Director's introduction
Dear Audience, during the preparations of last year’s Mezipatra, civil unions (finally) came into effect. We realized that for many years the local community has been promoting the image of gays and lesbians as respectable citizens who live like the mainstream society and long for the same rights and institutions. Such an image is, however, too limited as it excludes punks, anarchists, gender and sexual experimenters and everyone who doesn’t fit into the norms of the “respectable” society of the market economy and monogamous life. To broaden the image we have chosen rebellion as the main theme of the 8th edition of the festival.
The filmmakers whose retrospective profiles we offer this year are rebels themselves – John Greyson , the Canadian independent film star and Ulrike Ottinger , the German alternative legend. Both make films that rebel against the norms not just with its themes but also with the manner of narration and representation. The other great rebel of this year’s festival is R. W. Fassbiner. We will commemorate the 25th anniversary of his death with his last film, Querelle.
In November of this year, the Czech society will commemorate the fall of communism for the 18th time. That’s why we have decided to entitle our presentation of the Czech films after 1989 “Passing the Test”. How far has our democratic cinematography come in portraying gays and lesbians? Come and find out!
We return to the theme of communism in the traditional part of the accompanying program – an international panel discussion, this time about the lives of gays and lesbians in the former Eastern bloc. The set of seminars on queer film and queers in film will undoubtedly be equally interesting.
I wish you a stimulating Mezipatra.
Ales Rumpel, Festival Director