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Day: February 24, 2017

PREVIEW: BFI Flare LGBT Film Festival announce 2017 programme

Posted on by Alice Blezard

BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival has unveiled its 31st edition’s full programme.

Signature Move (director. Jennifer Reeder) Closing Night, BFI Flare
Signature Move (director. Jennifer Reeder) Closing Night, BFI Flare

One of the most significant and long-standing film events in the world’s LGBT+ calendar, BFI Flare will present over 50 features, more than 100 shorts and a wide range of special events, guest appearances, discussions, workshops, club nights and much more.

The festival opens on the 16th March with the World Premiere of Fergus O’Brien’s BBC Production Against the Law at BFI Southbank, and will close with the International Premiere of Jennifer Reeder’s Signature Move.

Tickets are on sale to BFI Patrons, Champions and Members at bfi.org.uk/flare and will be available to the General Public from Monday February 27.

Tricia Tuttle
Tricia Tuttle

Tricia Tuttle, BFI Deputy Head of Festivals, said: “If last year’s 30th Anniversary of the Festival was time for reflection on just how far we’ve come, many world events in the 12 months since have reminded us just how vital this event still is. And what a programme we have to offer this year – it’s vibrant, politically engaged, playful, stirring – and with a number of World, International and European Premieres on offer, BFI Flare is absolutely the place to see the best new LGBT+ cinema first.”

The Centrepiece Screening of the 2017 Festival is the European Premiere of Torrey Pines, a psychedelic stop-motion animation about a child grappling with gender identity and a schizophrenic mother. The film will be accompanied by a live score from director Clyde Petersen’s Queercore band, Your Heart Breaks.

The year’s Special Presentations are both World Premieres: the new UK web series, Different for Girls, a smart, sassy, sexy multi-layered lesbian drama, directed by award-winning Festival alumni Campbell X and After Louie in which Alan Cumming plays a New York artist whose life is turned upside down by an encounter with a much younger man.

2017 sees the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which decriminalised private homosexual acts in England and Wales.

The Festival marks this anniversary in a number of ways:

♦      Fifty Years of Queer History through the Moving Image and Beyond a unique afternoon of illustrated talks, screenings and storytelling with a wide range of historians, archivists and individuals who lived through the period.

♦      The aforementioned Against the Law is the profoundly moving true story of Peter Wildeblood and the events that led to the creation of the Wolfenden Committee on sexual law reform.

♦      BFI Flare will host the World Premiere of the politically charged Pride?, a provocative and intelligent documentary which details the history of the Pride celebrations.

♦      As previously announced, the BFI is also marking the 50th anniversary with a new season of screenings and events in July and August. Gross Indecency will explore the pioneering – and sometimes problematic – depictions of LGBT+ life in British film and TV in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

In a global climate which sees many LGBT+ people struggle for basic human rights, BFI Flare also presents a selection of films and events which explore LGBT_ culture around the world.

Highlights include:

♦      Out of Iraq is an outstanding documentary about the forbidden relationship of two Iraqi young soldiers at the height of the Iraq war.

♦      The Pearl of Africa follows the story of Cleopatra Kambugu, the first out transgender woman in Uganda.

♦      Sridhar Rangayan, the Director of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival will attend BFI Flare and take part in an event exploring LGBT+ film and television culture in India, as part of UK/India 2017.

♦      LGBT+ film gets an international spotlight with the welcome return of fiveFilms4freedom, programmed in partnership with the British Council, which sees five LGBT+ short films from BFI Flare available online for free throughout the festival. Last year’s films were seen in more than 130 countries worldwide.

For further details and full programme, click here:

PREVIEW: HOTBED – A Festival of Sex

Posted on by Alice Blezard

Louise Orwin | Pony Boy Curtis | Rebecca Atkinson-Lord and Greg Wohead | Lois Weaver | Beta Public | Propolis Theatre | Rachel Mars | and much, much more…

We live in a world saturated with sexual imagery – but how often do we talk about sex as it’s really felt, experienced or imagined? And why is theatre so seldom a part of that conversation? Hotbed is the Camden People’s Theatre’s brand new festival of sex from Tuesday April 25 – Saturday May 14: three weeks of adventurous performance guaranteed to expand your carnal knowledge. From the ubiquity of porn to the secrets of your sexual fantasies, from a celebration of sex-positivity to the difficulties of representing sex onstage, CPT’s sexual congress lays bare sex, 2017-style.

