SCHEDULE - DIALOGUES: CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL LGBT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL, 26-29 NOV 2015 DAY 1 - 26.11.2015 Sl. No.
Film Name
Genre
Director
Year
Country
Language
Synopsis
Duration
Date
Timing
Segment
in min
30
INAUGURATION CEREMONY 1
Qissa
F
Anup Singh
2015
India/ Germany/ France/ Netherlands
Punjabi
Umber Singh is a Sikh who loses everything during the separation of India in 1947 and is forced to leave his homeland. He obsessively wishes for a male heir. When his fourth daughter is born, he decides to wage a fight against destiny.
Indonesia
English/ Indonesian
Wariazone explores the notion of trans-gender in Indonesia and relations between gender identity and freedom. It raises questions about the politicization of morality and religion in the country with the world's largest Moslem community.
58
English/ Hindi
A rebellious young woman leaves her home in India to study in New York, unexpectedly falls in love, and embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.
100
26.11.2015
110
6:00pm-6:30pm 6:30 pm-8:20pm
Segment I 26.11.2015
DAY 2 - 27.11.2015 2
Wariazone
D
Kiwa and Terje Toomistu
2011
3
Margarita with a Straw
F
Sonali Bose and 2014 Nilesh Maniyar
USA
4
Natarang
F
Ravi Jhadav
India
Marathi
A village laborer is passionate about the theatre shows and decides to start a troupe. Instead of a king's role that he wished for, he gets to enact a homosexual; he is torn between his passion and societal prestige.
127
2:00pm-4:07pm
5
Who is Afraid of Vagina Wolf?
F
Anna Margarita 2013 Albelo
USA
English/ Spanish
In this eccentric all-female romantic comedy, charismatic filmmaker Anna faces a midlife crisis. She has neither job nor girlfriend, and lives in her friend's garage in Los Angeles. Just when she's about to throw in the towel, she meets Katia, who becomes her muse, inspiring her to write and direct an all-female remake of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Surrounded by beautiful women as cast and crew, including Guinevere Turner in a tour-de-force performance, Carrie Preston, and gorgeous ingĂŠnue Agnes Olech as her smitten cinematographer, Anna destroys everything to get to the bottom of what is truly stopping her from love and life.
83
4:10pm-5:33pm
BREAK 2010
10:30am-11:28am
27.11.2015
50
Segment II 11:30am-1:10pm
27.11.2015
27.11.2015
1:10pm-2:00pm
Segment III
BREAK
7
8
9
UK Shorts
6
S Female Masculinity Appreciation Society
27
Angie West and 2014 Jackie Nunns
UK
English
The filmmakers interview women who share their views on masculinity and also talk about their own performance of masculinity.
12
Kids on Gender
S
Jasmine Doyce Pitt
2014
UK
English
The documentary focuses on the various notions of being a girl and being a boy from the perspective of children.
10
Angie and Jackie Final Cut Beyond the Hills
S
Angie West and 2012 Jackie Nunns
UK
English
A film on two filmmakers planning to make a film on LGBT issues.
11
F
Christian Mungiu
Romania
Romanian
Somewhere in rural Romania, young Alina visits her old boarding school friend Voichita at the Orthodox convent where the latter has become a devout Christian. They're in their late teens now, and it's evident in their private moments together that they once enjoyed an intimate (and likely carnal) relationship, which Voichita now treats as a sin to be confessed and suppressed. Alina wants Voichita to run away from the convent with her, but Voichita won't budge. She wants Alina to do as she herself has done, redirect her passion for another person over to Christ. The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, and Flutur and Stratan shared the award for Best Actress. It was selected as the Romanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, making the January shortlist.
155
2012
27.11.2015
5:33pm-6:00pm 6:00pm-6:33pm
6:35pm-9:10pm
27.11.2015
Segment IV
DAY 3 - 28.11.2015 10
Lost and Found
S
11
I Could Not be S Your Son, Mom
12
The Suicide Note
2012
India
Hindi/ English
Two strangers meet on a bumpy ride in a crowded local bus. What follows is a comedy of errors which leads to a funny climax.
