Outburst Queer Arts Festival 2017

9-18 November 2017

INTRODUCTION After a great 10th anniversary festival last year, we did what people often do after a big celebration – had a bit of rest and then lots of quiet, interesting conversations and contemplation about what’s next.

We started this year’s programing with the idea of Changes.

As LGBTQ+ people, what’s changing around us and in our lives?

What needs to change and what’s stopping that?

What questions do we need to ask, at this time and in this place?

How is art, culture and performance interacting with these tensions and how are they responding with new stories and new ways of looking at things, not just for those with a queer identity but for all of us?

We wanted to find work and creative ideas that look at where we are now and imagine possibilities, realities, alternatives, consequences, histories, ideas, joys, affirmations and resistances, well into our queer futures.

We hope that Outburst 2017 creates spaces for you all to do just that.

Ruth McCarthy Artistic Director Outburst is what we all bring to it. Thank you to the artists, producers, companies and venues who create and host events.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Colette Norwood David Codling Luisa Michelsen All at British Council Trish McTighe Kurt Taroff Monica Pearl Film Hub NI Sharon Curran Alice Kennelly

Lizzie Devlin Pedro Donald Ross Anderson-Doherty Ellen Murray Naomhan O'Connor Stephen, Anna and Colin Susan, Michael and all at QFT Rachael & team at Black Box Alyson Campbell Simon Magill & team at the MAC

Siobhan Barbour Fidelma Carolan Gemma Hutton Terry McGaughey All our volunteers

Main funder

OUTBURST TEAM

Lead Partner

Supported by

Artistic Director Ruth McCarthy Admin & Operations Kathy Young Fran Cavanagh

Event partners

Additional Programming Film: Cian Smyth Michael Staley Queer At Queen's: Trish McTighe Kurt Taroff OUTBURST BOARD Cian Smyth Marie Quiery Simon Rea Hilary McCollum Judith McGimpsey Kim McAleese Edel Murphy Federica Ferrieri Outburst Arts Festival is a limited company and a Northern Ireland Charity, number NIC102016.

Outburst is a space for creative ideas and feral thinking.

The viewpoints expressed through events at Outburst are not necessarily shared or endorsed by sponsors, funders or partners.

Charity Partner

Festival Club

Outburst 2017 is dedicated with love to

Patrick Sanders (1976-2017)

THEATRE & PERFORMANCE

Sat 11th & Sun 12th November Black Box 5pm Adult £10 Child £5 Family Ticket £22 No Income FREE*

4+

TEATRO LA PLAZA presents

Simón El Topo (Simon the Mole) Outburst has had some very special visitors over the years but we’ve never had a mole from Peru. Until now.

Simón el Topo (Simon the Mole) is a joyful hymn to freedom and a theatrical delight for both children and adults that encourages understanding and acceptance of difference.

Simón lives in a tunnel with his family and loves flowers, butterflies and finding things in the clouds. He doesn’t understand that there are “things for boys” and “things for girls” and is sad when he realizes he is not as his parents and others expect him to be. When events send Simón on the most important journey of his life, he gains the strength and security he needs to become a hero by just being himself.

Performed in the international language of Mole and presented by Outburst for the first time this side of the equator, Teatro La Plaza’s magical puppet show is like nothing you’ve ever seen before and the perfect tool for starting conversations with children about homophobia and gender stereotypes.

Showtime approx. 45 mins Both shows will be followed by a child-friendly Q&A with the puppets and actors. On Sunday this will be followed by a short discussion on how we address homophobia with children, with contributions from The Rainbow Project and HereNI. *see ticket link for details

Fri 10th November Black Box 8.30pm sharp £12 / £8

18+

CONTACT & SWITCHFLICKER present

Diamond Created in collaboration with Olivier Award-winning director Mark Whitelaw, Outburst favourite David Hoyle stars in a scripted stage show that explores LGBT history in the UK spanning the 60-year period from 1957 to 2017.

Weaving intimate personal experiences with landmark political and social events, Diamond charts David’s rise from gay adolescent in Blackpool to Channel 4 anti-drag queen cult phenomenon. Revisiting events such as the Wolfenden Report, the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the repeal of Section 28 and the lives of prominent gay figures such as Alan Turing, this rousing and moving theatre show offers bare moments of personal reflection, fresh insights into queer history and a timely reminder of what we still have to fight for.

With special guests The LipSinkers, Diamond is a unique celebration that navigates counter-cultures and queer experiences to lift up anyone with a song of liberation in their heart.

Please note that this is a theatre show and will start at 8.30pm sharp. Latecomers may not be admitted. Doors 8pm.

Directed by Mark Whitelaw Producer and Dramaturge Jayne Compton Sound Design Richard Torry Lighting design Lawrence Rekkie Visuals and photography Lee Baxter Supported by Arts Council England

Development supported by

Sat 11th November Black Box 9.30pm FREE ADMISSION

18+

Cake Daddy The Single Launch Check out Cake Daddy’s 7"…

Long-time Outburst artists and collaborators Ross AndersonDoherty, Marty Byrne, Alyson Campbell and Lachlan Philpott (Bison, To Build a Bear, Qabarett, The Trouble with Harry, GL RY) are coming together with spatulas and wooden spoons to shake, slap and bake Cake Daddy, a chequered Battenberg of a show that will be premiering in full next year at Outburst 2018.

This delicious new interactive banquet will plunge you belly deep inside the experience of fat/ness, exploring the fabulosity and fortitude required to step into the world as a fat person today.

To give you a taste of what’s in the oven, we present the world premiere and launch of Ross and Marty's Cake Daddy single, Cake Daddy's Recipe (Fat Is A Verb).