The festival is headlined by OH YES OH NO (April 26 – May 11), the brand-new show from Louise Orwin, creator of previous CPT hits Pretty Ugly and A Girl and A Gun. Her new show explores real sex and real bodies, trying to understand what you want and how to ask for it, in a conversation in which (almost) everyone is allowed to speak.

Legendary theatre maker – and former CPT Artistic Director – Chris Goode returns to Hampstead Road his ‘avante-garde performance boyband’, Ponyboy Curtis, premiering walk pause walk (May 12 – 14), a piece inspired by sources ranging from anarchist literature to skate culture to contemporary gay porn – it’s like a cross between an open rehearsal and an intimate gig, in which the boys explore the codes of masculinity, queerness and tribalism though a series of increasingly eroticised unrehearsed encounters.

Other highlights of the programme include Rebecca Atkinson-Lord and Greg Wohead’s new collaboration, Snowballing (May 10-11), sharing their own experiences, fantasies, mistakes and hopes about sex and relationships.

Legendary performance artist Lois Weaver investigates the truth about sex at midlife and beyond in What Tammy Needs to Know About Getting Old and Having Sex (May 6).

And Propolis Theatre’s SPILL: A Verbatim Show About Sex (April 27 – 29) does exactly what it says on the tin. With songs.

The festival features a programme of wraparound activity. Thomas Martin and Pat Ashe’s iconic night of work at the meeting point of theatre and videogaming, Beta Public (May 2), returns, for a one-off orgy of all things sex and sex-positive in performance and play.

Putting In A Good Performance: The Ethics of Presenting Sex (May 6) is a panel discussion bringing together theatre makers and ethical pornographers to consider the implications of presenting sex for a viewing audience.

And Rachel Mars and friends including Brian Lobel, Season Butler and Naomi Woddis unite for Your Sexts Are Shit: Older Better Letters (May 4), a sharing of some of the most brilliant and filthy sex letters from artists such as James Joyce, Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe.

For more information, click here:

Charity calls for dating industry to make reporting safety concerns easier

Posted on by Alice Blezard

Independent research has found that a third of online daters have been concerned for their personal safety when communicating online or meeting potential partners from a dating website or app.

The research, which was carried out by YouGov on behalf of personal safety charity Suzy Lamplugh Trust (SLT) and funded by dating service Match also found that, despite the high number of users reporting safety concerns, over half of those never reported the incident to the dating provider.

Around 7.8 million adults in the UK used dating sites in 2016, making it the largest single way in which relationships start in Britain today. Whilst the majority are without incident, with 32% of respondents feeling concerned for their safety and over half of those not having reported the concern to their dating provider, the SLT believes that the number of unreported dating safety concerns could be over a million.

Rachel Griffin
Rachel Griffin

Rachel Griffin, CEO of the SLT, said: “While dating is mostly a fun and enjoyable experience, our research shows that the majority of those who have had concerns for their safety simply block perpetrator profiles, with 15% of daters feeling their report would not be acted upon by the service provider, 12% saying there wasn’t an easy way to report the concern on the dating website, and 7% feeling too embarrassed to report it.

It is essential that dating agencies encourage and support their members to report all incidents and concerns and that the mechanism for reporting is clear and easy to follow. This not only helps the individual involved, but may also safeguard other users as online dating agencies can spot potential problems and act immediately to protect their members.”

The research also shows that people feel comfortable sharing information about themselves online, with 44% saying it was easier getting to know someone quickly on an online dating website or app compared to face-to-face. 75% of those who have seen advice on safe dating said they have read it, but over half of those who have never acted on the advice they read (53%) said they felt they were already being careful (53%) or doing everything suggested (47%).

Suzy Lamplugh Trust personal safety advice includes:

♦      When online keep all communications with unknown persons through the dating website and not via personal communications such as social media.

♦      When chatting with someone online it’s better to talk about where you’ve been rather than where you’re going.

♦      When meeting people for dates tell someone where you’re going, who you’re meeting and check in with them before, during and after the date.

