Following the impulse that film production gained after the pandemic, the next edition of Queer Porto aims to do justice to a queer, non-polarized look, a gaze beyond borders. The 9th edition of the festival in Porto lands at the renovated Batalha Centro de Cinema, between the 10th and 14th of October, with a total of 40 films. An edition with a strong presence of films directed by women: the films presented are made by cis women in 68%, by cis men in 27% and by trans or non-binary artists in the remaining 5%.
 
The film selection that the festival proposes this year seeks to deprecate and subvert a patriarchal gaze, which has dominated our society and artistic creation itself, proposing thus an alternative and necessary queer gaze at themes ranging from precariousness to artistic creation, gentrification to sexual violence against women, from relationships to drug use. Films that trace issues of territory and identity, which traverse spaces of performance and political subversion, and those others of rurality where the absence of references makes it urgent to fashion new ways of being.

Following the titles and activities announced over the past few weeks - the retrospective dedicated to the New York no wave movement with a special focus on the work of Vivienne Dick, the opening and closing films, and the special screenings -, the festival announces its two competitions (Official Competition and Casa Comum Award), as well as the Queer Focus strand, so as talks, official juries, parties, and other parallel activities.
 
The jury of the Official Competition is composed by RTP producer Isabel Correia, performer and educator Dori Nigro, and artist and filmmaker Tânia Dinis. This section once again combines fiction and documentary, to better understand the realities of queer individuals and communities. “Carvão” is a good example of this increasing complexity: the critical force of its satire lies in how it questions the manipulation of political and religious powers, the hypocrisy of states and the violence that threatens our bodies. In a lesbian milieu and adapted to an urban account of encounters and disagreements in nowadays’ Barcelona, “La Amiga de Mi Amiga” is created by an entirely queer team and navigates, with pop lightness, between intentional and involuntary humor. A special focus also on the tireless activist Kenya Cuevas in the documentary that bears her name, “Kenya”: a journey to the most dangerous and forgotten realities of Mexico City, in a country that, following Brazil, is the second in the world with the highest rate of trans murder victims. Finally, “Vicente Ruiz – A Tiempo Real”, on the artist who, in Chile in the 1980s, reacted to the Pinochet dictatorship with his performances, and who will be attending the festival to present the film. Four more titles compete in this section, whose prize is sponsored by RTP, by purchasing the rights to broadcast the film, valued in €3,000.

The Casa Comum Award allows us, once again, to envision a panorama of the most recent Portuguese queer short films. Some highlights: the hybrid between essay and historical fable, “Dildotectónica”; “Dias de Cama”, which covers the languor of a summer spent between the city and the countryside; “Mátria”, a tribute to poet Natália Correia, shot on the island of São Miguel; and a boldly autobiographical work: “A Minha Raiva É Underground”, a film-performance that researches and maps the city where a young queer woman was raped. In total, eight films complete this section that will be evaluated by psychologist Rita Aires, sociologist Paula Guerra, and Susana Serro, from the Cultural Department of the Rectorate of the University of Porto. They will be responsible for deciding which of the films wins the Prize valued in €500 and sponsored by the Rectorate of the University of Porto.

This year's Queer Focus at Casa Comum, “Between Two Cultures”, reflects upon the concept of border, encompassing both metaphorical and physical frontiers. “ALTAR. Cruzando Fronteras, Building Bridges” allows us to see the power that emanates from the legacy of Chicana author Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004), and to examine the conflicts of being between the First and Third Worlds, as well as the reproduction of forms of inequality between these two realities. “Ana Mendieta: Fuego de Tierra” is a portrait of the life and work of Cuban artist Ana Mendieta (1948–1985), who, drawing from elements of Afro-Cuban religion, assessed the frontier of belonging by using her own body as an artistic channel to express her feminist poetic and political visions. Finally, “The Hearing” denounces the objectification of four asylum seekers, systemically rejected through exercises of representation by hegemonic operators.

Two films from that section and a Special Screening documentary will be complemented by talks. Thus, the projection of “ALTAR. Cruzando Fronteras, Building Bridges” is followed by a conversation between its director Paola Zaccaria and curator Isabeli Santiago; the screening of “The Hearing” will be complemented by a conversation with Dra. Isabel Almeida Rodrigues, Secretary of State for Equality and Migration; and writer and researcher Hannah Bastos will participate in a conversation about the work and persona of bell hooks, following the screening of the documentary about the North American author.
 
And to celebrate after the screenings, two parties: an Opening Party and a Closing Party, taking place at Bar of Soap and Maus Hábitos, respectively.