Come and gorge on Daddy's slice o' vinyl disco heaven!

Strictly limited edition single available to buy at event.

Creative Team: Ross Anderson-Doherty & Marty Byrne, Alyson Campbell, Lachlan Philpott, Siobhán Barbour, Jonathan Graffam.

Cake Daddy’s Recipe (Fat is a Verb) by Ross Anderson-Doherty and Marty Byrne

Fri 10th, Sat 11th, Sun 12th, Fri 17th Sat 18th, Sun 19th Nov Starts at Dark Horse See times below £8/ £5

16+

KABOSH presents

Quartered A Love Story

Belfast’s streets and public places are many things to many people: spaces to come together, spaces that divide or unite us, places to party, places to pull, places that liberate, places that contain.

Written by Dominic Montague and directed by Paula McFetridge, Belfast, A Love Story, is a promenade experience combining audio and theatre that explores the idea of queer space and queer experiences of spaces in our city. As LGBTQ+ people, are our city streets different to us? When the queer maps and boundaries are drawn physically and psychologically, who holds the pen?

Brought to life by Kabosh and informed by interviews with LGBTQ+ people in Belfast, this interactive guided walk through our unofficial queer quarter and surrounding streets opens up a new conversation about how gender and sexuality inform and shape how we move through our city and how our city moves through us.

The performance begins at The Dark Horse, Hill Street and ends at The Sunflower Bar, Union Street. Duration: 1 hour approx.

Audience capacity is four people per session.

You are encouraged to bring your own headphones, additional headphones will be available on site.

It's a promenade performance so dress for the weather!

Contains some strong language.

Fridays and Saturdays during festival Times: 11:45, 12:15, 12:45, 13:15, 14:45, 15:15, 15:45, 16:15 Sundays during festival Times: 12:45, 13:15, 14:45, 15:15, 15:45. 16:15 Please book in advance.

Sat 11ú Samhain Sat 11th November An Chultúrlann

8pm £5

18+

TheatreofplucK presents Liú Lúnasa presents

An Cabaret Queeráilte Tá Outburst agus Liú Lúnasa ar bís an chéad imeacht riamh dá leithéid i stair na nGael a fhógairt – An Cabaret Queeráilte! Beidh manglam blasta de na healaíontóirí is Queeráilte agus is Gaelaí ag dul ar an ardán sa Chultúrlann i gcroílár na Ceathrún Gaeltachta.

Beidh meascán mearaí ann de cheol, damhsa, drámaíocht agus ealaíona éagsúla eile le haisteoirí, amhránaithe agus aithriseoirí den scoth. Is í Madonna Kebab a bheas mar bhean an tí agus ar na haíonna speisialta a bheas ann tá Conor Torbóid, Conall Mac Corraidh agus Chris Mac Phaidín.

Seo imeacht nár mhaith leat a chailleadh – ní bheidh sé ag tarlú ach an aon uair amháin!

Coinnigh súil ar leathanach Facebook Liú Lúnasa le tuilleadh sonraí a fháil.

Beidh beár ann ar an oíche.

Outburst and Liú Lúnasa are thrilled to announce the first ever Cabaret Queeráilte! This mouth-watering cocktail brings together the queerest of Gaels and the most Gaelic of queer artists on the stage of the Cultúrlann on the Falls Road, in the heart of the Gaeltacht Quarter. Madonna Kebab will be our MC for the night, with Conor Torbóid, Conall Mac Corraidh and Chris Mac Phaidín among our special guests.

Don’t miss out on this historic, one-night-only event!

Keep an eye on the Liú Lúnasa Facebook page for more details.

The venue has a bar.

Sat 11th & Sun 12th Sat 18th & Sun19th November The Barracks 7.30pm £10*

18+

TheatreofplucK presents

Tactics for Time Travel in a Toilet A place to hide. A place to feel. A place to time travel!

The toilet cubicle lock flicks from VACANT to ENGAGED, and four teenagers escape out of time and space.

There is no fixed past or present, but there can only be one future. The possibilities are not limitless.

Which future should they choose? And will it really get better?

Belfast’s own queer performance company celebrates its tenth year with a startling new production.

Combining technology, music, and design, TheatreofplucK’s anniversary show dispels the myths of the documented past and presents a radical vision of our future. Politics is personal in this poetic production at their new queer performance space, The Barracks. *donation to Rainbow Project This production forms part of the Queer Visions of Peace project in association with Ulster University and Queen’s University and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Sun 12th November Lyric Theatre

8pm £25.50 / £15 conc.

16+

TheatreofplucK presents

Ten Plagues Mark Ravenhill & Conor Mitchell's award-winning AIDS polemic comes to the Lyric stage for one night only, performed by the composer Conor Mitchell and singer Matthew Cavan (aka Cherrie on Top).

Tracing one man's journey through a city in crisis, Ten Plagues charts the great plague of 1665. Part torch song, part Schubert, this groundbreaking piece of music-theatre was originally written for iconic singer Marc Almond and is presented here for the first time in Northern Ireland.

Drawing its title from the perspective of the biblical Israelites who survived the plagues wrought upon the Egyptians and projecting that take on survival forward in time to 1665 when the Black Death (The Great Plague) devastated London, it draws parallels with the 20th century emergence of AIDS - The Gay “Plague” as it was homophobically labelled in sections of the media - and the impact of living through the onslaught of that modern disease.

Ten Plagues is followed by a cabaret of Ravenhill/Mitchell's QUEER CABARET SONGS, performed by Nigel Richards (Phantom of the Opera) and directed by Kate Guelke.