7
Sohini Dasgupta 2010
India
Bengali
I Couldn't Be Your Son, Mom" talks about the growing up years of Tista Das, a female trapped in a male body who suffers from gender identity crisis - called GID (Gender Identity Disorder) in medical terms. In the space of 15 short minutes, it attempts to show Tista's struggle against a society that ruthlessly negates her endeavour to attain her real self."
17
Priyadarshi Banerjee
2014
India
Bengali/ English
“Law makes!”.... is a statement we all are aware of!How about “Law breaks!”?Isn’t it something we seldom ponder upon!Well, we may not care enough but the film – “The Suicide Note” does.It’s nothing but an effort to present both the sides of a coin called,”Law”.It manages to show emphatically, how a certain law chokes to death the innocent aspirations of a young guy for a fulfilling life. The film raises this one question which we all need to ask ourselves and the society at large and that is, will we ever have a law, for society’s minority sections, that decriminalizes this, otherwise fundamental act of aspiring to a normal life.
16
Hyash Tanmoy
2014
India
No dialogues
After the historical verdict of Indian Supreme Court on IPC 377, an unnatural man finds himself in the cage of hallucination. He runs his night and days with his "unnatural" dream and fantasy like an outmoded gun dreams to have its last fire from its own eye. He dreams about the freedom of love like Hitler once has had for his Germany. Beyond the worldof right or wrong, there is a garden where the man finally meets his love.
12
Other Indian Shorts
S
Shrenik Jain
13
Stark Electric S Jesus
14
TV Stories
S
Sreejith Karanavar
2005
India
English/ Hindi
Associative diary of a TV junkie. A journey into the past that opens up a whole world of long-forgotten images.
20
15
Mitra
SF
Ravi Jadhav
2013
India
Marathi
Declared the Best Indian Narrative Short, and Special Mention for its lead actor Veena Jamkar, the script melds a poem and a short story. The screenplay fuses Marathi poet Sandip Khare’s poem Udaasit Ya Konta Rang Aahe and Vijay Tendulkar’s book Mitrachi Goshta.
35
10:30am-12:24pm
28.11.2015
Segment V
Segment V
28.11.2015
My Sacred Glass Bowl
D
Priya Thuvassery 2013
India
English/ The very first is often accorded a larger than life proportion Malayalam/ Hindi on many fronts; and so is a woman’s sexual experience. ‘My Sacred Glass Bowl’ looks at the concept of virginity as it is perceived by contrasting communities, from the vantage point of the filmmaker, sandwiched between two mothers bringing up their daughters in contemporary times. Virginity is premarital chastity and within the power equations with regard to men, like the expected post marital chastity, fidelity. It thus forms the first part of a woman's life. The film is a document of how women made their sexual choices in the generation that just passed by.
26
17
Mardistan
D
Harjant Gill
2014
India
English/ Hindi
The filmmaker interviews four men describing their ideas of masculinity. In this film remnants of feudal stereotypes share an uneasy space with modern realities such as the coming-of-age of the gay movement in India.
28
Accsex
D
Shweta Ghosh
2013
India
Hindi/ English
Within stifling dichotomies of normal and abnormal, lie millions of women negotiating with their identities. This Film explores notions of beauty, the ‘ideal body’ and sexuality through four storytellers; four women who happen to be persons with disability.Through the lives of Natasha, Sonali, Kanti and Abha, the Film brings to the fore questions of acceptance, confidence and resistance to the normative. As it turns out, these questions are not too removed from everyday realities of several others, deemed ‘imperfect’ and ‘monstrous’ for not fitting in. Accsex traces the journeys of the storytellers as they reclaim agency and the right to unapologetic confidence, sexual expression and happiness.
52
PSBT Films
16
18
BREAK
50
12:24pm-2:10pm
28.11.2015
2:10pm-3:00pm
Bad at Dancing
S
Joanna Arnow
2015
USA
English
A couple tries it’s best to support a friend in her social and sexual insecurity. A black and white chamber-piece comedy employing humor on boundaries of communication when it comes to sexuality.
11
20
Blood Below the Skin
S
Jennifer Reeder 2015
USA
English
Chronicles a week in the lives of three teenage girls who attend the same high school class. Coming from different social circles, the girls prepare for the most important night of their life – Prom Night. Jennifer Reeder tells everyday stories with stylistic elements of magic realism that recall Latin American cinema. All it takes is the power of thought in order to express your love to another.
