THURSDAY 08.11.2018
16.00 – 17.30
at Communitism, Kerameikou 28, Athens, Greece
Towards a Romanian Queer Cinema (30’)
Video-Essay
by Romanian film critic Flavia Dima, Visual studies MA, film critic
The screening will be followed by a remote Q&A session.
Abstract:
As the Romanian New Wave seems to draw its dying breath, a new generation of up-and-coming directors are steering Romania’s cinema into new, uncharted territories – with one poignant direction being queer cinema. This essay takes a look at the films which constitute a small queer wave within Romanian cinema while also exploring the local context in which these films were produced and consumed, while also briefly exploring the history of LGBT rights in Romania and how the local socio-political context influenced these films and the appearance of what seems to be a phenomenon. From precursors and stereotypes to activist portrayals, between adapted scripts and original ones, running through concepts associated with film theory and gender studies, the essay maps out this movement which also brings to the front debut directors from demographics that have been largely marginalized in Romanian cinema: women and members of the LGBT community.
This video-essay is based on my masters’ dissertation, which was presented in July 2018 at the Center of Excellence in Image Studies in Bucharest, Romania, with slight updates.