Queer films and narratives at Genesis Cinema’s inclusive Fragments Festival

Fragments Festival, an inclusive film festival created by London’s Genesis Cinema, is to run September 29 – October 2. The festival is a platform for underrepresented filmmakers to exhibit their work: films with women, non-binary, ethnically diverse, disabled, disadvantaged, and LGBTQ+ individuals at the forefront.

This year’s programme has several films with strong queer and lesbian narratives, including the closing night film, the UK premiere of PURE GRIT (October 2), documenting a young Native American bareback horse racer who, supported by her new girlfriend, is determined to ride and win again following a personal tragedy that led her to quit racing.

Emmy-award winning director Daresha Kyi‘s documentary MAMA BEARS (October 1) is the thought-provoking story of women whose profound love for their LGBTQ+ children has turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community. And award-winning documentary FRAMING AGNES (October 1) features an all-star cast of transgender artists and performers, including Jen Richards, Zackary Drucker and Pose star Angelica Ross, alongside archive footage featuing the likes of Laverne Cox, as the film explores stories from the UCLA Gender Clinic in the 1950s.

The UK premiere of TO KILL THE BEAST (September 30) is a mystery story that explores gender, self-discovery, and same-sex relationships as a teenage girl goes on the hunt for her long-missing brother amidst lush jungle on the Argentina/Brazil border.

There’s also the special event BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT: A MOVIE-THEMED DRAG KING LIFE DRAWING (October 1), an evening of film-themed Drag King life drawing, showing the myriad of ways masculinity and femininity can be twisted, turned and changed.