A thrilling triumph. Bravo! MMMMM What's on Stage

Mon 13th & Tues 14th November Upstairs at The MAC

8pm Various £12 - £18

16+

OUTBURST & TINDERBOX in association with the MAC present

There's a Bishop in my Bedroom If you’ve ever been whacked by the crozier you’ll know how it feels!

Written and performed by Richard O’Leary, There's a Bishop in my Bedroom is a hugely entertaining new one-man show that riffs on the familiar local theme of religiously mixed marriage to address a very contemporary topic: same-sex love and equal marriage.

Emerging from Outburst’s New Queer Writing workshops with Tinderbox Theatre Company last year, this performance combines Irish oral-tradition storytelling with folk theatre to take on sex education, sourcing illegal condoms in 90s Dublin, falling in love, religiously mixed and same sex relationships and facing the realities of end of life care. Based entirely on Richard’s own extraordinary story, we follow his early years as a would-be priest in Cork through to coming out as a gay man and falling in love with a Protestant minister who would become his life-long partner.

Directed by Patrick J O' Reilly, this is wonderfully feral, funny, raw and deeply affecting storytelling theatre that will leave you in no doubt about the power of real love and commitment.

Written & Performed by Richard O'Leary Director Patrick J O'Reilly Dramaturge Hanna Slattne Designer James Watson

Wed 15th & Thur 16th November The American Bar 7.30pm ÂŁ6.50

18+

Pintsized Theatre presents

A Cock & Bull Story In the confines of a boxing changing room, an up-and-coming fighter and his coach prepare for an important match. As they psych up for the big fight that will take them from nowhere to the somewhere of unlimited booze and women, it emerges that Travis experiences sexual arousal in the ring. This is disturbing to homophobic Jacko and creates an unexpected psycholological and physical tension between the two friends, as notions of masculinity are challenged.

Directed by Terence Keeley and performed by emerging professional actors and theatre-makers in Belfast, A Cock and Bull Story is Richard Crowe and Richard Zajdlic’s brilliantly written gritty and fierce journey of discovery, brought to life for Outburst in the American Bar in the heart of Belfast's Sailortown.

Fri 17th November Black Box 8pm (doors 7.30pm) ÂŁ8 / 6

18+

The Butch Monologues The Butch Monologues is a powerful and humorous collection of secret stories exploring sexuality, vulnerability and desire, taken from interviews with butches, masculine women and gender rebels living world-wide.

A storytelling collaboration between hotpencil press: an independent publishing house co-founded by the writer, Laura Bridgeman; Vital Xposure, a dynamic touring theatre company under the creative leadership of disabled artist, Julie McNamara; and The Drakes, this is the continuation of project by a group of butches, transmen and gender rebels who joined together in the spirit of masculine solidarity, with the aim of promoting female masculinity and butch pride.

To celebrate the publication of The Butch Monologues book, Julie Mac and Doc will perform some of the stories, joined by local butch dykes, transmen and trans masculine guys who partcipated in their storytelling workshop the day before the event, so that our stories here are included too!

See Participation section for details on how you can get involved and tell your story.

Sat 18th November Black Box 8pm (doors 7.30pm) £12/ £8

18+

Triple Threat Get ready for the explosive sell-out hit of Edinburgh’s 2016 Fringe and one of the smartest and funniest underground shows of the decade!

Post-popular prodigy Lucy McCormick and her Girl Squad present a trashstep-dubpunk morality play for the modern world, based on the greatest story ever told. Via a Nu-wave holy trinity of dance, power ballads and performance art. Lucy puts her best foot forward in the face of existential deadlock, inviting you to join her in airing out some festering dirty laundry.

Directed by performance legend Ursula Martinez, Triple Threat is a jaw-dropping, wild, boundary smashing queer performance that takes on celebrity culture, religion and Christina Aguilera in a gloriously transgressive tonic for the times we live in.

The logical endgame for popular culture. Time Out Filthy and utterly hilarious. The Stage One of the most extraordinary and extreme performers on the Fringe MMMM The Scotsman

Sat 18th November Black Box Doors 9.30pm ÂŁ8

18+

Queertopia: The Minceball Queertopia is back to see Outburst 2017 out in style!

Join your homoparental performance muthers Gemma Hutton/Dick Von Dyke and Electra La Cvnt as they welcome a host of local up-andcoming genre-non-cornforming queer artistes to the stage.

With very special guests - so special we're getting the good forks out and covering the damp patch with a Titantic tea towel - Stephen Fae and Dirtbird from Dublin's brilliant SPICEBAG cabaret night.

Expect unncessary amounts of glitter, pure boldness and an eclectic mix of performance, spoken word, music and dancing til late with DJ Pony.

Queertopia development supported by Outburst through British Council.

Fri 17th November The Barracks 7.30pm FREE

Ed Madden: Ark

16+

In a spring of floods, a son returns to rural Arkansas to help care for his dying father.

Ed Madden’s Ark is a poetry book about family, about old wounds and new rituals, about the extraordinary importance of ordinary things at the end of life, about the gifts of healing to be found in the care of the dying. At once a memoir in verse about hospice care and a gay son’s book-length lament for a father who cut him off a decade earlier, Ark is about the things that can be fixed, and those that can’t.

Ed will read selections from the writing.

Ed Madden is originally from Arkansas and was named the first Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, in 2015. He teaches at the University of South Carolina and is the author of three previous books of poetry—Signals (USC, 2008), which won the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize, Prodigal: Variations (Lethe, 2011), and Nest (Salmon, 2014).