♦      Agree that if you don’t check in as agreed or respond then your friend would call the place where you’ve met or even go there to check on you.

♦      Report any suspicious or offensive behaviour to the online dating site.

For further information about the SLT and personal safety advice, click here:

Speaker Tour features young people with HIV

Posted on by Besi

Young campaigners living with HIV in Brighton for National Speaker Tour

♦ Inspiring stories told as part of nationwide speaker tour organised by Youth Stop AIDS

♦ Local students support tour as part of It Ain’t Over campaign

There is nothing more powerful than hearing the life experiences of people affected by HIV & AIDS to motivate you to take action. That’s why on Tuesday, Brighton will have the chance to hear the inspiring stories of young people living with HIV.

The powerful event is part of a month-long nationwide speaker tour organised by Youth Stop AIDS  and hosted in Brighton by Sussex Youth Stop AIDS, where stories of triumph over adversity inspire people to take action on the global HIV & AIDS epidemic.

The local Sussex Youth Stop AIDS society is one of the nine lucky hosts for this year’s tour, which attracted over 700 people last year when people were moved to tears and laughter as powerful stories weaved between humour, positivity and emotionally hard-hitting experiences, such as being humiliated at school or suffering violent schizophrenic delusions.

Speakers visiting the city include:

  • Alex Causton-Ronaldson (UK): First Dates Contestant told he had to reveal he was HIV-Positive on television
  • Krishen Samuel (South Africa): Fashion blogger championing LGBT+ rights
  • Jimmy Isaacs (UK): Former employer reduced his pay because he was HIV positive

Young campaigners will also be hitting the streets of Brighton with a giant postcard for people to sign in support of its campaign to promote the global fight against HIV & AIDS, called It Ain’t Over. The postcard will be sent to the Secretary of State for International Development, Priti Patel.

Connor Moylett, Sussex Youth Stop AIDS, said: “As a group we’ve seen the incredible effect that first hand accounts can have. The power for change in the words of those directly affected cannot be underestimated; listening and sharing stories can change apathy to activism.”

James Cole, Youth Stop AIDS National Coordinator, said: “We can beat AIDS, but It Ain’t Over. AIDS is now the second largest killer of young people in the world – in 2000 it wasn’t even in the top ten. We hope that hearing about the experiences of young people living with HIV directly at tours like this, will inspire more people to join our fight. Sign our petition!”

Event: Speaker tour organised by Youth Stop AIDS

Where: Jubilee Theatre, Lecture Room at Sussex University Campus, Falmer, Brighton

When: Tuesday, February 28

Time: 6pm

Cost: Free entry

To reserve place, click here:

For more information, click here:

 

PREVIEW: Polari Soho Special

Posted on by Besi

As part of its tenth birthday celebrations, London’s award-winning LGBT+ literary salon returns to its Soho roots with this special event for London Book & Screen Week.

Hosted by Paul Burston with readings from poet Sophia Blackwell, author Christopher Fowler and author and comedian VG Lee.

Cocktails and chat from 6.30pm. Readings from 7pm.

This event is part of London Book & Screen Week, a seven-day, citywide celebration of books and the films, TV programmes and virtual worlds they inspire.

For more information about Polari Literary Salon, click here:

Event: Polari Soho Special

Where: The Light Lounge, 1 Newport Place. London WC2H 7JR

When: Monday, March 13

Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Cost: £5

To book tickets online, click here:

International Women’s Day: Free events at Brighton Museum and Dome on March 4

Posted on by Besi

Brighton Museum, Brighton Dome and Brighton Women’s Centre (BWC) join forces to present their annual celebration of International Women’s Day.

A specially curated programme of inspiring speakers, activists and innovators, workshops, arts and crafts, causes and campaigns for all the family has been programmed and everyone welcome.

Free day at Brighton Museum:

Saturday, March 4, 10am-5pm (free admission, drop-in)

Free entry for everyone at Brighton Museum as they celebrate International Women’s Day, with Brighton Dome and Brighton Women’s Centre. Be inspired and empowered by a diverse programme of talks, performances and workshops:

To view programme online, click here:

All Day, Brighton Museum Art Room – Children’s Area

The Early Childhood Project host a dynamic and nurturing children’s area for children and their carers to enjoy together. There will be activities for a range of ages from 0 – 12, plus plenty for parents and carers to browse and talk about.

