the opening to my film Angelic Kitty Miracle chan plays at the Calarts open show tomorrow as a preview for the film that is still in development, huge shout out to Phoebe chan for the voice work! a true talent!
queer short cuts is a biweekly newsletter where i share queer & trans short film recommendations. i’m featuring some of my favorite films on tumblr because why not
palestine | 7 minutes | 2010 | experimental short film
audio in arabic; english subtitles embedded
houria | حـ(و)ـرية, an experimental film directed by raafat hattab, intercuts between a violinist (boodi el esawi) playing on a beach at manshiye who is joined unexpectedly by a mermaid (played by raafat hattab himself), a person getting their chest tattooed, and an interview with hattab’s grandmother, yousra, talking about her parents’ flight from their home in jamaseen al-garbi when she was a baby, during the 1948 nakba (“catastrophe”), during which thousands of palestinians were killed and an estimated 700,000 were displaced because of Israeli ethnic cleansing. The gender fluidity of hattab’s mermaid, the permanence of the tattoo, and the impermanence of palestinian life and homeland in yousra’s story come together to illustrate the paradoxes and grief of dislocation that palestinians face daily.
- deepa's full review, including content notes at the end
watch on youtube, and learn more about creator raafat hattab, who is a queer palestinian interdisciplinary artist based in tel aviv, at his website
the best actor of the modern era exists in Thailand and his name is First Kanaphan. does everyone involved in bringing this scene to life know that they created a masterpiece????
as my friend @fulltimehabibti said, First Kanaphan as Akk in The Eclipse is the most realistic and grounded depiction of internalized homophobia. its not over the top or dramatically aggressive - its real, its insidious, its constant, its walking on eggshells every second of your life while slowly, slowly sinking under the weight of omnipotent dread. every minute part of his performance is pitch perfect - his anxious and stiff body language, his shaken voice, the palpable fear in his eyes, and the moments his body lets down its guard long enough to be touched and cared for. i'm very thankful for this performance.
queer short cuts is a biweekly newsletter where i share queer & trans short film recommendations. i'm featuring some of my favorite films on tumblr because why not
youtube
jordan | 13 minutes | 2020 | documentary short
audio in arabic; english subtitles embedded
راكب راكب إنترنت | wifi rider, directed by roxy rezvany, introduces us to shukri lawrence, a young, queer palestinian-armenian fashion designer and photographer. shukri, who was born in east jerusalem and now lives in jordan, came to fame through his instagram account @wifirider, which he created as a teenager to share his style, fashion, and takes on pop culture. the film, shot on 16mm, also integrates footage from shukri’s early life as well, with shukri’s voiceover to tell us about his story and the clothing label named trashy clothing that he founded with his co-designer omar braika, who is also palestinian.
the displacement and threat of state violence that shukri faces is felt throughout the docu-short; he begins by telling us how as a child he dreamed of moving to france, where he thought he would find freedom from his experience in israel. however, over the course of his adolescence, shukri began to understand that while he, like all palestinians currently, has no real home, he prefers his life to still be grounded in the arab world where he still has community in the palestinian diaspora.
- deepa's full review, including content notes at the end
you can also find more of director roxy rezvany's work on her website!