Where We Are

Where We Are

Short film programme at Brussels Short Film Festival

© Towards the Sun, Far From the Center (Luciana Merino & Pascal Viveros, 2024)

On Saturday April 26, Kortfilm.be presents a short film programme on queer intimacy, per invitation by and during the Brussels Short Film Festival. The programme is part of the festival’s retrospective section and screens at Flagey.

In many ways, how we love and hold one another is dependent on where we do this loving and holding. This is especially true for those whose affectionate actions remain heavily scrutinised by normative eyes. Though queer intimacy is fundamentally basic human behaviour, our current socio-cultural climate still dictates a divisive rule. 

Inherently a political act, queer intimacy takes on many forms in its desire for affectionate expression and a need for self preservation, ever transforming in response to its surroundings. Film proves an excellent medium to carve out a space for such intimacy, highlighting the tension between the private and public realms. The programme “Where We Are” explores a variety of queer affection: distantly lurking, boldly claiming or wantingly dreaming.

This programme was curated by Laïka Planchenault and Niels Putman, per kind invitation of Brussels Short Film Festival. Tickets can be purchased on-site only.

Behind Every Good Man is courtesy of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Collection. Restoration funding provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
 

Programme

Programma

© Towards the Sun, Far From the Center (Luciana Merino & Pascal Viveros, 2024)
Luciana Merino, Pascal Viveros, Chile, 2024, 17’

Santiago in the shimmering summer. High-resolution images undergo a digital zoom process, which transforms spaces into surfaces and houses into textures. In between, there are the small gestures of everyday urban life and first and foremost two women who are searching for a place for their love.

© Behind Every Good Man (Nikolai Ursin, 1967)
Nikolai Ursin, United States, 1967, 8’

Behind Every Good Man provides a glimpse into the life of an African American transgender woman in 1960s Los Angeles. We follow our protagonist as she turns a few heads walking down the street, flirts with a man, and gets her apartment ready for a dinner date. Throughout the film, our protagonist narrates their hopes for future relationships.

© Fiesta Forever (Jorge Jácome, 2016)
Jorge Jácome, Portugal, 2016, 21’

Abandoned disco clubs and old dreams of future lovers: in Fiesta Forever, nightlife is over, and melancholy seems the only option. This tribute to four legendary abandoned nightclubs in Portugal presents a moving vision of the power of togetherness. Parties are a revolution that cannot be stopped. We just need to remember how we feel.

© It Is Not the Brazilian Homosexuals Who Are Perverse, But the Situation in Which They Live (Leandro Goddinho, Eduardo Mamede, Paulo Menezes, 2021)
Leandro Goddinho, Eduardo Mamede, Paulo Menezes , Germany, 2021, 12’

On a pandemic summer afternoon in Berlin, two queer Brazilians go skinny dipping in a lake where they talk about love, sex, colonialism and migration—liberating both their bodies and minds.