Fringe! Film Fest & Dick And Fanny

Fringe! Film Fest is upon us for its second edition this year (12-15 April 2012). The festival is a grassroots queer film festival loaded with films, art events and parties – open to everybody! The festival was started last year by a bunch of friends in response to the arts funding cuts. I am so impressed with what they’ve put together with practically zero funding. It’s all a labour of love. Check out the amazing programme of festivities here, you’ll see I’m not exaggerating (see highlights at the bottom of this post).

This year I’m super happy to have been asked by my friend Nicole Emmenegger to co-curate an event together with Jessica Gysel, the Editor of the magazine Girls Like Us, on the theme of queer generations. Generations Like Us will bring together films from around the world along with a discussion between Jessica and Lisa Gornick – artist, filmmaker and star of inter-generational lez drama The Owls. And we might have a special live performance from Lisa for you too! Exciting!

Girls Like Us paraphernalia will be on sale throughout the day along with a sneak peek of the new issue! The event will take place on Saturday 14 April at XOYO Gallery from 2pm. It’s a free event but donations are welcome…

Programme:
1977 / Peque Varela and here, UK, 2007, 8′
Allez / Oliver Tonning, DK, 2011, 15′
After the Game / Donna Gray, USA, 1979, 18′
Wavelengths / Pratibha Parmar, UK, 1997, 15′
Je les aime encore (I Still Love Them) / Marie-Pierre Grenier, CAN, 2010, 13′
Home for the Golden Gays / N. Gaardmand, T. Ahrensbach & D. Lehmann, PHIL, 2011, 13′

This programme will make you laugh, reflect, it will move you and entertain you. What more can you ask for?!

We’d like to thank the filmmakers for supporting the festival and for providing us with a copy of their films and a special thanks to the Cinenova archive and Peccadillo Pictures.

Also, picking up on the theme of generations, photographer and writer Holly Falconer from The Most Cake will give a talk on Clubbing and Camp: A generation in club photography examining what part clubs play in defining queer generations. Much more than just our meeting places, for decades they have been where we’ve dressed and behaved exactly as we chose. From Studio 54 and the Gateways Club to Twat Boutique and GAY, clubs have been the backbone of our identity – for better or worse.

Dick And Fanny will be the festival’s official party on the same day at CAMP Basement from 10PM. Spinning some truly awesome tunes will be Sudha, Bright Light Bright Light, Josh Sparber and Lauren Flax! Check out our event’s page for more details.

Other highlights of Fringe! include the first ever screening of Travis Mathew’s hotly tipped I Want Your Love – UK premieres of army cadet love story Private Romeo plus docs (A)sexual, Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years. Plus the Little Joe Clubhouse from the creators of Little Joe magazine which will host screenings, discussions and a library and act as a meeting point during the festival.

Revamped classics with specially enhanced screenings of classic films, including:
Brooklyn attitude and motorbike epic Gang Girls Trilogy – presented by the London Rollergirls. A dress up and dance in aisles screening of In Bed with Madonna hosted by East End drag legend Holestar, a New Queer Cinema retrospective, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the movement that iconised queer outsiders featuring: High Art, Young Soul Rebels AND Swoon! Plus meet some of last centuries unsung queer visibility heros in Gays on TV

Queer erotica spreads eastwards– with hot curated film, performance and talks including Wakefield Poole’s classic Bijou, cult doc In their Room Berlin, the sexy, funny, weird and perverse Community Action Centre, a lesbian darkroom haunt, plus the Tate gallery’s Stuart Comer talks secret codes and shameless exhibitionism in Caught in the Act

Art goes large at Fringe! this year with Facing You, a photo-exhibition exploring the notion of queer. Super 8 Cam, a series of six intimate portraits by local artists. The Cruising - an interactive iphone app charting east London’s gay geography, Artifacts and filmic memories in After Louie. Aerobics meets performance art in Dragercise,  and for night owls Tweet the Dawn a 4am interactive twitter performance event, 50 meters up.

Make sure you make it down to this four-day East London extravaganza!

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Madonna vs. Kazaky


Kazaky is a collective of 4 individuals: Oleg Zhezhel, Artur Gaspar, Kyryll Fedorenko and Francesco Borgato, who show incredible combination of man’s beauty, breathtaking plastique and magnificent charisma. Kazaky is an amazingly alluring cult of dance, music, body, sexuality, fashion and provocation.

The video below of Girl Gone Wild from Madonna‘s MDNA album features the Kazaky boys. Awesome video, very hot and very sexy!

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Old jeans

Desperately trying to fix them. I love those jeans so much. They are Lee Manistee (can’t find that particular version anymore anywhere).

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Kickboxing grading at Paragon Gym, East London

I went and saw friends getting their new grading (brown and black belts) at kickboxing recently. It was emotional and tough! Congratulations Valeria and Hazel! They train at the Paragon Kickboxing and Boxing Gym, founded by the internationally renowned brothers Lawson John, Stuart and Alex (multiple British and World Champion kickboxers). Hazel is also a British, European and World Female (kick)boxing Champion I might add and runs a clinical hypnotherapy centre in London.