VISUAL ARTS

Launch Thurs 9th Nov 6.30pm Golden Thread Gallery Continues to Dec 20th 11am - 5pm each day (except Sun and Mon) FREE Admission

16+

VideoBrasil & Outburst in association with Golden Thread Gallery presents

Forms of Resistance Containing video works from the 19 editions of Videobrasil Festival, donations from artists and pieces commissioned in Videobrasil's residency programs, the Videobrasil Historical Collection in São Paulo hosts the most important archive of video production and video art from the Global South.

Within this vast audiovisual library it is possible to recognize in different moments – directly or indirectly– the presence of a certain LGBTQI perspective. In this exhibition, curated by Videobrasil's Gabriel Bogossian for Outburst, documentaries and single channel videos bring the voice of a community that, although not formally articulated, share a history marked by violence, but also by original, inexhaustible forms of resistance.

Works by Cândido José Mendes Almeida and Hélio Alvarez, Ruy Solberg, Rita Moreira, Karol Radziszewski, Kika Nicoleta, Akram Zaatari, Roy Dib, Virgina de Medeiros, Luiz Roque, Maria Kramar, Bita Razavi, Clive van den Berg, Hui Tao. Curator’s Talk by Gabriel Bogossian Friday 10th Nov, 12.30pm at Golden Thread Gallery

Launch Thurs 9th Nov 6pm Artcetera Gallery Continues to 25th Nov 11am - 5pm each day (except Sundays) FREE Admission

All

How to Unexplode The Illustrated Life of Patrick Sanders Illustrator, performer, artist, activist, clown doctor and one of the founding members of Outburst, Patrick Sanders wore many hats, each one more creative, generous and profoundly human than the next. A gentle radical, his work ranged from the absurd and playful to the unapologetically incendiary in responding to inequality, prejudice and political homophobia in Northern Ireland.

Patrick’s death by suicide earlier this year robbed many of a beloved friend and creative co-conspirator but also took from us a unique voice and an emerging talent who was just beginning to get recognition for his inspired and insightful work.

Exploring and confronting local politics, world events and social issues through cartoons and illustrations, he sought to educate where possible and brilliantly lampoon where not.

How To Unexplode invites you to step into Patrick’s world, with work ranging from political magazine illustrations to comic strips about everyday queer experience. Created in collaboration with close friends and family, this exhibition offers just a small selection from the large body of work that Patrick left behind and gives us a glimpse into the mind of a wonderful artist whose legacy is one of joy, resistance and glorious mischief.

How To Unexplode is dedicated to fearlessness, to love and above all to hope.

Launch Thurs 9th Nov 6pm PS² Gallery Continues to 2nd Dec Wed-Fri 1pm - 5pm Sat 12pm - 4pm FREE Admission

All

Amber Hawk Swanson In 2006, New York-based artist Amber Hawk Swanson (b. 1980) commissioned a life-sized sex doll to be made in her own image, which she then went on to use in a series of documented performance works over the following decade, collectively titled Amber Doll Project.

This exhibition explores the feminist and queer potentials of this ambitious—and ongoing—project, focusing on the highly ambivalent identifications that arise between artist, doll and viewer throughout the work and on Hawk Swanson’s use of the hyper-gendered, hyper-sexualised doll body as a performative vessel through which she critiques and indeed destabilises fixed notions of gender, sexuality and identity.

Curated by Clare Gormley Artist’s talk by Amber Hawk Swanson on Saturday 11th November at 1pm, PS² Gallery.

Additional presentation by Amber at Queer at Queen's event on Friday 10th Nov. See Queer at Queen's for details.

Throughout festival Black Box Green Room FREE Admission All

UsFolk presents

Illustration: Electra by Jamie Baird

Outburst: Illustrated As special Outburst project, Belfast’s UsFolk illustration agency =is proud to present a collective body of new work from local and international illustrators on its roster.

Focusing on the diverse sea of local and international queer talent taking part in this year’s festival, Outburst: Illustrated will see some of UsFolk’s finest talk artist-to-artist with people in this year’s programme to find out what inspires and drives them in their life and work, and what change they see as crucial in the world right now in 2017.

The outcome of this process will be a one-off exhibition of illustration work based on these individuals, collectives, movements and events. Expect everything from raw portraits to alt event posters, and everything in between.

This is Outburst, Illustrated.

Launch Fri 10th Nov 5.30pm Belfast Exposed Continues to 23rd Dec 11am - 5pm each day (except Sun & Mon) FREE Admission

All

Anthony Luvera

Let Us Eat Cake Let Us Eat Cake is an exhibition by Anthony Luvera made in collaboration with a group of seven LGBTQ+people living in Northern Ireland. Over nine months the artist worked with participants in workshops, meetings, and through online platforms to compile research, create photographs, and publish a blog that explores what it means to be queer in Northern Ireland today. Let Us Eat Cake celebrates the LGBTQ+ communities of NI and calls into question issues of identity, representation and equality.

The exhibition forms part of the Queer Visions of Peace project in association with the Traditional Justice Institute at Ulster University, and Queen’s University, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Check out the project at letuseatcake.blog

Film

in partnership with

FILM

with thanks to Peccadillo Pictures The Film Collaborative Latido Films Curzon Artificial Eye Film Hub NI

A Fanstastic Woman

Dir: Sebastián Lelio / Chile / 2017/ 104mins

Mon 13th Nov. 6.20pm QFT £6.70 / £5 Ahead of its 2018 cinema release, we’re delighted to bring you a special advance screening of one of the most highly accaimed queer films of the year.

Nightclub singer Marina and her older partner Orlando are in love and planning for the future. After an evening celebrating Marina's birthday Orlando falls seriously ill and dies on arrival at the hospital. Instead of being allowed to mourn her loss, Marina is treated with suspicion.

