection of queer short films and make decisions about a final shorts programme. Thanks to Ewan McPherson, Kate Hammer, Liam Rees, JD Stewart, Merik Tiz, Ben Cave, Beth Cooper, Jonathan McLean, Vee Smith and Sand Owsnett.
This is a free event. Book tickets using the button below.

ACCESS
We’ll be using Zoom Webinar for this screening event and Q&A. Audience members will be able to interact with the discussion through the chat function. Once you book a ticket you’ll be sent a link to access the event, 24 hours before the event starts.
The films are in a mixture of spoken languages with English language captions and the Q&A will have live captions and BSL-English interpretation available. The event is suitable for ages 16+. If you have any questions or access requests for this event, please get in touch by emailing info@sqiff.org.
The total films running time is 1 hour 25 minutes.
This film and discussion may include reference to: mental health breakdown, homophobia, transphobia, alcohol or substance addiction. We appreciate this list is not comprehensive and encourage you to confidentially get in touch if there is a particular subject matter not listed you wish to avoid: hello@sanctuaryqueerarts.com.
PROGRAMME
The Way We Are (16m)
Dir: Amanda Ann-Min Wong, Country: Canada, Year: 2020, Language/s:
English
“The Way We Are” shares excerpts of stories from audio interviews with 4 queer Asian women: Katherine Chun, Wenda Li, Tamai Kobayashi, and Nancy Seto. Told in the present-tense, these stories are arranged in a way that explores the past as the present, and in doing so, immersing viewers into the real-lived experiences from a different generation.

A Story of Wedding (27m)
Dir: Wei Zhao, Country: France, Year: 2021, Language/s: Mandarin
To satisfy their families, Huanlin, a gay man, and Ziqiao, a lesbian, have agreed to have a marriage of convenience, which will be held online due to the pandemic. In addition, they have also agreed to have and raise a baby together. However, this decision is changing their lives before they know it.

Fora de Época | Out of Place (13m)
Dir: Drica Czech, Laís Catalano Aranha, Country: Brazil, Year: 2020,
Language/s: Portuguese
2018: Brazil’s general election. Emotionally shaken by the possibility of Bolsonaro being elected, a young lesbian takes refuge in her family’s farm. As she tries to understand why her mother spent the last days of her life alone in the old house, she is faced with revelations about her own story.

Subjekträume (Subject Spaces) (29m) Dir: Kat Voss, Country: Germany, Year: 2020, Language/s: German
Leather, metal, fur: Pelze Multimedia, West Berlin 1981-1996, provided a space for art, musix, sex parties, experiments. A glimpse into an almost forgotten site of lesbian/queer history.

Immigrant Stories with LGBT Unity Scotland SOLD OUT
2022-10-21 15:00 - 17:30 UTC | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
This screening is a raw look into queer immigrant stories. Who I Am Now follows a conversation between two teammates, Tariq and Denise, talking about their trans refugee identities and sharing their stories about friends and family. No Hard Feelings presents a love story between Parvis, the son of exiled Iranians, and Amon who has fled Iran and is seeking asylum in Germany with his sister. This screening powerfully captures intersectional queer and refugee identities, with the two films complementing each other in exploring aspects of the family we’re born intro and the families we make from our friends.
Presented in partnership with LGBT Unity Scotland, a community-led group providing essential support to LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants. Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click the button below or call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900.

Accessibility:
Live Captioning
Closed Captions
Induction Loop
BSL-English Interpreter
Wheelchair Accessible
Quiet Space in the Intermedia Lab at the CCA
Audience Travel and Access Fund
All films have subtitles and/or closed captions in English. Films for this programme are in the following languages: Arabic, English, German, Persian.
If you would like to discuss any access needs, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.

Content Notes:
Depictions: nudity, sex, racism, flashing lights, homophobia
Descriptions: transphobia

Framing Agnes + Conversation at Eden Court, Inverness
2023-04-22 18:00 - 20:00 UTC
Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history.
In this rigorous cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt explores where and how her platform has become a pigeonhole. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed — one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.
Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare.
Joynt’s signature form-rupturing style radically reenvisions the imposition of the frame on the cultural memory of transness through his brilliantly crafted, communally-driven excavation. This reclamation tears away with remarkable precision the myth of isolation as the mode of existence of transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
Following the screening of Framing Agnes, stay tuned for a conversation with local trans and non-binary people on inter-generational trans experiences and creating space for the community. The panel will be hosted by Mal Fraser, a participatory artist, filmmaker and facilitator from the Highlands who currently facilitates the Queer Youth Arts Collective online with Eden Court. They are passionate about utilising the arts to build nurturing and accessible community spaces, and loves chatting about queer films and stories.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are available on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click the button below.

