The current global political situation, and its social and cultural consequences, is a long-awaited disaster and a harbinger for a near future that we can hardly envision without a feeling of hopelessness. The rise of extreme right-wing and populist policies, a sense of community and care undermined by the narcissistic individualism of social networks, the growing social asymmetries and expressions of hatred on all fronts, are some of the phenomena we have been witnessing. It was based on a challenging look at this context that the Queer Porto programmers thought up a program around the idea of belonging, that is also a reflection on what places we occupy today.

The many films that feature in this tenth anniversary edition of Queer Porto offer us a complex look at the realities of LGBTQI+ individuals and communities in the most diverse geographies, in their external but also internal confrontations, in what it means to be queer, today, in its multiple expressions and challenges. A cinema that embraces what is around it, and that thinks and dares to build solutions. Titles from various parts of the world, stories determined to address sensitive issues, but equally eager to envision means to flee from so many problems around them. The program has a total of 55 films, 55% directed by cis men, 23% by trans or non-binary people and 22% by cis women.

Following the titles and activities announced during the past few weeks - a Queer Focus on queer resistance in conflict zones, the opening and closing films, a special screening with “As Fado Bicha”, and the titles of the Panorama Section -, it is now time to unveil the films that will take part in the festival's two official competitions, the announcement of two special out-of-competition programs, film exhibitions at Passos Manuel, debuting as a new festival venue, and, also, a series of talks on various issues related to the programmed films, as well as parallel activities.

 
The Official Competition jury is composed of researcher and producer Claire Sivier, artist and teacher Laetitia Morais, RTP producer Paulo Silva and artist and performer Tiago Aires Lêdo. The eight films in this section include fiction, documentary and hybrid forms. Some of the highlights are: “Le Corps du délit”, by Léolo, a first feature that draws from real experiences of police violence in order to intersect them with a fiction of homoerotic vertigo; “Desire Lines”, by Jules Rosskam, creates a narrative around an LGBTQI+ archive to propose a reflection on the way in which trans masculinity and gay identity can meet, rescuing the activism of Lou Sullivan, the first person to define himself as female-to-gay-male; the documentary “Lesvia” is a bittersweet chronicle of forty years of lesbian pilgrimage to the village of Eressos, in Lesbos, written by Tzeli Hadjidimitriou, a director born and raised in the island; and “Salão de Baile”, by Juru and Vitã, which chronicles, with a certain didactic flare, a party in which the main ballroom clubs in Rio de Janeiro compete. Four more titles complete this section, whose prize is sponsored by RTP, by acquiring the broadcast rights, valued at €3,000.

The Casa Comum Award selection once again proves that Portuguese queer cinema is to be acknowledged. This is a young, fresh and daring cinema, pushing boundaries, renewing languages and subverting expectations. Among the twelve proposals in the competition we find: “À Tona d'Água”, the new film by Alexander David, presented at the past edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival; “Spillovers”, the stimulating essay where Ritó Natálio crosses queer theory and ecosexuality, and which complements the homonymous performance; the disturbing “Convoluted (Artificial Sorry > Church Intelligence)”, where David Leal links artificial intelligence and abuse in the church; the ironic “5 Minutes with Clémentina”, by Pedro Hasrouny, staring actress and activist Maria João Vaz; and also the amusing animation “Clotilde”, written by Maria João Lourenço. Professor and psychologist Conceição Nogueira, cultural producer Marco Gabriel and communication designer Paulo Pereira form the jury responsible for deciding which film wins the prize sponsored by the Rectory of the University of Porto, worth €500.

 
One of the big news in this edition of Queer Porto's tenth anniversary is the extension of the festival's program to Passos Manuel. From Wednesday the 9th to Friday the 11th, the event arrives at the mythical Porto venue with three Nights at Passos that promise bold content with high visual impact. On the first night, we can watch Bruce LaBruce's latest work, “The Visitor”, one of his most political films since “The Raspberry Reich”, addressing the migration crisis in the United Kingdom through an explicit and sexualized rewriting of Pasolini’s “Theorem”. Controversial and revolutionary figure of queer culture and industrial music, Genesis P-Orridge (1950-2020) will be the protagonist of the second night thanks to this final portrait, the documentary “S/He Is Still Her/e: the Official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary”, by David Charles Rodrigues. And to close these nights at Passos, we present a brand new voice in French cinema, Mathieu Morel, with three short films where a very unique language that mixes horror and the explicit, gore and the existential, introduces us to a filmmaker to follow in the future.