The doctors don't trust her, she’s investigated by detectives, Orlando's ex-wife forbids her from attending the funeral and his son threatens to throw Marina out of the flat she shared with his father. In the depths of her grief Marina takes on the very same forces that she has spent a lifetime fighting as a trans woman to finally become who she is now a complex, strong, forthright and fantastic woman.

Winner of the 2017 Silver Bear and Teddy Awards and Chile’s official submission for the 90th Academy Awards™, A Fantastic Woman features a mesmerising debut by trans actress Daniela Vega and is one of the most powerful trans stories we’ve seen on screen to date.

Unmissable.

Special thanks to Curzon Artificial Eye. Contains scene of transphobic violence.

MMMMM The Guardian

Signature Move Dir: Jennifer Reeder / USA / 2017 / 82mins

Mon 13th Nov. 8.30pm QFT £6.70 / £5 Signature Move is a dryly funny look at modern families and the complexities of love in its many forms. Zaynab is a thirty-something Pakistani lesbian lawyer living in Chicago who begins a new romance with Alma, a confident and vivacious Mexican-American woman. Zaynab’s recently widowed mother has moved in with her and spends her days watching Pakistani TV dramas while searching for a potential husband for her only daughter, who has also secretly taken up lucha-style wrestling. Zaynab tries to keep both her love life and her wrestling a secret from her mother who knows more than she lets on. With some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, great Mexican wrestling scenes and wonderful performances all round (especially Fawzia Mirza as the sexy and quirky Zaynab), this is a comedy that celebrates the many faces of modern queer American life at a time when stories of real diversity are needed more than ever.

Chavela

Dirs: Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi / USA / 2017 / 93mins

Tues 14th Nov. 6.20pm QFT £6.70 / £5 Queer heroes don’t come more captivating than Chavela Vargas - rumoured lover of Frida Kahlo and Ava Gardner; bold, rebellious, sexual pioneer; raw, passionate performer. Chavela is a fascinating look at the unconventional life of the beloved singer, whose fiery renditions of Mexican popular music and triumphant return to the stage late in life brought her international fame.

Born in Costa Rica in 1919, Vargas ran away to Mexico City as a teenager to sing in the streets. By the 1950s, she had become a household name in her adopted country for both her enthralling voice and her beauty. The film centers around the singer's first public appearance after 15 hard years lost to alcoholism and heartbreak. At 81, in the final years of her life, Chavela comes out as a lesbian and rises into her momentous third act, becoming a muse to filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, earning a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, and selling out performances at prestigious concert halls around the world.

Beach Rats Dir: Eliza Hittman / USA / 2017 / 98mins

Tues 14th Nov. 8.30pm QFT ÂŁ6.70 / ÂŁ5 Frankie, an aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn, is having a miserable summer. He escapes the bleakness of his home life by causing trouble with his delinquent friends and flirting with older men online. When his chatting and webcamming intensify, he finally starts hooking up with guys at a nearby cruising beach, despite having a girlfriend. As Frankie struggles to reconcile his competing desires, his decisions leave him hurtling toward irreparable consequences.

A big hit at Sundance this year, Beach Rats is a beautifully shot and fresh take on coming of age as a sexually confused man in a working class family and one of the most compelling queer films of 2017.

The Wound Dir: John Trengove / South Africa, Germany, Netherlands &France / 2017 / 88mins

Wed 15th Nov. 6.20pm QFT £6.70 / £5

Groundbreaking in subject matter and unflinching in its examination of traditional manhood, The Wound is a hard-edged and beautifully wrought film that turned heads at festivals across the world this year.

In the Xhosa community of rural South Africa, lonely factory worker Xolani takes time off to be a caretaker to young men during Ukwaluka, an annual rite of passage to symbolise the move from boyhood to manhood.

What brings him back each year is not tradition or duty but the opportunity to, however briefly, re-establish his sexual relationship with his childhood friend and fellow caregiver Vija, who now has a wife and family in town.

When Kwanda, Xolani’s defiant gay young initiate, learns of Xolani's best kept secret, tension builds as patriarchal masculinity is called into question and choices must be made between the old ways and the new.

After Louis

Dir: Vincent Gagliostro / USA / 2017 / 100mins Wed 15th Nov. 8.30pm QFT ÂŁ6.70 / ÂŁ5

Artist and former AIDS activist Sam (Alan Cumming) is disillusioned with the world around him. Battlewounded and struggling with survivor's guilt after the deaths of many friends and lovers, he resents the complacency of his former comrades and derides the younger generation's seeming indifference to the politics of sex and death. When an unexpected intimacy with a younger man challenges Sam's understanding of modern gay life, the unconventional romance forces him to deal with the trauma of his past and his fear of an unknown future.

Smart and refreshing in its awareness of more complex LGBTQ experience, After Louis boasts excellent performances from Cumming and Zachary Booth (Keep the Lights On) and intelligently explores the contradictions and generational differences that we navigate in the 21st century.

PARTICIPATE

Greg Thorpe

A Mile of Black Paper

Throughout Festival Black Box Green Room Wed-Fri 10am - late Sat-Sun 11am-late FREE Admission

“When the New York Times bought its first fax machine, ACT UP faxed them a mile of black paper to protest their silence on AIDS, effectively shutting down the machine.” – Greenwich Village History This collaborative art installation commemorates, celebrates and conceptually revives an activist ‘zap’ by ACT UP New York, to memorialise those lost to AIDS, to inspire our own HIV/AIDS activism today, and to offer a medium to share thoughts, ideas, memories, intentions, activist messages, questions and emotions inspired by the ongoing pandemic.