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro and post-film conversation.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
Quiet Room available.
Induction Loop available.
75 minutes long with a 45 minutes post-film conversation.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Presented in partnership with Highland Pride, Inverness Kiki Family, and Queer Youth Arts Collective.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Framing Agnes + Conversation at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling
2023-05-11 19:00 - 21:00 UTC
Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history.
In this rigorous cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt explores where and how her platform has become a pigeonhole. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed — one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.
Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare.
Joynt’s signature form-rupturing style radically reenvisions the imposition of the frame on the cultural memory of transness through his brilliantly crafted, communally-driven excavation. This reclamation tears away with remarkable precision the myth of isolation as the mode of existence of transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
Following the screening of Framing Agnes, stay tuned for a conversation with local trans and non-binary people on inter-generational trans experiences and creating space for the community.
This event is presented in partnership with Stirling Trans Collective, Stirling LGBTQ+ Society and LGBT Youth Scotland.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £4.50, £6.50, £8.50. To book, click the button below.

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro and post-film conversation.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
Induction Loop available.
75 minutes long with a 45 minutes post-film conversation.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Framing Agnes + Conversation at GFT Glasgow
2023-05-12 20:15 - 22:30 UTC | Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB, United Kingdom
Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history.
In this rigorous cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt explores where and how her platform has become a pigeonhole. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed — one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.
Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare.
Joynt’s signature form-rupturing style radically reenvisions the imposition of the frame on the cultural memory of transness through his brilliantly crafted, communally-driven excavation. This reclamation tears away with remarkable precision the myth of isolation as the mode of existence of transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
Following the screening of Framing Agnes, stay tuned for a conversation with local trans and non-binary people on inter-generational trans experiences and creating space for the community.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click the button below or call the GFT Box Office on 0141 332 6535.

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro and post-film conversation.
Live Captioning available for the introduction and conversation.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
Quiet Room available.
Induction Loop available.
75 minutes long with a 45 minutes post-film conversation.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Note:
These events were originally scheduled to take place at CCA, Glasgow. We decided to postpone our Trans-Generational Tour events in Glasgow after three weeks of demonstrations at Saramago (the independent bar & restaurant at CCA), with no sign of a resolution. SQIFF stands in solidarity with the workers and supports them and Clydeside IWW in their actions against Saramago.

Trans Parenting at GFT, Glasgow
2023-05-14 14:30 - 16:00 UTC | Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB, United Kingdom
Trans Parenting is a shorts programme that focuses on trans and non-binary experiences around family; raising families, forming families, and nurturing families.
Flash Flood (2017, Dir. Al Mackay) is a short animation. Deep within a rotoscoped dream, three transgender people confront a cataclysmic flood. Featuring stories from Jessie Anderson, Helen Poon and Al Mackay.
Transgender Parents (2013, Dir. Rémy Huberdeau) reveals the gifts trans people bring to parenting because of, and not in spite of, their gender. It’s an intimate and tender look at the art of parenting, some of the hardest relational work in this life.
M(OTHER)HOOD (2022, Dir. Bea Goddard) is a short documentary that shows an unfiltered but fragmentary perspective of Jack López – a trans parent of four children, using the children’s art, cinematography, and words to gain privileged access to their domestic sphere.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click the button below or call the GFT Box Office on 0141 332 6535

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro of event.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
Live Captioning available for the introduction.
Quiet Room available.
Induction Loop available.
67 minutes long.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Note:
These events were originally scheduled to take place at CCA, Glasgow. We decided to postpone our Trans-Generational Tour events in Glasgow after three weeks of demonstrations at Saramago (the independent bar & restaurant at CCA), with no sign of a resolution. SQIFF stands in solidarity with the workers and supports them and Clydeside IWW in their actions against Saramago.