33
21
The Mad Half S Hour
Leonardo Brzezicki
2015
Argentina / Denmark
Spanish
Once a day, domestic cats go completely mad. A total burst of energy. That is all over within half an hour. No one knows why. That’s just how it is. Juan is rather similar. He doesn’t know why, it just seizes him. The loss of commitment. Why should he bother to hit a ball over the net and wait for it to be returned, while making sure it stays within the white line? Does he still love Pedro, no, perhaps yes? Pedro is used to it and takes him by the hand. Far more than pursuing narrative logic, the film follows human feelings without ever fully relinquishing the threads of the storyline.
22
A Place in the S Middle – The True Meaning of Aloha
Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson
2014
USA
English/ Hawaiian A documentary about a young girl, who partly feels as a boy which is accepted and respected by the society she lives in. In the Hawaiian language kāne means male and wahine means female, but ancient Hawaiians recognized, that some people are not simply one or the other.
25
23
San Cristóbal S
Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo
2015
Chile
Spanish
Antonio the fisherman lives in a small seaside village and leads a happy but secret relationship with Luca, who has to eventually leave for Canada. When Antonio’s boss suspects him of being homosexual he gets violently kicked out of the job on the cutter. A straight and touching story that watches like being sharply cut out of reality.
29
24
La Isla Está Encantada con Ustedes
S
Alexander 2015 Carver & Daniel Schmidt
Argentina / Denmark
Spanish
The filmmakers of LA ISLA ESTA ENCANTADA CON USTEDES have created a lyrical work that mirrors and expands on dynamics of power and lust. A modern roundelay that restages the past in the present. Led by a gaze of sexual innuendo, this is a comedy in which reality is subordinate to strategies of power
28
25
Tin Sottyi/ In Fact
D
Debalina
India
Bengali
Three life-stories that are defying the hetero-patriarchal norms of society at every breath and expressing their nonconforming desires are captured. These stories are then shown to different sections of society and the repurcussions documented.
35
22
Berlinale Shorts
19
2015
3:00pm-5:30pm
Segment VI
28.11.2015
5:30pm-6:05pm
BREAK
25
28.11.2015
6:05pm-6:30pm
26
Two 4 One
F
Maureen Bradley
2014
USA
English
Two 4 One is a bittersweet comedic drama that sees a transgender hero in an unimaginable predicament. When transgendered Adam helps his baby-crazy exgirlfriend Miriam artificially inseminate, they wind up in bed together— it turns into a one-night stand- and they both wind up pregnant. Now Adam must reconcile his identity and gender with his biological reality, grapple with his feelings for Miriam, and try to figure out what it means to be a man. Adam has been transitioning to living as a man. Now torn between his feelings for Miriam and his need for a masculine identity, Adam must figure out whether he's going to settle down and have a baby, or just try to be one of the guys.
77
6:30pm-7:47pm
27
Plan B
F
Marco Berger
2009
Argentina
Spanish
After girlfriend Laura dumps him for another man, Bruno plots to come between the new lovers. But his plan takes an unexpected turn, causing Bruno to question his own sexuality. Bruno is dumped by his girlfriend Laura; so Bruno's mind plans a cold, sweet vengeance on Laura's new boyfriend Pablo. Bruno wants to manipulate Pablo to dump Laura by sleeping with her. When that plan doesn't seem to be working, Bruno conceives of "Plan B": seducing Pablo and stealing him away from Laura himself. Bruno discusses his ideas and his progress with his friend Victor, a sort of partner in crime and a sounding board for Bruno. As according to his plan, Bruno begins a clandestine "relationship" with Pablo. However, along the way, there is an increasing affinity between Bruno and Pablo. The two men bond easily and quickly around a few common interests and memories from their younger days. Using alcohol and light drugs also helps them to get close, making them consider their own sexualities in a new light. By the end of the film, they slowly fall for each other.
106
7:50pm-9:36pm
28.11.2015
Segment VII
DAY 4 -29.11.2015 28
29
Amar Katha
DF
Tuhinabha Majumdar
2015
India
Bengali
A docu-fiction on Binodini Dasi, a renowned stage actress of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bengali theatre. The film is primarily based on her autobiography "Amar Katha"
52
10:30am-11:22am
Vihir
F
Umesh Kulkarni 2009
India
Kannada
Sameer and Nachiket are relatives and friends. Nachiket, who is the more mature of the two, wants to escape his stifling surroundings. Sameer does not understand this. Then one day, Nachiket drowns in a pool where they often swam together. His death takes over Sameer's life, as he becomes lost in the fear and meaning of death. No one comes to his help. He must search to learn the meaning of life, however vaguely, on his own.
