New Queer Film Festivals 2024
Queer Film Festivals in Eastern Germany Receive Support from QueerScope
QueerScope is pleased to announce that it will support four new film festivals and their programs in the fall of 2024, thus contributing to the promotion of queer projects in Eastern Germany.
The goal of the new funding program ›New Queer Film Festivals 2024‹ (NQFF) by QueerScope e.V., the umbrella organization of independent queer film festivals in Germany, is to establish new festivals in cities and regions where queer film festivals have not yet taken place, thereby strengthening local LGBTIQ* communities.
The following four film festivals in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were selected:
October 21 – October 31, 2024
Harzer Queer Film Festival 2024
Wernigerode, Saxony-Anhalt
Offener Kanal Wernigerode e.V. in cooperation with CSD Magdeburg e.V., Magazin BRaVE, and the queer group of the Harz University of Applied Sciences
›In addition to its primary role as a media competence center, the Offene Kanal Wernigerode aims to establish itself as a queer center in rural areas. Due to the challenging situation faced by queer people in the Harz district (e.g., verbal attacks during the CSD Wernigerode), we want to be a point of contact. (...) Besides the film screenings, we plan to initiate a discussion round in cooperation with the team from BRaVE magazine at selected events to talk about the films and to provide the audience with an opportunity to share their experiences on the topic.‹
November 7 – November 13, 2024
Neiße Q-Shorts @ Camillo Queer Cinema Week 2024
Görlitz, Saxony
CamilloKino (Filmclub von der Rolle ´94 e.V.) in cooperation with Filmfest Dresden, LAG Queeres Netzwerk Sachsen e.V., Gerede e.V. Dresden, Queeres Netzwerk Landkreis Görlitz
›The Camillo Queer Cinema Week, held since 2016, is part of the year-round project Queere Aktionstage 2024 and serves as a beacon in the Eastern Saxony region with a unique standing. Each year, it makes a political statement (in a region under significant right-wing pressure) for the visibility of queer life realities. The film festival adheres to an intersectional queer-feminist perspective, reflected both in the cinematic program and in the supporting program, which includes concerts, readings, performances, lectures, and workshops. In 2024, for the first time, the character and aspirations of a film festival can be fulfilled with its own film submissions and awards by a specially established jury.‹
November 15 – November 17, 2024
When QUEER Was Black and White – Film Heritage Festival
Potsdam, Brandenburg
Katte e.V. in cooperation with the Filmmuseum Potsdam, Babelsberg Film University
›Cinema has long been a space for progressive, taboo-breaking, and queer themes. Crossdressing and an anarchic play with gender roles and sexual identities have been part of film history from the beginning. The silent films of the 1910s and 1920s are particularly rich in such provocative content and imagery. (...) A three-day festival will honor significant and partially forgotten works and figures of queer film art and demonstrate their ongoing relevance. In collaboration with internationally renowned film heritage institutions like the Filmmuseum Potsdam and the Babelsberg Film University, a unique festival will be created.‹
November 29 – December 1, 2024
QueerLustinale
Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Buntes Lulu in cooperation with the Luna Filmtheater
›The idea of a Queer Film Festival has been around for several years. Due to the small-scale settlement structures and the vastness of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, it is difficult for queer people to organize themselves, which is why queer cultural offerings tend to gravitate towards cities like Schwerin, Rostock, Berlin, or Hamburg. In many conversations, the desire to have a local gathering point within the district was repeatedly expressed. A queer film festival provides an ideal low-threshold opportunity for people to network and develop structures.‹
Statements from QueerScope on the financing of the New Queer Film Festivals 2024
Further information on the individual festivals and their programmes will also be published here on our website.
We are also pleased to announce our media partnership with FILMLÖWIN, the feminist film magazine.
›Growing up in Saxony, where in the 1990s I often had to flee from violent neo-Nazis as a teenager, I view the political developments and the establishment of right-wing extremist structures in Eastern Germany with great concern. Therefore, it is personally very important to me that the particularly vulnerable queer communities in these areas receive the best possible support. I also want to express my admiration for those who continue to actively engage and openly oppose right-wing extremism through their cultural work, despite the threatening conditions.‹
Kat Pohlmann
Projektleitung NQFF
›Queer people live everywhere, not just in urban centers of Western Germany. I am thrilled to support festivals, organizations, and people on the ground in bringing queer culture to their communities.‹
Korbinian Häutle
Vorstand QueerScope, Co-Organisator Queer Film Festival München
›This festival funding is a small contribution to counteract the strong right-wing pressure currently prevalent in Eastern Germany. Film festivals bring people together, promote dialogue, and create visibility for diverse perspectives. With this initiative, we aim to strengthen queer individuals and structures on the ground.‹
Hanne Homrighausen
Vorstand QueerScope, Co-Organisatorin Hamburg International Queer Film Festival