The intention of the original ACT UP action – to shut down communication – is lovingly subverted into an opportunity to make our voices heard.

All contributions are welcome and warmly invited.

The work is accompanied by assorted audio relating to HIV/AIDS to inspire contributions. Materials are provided for visitors to make their own work.

On Saturday 11th Nov at 11am in the Green Room, the artist Greg Thorpe will host a ‘teach in’ with the piece, including a discussion of the work, some short film, music, performance and conversation.

Bring questions, ideas and topics you’d like to cover.

This workshop is free to attend but limited number of space available.

Register your interest via the Trans Resource Centre on

The Butch Monologues Workshop Thurs 16th Nov Artcetera Studio 6.30pm - 9pm FREE Admission

Join Julie McNamara and Laura Bridgeman, writers and performers of brilliant Butch Monologues, for a workshop on storytelling your experiences as 16+ butch dykes and trans masculine people.

Participants will have an opportunity to take part in The Butch Monologues performance event in the Black Box the following evening (performing is not essential, you can just take part in the workshop if preferred).

Please register in advance at participate@outburstarts.com and let us know if you have any access needs.

books v cigarettes

Sat 18th Nov Black Box Green Room 11am FREE Admission

16+

Originated by CCA, booksVcigarettes is a reading group that creates an informal and friendly atmosphere in which to explore challenging and compelling texts and ideas.

Taking its name from George Orwell’s essay that assessed the price and value of reading against other pursuits, the focus of Outburst’s events in partnership with CCA is queer thinking and ideas.

We read and discuss one short essay or book chapter out loud as a group and share thoughts as we go. No need to prepare or read before – just turn up and we’ll read together.

For the festival edition we've chosen Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg’s 1993 classic ground breaking novel about American white working class butch lesbian identity that resonates strongly in relation to contemporary complexities of gender and sexuality.

Everyone welcome.

Trans YouTube Workshop The Belfast Trans Resource Centre is launching a new Trans Youtube group!

Following on from Jake Edwards and Alex Bertie's workshops held in August, we will be hosting a four-hour workshop for trans, non-binary and gender questioning people.

The workshop will be hosted by Kate Adair, presenter and researcher with BBC The Social and previously a contributor on My Genderation YouTube channel, and NaomhĂĄn O'Connor, non-binary trans rights activist, video editor and social media freelancer, also a previous contributor on My Genderation.

Bring questions, ideas and topics you’d like to cover.

This workshop is free to attend but limited number of spaces available.

Register your interest by emailing participate@outburstarts.com

Sat 11th Nov Belfast Trans Resource Centre 1pm - 5pm FREE Admission

Trans Comedy Workshop & Show After the roaring success of UNISON’s comedy event this year during Pride, with some brilliant local trans performers taking to the stage for the first time after training with comedian Gemma Hutton, the Belfast Trans Resource Centre is collaborating with Queertopia to bring you their first ever trans stand up event!

Open for all to attend, the afternoon will be hosted by Gemma and will feature trans, non-binary and gender questioning performers, including newcomers.

The comedy event will be preceded by a workshop, facilitated by Gemma, for trans people who fancy giving stand up comedy a go.

For full details on how to take part, email participate@outburstarts.com to register.

All abilities and experiences welcome!

Sun 12th Nov Black Box Green Room 2.30pm FREE Admission

16+

Supported by

Kippie Gaming Workshop Join the digital creatives at Kippie to create a brand new level of a brand new game in 1 day!

For this one-day workshop you will work in a small group to write a script, design game play, create graphics and learn some of the basics about programming to make a new game level inspired by our experiences of being LGBTQ+ in Northern Ireland. No previous knowledge of programming necesary.

Want to get involved?

Email participate@outburstarts.com to reserve your place Kippie CIC is a community-focused company working with young people in Northern Ireland through storytelling and mobile games. They are currently working with young LGBTQ+ people in the Foyle area on developing digital games that promote inclusion.

Sat 18th November 11am - 4pm FREE Admission Registration required

14+

special events

Queer at Queen's 2017

Queer Sex? Now?

Fri 10th Nov 11am - 5pm Sat 11th Nov 1pm - 5pm Brian Friel Theatre FREE Admission

18+

Outburst's performance and academia strand, in partnership with Drama Studies at Queen's University Belfast, brings you two days of world class performances, art and speakers.

As battles rage over same sex marriage, AIDS, and government oppression of queer people around the world (and here in Belfast), the fight for basic rights and the discourse of normalisation have obscured the radical sexuality that characterised the gay liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s.

At Q@Q 2017, we will explore the frontiers of queer sexuality (and indeed all sexuality) at the present moment, both in the world and in aesthetic representation.

How far can we push representations of queer sexuality in public?

Is the overall push for equality worth a forced performance of prudity?

And to what extent has that forced performance become ingrained in queer minds, creating a generation that views gay sex through a heteronormative lens?

We are delighted to welcome the following speakers: acclaimed performance artist Holly Hughes, artist Amber Hawk Swanson, whose Amber Doll Project is running as part of Outburst, Glyn Davis (Edinburgh College of Art) who will be discussing pre-AIDS sexualities, Gemma Commane (Birmingham City University) talking about female empowerment in kink industries, Ed Madden (University of South Carolina) on normalization and marginalization in gay cultures, and Lazlo Pearlman (Northumbria University) on the erotics of the Trans* body in performance.

The event is free and open to the public - all are welcome.

For full schedule and to reserve a place, visit Outburst website.

