Lesbian and Gays Support the Migrants, join rally and march in Dover, to support refugees.
Over 300 campaigners gathered in Dover’s Market Square on Saturday, October 17 to show support for the plight of refugees and migrants; both in the UK; and those in Calais or traversing Europe escaping from mainly war-torn areas.
Joining them were contingents of refugee support and anti-racism groups from Brighton and London alongside Lesbians & Gays Support the Migrants who were enabled to travel to the event with a donation from the original LGSM (Miners support group) who celebrated their 30th anniversary last year and were featured in the movie Pride.
The event featured many members of the local and Kentwide Labour and Green Party’s, along with local refugee, anti-racism support and campaign groups and churches.
The demonstration swelled in size with the arrival of a large contingent of supporters from London and Brighton; and those who had also been holding a separate demonstration against cuts and fees.
Speakers called on the Government to open the borders, help the refugees and do far more to end the conflicts and environmental problems that are causing the movements of desperate people across Europe.
Speakers told of their visits to the Calais Jungle, taking food, clothing, and medical supplies and siting the dire situation for any human beings having to reside there. They also all castigated the racist groups and media for their biased reporting about the migrants.
The groups then marched to the memorial on Dover seafront for the 58 Chinese migrants who died where flowers were laid and prayers said. The march then continued to the entrance to Dover’s Eastern Docks for a final rally and speeches.
London’s queer film and arts festival, Fringe!, returns for its fifth year with over 60 events across six days, including screenings, talks, panels, workshops, performance and parties, taking over 14 venues in East London.
Fringe! is a not-for-profit festival run by a team of passionate volunteers and rooted in London’s queer creative scene. From feature films to experimental art, workshops to interactive walks and wild parties, Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest 2015 has something to tickle every one of the senses.
Fringe! Fest was launched in 2011, by a group of queer creatives as a community response to arts cuts carnage. Their mission was to offer a dynamic, representative and unmistakably fresh alternative to other film and arts festivals.
This year’s festival features an international focus, with representation from over 20 countries, and brings a packed programme of the most thought-provoking and cutting-edge new work from across the globe.
This year Fringe! hosts screenings and events at familiar festival venues including Hackney Picturehouse and Hackney Attic, Rio Cinema, Ace Hotel, Dalston Superstore and Rose Lipman Building, which returns as the festival hub with two screens, an exhibition space and the festival cafe.
Fringe! is also proud to announce several new venue partnerships that will see films and events coming to Barbican Cinema, Genesis Cinema, The Glory and Fringe! first foray further north with three screenings at Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham.
Highlights include:
Feature-length films:
Eisenstein in Guanajuato
Opening the film programme, Peter Greenaway’sEisenstein in Guanajuato is a high camp, provocative and political biopic of Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein’s 1931 trip to Mexico (Novemer 24).
Inspirational rugby documentary Scrum, directed by Poppy Stockell, follows the lives of three men as they compete for a position on the team for the Bingham Cup 2014 – an international gay rugby tournament named after athlete Mark Bingham who died on United flight 93, on 11 September 2001 (November 27).
The Turkish Boat
Director Chris Belloni’sThe Turkish Boat is a documentary on the first ever Turkish boat that took part in Amsterdam’s famous Gay Pride Canal Parade and follows Turkish-Dutch gay activists Döne and Serdar in their attempt to gain recognition and acceptance within the Turkish community (November 28).
Performance:
For the first time, this year Fringe! features full-length staged performance and a focus on technology, art and the body, including:
In The Lady’s Not For Walking Like An Egyptian, performance duo Mars.tarrab explode, expand and explore political texts and pop lyrics by 1980s female pop icons to ask questions about power and influence, the female voice, memory and seeing your Dad in tears on election night 1979 (November 26).
Baby Lame’s show Video Nasties is an interactive celebration of the bizarre and the grotesque featuring the capital’s most exciting cabaret performers in a programme of performance/lectures, happenings, films, games and late-night dancing (November 28).
Portuguese post-porn performance collective Quimera Rosa’sSexus 3 aka The Violinist questions socially constructed binaries, mixing scenes of cyberpunk surrealism with non-conventional sexual practices in which the performers transform their bodies into instruments through electronic prosthetics. The piece references both Elfriede Jelinek’sThe Piano Teacher and Donna Haraway’s concept of the cyborg. Additionally to the performance, Quimera Rosa will also run two workshops prior to the show (November 29).
Workshops:
Fringe! also offers a wide range of workshops including a DJ Workshop for Women, Queer Life Drawing, Shibari and Spanking (November 28 & 29).
Talks and events:
In addition to post-screening conversations and Q&As, Fringe! is hosting topical panels on ongoing debates on the disappearance of queer spaces and gentrification (November 28), LGBT immigration (November 29) and the provision of PrEP (HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis) through the NHS (November 29).
FREE exhibitions:
This year Fringe! hosts three exhibitions showcasing new and exciting work by international artists in a group show (November 27) and two solo exhibitions by Ryan Coit and Sarah Elise Ambramson (November 24).
An all male nude exhibition at the Leyden Gallery, London.
The Leyden Gallery in London, presents Defining Beauty, a collection of male nudes created in a variety of media by 14 male artists grouped under the name Nude for Thought.
Martin Ireland created in 2004 an exclusively male workshop in South London, as an alternative to life drawing sessions predominantly focused on the female figure. Soon a debate about the relevance and the problems of male nude in contemporary art rose, from which the group Nude for Thought was formed.
They held their first show at the Nolias Gallery, Southwark, London, in November 2014.
Now they present their second show under the title re: Defining beauty, as a reaction to the Defining beauty exhibition at the British Museum earlier this year.
Focused on the male body, re: Defining Beauty is at the Leyden Gallery, London, from November 3-7, to “experience a contemporary take on the historical portrayal of the male nude”.
There will be a performance by Roy Joseph Butler on Saturday, November 7 from 12:00-16:00.
Nude for Thought’sre: Defining beauty comes at a time when there is a rising international interest in the male nude, particularly following three large shows at major European Museums.
In 2012, the Leopold Museum, Vienna, presented Naked Men, the first major exhibition focused exclusively in the male nude. This exhibition was followed in 2013 by Nude Men at The Ludwig Museum, Budapest and Masculine/Masculine at the Museum D’Orsay, Paris.
Following the success of their first show last December at Nolias Gallery, Nude for Thought are widening their reach with regularly scheduled exhibitions, open workshops and debates, artistic collaborations, and publications.
For more information about Nude for Thought, click here:
You can make a donation to Nude for Thought, through their campaign on Kickstarter.
Fringe! is a not-for-profit festival run by a team of passionate volunteers and rooted in London’s queer creative scene. From feature films to experimental art, workshops to interactive walks and wild parties, Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest 2015 has something to tickle every one of the senses.
You must be logged in to post a comment.