All Day (except 1-2pm), Brighton Museum Lab: Wonder Women

Meet some incredible women from history, including Brighton suffragette, Minnie Turner, and fossil hunter Mary Anning, whilst getting up close and personal with some of Brighton Museum’s Collections.

All Day, Brighton Museum Lunch Room: Brighton Women’s Centre Drop-in Space (women only)

For the first time ever they are providing a safe, nurturing environment for all self-identified women at International Women’s Day. The space will be free to access and experienced BWC staff and volunteers will offer support and a kind ear, information about specialist organisations, or simply company.

10am – 4pm, Brighton Museum: Virgin Territory Workspace

Take a moment to reflect and make something in response to how our highly digitized, porn-infused culture is affecting young people’s identities, personal choices and relationships.

10.30am – 11.15am: Sing Your Heart Out with Aneesa Chaudhry! (women only)

No judgement, even from yourself. Just a chance to get together with women from all around and to use that voice of yours to sing, have fun and make some new friends.

10.30am – 11.30am, Brighton Museum Seminar Room: Heritage Voices, Women Write

Poet Evlynn Sharp will facilitate this workshop and encourage everyone to write from the heart of ourselves; to write through our daring, our courage, our vulnerability; to share our words in community, in hope, and in tribute to creative freedom.

11am – 11.30am, Brighton Museum Education Pavilion: Feminism in Theory with Simi Dosekun

Simi, a Nigerian feminist, makes a case for why feminism needs theory, but also more. By drawing on examples from black and African feminist thinking, she will take us through some of the ways in which theory can sharpen our activist practice.

11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm & 3pm, Brighton Museum: Walking Talking Curator on the hour every hour

Pop up talks with curator Dr Alexandra Loske, looking at paintings brought out specially from the museum store, by Dame Laura Knight, Angelica Kauffmann, amongst others.

11.30am & 2.30pm, Brighton Museum: Discover the Women of Brighton with tour guide Louise Peskitt

Explore the important women of Brighton’s history with a walking tour of the Royal Pavilion Estate (approximately 45 minutes long). Meet in the Museum Foyer

11.45 – 12.15pm, Brighton Museum Education Pavilion: A Beginner’s Guide to Intersectionality with Arianne Shavisi

Arianne Shavisi will introduce the idea of intersectionality, which simply means that feminists should consider the many different, interlinked ways in which people are affected by the way our society operates.

11.45am – 1pm, Brighton Museum Temporary Exhibition Gallery: Open Space Discussion with Brighton Women’s Centre

Sophie Gibson of Brighton Women’s Centre invites you to join their Open Space Discussion: What does it mean to be a Feminist in the twenty first century?

12pm – 5pm, Brighton Museum Seminar Room: Complementary Therapies (Women Only)

Maja Jordan and her team will be offering a range of low cost complementary therapies including Indian Head Massage and Reiki.

12pm – 1.45pm, Brighton Museum Old Courtroom: In Conversation: Women and Photography

Join renowned photographers Marilyn Stafford and Nina Emett as they each present a selection of photographs from their work based on the theme of women, hosted by Miniclick facilitator, Jim Stephenson.

12pm – 2pm, Lunch with Real Junk Food Project

Come and fill your bellies at IWD with the most delicious and ethically sourced food.

12.30pm – 1pm, Brighton Museum Education Pavilion: Travelling Alone with Laura Barton

Join Laura Barton as she talks about her experiences of travelling alone as a woman in theEducation Pavilion.

1pm – 2pm, Brighton Museum Lab: Zine Making Workshop

Anyone can make a zine. You don’t need a computer, fancy programming, or super cool contacts. You just need something to say, and some materials with which to express that!

1.15pm – 1.30pm, Brighton Museum: Staging the Female Experience with Charlotte Vincent

Charlotte Vincent talks about why her work interrogates gender stereotypes, power, violence and pornography and discusses the need for women’s stories to be heard to counter the insidious sexism and creative bravado that seems to persists within our culture and beyond.