120
11:25am-1:25pm
BREAK The Great Safae
S
Randa Maroufi
2014
Morocco
31
Gabriel
S
Benjamin Chimoy
2013
32
Hole
S
Martin Edralin
Dreng
S
Julie Bezerra Madsen
Arabic
33
34
Teagan
S
Igor Coric
60 The film is inspired by a character known as The Great Safae. He was a transvestite, and spent part of his life working as a domestic servant for my family, which was quite unaware of his "true" sexual identity.
16
Spain/ Germany Spanish
Gabriel (32) is from Spain and lives in Germany with his boyfriend apart from his conservative family. In daydreams he remembers his childhood and the relation to his mother.
22
2014
Canada
English
A portrait of a middle-aged disabled man yearning for an intimate connection in his solitary life. The closest thing he has to a friend is a caregiver who visits daily to help him with chores and bathing. Billy roams the city in pursuit of intimacy but his disability proves to be a barrier to his emotional and sexual needs. With no other options, he looks to his only friend for relief.
15
2013
Denmark
Danish
Oliver is trapped in his own body. He is born as a girl, but feels like a boy. Everything is wrong when he meets himself in the mirror. He hides his breasts and lowers his voice before he walks out the door. He asks: "What do you think when you see me?" The creation of a new identity has just begun.
30
A story of transition – from male to female, and from despondency to happiness. Using recorded interview material and representative artwork, this short film touches on the fear and loneliness of living in the closet, and the joy and confidence that comes with stepping into the light.
3
Dresden Shorts
30
29.11.2015
2013
Australia
English
29.11.2015
Segment VIII
1:25pm-2:25pm 2:25pm-4:00pm
29.11.2015
Segment IX
35
Appropriate Behaviour
F
Desiree Akhavan 2014
UK
English/ Persian
Shirin is struggling to be an ideal Persian daughter, a politically correct bisexual, and a hip young Brooklynite but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities. It is a razorsharp bisexual romantic comedy. Shirin, perennially rebounding from her collapsing relationships, while perpetually unable to tell her Iranian family that she is “a little bit gay”. Having hooked up with sternly bespectacled Maxine on New Year’s Eve, Shirin pinballs through an anarchic arcadia of romantic, social and sexual encounters/crises.
BREAK Mosquita y Mari
F
Aurora Guerrero 2012
USA
Spanish/ English
36
90
30 Mosquita y Mari is a coming of age story that focuses on a tender friendship between two young Chicanas. Yolanda and Mari are growing up in Huntington Park, Los Angeles and have only known loyalty to one thing - family. Growing up in immigrant households, both girls are expected to prioritize the well-being of their families. Yolanda, an only child, delivers straight A's and the hope of the American Dream while Mari, the eldest, shares economic responsibilities with her undocumented family who scrambles to make ends meet. As their friendship grows, a yearning to explore their strange yet beautiful connection surfaces. Mounting pressures at home collide with their new-found connection, forcing them to choose between their obligations to others and staying true to themselves.
4:00pm-5:30pm
29.11.2015
85
5:30pm-6:00pm 6:00pm-7:25pm
Segment X
29.11.2015 37
Uttara
F
Buddhadev Dasgupta
2000
India
Bangla
CLOSING CEREMONY
D = Documentary; DF = Docu-fiction; F = Feature; S = Short; SF = Short-fiction
The way the movie depicts the development of the plot conveys this violation of a peaceful world. The schism between the friends is illustrated in the wrestling, which gradually becomes an overpowering obsession. Instead of expressing bonding, it takes on the colour of a power-game between two equally physically strong and morally weak men. The wrestling irrespective of homoerotic undertones is a deliberate destruction where one aims to destroy the other, as each morally unjust man attempts to win the physical 'possession' of Uttara.
99
7:30pm-9:10pm
5
9:10pm-9:15pm
* Films are subjected to last minute changes