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Palace

Buckingham Palace in London. Home of the British monarch…

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Mei

 

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Ibiza

Here are some of the photographs I took in Ibiza in May last year. It was just before the party season kicked off and so it was really nice and quiet. At first I wasn’t that impressed by the island but after a couple of days I started to fall in love with it. It was a slow burner… In May the sea isn’t super warm but still swimmable and the weather is just perfect! In the few days that we were there we managed to drive all around the island. Despite its small size it has a very diverse landscape, flat in the South, cliff-y in the West, hilly in the North and very rustic in the centre… There is something for every taste! The food is amazing and so is the wine. We also found out that any basic white wine there is a pure delice, which was great for our budget and, well, probably not so good for our liver! Oh, and we discovered Hierbas Ibicencas… mmmm.

We stayed in a flat at Es Canar and also spent a few days at Eivissa where we stayed at the Hostal Parque (very nice). If you’re around there try the El Patio restaurant just by the hostal, it’s good and the owner is very nice! Another very good restaurant we went to was Es Rebost de Can Prats in Sant Antoni, delicious food. Seriously. We also spent a couple of nights on Formentera but I didn’t like it very much (and it’s expensive). Although I have to say I had a lot of fun riding around the island on our scooter. There is a beautiful beach there called Ses Illetes so I guess if you have enough time it is worth taking the boat and spending a day there, and do rent a scooter!

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Smoking Fields

Hanging out on London Fields last Saturday made me reminisce of that crazy day last year where London Fields became Smoking Fields for the last time of the year (Oct 1, 2011). Who’s looking forward to the barbecue season this year?!

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Paris old stones

I’ve intensified my Paris visits in the past 3 years mostly because I miss Paris immensely but also because work sends me there occasionally. I certainly won’t complain about that, I love Paris. I find that the atmosphere is much more interesting than it used to be. Parisians, it seems, are more open and friendly. It feels less morose and less sleepy than 10 years ago. That’s a completely subjective account so don’t hold it against me.

The photographs below were taken during a trip I made with some friends in March 2011. The weather was clement and doux. A blessing. We walked along the Seine, hired some Velib’, saw some art at the Palais de Tokyo and ate ate ate (if you’ve seen previous posts of mine you won’t be surprised to hear this!)…

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Nice street art

As photographed in the beautiful city of Nice on the French Riviera.

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New York City, lines, colours and bridges

I’ve dug out some old-ish photographs I took on my NYC trip in September 2008. Most of these photos were taken on the Williamsburg Bridge, which doesn’t have the same easy-on-the-eye aesthetics as the Brooklyn Bridge but is nonetheless as interesting. I particularly like its geometry and colours. Look at the lines, they appear everywhere.

What a gorgeous view of Manhattan I had there. What a beautiful sky.

The Empire State Building from Williamsburg Bridge.

This is the window of a cake shop in Brooklyn. Very colourful cakes but I’m not sure I’d want to buy mine from there… erm…

MoMA PS1, an awesome art space, is based in a formerly derelict school building (PS1 derives from Primary School One).

“MoMA PS1 was founded in 1971 by Alanna Heiss as the Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., an organization devoted to organizing exhibitions in underutilized and abandoned spaces across New York City.”

 

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Istanbul 2009

Here are some of the photos I took when I went to Istanbul in September 2009. It was my first time and hopefully not the last.

Istanbul is a vibrant city. Despite the fact that it was Ramadan and that apparently the city is much quieter during that period there was still a lot going on and the bars and restaurants were still buzzing. The food in Istanbul is simply fantastic, very tasty, and the vegetables and fruits are super fresh and full of flavour.

I have friends living in Istanbul and so it was great to experience the city the way the locals do. Of course, I still did the usual touristic itinerary: Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Grand Baazar, Istanbul Modern, rooftop bars and restaurants of Taksim etc. and so you should as it is really worth it! I particularly loved taking the boats up the Bosphorus, getting lost in the streets and discovering little gems along the way. The city’s history is so rich and fascinating that it is worth buying a guide and reading all about it whilst you are there.

I also went to the Asian side of the city, crossing the Bosphorus by boat and coming back with a Dolmus (shared taxi). It’s quite an experience: these guys drive at like 150 km/h on the beautiful bridge that connects Europe and Asia. I really thought I would die racing on that bridge!

And of course, a trip to Istanbul wouldn’t be complete without a game of backgammon whilst smoking the Nargile, which I enjoyed very much…

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Frozen fountain London February 2012

Wow!

 

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Mentmore Terrace

I had breakfast (yummy chocolatey pancake with banana and a cortado) at the Happy Kitchen today. It’s been open for about a year but I only discovered it now thanks to a friend of mine. It’s on 393 Mentmore Terrace, under the arches, right next to London Fields train station. It’s a vegan and gluten free canteen/bakery/coffee shop. The food and coffee (St. Ali coffee) are delicious and the staff is super friendly. Do check out their website, they also offer cooking and nutrition classes! A little gem right next door to home.

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Berlin 2011

I went to Berlin at the end of August 2011 to go to a party thrown by the SlothCollective at Berghain Kantine. CREEP, Kim Anh and Romy XX were DJing, and Light Asylum and Black Cracker were performing. It was worth the trip, plus Berlin is just awesome.

 

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