out at the wedding

this morning i went again to watch some movie at the verzaubert queer film festival. it was called out at the wedding, by lee friedlander. I have to say that it has been a long time since i have seen such a funny movie where I couldn’t stop laughing because of all the never ending twists in the story line. I think it is great when you can leave the cinema with a fuzzy warm feeling in your stomach… simply delightful. will post more about this move soon…. now I gotta go again and watch another movie…

Verzaubert queer film festival in Munich – Gay… so what?

Right now we have the queer film festival running in Munich and I went to watch some films and documentaries. Yesterday I saw a documentary called “Gay… So what? (2007, France)” which dealt with the questions how contemporary queer communities across the world are made up:  One question was what will happen in countries where being gay or being queer has been accepted fully by society and equal rights are given to queer people… for instance in New York in some areas people talk about being post-gay, or post-queer… one women stated her concern with the whole idea of a constructed separate identity of queer community because that in itself would highlight the difference towards the rest of the society (the straight (not necessarily meaning: heterosexual) people)… what is there to fight for if legally, socially and politically same things are possible for all… why then form a separate identity, since in the post-gay area… gay people don’t necessarily define themselves only over/just by their sexual identity, but also issues of race, class, social background etc. can be as equally important to one’s sense of identity. Plus they are people of the community who reject any labeling of themselves at all.

Then in the film it was very interesting to see 2 gay men tell about their experiences of being gay in China where homosexuality is not openly discussed or in any open discourse. There are no official public spaces for gay people in China. Only in the cities some nightclubs have opened up where people can come and meet. A lot is happening under the surface… But also the film talked about that steady a gay movement is forming in China in the last couple of years. Things are changing slowly… So for areas where the queer community has not the same rights, visibility… or in a sense an implicitness of existing… labels still are more important to get people together under a common umbrella community so to speak.

After watching this movie I am left wondering if a post-gay phase will be something that will eventually exist in the whole world… if the certain requirements for entering such a phase will be set… or will it always be different… homogeneous… while some people will reject a labeling just because of their sexual identity, others will still find it important for them to define themselves over that construction.  I tend towards the last thought… anyway will post more after the film festival is over…