FOCUS: PRISMA – LFF2021
A prism is a multifaceted crystal that refracts the light and spreads it out in a myriad of colours and reflections. This image lends its name to Prisma, a thematic programme aimed at being the opening line of a dialogue around the key topics of the LGBTQIA+ universe, starting a conversation as wide, inclusive and diverse as possible.
For the 2021 edition, Prisma will focus on the contrast between inside and outside, our private understanding of who we are and the way we decide to present ourselves to the world, our own emotions and the perceptions of others. On one hand, Prisma explores the liminal space between the masculine and the feminine, putting into play the practice of drag as well as the everyday life and long history of those bodies who, by not allowing binarism to define them, defy it; on the other hand, it looks at representations of queer adolescence and attempts to capture the main defining features of a possible queer aesthetic.
The result is a fabulous, protean creature, brazen and yet shy. They are a brightly-coloured chimera of many voices, made of short films, debates and insights, and we just cannot wait for you to meet them.
Do go up and say hello: they don’t bite.
Queerscapes
How is LGBTQIA+ adolescence narrated today? Is it possible to talk about a contemporary queer aesthetic? Queerscapes springs out of these two questions. The films that form it go beyond the coming out moment, focusing instead on teenage years that might be lonely, but never afraid; on pride (in oneself) and prejudice (from others); on the end of the world and promising new starts. These stories take place at the seaside or inside abandoned shops, amidst desaturated landscapes and apocalyptic pink fogs. They are a first attempt at an answer, the first dispatch of a continuing – and continuously evolving – investigation.
Gender Terror
Stealing from Judith Butler’s famous “Gender Trouble”, Gender Terror aims to capture the moment when an undefinable body doesn’t meet our gendered expectations. “Terror” isn’t supposed to be seen as a negative term, but as an opportunity: when our attention is fixed on something that challenges us, then we must be open to learn.
Gender Terror explores the liminal through drag, the masc/femme dichotomy, and non-western conceptions of gender. Ultimately, Gender Terror aims to challenge the binary and explore the realms beyond it. The sweet spot where male and female meet, mix and neutralise each other. A fluid gender, like the water of the lake where the festival is held.
Chiara Puntil & Diana Mantese, curators
Prisma si compone di due programmi di cortometraggi, suddivisi in diversi blocchi di proiezione, per una durata totale di 120 minuti.
Prisma 1 (Queerscapes):
Fish Head / Grace Tan / 2020 / Fiction / Australia / 10’ / Italian Premiere
The Name Of The Son / Martina Matzkin / 2019 / Fiction / Argentina / 13’ / Italian Premiere
Escaping The Fragile Planet / Thanasis Tsimpinis / 2020 / Fiction / Greece / 17’ / Italian Premiere
Prisma 2 (Queerscapes vs. Gender Terror):
For Nonna Anna / Luis de Filippis / 2017 / Fiction / Canada / 13’
Purpleboy / Alexandre Siqueira / 2019 / Animation / Portugal / France / 14’
The Orphan / Carolina Markowicz / 2018 / Fiction / Brazil / 15’ / Italian Premiere
Prisma 3 (Gender Terror):
The Ravenous Femme: Victoria Sin / Amrou al-Khadi / 2017 / Documentary / UK / 6’
Superbia / Luca Toth / 2016 / Animation / Hungary / Czech Republic / Slovakia / 15’
A B S O L U C I Ó N / Fede Canal Santiangeli / 2020 / Fiction / Spain / 3’
Muxes / Ivan Olita / 2016 / Documentary / USA / 9’
Everybody’s Type / Isaac Lock / 2019 / Fiction / UK / 4’
