Short film program introduced and curated by Anna Linder
Umeå European Film Festival together with Bildmuseet Umeå – Art Friday!
Language: English, Swedish. Subtitles: No subtitles
If the 1916 film The Wings by Mauritz Stiller is the world’s first queer film we can say that Swedish queer cinema is more than 100 years old. We celebrate this by starting an archive, a platform, a community for Swedish queer moving images. We are strong. We are amazing. We are many.
There is an enormous collection of queer expressions from 1916 to today. For the screening in Umeå a broad selection has been made, based on thoughts of collectivity, struggles and identity freedom. Some of the films have been laying on shelves in storerooms for many years and need to be dusted off to be shown. Manhood is an example of a film that hasn’t been shown for a long time. The film’s director Mia Engberg hirself feels that it is one of hir best films. An early trans movie with a lot of warmth and humour. The same goes for the animation based on one of Marie-Louise Ekman’s most famous paintings Strip-Tease. A little pearl. As the program is shown in connection with Bildmuseet’s After Work it is of course loaded with music and action(s). Mai Zetterling returned to Sweden with a critical gaze to film a portrait of the city of Stockholm. In sharp monologues, Zetterling mocks Swedishness and marriage, hir does drag and quotes August Strindberg. Zetterling’s collectivity in the process of creating films brings us over to Verklighetens Folk, who made an activist musical before the parliamentary elections of 2010. They are not forgiving of Sweden either, and belt out their rage together with choreographed dance. The Knife’s old music video Pass This On is still always great, beautiful, and yes, totally wonderful. The whole program starts with a lesbian make out-orgy. A film that is pleasurable, and raises its middle finger to the status quo. Come Let’s Fly!
– Anna Linder. Translated by Alex Alvina Chamberland.
Films included in the program (52 min): Babes Roll Out (Brynhildur Thorarinsdottir & Sanna Carlson, 2017, 4:20 min, Lesbian Action), Strip-Tease (Marie Louise Ekman, 1982, 3 min, Animation), The Knife – Pass This On (Johan Renck, 2003, 3:45 min, Music Video), Manhood (Mia Engberg, 1999, 10 min, Documentary), Mai Zetterling’s Stockholm (1979, 25 min, Essay Film and last Gråt allians av vårt hat (Verklighetens Folk, 2010, 5:33 min, Activist Musical)