For more information contact Kurt Taroff k.taroff@qub.ac.uk or Trish McTighe t.mctighe@bham.ac.uk Performance

HOLLY HUGHES

Saturday 11th Nov. 7.30pm Brian Friel Theatre ÂŁ8

Internationally acclaimed performance artist Holly Hughes maps the troubled fault lines of identity. Her combination of poetic imagery and political satire has earned her wide attention and placed her work at the center of America’s culture wars.

Fri 17th November The MAC 7.30pm £15/ £12 early bird

18+

The MAC presents

Andrew Logan's

Andrew Logan Alternative Miss World, 2009 Photo by Robyn Beeche © The artist. Courtesy the artist

Alternative Miss World Film Screening & In Conversation + After Party with Venus Dupree

In conjunction with their current exhibition Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness, the MAC and Outburst invite you to an evening dedicated to Alternative Miss World: a pageant that celebrates freedom of expression in the most creative, outrageous way possible.

Created by artist Andrew Logan in 1972, Alternative Miss World is a riotous, queer celebration of the art of dressing up. It is not about beauty - it's about transformation - and when it comes to costume absolutely anything goes.

A special screening of The British Guide to Showing Off – Jes Benstock’s documentary on the history of Alternative Miss World – will be introduced by artist, self-confessed maximalist and Shonky curator John Walter, who will be joined in conversation by the legendary Andrew Logan.

Afterward, get ready to party the night away with DJ Venus Dupree on the decks spinning everything from Disco to Italo and Deep House. In the spirit of Alternative Miss World, come in your most dazzling attire. There’ll be a prize for the best (most alternatively) dressed!

Sat 18th Nov Black Box Green Room 1pm FREE

18+

Campbell X: Desire Outburst is delighted to welcome London-based film-maker Campbell X to Belfast, for a special screening of a new short experimental film, Desire. Best know for the critically acclaimed feature film Studlife, Campell's work gives voice to black urban LGBTQ+ experience and explores female masculinity and trans masculinity in a refreshingly frank and empowered way Desire is a beauifully shot ode to desire and attraction for transmasculine people, transmen, butches, studs and masculine of center (MOC) people assigned female at birth, featuring images, voices and experiences that we rarely see or hear on screen.

Campbell will introduce the film and talk about the ideas behind the work.

t

Photo: Bobby Miller

lesbians: who's lookin

Lesbians: Who's Looking?

Outburst presents an exciting afternoon of performance, film and discussion that explores lesbian experience, history and visibility and asks questions about lesbian visibility in arts and culture.

Sat 18th Nov Black Box Green Room 2pm-5.30pm ÂŁ5

18+

2pm TWO GIRLS by Una Mullally Two girls wake up in love. But then a relationship befalls them.

This work in progress reading by Una Mullally, is an extract from Alone Together, her long poem about the overlapping lives of a group of queer Dublin women, trying to find each other while barely holding on to themselves. Supported by the Centre Culturel Irlandais.

Una Mullally is an Irish journalist and broadcaster. She is a columnist with The Irish Times and The Guardian.

3pm OUTITUDE Film Taster Film-makers Sonya Mulligan and Ger Moane are currently completing Outitude, a crowdfunded film that documents the Irish lesbian community, exploring grassroots activism, collectives, community, academia and politics from1970 to present day.

Sonya will present a preview taster of what will be the first dedicated film on Irish lesbian experience, North and South, and we'll be talking about why it's important to tell our own stories.

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4pm DEBS GATENBY Manchester comedian Debs Gatenby has performed everywhere from Duckie in London to Afterglow Festival in Cape Cod, as well as touring widely with Hi, Anxiety and A Place Called Happiness, her acclaimed theatre shows about depression and our obsession with happiness. She's also one of Outburst's favourite funnywomen, so we've invited her to be our Comedian in Residence and to respond with her observations on modern lesbian life.

She pulls off the difficult trick of reducing you to tears of both hilarity and sadness Time Out

4.20pm GCN TOWN HALL TALKS

LESBIANS: WHO'S LOOKING? Panel Discussion

GCN is Ireland's long running LGBTQ+ news and entertainment magazine and we are delighted to bring their internet broadcast discussion series GCN Town Hall Talks to Belfast for the first time.

Join our special guests Una Mullally, Debs Gatenby, Sonya Mulligan, Lisa Connell (GCN) and others to discuss lesbian representation in the arts and media. Is it still hard to see lesbians – even though in some ways we are more available to look at in mainstream culture than ever, with lesbian characters, lesbian films, lesbian tv shows? Are some lesbians still more visible than others when it comes to cultural representation?

Chaired by Dr. Monica Pearl, University of Manchester.

Image: Still from Tropico de Capricornio, Coutesy of Videobrasil

Queer Arts Symposium Following last year's International Queer Arts Symposium at Outburst, we are delighted to host a day of curated conversations with a focus on developing international projects and touring networks for queer work.

Supported by British Council and co-curated by Outburst's Artistic Director Ruth McCarthy and SĂŁo Paulo based producer and curator Natalia Mallo, the event is for LGBTQ+ artists, producers, programmers and curators who already have an understanding of queer arts development and have an active interest in developing partnership ideas and networks.

Our aim is to find ways in which we can work together to bring relevant and dynamic new queer work to life and share it globally.

Registration is essential.

Please email participate@outburstarts.com

Fri 10th Nov Black Box Green Room 10am-4pm FREE Registration required

18+

TICKETS, VENUES & ACCESS BOX OFFICE Book your festival tickets through

www.outburstarts.com

Outburst aims to make our events affordable while also making the festival sustainable. We're a not-for-profit, so when you buy tickets your money goes back into running the festival. Thanks for your support.

Many of our events are free and we have a number of tickets for most events to enable LGBTQ+ people with very low or no income to attend. Just drop us a line at hello@outburstarts.com Where tickets are available, most events are free for those accompanying people who need access support. Please contact your specific venue directly to check availability.

