Pure Queer | Transcendence | KKC
Transcendence is an exposé of contemporary trans cinema. From Brazil, via Namibia to Sweden we meet love, archeology, a giant woman and crass reality. In our work we often come upon the perception that all trans film is boring, sad and made for and by the cis gaze. With this programme we want to show that trans cinema can be interesting, beautiful and tender. We want to explore the films that to many are unknown and the films that might be uncomfortable and unconventional without wallowing in pain and grief. By that we mean that we feel it’s important to watch films that challenge and provoke both artistically and thematically, but not cause unnecessary pain to the trans people in the audience since we as trans people already know how hard life is without having to watch a film about it.
The curators of this programme are Paloma Halén Román and Juno Frisk and they are festival directors of Trans Film Fest Stockholm. TFFS is a film festival held around Transgender Day of Visibility each year in Stockholm, Sweden. We mostly show short films and are passionate about showcasing a width of themes, tone and place of origin.
Programme curators - Paloma Halén Román and Juno Frisk
Films
Mother Returns / BR / 16'
The film delves into the subtle nuances of transgender relationships and explores various issues related to birth, life, and death within the trans experience. Suzy after years of absence, returns to the city to visit her daughter Lia and her son-in-law Manu. With this reunion, everyone’s secrets will be revealed.
Out of the Peat / UK / 12'
An amateur archaeologist arrives on a desolate peatland in Lancashire, their mind filled with the strange power that peat-bog waters hold to preserve organic matter. They have come to exhume a body. But, in digging into the peat – and into the past – they unearth much more than mere relics.
LUNA / NA / 8'
Lipu and Luna are two queer souls who find solace by a quiet lake on the outskirts of Windhoek, one of the few places where they can love freely, away from judgment. In this safe haven, their love feels beautiful and unbreakable. Yet, beneath the surface, Luna longs for more.
After So Long / USA / 4'
A non-binary BIPOC jazz artist pays homage to their roots in this queer south-Asian short set in India.
Nocturnal Animals / BR / 11'
Over Rio de Janeiro looms the monstrous shadow of Mutante, a giant goddess, who, standing over 100 meters tall, constantly provokes the world below. Through her window peeping, she encounters Mulher, an artisan who will transform her world.
On the Other Side Of / EE / 7'
The work explores the transgender and non-binary body in transition through the 19th century photographic process mordançage. The mordançage, using its tremendous chemical pressure alters the silver gelatine prints, causing them to undergo slow, gradual transformation. As the tissue of the body and of the print breaks and melts, the new forms emerge.
When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine / PH / 25'
Two trans-folx friends, together with their dog and plants, grieve for and with each other during a 14-day quarantine period.
An Evening Between the Lines / SE / 2'
The film contrasts alarmist articles about transgender people against a warm summer evening, spent with a person who has just moved into a new student apartment, misses their hometown, and calls their mother.
LOLO / MX / 15'
LOLO lives in Xochimilco a rural area of Mexico City and works on a chinampa that belonged to their grandfather. Despite the tranquility of their piece of land, LOLO doesn't feel free to be who they are. While striving to make a living with their harvest, their non-binary identity is constantly questioned, even by themselves.
I’m Continuously Crying Tears of Estrogen and Tears of Testosterone / SE / 5'
The history of people who break the expected norms in the context of gender and sexuality is full of extremes. Our trans and queer ancestors have experienced both love and hate, sometimes at the same time.