SQIFF Presents: Queer Women in Love 28th October - 31st December

As part of the British Film Institute’s (BFI On Your Back Woman!. Programme notes will go with LOVE) UK-wide Love season, Scottish Queer each film, written with engagement of specifically International Film Festival (SQIFF) is offering LBQ audiences in mind. Filmmakers Kanchi a diverse and exciting programme of films by Wichmann and Campbell X are available for Q&As and about , bisexual, and queer women. and workshops to go with screenings of their features Queer Women in Love takes advantage of recent Break My Fall and Stud Life, respectively. topical debate about representation of LBQ women in cinema. Discussion around Blue is the Warmest Queer Women in Love is open to venues and film Colour, for example, questioned whether lesbian societies around the UK throughout the Love dates. directors should be telling their own stories, whilst SQIFF has a commitment to improving accessibility hit Appropriate Behaviour has been highlighted for for film events, particularly for deaf and disabled its innovative approach to depicting a bisexual audiences. As such, we recommend that where female central character. There is a wealth of classic possible films in the programme are screened and contemporary cinema made by queer women with English subtitles or captions, introductions, exploring their own lives and loves and huge potential Q&As, and workshops have BSL interpretation, and in promoting these as a package to audiences. that venues used are fully wheelchair accessible. We are happy to provide advice and resources for We are offering a selection of eight feature titles implementing these measures. plus eight short films, comprising a range of filmmaking styles and thematic approaches. Cult Below is a full list of available films and formats. classics such as , Go Fish, and Dyketactics To book, please contact Helen Wright by emailing sit alongside less well-known but equally [email protected]. innovative films like The Wedding Song and FEATURE FILMS

Desert Hearts (18) Dir: Donna Deitch, Country: USA, Year: 1985, Length: 96 mins, Format: 35mm or DVD It’s 1959 and reserved professor of English Vivian travels from New York to Reno, Nevada, to take advantage of that state’s reputation for speedy divorce processing after separating from her husband. She stays at a local ranch guesthouse whilst waiting for her divorce to be finalised and meets Cay, an open and seemingly confident lesbian woman. Vivian and Cay hit it off but turbulent emotions and prejudice-induced insecurities threaten their burgeoning love, which is played out against a backdrop of dusky, rocky landscapes and country and western songs.

Virgin Machine (Die Jungfrauen Maschine) (N/C 15+) Dir: Monika Treut, Country: West Germany, Year: 1988, Length: 84 mins, Format: 35mm or DVD Wannabe writer and journalist Dorothee leaves Germany for San Francisco searching for her long-lost mother and some insights into the ailment known as love. Encounters with male impersonator Ramona, charming bohemian Dominique, and purveyor of lesbian erotica, Susie Sexpert, result in liberating adventures in sexual self-discovery. When Dorothee surfaces a little dazzled on the wilder shores of the city’s lesbian community, she has discovered her sexuality...and left her illusions of romance behind.

Go Fish (18) Dir: Rose Troche, Country: USA, Year: 1994, Length: 83 mins, Formats: 35mm or DVD Max is a too-cool-for-school young lesbian woman stressing over the fact she hasn’t had sex for ten months. After first dismissing hippy, excessive drinker of tea Ely, Max goes on a date with her, leading to a long-term mutual infatuation and a ‘will they, won’t they’ romantic trajectory. A collaboration between (The Watermelon Woman, Itty Bitty Titty Committee) and Rose Troche, Go Fish features a supporting cast of lesbian waifs and strays, including Ely’s sex addict roommate Daria and Max’s roommate Kia, whose girlfriend Evy has been kicked out her home by her homophobic mum.

Bound (18) Dir: The Wachowskis, Country: USA, Year: 1996, Length: 108 mins, Format: 35mm, DVD or BluRay Violet (Jennifer Tilly) longs to escape her relationship with her mafioso boyfriend Caesar and seizes the chance when alluring ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) comes along. Violet and Corky enter into a clandestine affair and hatch a scheme to steal 2 million dollars of mafia money. The first film directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski, Bound employed Susie Sexpert to choreograph the steamy sex scenes, and drew inspiration from classic Hollywood director Billy Wilder in its noir crime thriller approach to queer love.

2 Nina’s Heavenly Delights (PG) Dir: Pratibha Parmar, Country: UK, Year: 2006, Length: 94 mins, Formats: 35mm or DVD When young Glaswegian cook Nina returns home for her father’s funeral after three years living in London, she begins a romantic relationship with Lisa, an old childhood friend who now owns half of Nina’s late dad’s Indian restaurant, The New Taj. Together, the two lovers seek to save the restaurant from closing by conspiring to defend the national ‘Best in the West Curry Competition’ title. Nina’s mother and brother are trying to sell the Taj, however, to fellow restaurateur Raj, whose chef son Sanjay was previously left at the altar by Nina. Tensions mount as the competition date nears and the women’s passionate and sometimes stormy affair threatens to derail everything.

The Wedding Song (Le chant des mariées) (15) Dir: Karin Albou, Country: France, Year: 2008, Length: 100 mins, Format: DVD During the Nazi occupation of Tunis, young friends Nour, who is Muslim, and Myriam, who is Jewish, live in a humble neighbourhood where their communities live in harmony. But the world shared by Jews and Arabs is being split by German plans to rid Tunis of its French and Jewish populations. Myriam’s mother (played by director Karin Albou) attempts to marry her off to a wealthy doctor in order to save the family from Nazi oppression. But Myriam and Nour, who have an ambigous, sensual bond, conspire to scupper the wedding plans.

