Slovak Queer Films at the Beast International Film Festival
With its sixth edition, Beast International Film Festival (27 September – 1 October 2023) returns to the big screens of Porto with a selection primarily aimed at films that have Eastern Europe as its backdrop. This year, Slovakia is well represented by a selection of four short films by the Slovak Queer Film Festival, celebrating its 16th edition in 2023.
The Slovak Queer Film Festival (FFi) is a festival for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTQIA+ minority), their parents, children and friends. FFi is a cultural and educational activity focused at raising general public awareness about the lives of LGBTQIA+ people. The festival endeavors to contribute to the elimination of homophobic and xenophobic attitudes in society and provide the LGBTQIA+ minority as well as its individual members with a cultural and social framework for self-knowledge. The FFi’s programme presents a selection of contemporary world cinema, including Slovak films.
Thanks to the cooperation with Beast IFF, four Slovak shorts will be screened to the audience in Porto. The director Radek Ševčík started working on the short documentary film Poisoned Well two days after the terrorist attack on Zamocká Street in Bratislava. Film-requiem discusses the deteriorating state of society after the attack, as well as the intimate feelings of LGBTI+ people, including the author himself. An intimate testimony Searching for a Mutual Composition, directed by Peter Podolský, reveals the fragility of mother-son relationship with the help of interviews and family pictures and Barbara Vojtašáková’s Princess Diary captures the uncertainty pervading family life, the everyday, human kindness and the changing seasons. The only fiction film of the selection is Together, directed by David Benedek. It is the story of three young men living their everyday troubles, love and family affairs. Only after unpleasant events, they will realize they are starting to form family together.
In addition, Filip Diviak's short animated film My Name is Edgar and I Have a Cow will compete in the Anima East section and Tereza Nvotová's Nightsiren will be screened in the Visegrad Film Hub New Vision section.
published: 26.09.2023
updated: 26.09.2023