ACCESS & AGE SUITABILITY Outburst aims to make our events accessible and we are working with venues and partners to make this better each year.

Guide symbols on each event:

14+

Age Recommendation No symbol if suitable for all ages

Full Wheechair Access

Other venues may have

partial access. Call to check.

Gender Neutral/Unisex

Toilet Available

These are most often unisex

disabled toilets. We're working with the Trans Resource Centre to support changing this where we can.

CONTACT:

hello@outburstarts.com

Join us for updates, videos and news on

Outburst Arts @OutburstArts outburstarts

BLACK BOX 18-22 Hill St. BT1 2LA Tel: 028 9024 4400 QUEEN’S FILM THEATRE (QFT) & BRIAN FRIEL THEATRE 20 University Sq. BT7 1PA Tel: 028 9097 1097 (QFT only) THE MAC 10 Exchange St. West BT1 2NJ Tel: 028 9023 5053 THE SUNFLOWER BAR Union St. BT1 2JG Tel: 028 9023 2474 THE BARRACKS 8-12 Exchange Place BT1 2NA AN CULTÚRLANN 216 Falls Rd. BT12 6AH Tel: 028 9096 4180 PS² GALLERY 11 North St. Belfast BT1 1NA Tel: 028 9023 5912 GOLDEN THREAD GALLERY 84-94 Great Patrick St. BT1 2LU Tel: 028 9033 0920 THE AMERICAN BAR 65-65A Dock St. BT1 1LF Tel: 028 9074 3964 BELFAST EXPOSED 23 Donegall St. BT1 2FF Tel: 028 9023 0965 ARTCETERA STUDIOS 43b Rosemary St. BT1 1QB Tel: 07784 404205 BELFAST TRANS RESOURCE CENTRE 98 University St., BT7 1HE Tel: 028 9099 6819 LYRIC THEATRE 55 Ridgeway St., BT9 5FB Tel: 028 9038 1081 THE DARK HORSE Hill St., Belfast BT1 2LB Tel: 028 9023 7807

If you're in crisis or despair or know someone who is, call Lifeline 24/7 on 0808 808 8000.

Calls to Lifeline are answered by qualified crisis counsellors who can provide immediate support.

Calls are free from landlines and mobiles.

(Textphone: 18001 0808 808 8000)

OUTBURST PROGRAMME 2017 AT A GLANCE THURSDAY 9th Nov

Opening: How to Unexplode Opening: Amber Hawk Swanson Opening: Forms of Resistance

Artcetera Gallery

PS2 Gallery

Golden Thread Gallery

6pm 6pm 6.30pm

FRIDAY 10th Nov

Queer Arts Symposium Curator's Talk: Form of Resistance Queer At Queen's: Queer Sex? Now? Opening: Let Us Eat Cake Quartered

Diamond

Black Box Green Room Golden Thread Gallery Brian Friel Theatre Belfast Exposed The Dark Horse Black Box

10am-4pm 12.30pm 11am-5pm 5.30pm

A Mile of Black Paper events Quartered

Artist Talk: Amber Hawk Swanson Queer At Queen's: Queer Sex? Now? Trans YouTube Workshop Simón El Topo

Tactics for Time Travel in a Toilet Holly Hughes Performance An Cabaret Queeráilte Cake Daddy Record Launch

Black Box Green Room The Dark Horse PS2 Gallery Brian Friel Theatre Trans Resource Cent.

Black Box The Barracks Brian Friel Theatre An Chultúrlann Black Box

SUNDAY 12th Nov

MONDAY 13th Nov

Quartered

Trans Comedy Event Simón El Topo

Tactics for Time Travel in a Toilet Ten Plagues

The Dark Horse Black Box Green Room Black Box The Barracks Lyric Theatre

FILM: A Fantastic Woman There's A Bishop in My Bedroom FILM: Signature Move

QFT The MAC QFT

6.20pm 8pm 8.30pm

TUESDAY 14th Nov

FILM: Chavela There's A Bishop in My Bedroom FILM: Beach Rats

QFT The MAC QFT

6.30pm 8pm 8.30pm

WEDNESDAY 15th Nov

FILM: The Wound A Cock and Bull Story FILM: After Louis

QFT The American Bar QFT

6.20pm 7.30pm 8.30pm

THURSDAY 16th Nov

FRIDAY 17th Nov

The Butch Monologues Workshop A Cock and Bull Story

Artcetera Studio The American Bar

6.30pm 7.30pm

Quartered

Alternative Miss World Ed Madden: Ark The Butch Monologues

The Dark Horse The MAC Black Box Black Box

SATURDAY 18th Nov

Books V Cigarettes Kippie Gaming Workshop Quartered

Campbell X: Desire Lesbians: Who's Looking?

Tactics for Time Travel in a Toilet Triple Threat Queertopia

Black Box Green Room Details on registration The Dark Horse Black Box Green Room Black Box Green Room The Barracks Black Box Black Box

Throughout Festival

Outburst: Illustrated All exhibtions, see Visual Art section

Black Box Green Room

SATURDAY 11th Nov

Various from 11.45am

8.30PM 11am Various from 11.45am

1pm 1pm-5pm 1pm-5pm 5pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 8pm 9.30pm Various from 12..45pm

2.30pm 5pm 7.30pm 8pm

Various from 11.45am

7.30pm 7.30pm 8pm 11am 11am Various from 11.45am

1pm 2pm 7.30pm 8pm 9.30pm 11am-5pm

OUTBURST FESTIVAL CLUB 2017

UNION STREET, BELFAST.