Break My Fall (15) Dir: Kanchi Wichmann, Country: UK, Year: 2011, Length: 107 mins, Format: DVD Liza is hovering precariously between change and self-destruction, between leaving her failing relationship with girlfriend Sally and finding success with their band, Blanket. Sally is working in an unfulfilling job and clinging to fantasies of a better life, ignoring the chaos around her. Their best friends are Vin, a rent boy who is secretly in love with Sally, and Jamie, who works nights at a gay cabaret bar and longs to find a nice man to settle down with. On the three days leading up to Liza’s 25th birthday, things finally come to a head and the four are plunged into an emotional meltdown. Set on the pulsating streets of East London and with a soundtrack featuring stars of the UK independent music scene such as Micachu, Peggy Sue, and Scout Niblett.

Stud Life (18) Dir: Campbell X, Country: UK, Year: 2012, Length: 91 mins, Format: DVD JJ is a black lesbian ‘stud’ working as a wedding photographer with white gay best friend, Seb. When JJ falls in love with the beautiful and mysterious Elle, JJ and Seb’s friendship is tested for the first time as JJ has to choose between her hot new lover and her friend. Meanwhile, Seb rejects the advances of local drug dealer Smack Jack because he’s too busy lusting over ‘straight- acting’ Manchester Joe from Gaydar. Stud Life depicts a slice of life inside an urban London LGBT scene rarely shown, where gender is up for grabs but desire follows strict rules. Directed by boundary-pushing filmmaker and campaigner for better representation of queer people of colour, Campbell X.

3 SHORT FILMS

We are providing a selection of short films which can be screened alongside the above features. Each film has a recommendation for which feature films they go best with. Please ask us for further advice on putting a programme together.

Dyketactics (N/C 15+) Fingers (N/C 12+) Dir: Barbara Hammer, Country: USA, Year: 1974, Dir: Sandra Alland, Country: UK, Year: 2009, Length: 4 mins, Formats: Digital file, 16mm or DVD Length: 3 mins, Format: Digital file One of the first people to name themself a lesbian A British Sign Language (BSL) poetry performance by filmmaker, Barbara Hammer is a pioneer of queer women’s Alison Smith about love, longing, and the sexiness of touch representation. Her 70s classic Dyketactics is a sensuous, filmed by artist Sandra Alland. bold look at women’s desire and sexuality. Recommended to screen with features: Desert Hearts, Nina’s Recommended to screen with features: Desert Hearts, Heavenly Delights or The Wedding Song Virgin Machine or Go Fish At request of the filmmaker, Fingers may only be screened as part of events which include English subtitles for all films, BSL interpretation for any extended intros or Q&As, and which take place in a venue fully accessible Janine (N/C 8+) for wheelchairs. Please ask us for help or advice in implementing these Dir: Cheryl Dunye, Country: USA, Year: 1990, measures when booking. Length: 10mins, Formats: tbc A video about a black lesbian woman’s relationship with a Dinner For Two (N/C 8+) white, upper middle class girl when they were both in high Dir: Ami Nashimoto, Country: USA, Year: 2012, school. Direct address and visual metaphor are used to Length: 9 mins, Format: Digital file examine class, race, and sexual difference. A super cute musical in which a woman stresses over Recommended to screen with features: Go Fish, preparing something suitable and vaguely edible for her Nina’s Heavenly Delights or Stud Life vegan, gluten-free-diet date. Recommended to screen with features: Virgin Machine, Go Fish Swollen Stigma (N/C 12+) or Nina’s Heavenly Delights Dir: Sarah Pucill, Country: UK, Year: 1998, Length: 20 mins, Format: 16mm, DVD, Beta SP or Digital file Goodnight My Love (N/C 15+) A woman is alone in her home and is visited by visions of Dir: Kellee Terrell, Country: USA, Year: 2013, her lover, who appears as a phantom upside down in an Length: 10 mins, Format: Digital file armchair, hanging legs-down from the ceiling, playing Two lovers are caught in a zombie apocalypse and the dead on the floor, or eating roses. A pain-filled but terror of impending doom brings out tensions between sensuous ode to absent love. them as they take aim at each other’s faults. Recommended to screen with features: The Wedding Song or Recommended to screen with features: Bound or Break My Fall Break My Fall

1987, Summer (N/C 12+) On Your Back Woman! (N/C 12+) Dir: Krissy Mahan, Country: USA, Year: 2015, Dir: Maja Borg, Country: Sweden, Year: 2009, Length: 5 Length: 9 mins, Format: Digital file mins, Formats: DCP or Digital file It’s summer in the late 1980s and a baby dyke has landed in Four women embark on fun but highly competitive a gay resort town during the AIDS crisis. She plays softball, wrestling matches in an intimate bedroom setting. A goes clubbing, sleeps with lots of women, and learns about camp investigation into modern female sexuality invoking who she is and what she wants. compassion and pain in equal measure. Recommended to screen with features: Virgin Machine, Recommended to screen with features: Bound, Break My Fall or Go Fish or Bound Stud Life

4