Back at Batalha, and perhaps as a consequence or defense mechanism to this year's Queer Focus dedicated to Queer Resistance, the programming team designed another program around the idea of Safe Spaces. A program that is about belonging and organized micro-societies, and a reflection on the meaning of the safe places we create for ourselves. In addition to the materialization of safe spaces by creating associations, shelters, bars or even neighborhoods, the challenge and necessary ambition are those of occupying and inhabiting other places that have been closed to all types of rejected minorities, not just queer communities. A compilation of archive images from the 1990s of nightclub parties in Niterói (“Vollúpya”), the daily life of the queer community in the iconic Fire Island (“A House Is Not a Disco”), the day-to-day running of a gender clinic in the Netherlands ("Genderpoli”), or the struggle of activist and hairdresser Mel Rosário to assert her constitutional right to religious freedom ("Toda Noite Estarei Lá"), are some of the themes and concepts of the eight films in this section.

 
Female Authors in Conversation is the title of another special program that this year expands Queer Porto's program. Here, we propose a gaze upon a group of authors who, in their different scientific, philosophical or literary areas, are very unique voices: Brazilian writer, screenwriter and TV host Fernanda Young, turbulent Belgian philosopher Isabelle Stengers, renowned American feminist poet Adrienne Rich, and Trinidadian-Canadian feminist writer and filmmaker Dionne Brand. Three documentaries about these authors will be screened at Batalha, where two talks will also take place: following the film about Stengers, we invited researcher Manuela Teles and professor Samuel Guimarães, while researchers Hilda de Paulo and Geanine Escobar will debate various issues focusing on the notion of belonging discussed in the film about Rich and Brand.

At Casa Comum (Rectory of the University of Porto) we will also host a conversation about “Queer Resistance” between politician José Soeiro and humanitarian doctor and activist Lokas Cruz. And also: a photography exhibition, “Queer Spectrum”, by Dana Click, which can be seen at Livraria aberta bookstore until October 31st, and two parties to celebrate after the film screenings, the Welcome Party at Bar of Soap and the Farewell Party at Passos Manuel.

Queer Porto 10 counts with the support of Câmara Municipal do Porto / Ágora and ICA – Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, alongside important partnerships such as those established with the Spanish Embassy, Levi's, Absolut, FLAD and Variações, among many others.

 

The complete program of Queer Porto 10:

 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
* Opening Night: Onda Nova / New Wave, José Antonio Garcia, Ícaro Martins (Brazil, 1983, 102’)       

* Closing Night: The Summer with Carmen, Zacharias Mavroeidis (Greece, 2023, 106’) 

As Fado Bicha / Them Fado Bicha, Justine Lemahieu (Portugal, 2024, 81’)


 

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

Le Corps du délit / Body of Crime, Léolo (France, 2023, 81’) 


Desire Lines, Jules Rosskam (USA, 2024, 84’)


Lesvia, Tzeli Hadjidimitriou (Greece, 2024, 78’) 


The Life of Sean DeLear, Markus Zizenbacher (Austria, 2024, 82’)


A Metade de Nós / A Part of Us, Flávio Botelho (Brazil, 2023, 89’)


Patagonia, Simone Bozzelli (Italy, 2023, 112’)


El Polvo / Dust, Nicolás Torchinsky (Argentina, 2023, 73’)


Salão de Baile / This Is Ballroom, Juru, Vitã (Brazil, 2024, 92’) 
             


CASA COMUM AWARD

5 Minutes with Clémentina, Pedro Hasrouny (Portugal, 2024, 6’)

À Tona d'Água / Water Hazard, Alexander David (Portugal, France, 2024, 23’)

Anoitecer / Dusk, Tatiana Ramos (Portugal, 2024, 7’) 

Os Bravos, Henrique Antão, Inês T Alves (Portugal, 2022, 14’) 

Carta ao Pai / Letter to Dad, Rafael Ferreira (Portugal, 2023, 10’)

Cherry, Passion Fruit, Renato José Duque (Portugal, Belgium, Finland, 2024, 5’)

Clotilde, Maria João Lourenço (Portugal, 2023, 4’)

Convoluted (Artificial Sorry > Church Intelligence), David Leal (Portugal, Ireland, 2023, 6’) 