1.15pm – 1.45pm, Brighton Museum Education Pavilion: Leap In with Alexandra Heminsley

Alexandra Heminsley discusses her latest book, Leap In.

2pm – 2.30pm, Brighton Museum Education Pavilion: Fat Bodies with Mathilda Gregory

Mathilda Gregory is a writer and a performer who makes work about bodies and popular culture. She is the most famous author of werewolf erotica in the world.

2.45pm – 3.15pm, Brighton Museum Fashion & Style Gallery: Helen McCookerybook: Women in Punk

Helen Reddington, aka musician and writer ‘Helen McCookerybook’ lifts the lid on women in the punk scene.  Plus the last chance to see the display Photo-Punk: 40 images from the birth of UK punk by Ian Dickson and Kevin Cummins.

2.45pm – 3.45pm, Brighton Museum Education Pavilion: Blog to Express, not to Impress

Join Brighton Girl editors Pippa and Sofaya for a workshop encouraging you to break all of the rules you’ve heard about blogging and do it your own way.

New display: Marvellous Mary Merrifield

From March 4, Museum Lab display case (adjacent to North Balcony, free with admission), Brighton Museum

Mary Philadelphia Merrifield (1804–1889) was a remarkable, self-educated woman who spent most of her life in Brighton. She wrote about colour, dress history, marine algae and even Brighton’s tourist features, and was actively involved in shaping the natural history collections at Brighton Museum in the later 19th century. To mark International Women’s Day on March 8 this small display outside Museum Lab will include images, maps, letters, books and other items relating to Merrifield’s life.

There will also be a related talk later in the month at The Keep:

In Search of Colour in the 1840s: Mrs Merrifield’s Continental Journey, March 29, 5:30-6:30, at The Keep

With art historian and curator Dr Alexandra Loske.

For more information, click here:

Brighton Dome and Brighton Museum
Brighton Dome and Brighton Museum

At Brighton Dome:

All Day, Brighton Dome Cafe bar – Communal Quilting

Join SmallHillArts to make a communal, unconventional patchwork quilt.

All Day, Brighton Dome Cafe bar – Radical Self Portraits

All Day, Brighton Dome Mezzanine bar – Cultural Sharing

11.45am – 12.45pm, Brighton Museum Mezzanine Landing: Women’s Self Defence (women only)

Time to get active and equip yourself with some valuable self defence skills at the same time. Anna’s class is designed to be fun and can be taken at a pace suitable to you.

2pm – 3.30pm, Brighton Dome Concert Hall: Panel Discussion: Do We Need Women Only Spaces?

Join the panellists Katharine Sacks-Jones, Lisa Dando, Natasha Scott, Caroline Lucas MP, Larissa Kennedy, and Sophie Heawood.

3.30pm – 4pm, Brighton Dome Café Bar: Raffle Prize-giving

4pm – 5pm, Brighton Dome Concert Hall: Miss Represented Sharing

Women only events are open to ALL self-identifying women

For more information about International Women’s Day in Brighton, click here:

PREVIEW: Sisters are doing it for themselves!

Posted on by Besi

An event celebrating International Women’s Day –  Singing workshop led by Aneesa Chaudhry

Time for a workshop where women can sing out their views on today’s unsettling times. This will be a kick ass workshop encouraging women, sisters, mum’s, daughters, friends to come together and make some noise.

Aneesa Chaudhry is the Musical Director of the Rainbow Chorus, European Queer Choir, Martlets Hospice GOOD VIBRATIONS Choir and St Lukes Primary School Community Choir. She loves getting people to explore their voices and let out what’s inside!

She’ll be teaching you the workshop titled song, plus music from 4 Non Blonde’s, Janis Joplin and MILCK’s Women’s anthem that’s been sung around the world since the women’s March in January.

To learn a voice part that suits you in advance of the workshop, click here:

Everyone’s welcome! Go along with a fire in your belly and ready to make some noise.

Event: Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves!  Singing workshop led by Aneesa Chaudhry

Where: Latest Music Bar, 14-17 Manchester Street, Brighton

When: Sunday, March 5

Time: 11am – 2pm

To book a place, click here:

Book by February 14 and you get 10% discount when you arrive.

 

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