SQIFF reveals its 2017 programme
The kickarse Scottish Queer International Film Festival returns with an extended edition and a typically daring programme
Over its first two editions, Scottish Queer International Film Festival cemented a reputation as one of the sharpest, boldest and most inclusive film festivals in Scotland. SQIFF returns next month (27 September - 1 October) and its programme is bigger (it extends to five days) and just as daring as before. This third outing also has some added glamour with the addition of a genuine legend of queer cinema as its opening guest: Bruce LaBruce.
As previously announced, LaBruce comes to Glasgow with his latest film The Misandrists, which opens SQIFF on 27 Sep, and he'll stick around for a screening of his cult 1996 film Hustler White. The festival comes to a close five days later with multicultural queer romance and SxSW hit Signature Move, from director Jennifer Reeder.
Reeder is best known in these parts for her vivid short films like A Million Miles Away, Blood Below the Skin and Crystal Lake, which have all featured in Glasgow Short Film Festival over the last few years. Reeder was also the subject of a GSFF retrospective in 2015. This feature length film, her first since 2008's Accidents at Home and How They Happen, centers on a young Muslim woman who's struggling to come out to her family and finds respite in Chicago's amateur wrestling circuit.
Between these two bookends, SQIFF will host 40 screenings, workshops and inclusive parties at venues across Glasgow. As always, the hugely popular Feminist Porn Night should prove a highlight. This year it features "an award-winning slice of hot queer Berlin vampire action" in Enactone, with director Sky Deep in attendance. The festival also team up with the Glasgow School of Art Pornography Society for M4M, which is described as a “night of vivid, lurid and fluid queer sex on camera, including rare archive clips from prominent gay porn company productions.”
Gregg Araki's Nowhere
There’s also an interesting looking focus on bisexuality on the big screen with Looking Awry, which will feature everything from Hollywood thrillers to queer underground filmmaking. Included in the strand is Gregg Araki’s New Queer Cinema classic Nowhere, described as “Beverly Hills 90210 on speed”, and Sheila McLaughlin's dissection of queer jealousy She Must Be Seeing Things – the latter was hugely controversial on its release and is rarely screened, so don’t miss it. Programmer Jacob Engelberg will put the strand in context with an illustrated talk through cinematic invocations of bisexuality.
Another highlight looks to be a celebration of the life and work of Glasgow-based artist, activist, drag king and educator Diane Torr, who passed away earlier this year. There’s also several short film programmes, including a set exploring the trans experience (Switching Teams); a programme called Defiant Dykes, which proudly rejects the demands of both hetero and queer cultures; and a programme of some of the most exciting short films being made by local filmmakers (Queer Scotland III).
SQIFF also knows how to throw a party. The festival is teaming up with local heroes Free Pride, who’ll be getting Glasgow's finest LGBTQ+ DJs on the decks till 3am at The Art School, and there’s a one-night-only return of Lock Up Your Daughters with a Babadook Ball at Drygate Brewing Co, which promises “fresh queers, craft beers and butt-thumping beats.”
SQIFF takes place 27 Sep to 1 Oct at various venues across Glasgow. Ahead of the festival, SQIFF will be holding some preview screenings in various locations across Scotland, including Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh and Stornoway. For full programme details and tickets, head to sqiff.org