Framing Agnes + Conversation at Cornucopia, Hawick
2023-05-20 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history.
In this rigorous cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt explores where and how her platform has become a pigeonhole. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed — one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.
Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare.
Joynt’s signature form-rupturing style radically reenvisions the imposition of the frame on the cultural memory of transness through his brilliantly crafted, communally-driven excavation. This reclamation tears away with remarkable precision the myth of isolation as the mode of existence of transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
Following the screening of Framing Agnes, stay tuned for a conversation with local trans and non-binary people on inter-generational trans experiences and creating space for the community.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click the button below.

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro and post-film conversation.
75 minutes long with a 45 minutes post-film conversation.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Presented in partnership with Alchemy Film & Arts.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Framing Agnes + Conversation at DCA, Dundee
2023-05-26 18:15 - 20:15 UTC
Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history.
In this rigorous cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt explores where and how her platform has become a pigeonhole. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed — one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.
Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare.
Joynt’s signature form-rupturing style radically reenvisions the imposition of the frame on the cultural memory of transness through his brilliantly crafted, communally-driven excavation. This reclamation tears away with remarkable precision the myth of isolation as the mode of existence of transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
Following the screening of Framing Agnes, stay tuned for a conversation with local trans and non-binary people on inter-generational trans experiences and creating space for the community.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click the button below.

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro and post-film conversation.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
Induction Loop available.
75 minutes long with a 45 minutes post-film conversation.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Presented in partnership with Dundee University LGBTQ+ Society.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Begana x SQIFF Joyland + Discussion Group SOLD OUT
2023-06-10 17:00 - 21:00 UTC | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
As the Ranas – a happily patriarchal joint family – yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious trans starlet.
Their impossible love story slowly illuminates the entire Rana family’s desire for a sexual rebellion.

Discussion Group
After the screening, there will be a discussion group facilitated by Nat Raha to decompress together and unpack the themes and topics explored in the film.
Please note that the discussion group is exclusively for anyone who is a person of colour (POC) or identifies as LGBTQ+.
About Nat Raha
Dr Nat Raha is a poet and activist-scholar, a South Asian British trans queer femme, and a Lecturer in Fine Art Critical Studies at the Glasgow School of Art. Her books of poetry include Of sirens, Body & Faultlines (Boiler House Press, 2018) and Apparitions (nines) (Winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize, forthcoming 2024). Recent critical and creative writing appears in Queer Print in Europe, 100 Queer Poems, Transgender Marxism, We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, and Third Text (‘Imagining Queer Europe then and now’, 2021). With Mijke van der Drift, Nat co-edits Radical Transfeminism zine, and is currently co-authoring a book Trans Femme Futures: An Abolitionist Ethics for Transfeminist Worlds (forthcoming, 2024).

Ticketing
The ticketing link for this event will be shared first with South Asian and queer communities to ensure that they have priority access. However, if you are a member of these communities and interested in attending the screening and have not received the ticketing link, please contact our Box Office boxoffice@cca-glasgow.com.

This screening is presented by Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) in collaboration with Begana: Musing on Queer South Asian Stories (programmed by Neha Apsara).

Tickets are FREE. To book, click here

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
Punjabi and Urdu audio with English language captions.
Quiet Space available.
Audio Description available.
Induction Loop available.
126 minutes long.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.

Framing Agnes + Conversation at An Lanntair, Stornoway
2023-06-16 18:00 - 20:00 UTC
Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history.
In this rigorous cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt explores where and how her platform has become a pigeonhole. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed — one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.
Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare.
Joynt’s signature form-rupturing style radically reenvisions the imposition of the frame on the cultural memory of transness through his brilliantly crafted, communally-driven excavation. This reclamation tears away with remarkable precision the myth of isolation as the mode of existence of transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
Following the screening of Framing Agnes, stay tuned for a conversation with local trans and non-binary people on inter-generational trans experiences and creating space for the community.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are available on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £5, £6.50, £8. To book, click here

Accessibility:
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation for intro and post-film conversation.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
Quiet Room available.
Induction Loop available.
75 minutes long with a 45 minutes post-film conversation.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel costs. If you would like to take this up, please contact info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. Surgical masks will be available for free by the Quiet Space.
If you have any other access needs you would like to discuss with us, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

Begana
2023-09-27 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
Listen to this Event Page

Begana is bringing you more films from the South Asian queer diaspora! Combining hidden stories, politics with joy and queer loving, come watch films from Rohan Kanawade’s drama U for Usha, in which a single mother and a farm labourer in rural India who feels drawn to a female teacher of a local primary school, to Rohin Raveendran’s romance The Booth, where a female frisking booth inside a crowded shopping mall stands as a silent ally to a forbidden romance. We hope you’re ready for a fresh view through these Sapphic love stories.
Curated by Neha Apsara.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click here or call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900.