Queer Porto 9 counts, among others, with the support of Câmara Municipal do Porto / Ágora and ICA – Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, in addition to important partnerships such as those established with the Secretary of State for Equality and Migration, the Embassies of Ireland and Spain, Youtube, Absolut, FLAD – Luso-American Development Foundation and Variações.

QUEER PORTO 9 - Complete program:

OPENING NIGHT
Tudo o que Você Podia Ser / All that You Could Be, Ricardo Alves Jr. (Brazil, 2023, 83’)

CLOSING NIGHT
Commitment to Life, Jeffrey Schwarz (USA, 2023, 115’)

OFFICIAL COMPETITION
A Hawk as Big as a Horse, Sasha Kulac (France, 2022, 76’)
La Amiga de Mi Amiga / Girlfriends and Girlfriends, Zaida Carmona (Spain, 2022, 89’)
Carvão / Charcoal, Carolina Markowicz (Brazil, Argentina, 2022, 107’)
Des garçons de province / Smalltown Boys, Gaël Lépingle (France, 2022, 84’)
Dos Estaciones, Juan Pablo González (Mexico, France, USA, 2022, 99’)
Kenya, Gisela Delgadillo (Mexico, 2022, 90’)
The Last Year of Darkness, Ben Mullinkosson (China, USA, 2023, 95’)
Vicente Ruiz - A Tiempo Real / Vicente Ruiz - In Real Time, Matías Cardone, Julio Jorquera (Chile, 2022, 63’)

CASA COMUM AWARD

Apontamentos de Curva_Correnteza / In Curve Notes_Stream, Flavia Regaldo (Portugal, 2022, 7’)
Dias de Cama / Bed Days, Tatiana Ramos (Portugal, 2023, 20’)
Dildotectónica / Dildotectonics, Tomás Paula Marques (Portugal, 2023, 16’)
Entre a Luz e o Nada / Between Light and Nowhere, Joana de Sousa (Portugal, 2022, 20’)
Land Song, Inês Ariana Pereira (Portugal, 2022, 8’)
Mátria, Catarina Gonçalves (Portugal, 2023, 26’)
A Minha Raiva É Underground / My Rage Is Underground, Francisca Antunes (Portugal, 2023, 13’)
Tidy Bed, Danilo Bastos Godoy (Portugal, Germany, Brazil, 2023, 15’)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
bell hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation, Sut Jhally (USA, 1997, 66’)
Feminism WTF, Katharina Mückstein (Austria, 2023, 90’) * pictured above
Music Is My Boyfriend, Robert Kennedy (Canada, 2022, 40’)
Un prince / A Prince, Pierre Creton (France, 2023, 82’)

QUEER FOCUS: “Between Two Cultures”
ALTAR. Cruzando Fronteras, Building Bridges, Daniele Basilio, Paola Zaccaria (Italy, 2009, 53’)
Ana Mendieta: Fuego de Tierra, Kate Horsfield, Nereyda Garcia-Ferraz (USA, 1987, 49’)
The Hearing, Lisa Gerig (Switzerland, 2023, 81’)

RETROSPECTIVE: “No Present. No Future. No Wave.”
A Skinny Little Man Attacked Daddy, Vivienne Dick (UK, 1994, 23’)
Beauty Becomes the Beast, Vivienne Dick (USA, 1979, 41’)
Black Box, Beth B, Scott B (USA, 1979, 20’)
Empty Suitcases, Bette Gordon (USA, 1980, 52’)
Guerillère Talks, Vivienne Dick (USA, 1978, 25’)
The Irreducible Difference of the Other, Vivienne Dick (Ireland, 2013, 27’)
Liberty’s Booty, Vivienne Dick (USA, 1980, 48’)
Like Dawn to Dust, Vivienne Dick (USA, 1983, 7’)
Lydia Lunch: the War Is Never Over, Beth B (USA, 2019, 75’)
New York Conversations, Vivienne Dick (UK, 1990, 21’)
New York Our Time, Vivienne Dick (Ireland, 2020, 79’)
Red Moon Rising, Vivienne Dick (Ireland, 2015, 15’)
Rome ’78, James Nares (USA, 1978, 82’)
She Had Her Gun All Ready, Vivienne Dick (USA, 1978, 28’)
Staten Island, Vivienne Dick (USA, 1978, 6’)

TALKS
Talk with Hannah Bastos
Talk with Isabel Almeida Rodrigues - SEIM
Talk with Paola Zaccaria & Isabeli Santiago

PARTIES
Opening Party - October 10, Bar of Soap (10pm-2am)
Closing Party - October 14, Maus Hábitos (12am-6am), with Chicks on Cheeks, ONIO and LAVA (Dj Set)