Queer Moving History 2: Tampere Film Festival

Language: English
Duration: 82 min

More about the filmprogram:

In Gothenburg the first Gay Liberation Weekend was held in May 1981, though demonstrations had been held at different occasions since 1975. In the following clip from the TV program Summer Facts, Allan Hellman – one of the founders of RFSL in 1950 – is interviewed. In the program Wenche Lowzow – the first openly homosexual member of the Norwegian parliament – is seen as well. In 1978 the age of consent for homosexual intercourse was lowered from 18 to 15 years – same as for heterosexuals – which is mentioned in Jan Hammarlund’s performance of the song Ville.

Filmprogram:

1. Gay Liberation Week, Sthlm 1979
2. Gay Liberation Weekend, Gbg 1981
3. Gay Liberation Week, Sthlm 1981
4. Gay Liberation Week, Sthlm 1984
5. A Year of Sisterhood – Interview with Fitt 4 Fight & Queer feminist march, Sthlm, 2005
6. Lesbian festival, Gbg 2005
7. Anti-marriage Action, Gbg 2010
8. Candle-manifestation, Gbg 2012
9. Actions from Queersvall, Sundvall 2019
10. Sápmi Pride, Gironis 2014

The programme has been curated by Anna Linder (SAQMI) and Olov Kriström (QRAB).

SAQMI – The Swedish Archive for Queer Moving Images – is Sweden’s first archive and platform for queer moving images.

QRAB – The Archives and Library of the Queer Movement – collects, preserves and makes available all forms of documentation on queer conflicts and culture.

Gay Liberation Week, Stockholm
Sweden / 1981 / 1:45 min
During the summer of 1981, while preparations for the Gay Liberation Week in Stockholm were underway, the first cases of HIV/AIDS were reported in USA. In Stockholm, one of the themes for the Gay Liberation Week was international solidarity. The first case of HIV in Sweden would be diagnosed in the fall of 1982, and the fight against the virus and new stigmatizations would set its mark on the LGBTQ movement for decades.

Gay Liberation Week, Gothenburg
Sweden / 1984 / 8:30 min
Community radio was important for dissemination of LGBTQ news during the 1980’s and 1990’s, and Gay Radio broadcasts were set up in Borås, Gothenburg, Halland, Malmö, Norrköping, Umeå, Örebro – and Stockholm. In the following clip Stockholm Gay Radio mentions a report from a public inquiry on the situation for homosexuals in Swedish society. The report argued for, among other things, anti-discrimination laws, strengthened asylum rights and domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. Many politicians, however, weren’t convinced.

A Year of Sisterhood – Interview with Fitt 4 Fight & Queer Feminist March, Stockholm
Åsa Elzén and Sonia Hedstrand / Sweden / 2005 / 11 min
Originally a nine hours long archival film on the third wave of feminism in Stockholm during one year 2003-2004. It is a document of demonstrations, parties, direct actions and lectures. A year of Sisterhood is an archive, a pool of knowledge and a portrait of its time. The artists’ idea was to write history (her-story) from their own perspective. The Queer Feminist Marches were held 2002-2003 to raise radical issues within the LGBTQ movement. In 2003 Fredrik Reinfeldt – who the previous year voted against same-sex adoption rights and was soon to be head of the conservative party – was inaugural speaker at Stockholm Pride.

Lesbian festival, Gothenburg
Åse Brändström and Camilla Sundkvist / Sweden / 2005 / 9:30 min
After talks at Kvinnofolkhögskolan about how to do solidarity work with a lesbian demonstration in Mexico City, the group Lesbian Action was formed. During 2003-2010 they organized an annual Lesbian Festival, with music, debates, parties and demonstrations. When the festival HBT-GBG was scheduled at the same dates in 2007, and marketed as the first LGBT festival in Gothenburg, voices were raised on the invisibilization of lesbians.

Anti-marriage Action, Gothenburg
Leo Palmestål / Sweden / 2010 / 7 min
Same-sex marriages were legalized in Sweden in 2009. At the end of the Pride parade in Gothenburg the following year, live weddings on the stage were meant to celebrate this. The organizers had difficulties finding a lesbian couple, which made it possible for two queer activists to go undercover and take the opportunity to talk about the limitations of assimilationist politics.

Candle-manifestation, Gothenburg
Varg Holmdahl / Sweden / 2012 / 9 min
Questions around police presence at Pride events have been debated since the earliest days of the Pride movement, in the wake of the police raid on Stonewall Inn in 1969. In 2012, a change of the Gothenburg Pride organizers policy on violence prompted activists to creatively highlight what seemed like a double standard. In the film there is a brief clip of a police intervention in the Pride park a few days earlier, where queer protesters were taken into custody.

Actions from Queersvall, Sundvall
Eila Wall Boholm / Sweden / 2019 / 6 min
This is the story of how a small sleepy town in the north of Sweden was one day awakened by a bunch of queer activists. The city woke up and became a mecca for queers. Those who lived in the city had never imagined that there were so many of them.

Sápmi Pride, Gironis
Max Mackhé for Várdobáiki Sámi Centre / Sweden / 2014 / 6 min
What would be another meeting for those involved in the Queering Sápmi project instead became the world’s first Sami pride festival, Sápmi Pride. In mid-October 2014, queer Sami gathered in Kiruna for seminars and workshops. The first Sami pride parade attracted about 300 people. Filmed for the Sami channel Márkomáilbmi.

This film program is supported by Holger and Thyra Lauritzens Foundation and Swedish Arts Council.