By Christine Molloy. Because the film is a miracle. I found myself seeing myself in the character of Maeve, even more so the second time round. As an Irish woman who came of age in the 80s, this is a very powerful thing. Maeve is the only cinematic version of the young woman I was, growing up in the overwhelmingly oppressive bad old days of holy Catholic 1980s Ireland.
Culture Club: Watching Prano Bailey-Bond’s CENSOR
By Anahit Behrooz. Prano Bailey-Bond’s video nasty-inspired horror Censor is about many things. But it is also, utterly and irrefutably, about grief, and the absurdity of seeking or even entertaining closure after life-altering loss.
Culture Club: Watching Kangyu Garam’s Documentaries
By Ania Ostrowska.
I’m looking at the robust, although often critically snubbed, genre of feminist activist documentary, as seen in the work of one brilliant Korean documentarian, Kangyu Garam. High-octane feminist emotions guaranteed!
Culture Club: Programming PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN
By Selina Robertson.
The idea for our Lesbian Camp: Yes It’s F**cking Political season started with a t-shirt. A blue t-shirt that had on its front a pink imprint of the Rio’s Pumping Iron II: The Women cinema programme flyer from 1986.
Culture Club: Viewing THE YANOMAMI STRUGGLE by Claudia Andujar at Barbican Curve
By Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle is showing at the Barbican Curve until 29 August 2021. Click here …
Culture Club: Reading VARIATIONS by Juliet Jacques
By Anna Walsh. Storytelling remains the shining item in Variations. Jacques gives us the roiling material realities of hardship, of people disappointing each other and going down the pub after.
Culture Club: Watching TRAVELS WITH TOVE by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä
By So Mayer. Travels with Tove is a highly sophisticated version of your favourite queer aunt’s slideshows of her adventures.
Lesbian Camp: Pumping Iron II: The Women by George Butler
By Annette Kuhn. I observed that the all-female audience in the packed auditorium responded gleefully as one, talking back to the characters, cheering on the “goodies”, booing the “baddies”. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time.
Lesbian Camp: But I’m a Cheerleader by Jamie Babbit
By Clara Bradbury-Rance. Jamie Babbit’s characters have a habit of wreaking as much as havoc as possible, romantically or otherwise, in the cisheteropatriarchy. This politics is profound but it’s also pink, personal, parodic and it pops.
Lesbian Camp: Just Livin’: Yes It’s F**cking Political shorts programme
By Cathy Brennan. What connects these shorts is a preoccupation with the relationship between LGBT individuals and the concept of community. No one can really live without the support of others.