Mercúrio / Mercurio, Bernardo Gramaxo (Portugal, 2024, 25’) 

Spillovers, Ritó Natálio (Portugal, 2024, 9’)


Vinte e Poucos / Twenty Something, João Nunes (Portugal, 2024, 14’)

What Are You Looking for?, Iqran Rasheed (Portugal, Hungary, Belgium, 2023, 15’)

 

PANORAMA


The Disappearance of Shere Hite, Nicole Newnham (USA, 2023, 118’)

Lady Like, Luke Willis (USA, UK, 2024, 87’)


Si Je meurs, ce sera de joie / If I Die, It'll Be of Joy, Alexis Taillant (France, 2024, 80’)


 

SAFE SPACES PROGRAM

A House Is Not a Disco, Brian J. Smith (USA, 2024, 90’)

Can’t Stop Change: Queer Climate Stories from the Florida Frontlines, Vanessa Raditz, Natalia Villarán-Quiñones, Yarrow Koning, Shoog McDaniel, Jess Martínez (USA, 2024, 97’)


Genderpoli / They and Them, Ingrid Kamerling (The Netherlands, 2023, 78’)


Habitar / Shelter, Anxos Fazáns (Spain, 2023, 15’)


One Night at Babes, Angelo Madsen Minax (USA, 2024, 29’)

Pirenopolynda, Tita Maravilha, Izzi Vitório, Bruno Victor (Brazil, 2023, 24’)

Toda Noite Estarei Lá / I Will Be There every Single Night, Suellen Vasconcelos, Tati Franklin (Brazil, 2023, 72’)


Vollúpya, Éri Sarmet, Jocimar Dias Jr. (Brazil, 2024, 22’)

 

FEMALE AUTHORS IN CONVERSATION

Fernanda Young - Foge-me ao Controle / Fernanda Young - Beyond My Control, Susanna Lira (Brazil, 2024, 87’)


Isabelle Stengers: fabriquer de l'espoir au bord du gouffre / Isabelle Stengers: Building Hope on the Edge of the Abyss, Fabrizio Terranova (Belgium, 2023, 76’)


Listening for Something… Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand in Conversation, Dionne Brand (Canada, 1996, 56’)

 

NIGHTS AT PASSOS

ANAPIDAE (appelle moi) / ANAPIDAE (call me), Mathieu Morel (France, 2024, 43’)

Cum in My Heart (ou le fabuleux lâcher prise de Thomas Timbère) / Cum in My Heart (or the Fabulous Letting Go of Thomas Timbère), Mathieu Morel (France, 2022, 22’)

The Deep Queer Massacre, Mathieu Morel (France, 2023, 29’)


S/He Is Still Her/e: the Official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary, David Charles Rodrigues (USA, 2024, 99’) 

The Visitor, Bruce LaBruce (UK, 2024, 101’)

 

QUEER FOCUS - Queer Resistance

A’lam, Saleh Saadi (Palestine, 2022, 25’)


As I Was Looking Above, I Could See Myself Underneath, Ilir Hasanaj (Kosovo, 2022, 62’)

Buffer Zone, Savvas Stavrou (Cyprus, UK, 2023, 17’)


Even a Dog in Babylon Is Free, Lior Shamriz (USA, 2024, 18’)


Homecoming Queenz, Elias Wakeem (Palestine, 2023, 11’)


Khobs & Chai, Noor Gatih (Canada, 2021, 4’)


Monument, Maksim Avdeev (Germany, 2024, 15’)


My Whole Heart Is with You, Essa Grayeb (Palestine, 2022, 9’)


Nazareth, Mike Hoolboom (Canada, 2021, 7’)


The Poem We Sang, Annie Sakkab (Canada, Palestine, Jordan, 2024, 20’)

Simeiz, Anton Shebetko (Ukraine, 2022, 18’)

Sultana's Reign, Hadi Moussally (Lebanon, 2023, 10’)

Tempest in a Teapot, Amy Gottlieb (Canada, 1987, 4’)

 

TALKS

Relatos Circunstanciais de um Estado de Coisas, with Geanine Escobar

Isabelle Stengers, with Manela Teles & Samuel Guimarães

Resistência Queer, with José Soeiro & Lokas Cruz

 

EXHIBITION

Queer Spectrum, by Dana Click

 

PARTIES

Welcome Party @ Bar of Soap

Farewell Party: Smells Like Queer Spirit Porto & Runnan @ Passos Manuel