The fourth Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) returns to Glasgow this year and the full programme has been announced today.
SQIFF will be open 5th – 9th December with an exciting and boundary-pushing night of contemporary LGBTQ+ shorts from around the world.
The festival will take place across five days at venues including the CCA, GFT, The Art School and Kinning Park Complex. There will also be a teaser programme during November touring screens around Scotland.
The 2018 programme includes a focus on queer East Asian and Arab cinema, a selection of the best Scottish queer short films, an asexual reading of the Wizard of Oz and even a queer virtual reality experience!
A SQIFF spokesperson said:
“We are really happy to be focussing more than ever on representing voices marginalised within film culture at this years festival. We are considering queer D/deaf and disabled representation and access, with several events including a discussion on combining access and aesthetics with EJ Raymond, Calgary Kimyoncu and Collective Text, [as well as] a Deaf Perspectives shorts programme.”
“Our efforts to make the festival accessible to more people are increasing this year with a quiet space available at our main venue, the CCA, and a travel fund open to any audience member who couldn’t otherwise afford to come along. After its success last year, we will again be offering a sliding scale ticket price with people choosing what to pay, between free and £8.”
Highlights across the five day festival include:
– Taiwanese feature ‘Alifu the Prince/ess’ about a trans woman in the indigenous Pakistan community who must come out to her father, and ‘The Story of the Stone’ (main feature pic), a queering of a tale from Classical Chinese literature, thoroughly modernised and set in the midst of Taipei’s 21st century gay community.
– a focus on Queer Arab Lives curated by Samar Ziadat in partnership with Dardishi, a zine and Festival of Arab women’s art.
– Berlin-based porn legend Bishop Black introducing a personal selection of his groundbreaking work, in association with Glasgow’s premier sex boutique Luke & Jack.
– Scottish filmmaker and vlogger Ross Wilcock, presenting short films building on his own video for BBC The Social ‘Online Dating with a Disability’, exploring anxiety around dating and the intersection of queer disabled identities.
– a chance to experience queer virtual reality projects at the SQIFF VR station and explore the possibilities of LGBTQ+ storytelling of this exciting new medium.
SQIFF is funded by Creative Scotland, receiving over £46,000 for the 2018 Festival, and includes opening and closing events sponsored by Merchant City Brewing Company.
Tickets to all events are on a sliding scale based on what you can afford and can be purchased online here.
Images courtesy of SQIFF/Ruth Marsh PR.