U for Usha (2019, Dir. Rohan Kanawade):Usha, a single mother and a farm labourer in rural India, feels drawn to a female teacher at a local primary school. This attraction plays an integral part in firing her passion for learning how to read and write.
Devi (Goddess) (2017, Dir. Karishma Dube): A young closeted lesbian risks both family and tradition, as she embraces her attraction for her childhood maid, Devi. A young closeted lesbian risks both family and tradition, as she embraces her attraction for her childhood maid, Devi.
The Booth (2019, Dir. Rohin Raveendran): A female frisking booth inside a crowded shopping mall stands as a silent ally to a forbidden romance.
My Mother’s Girlfriend (2021, Dir. Arun Fulara): is the story of two relationships colliding. Renuka and Sadiya, two mature working-class women, in love with each other, are out celebrating Renuka’s birthday. Unknown to them, Renuka’s son, Mangesh, is around.

ACCESSIBLITY
Content Warnings:

Discussion of sex, sex work, abuse, violence, trauma, transphobia, racism, sex work
Depiction of violence, homophobia.

This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 16+.

66 minutes long.

Films are in Bengali, English, Hindi, Marathi audio and screen with English language captions for access. BSL-English interpretation and live captioning provided.
Audio description available for the film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel. If you would like to take this up, please visit the access desk at the entrance of the CCA, or contact info@sqiff.org.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2023 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2023, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org or by phone on 07873 331 036.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. FFP2 masks will be available for free around the building.
Image: From My Mother’s Girlfriend (2021, Dir. Arun Fulara)

Kokomo City
2023-09-28 15:30 - 17:30 UTC | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
Listen to this Event Page

Kokomo City presents the stories of four Black transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia. Shot in striking black and white, the boldness of the facts of these women’s lives and the earthquaking frankness they share complicate this enterprise, colliding the everyday with cutting social commentary and the excavation of long-dormant truths. Unfiltered, unabashed, and unapologetic, D. Smith and her collaborators offer a refreshing rawness and vulnerability unconcerned with purity and politeness.
In honour of Koko Da Doll, this screening is hosted by House Ball Scotland, holding an aftercare space which will be detailed on the evening.
House Ball Scotland is a QTIBIPOC-led community and platform for the underground ball scene in Scotland.
Co-curated by Nusa.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click here or call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900.

ACCESSIBLITY
Content Warnings:

Discussions of abuse, violence, trauma, transphobia, racism, sex work.

This screening is recommended for ages 18+
73 minutes long with an optional aftercare space.
English audio with English captions. BSL-English interpretation and live captioning provided.
Audio description is available for this film. Headsets available at the cinema entrance.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel. If you would like to take this up, please visit the access desk at the entrance of the CCA, or contact info@sqiff.org.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2023 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2023, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org or by phone on 07873 331 036.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. FFP2 masks will be available for free around the building.
Image: from Kokomo City (2023, Dir. D Smith)

Building Community with LGBT Unity
2023-09-29 12:30 - 14:00 UTC | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
Listen to this Event Page

In the summer of 2023, SQIFF and LGBT Unity hosted filmmaking workshops for queer asylum seekers and refugees. The workshops were facilitated by filmmakers Campbell X and Ambroise of Paradax Period, and focused on not only storytelling, filming and editing, but also building community and creating accessible ways to make films.
In this screening, we bring you all the shorts made during this workshop series, followed by a small Q&A where Campbell X and Ambroise talk about this process with some of the participants.
Presented in partnership with LGBT Unity Scotland, a community-led group providing essential support to LGBTQIA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click here or call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900.

ACCESSIBLITY
Content Warnings:

Depiction of date rape drug, being outed, drug use, alcohol use, suicide attempt;
Discussion of persecution, transphobia, abuse, assault, homophobia, conversion therapy, mental health issues.

