VALENTIN NOUJAÏM PGM 1: VEILED STRUGGLES

VEILED STRUGGLES: QUEERNESS, COLONIALISM, AND MEMORY

Valentin Noujaïm OCEANIA 2024, 24 min, digital. In French with English subtitles. Sixteen-year-old Najib luxuriates in his summer days of gaming until his mother informs him of a neighbor’s passing. Taking the keys to their apartment, he quickly discovers an unexpected world of painful questions.

“OCEANIA is an ode to tenderness. To a new generation that carries on our struggles, that seeks to remember whilst also moving forward. A tribute to love, to the dead and martyrs, and to present history being dismantled and destroyed.” –Valentin Noujaïm

Richard Fung SEA IN THE BLOOD 2000, 26 min, video “SEA IN THE BLOOD was to be a meditation on race, sexuality and disease, but after working with the material for three years, it was the emotional story that came through. It’s hard to work with such personal material, but in the end the work takes on a life of its own. ‘Richard’ is a character. Because of the subject matter – disease and death – I wanted to avoid sentimentality. I’d like the audience to think as well as feel.” –Richard Fung

Mohammed Soueid CINEMA FOUAD 1994, 28 or 41 min, video. In Arabic with English subtitles. A documentary on the life and ambitions of a young Lebanese trans woman, Khaled El Kurdi. The video follows her journey from soldier to cabaret dancer, in order to raise funds for her gender-affirming operation. Shot in Beirut, CINEMA FOUAD weaves a complex and multi-layered story of sexuality, identity, and desire, and paints a compelling portrait of its subject.

Total running time: ca. 85 or 95 min.

Followed by a conversation with writer and curator Adam HajYahia and Yasmina Price!

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