This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 16+.
30 minutes long and a Q&A after the screening.
English and Portuguese audio and screens with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation and live captioning provided for the intro and panel discussion.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel. If you would like to take this up, please visit the access desk at the entrance of the CCA, or contact info@sqiff.org.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2023 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2023, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org or by phone on 07873 331 036.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. FFP2 masks will be available for free around the building.
Image: from SQIFF x LGBT Unity

Queer East Presents: Peafowl 공작새
2023-09-29 21:00 - 23:00 UTC | Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD, United Kingdom
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Shin-myung is a transgender woman and dancer who competes in waacking. Having cut ties with her family and rural hometown, Shin-myung seeks various ways to fund her gender reassignment surgery. But one day, she is informed that her estranged father, a master of Nongak folk music, has died. He stipulated that Shin-myung can receive her inheritance money if she returns to the village and performs a traditional drum dance, as part of his memorial rituals. Unwilling to yield to her intolerant father’s posthumous demands, the unapologetic Shin-myung is forced to reluctantly reconnect with her past while staying true to herself. Driven by an empowering vision of trans identity, this assured debut feature from Byun Sung-bin contemplates the possibilities – and limits – of forgiveness.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £2, £4, £6, £8, or £10. To book, click here or call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900.

ACCESSIBLITY
This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 16+.
115 minutes long.
Korean audio with English language captions. BSL-English interpretation and live captioning provided.
We have an Audience Access Fund for travel. If you would like to take this up, please visit the access desk at the entrance of the CCA, or contact info@sqiff.org.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2023 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2023, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org or by phone on 07873 331 036.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case. FFP2 masks will be available for free around the building.
Image: from Peafowl 공작새 (2022, Dir. Byun Sung-bin)

SQIFF x Porty Pride Film Night
2024-06-28 19:00 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Portobello Town Hall, 147-149 Portobello High Street, Edinburgh, EH15 1AF
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This year SQIFF and Porty Pride are partnering to bring an exciting selection of short films from Scotland and beyond to Portobello Town Hall!
This screening presents a mix of animation, documentary and fiction film exploring various queer identities. The Singer, Coming Out Autistic and Living with It are Scottish films made by queer people with various disabilities. Still We Thrive is an experimental documentary directed by Campbell X, showcasing a rich tapestry of image, music and poetry is interwoven in this powerful meditation on Black resilience. Digital Natives is a personal film and exploration of Jo’s relationship to the internet. Finally, Not Quite That is a raw documentary about a queer woman and breast cancer survivor in Canada. The film is an intimate and insightful exploration of how we are seen, how we see ourselves, and why it matters.
Join us for an incredible conversation after the screening with Scottish filmmaker Holly Summerson, and hosted by Nat Lall. BSL-English Interpretation, and wheelchair access are available at this event.
Curated by Indigo Korres.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of £5, or £10. To book, please click here.

The Singer (2023, Dir. Cora Bissett): In the loud streets of Glasgow, deaf song-writer Joe meets busker Andy. The two learn to communicate over their love of music and realise together they can create something unique.
Coming Out Autistic (2023, Steven Fraser): This animated documentary explores the experience of telling the world that you are autistic when you also identify as LGBTQ+.
Living with It (2023, Holly Summerson): Perfectionist Lee must adapt to the imperfect reality of living with an illness – brought to life as her chaotic supernatural flatmate Bug.
Still We Thrive (2021, Campbell X): A rich tapestry of image, music and poetry is interwoven in this powerful meditation on Black resilience.
Digital Natives (2022, Jo Reid): A film by Jo Reid (2022) – an exploration of Jo’s relationship to the internet.
Not Quite That (2023, Ali Grant): Might a genetic mutation be the very thing that allows this nice Jewish butch lesbian to be fully seen at last? Meet Sarah, 57. Lesbian? For sure. Jewish? Yes and no. Mother? In all but one sense. Trans? No, just often mistaken as such. Breast cancer survivor? Well, that’s the plan, the survival bit, but without the cancer or the breasts. Not Quite That is an intimate and insightful exploration of how we are seen, how we see ourselves, and why it matters.

ACCESSIBLITY
Content Warnings:

Discussion of cancer diagnosis, surgery, colonialism, body image;
Depictions of pregnancy, nudity, drains, hospitalisation, ableism.

This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 16+.
89 minutes long with a introduction and Q&A.
English audio and British Sign Language with English language descriptive subtitles. BSL-English interpretation provided.
If you have any questions about accessibility at for this event, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org.
We ask that you wear a mask if possible and please don’t attend the screening if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have been in recent contact with a confirmed case.
Image: from Living with It (2023, Dir. Holly Summerson)
