Bristol’s LGBTQIA+ film festival launches their film & arts programme

The Palace International Film Festival (PIFF), Bristol’s LGBTQIA+ film festival experienced through multi-disciplinary performances, workshops and panels from local Bristol and international queer artists, will be happening once again on 8th – 12th September at St Anne’s House, Bricks supported by Bristol City Council and Film Hub North and Hub South West. In line with their tagline: ‘elevating experimentation and creating conversation’, PIFF aims to spotlight emerging talent and bring together LGBTQIA+ artists, communities and allies.

PIFF celebrates the individual and collective identities that we share through the power of queer culture. The 2021 programme invites Bristol to:  experience the pop-up outdoor cinema; indulge in the variety of queer cinema through over 100 short and feature-length films; revel in a night of chaos and dance with live DJs and performances at their club night; dive into the immersive 3D world of queer virtual reality and explore the PIFF virtual platform for those staying at home - all experienced alongside multisensory performances and workshops where inspiring conversations are created and ideas are shared.

“The postponement of our previous edition due to the pandemic has only strengthened our programme and given us more meaning than ever to stitch together our LGBTQIA+ communities during a time of identity fragmentation. It is time for the LGBTQIA+ community to create a safe(r) space physically and digitally for our communities to come together once again” – Harry Silverlock, PIFF Creative Director.

PIFF have partnered with Blackbeam Cinematic to build an outdoor cinema at Bricks, starting every evening at dusk. To open the film festival Wig in a Box Promotions, Bristol’s drag collective, presents Drag Kids (Dir: Megan Wennberg), accompanied by performances and a panel with the likes of Clare Lowe, Dis, Romeo de la Cruz and Jersey. The special feature presentations continue with a partnership with QTIBIPOC film collective, Kiki Bristol, who will present their chosen feature film, Pariah (Dir: Dee Rees), accompanied by a Kiki POC panel. Two other special spotlights are, Queer Japan (Dir: Graham Kolbiens)  and No Hard Feelings (Dir: Faraz Shariat), with a special closing performance by Sarahsson.

The past year has made everyone appreciate and rely on technology, but it is now more important than ever for different voices to be heard in the metaverse. Virtual reality and immersive storytelling have begun to tell the queer narrative like never before and The Palace International Film Festival will engage with this new medium in our new XR strand: Queering the Metaverse where Bristol can enter the queer digital world of virtual reality storytelling.

As part of Film Hub North’s New Directions fund, PIFF have curated an archive film exhibition, Queer and Indecent, exploring the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 which partially decriminalised sex between men, and its influences and effects over the following decades. Whilst a progressive landmark, the legislative move cast sombre shadows; other remaining laws tightened and police aggravation towards queer people dramatically increased, meaning that public spaces were essentially out of bounds in terms of expression of queer identity and queer love - the community was forced to the margins of dominant society, creating their own spaces underground. The exhibition highlights the historical lack of access to public spaces and services that queer people have experienced and continue to face. Simultaneously, it is a celebration of queer space, community, and expression amidst adversity. Queer and Indecent exhibition runs from 3rd-15th September, at Bricks RELAY space, St Anne’s, 12pm-5pm.

The Palace International Film Festival manifesto, formed by The Palace Collective, stipulates how a community can self-organise to create a safe(r) space for each other. In a world where no space is safe, from a virus or from oppression, the community must do all we can to work together to protect each other. Although Bojo says otherwise, there are those that are still shielding, which is why the PIFF team have created a virtual Bear Pit allowing those who are still staying indoors to connect with each other through a game-like browser experience. PIFF will also be building an outdoor cinema allowing for a well-ventilated viewing experience and are showcasing all their shorts programme through The Cube Microplex online player.

A queer film festival wouldn’t be a queer film festival without a party! PIFF is pleased to present a stellar line-up of the UK’s most innovative queer DJs and producers. Sheffield-based producer and DJ Diessa makes wild excursions melding footwork, techno, bass, jungle and ambient, whilst Candy HurtZz will blast out a druid club and eco-grime caster of rave magick, they and their sound are the mud-mixed-with-bubblegum that seeps from the gaps. The enticing music line-up is supported by performances by Bouys Bouys Bouys, Swansea’s best vore poet and Sarahsson who embodies harmony-within-dissonance.

“It’s like bubblegum mixed with mud [...] mmm mud.” — Candy HurtZz, DJ

Accompanying our film and arts programme and in line with PIFF’s tagline of ‘creating conversations’, PIFF present two panel discussions. Rave as Activism: Organising at the Party discusses how political cultures start on the dance floor, building communities and allowing ideas to gain powerful material bases which spread their cause and influence wider culture. Queer Science: Biology for the Gays gives way to three brave gayfaring panellists who don their white coats to revisit some classical questions whose answers are so often relied upon by those who seek to exclude queer and trans people: What is nature? What is sex? And what does the rich tapestry of sexual desire have to do with biology, if anything?

Workshops that challenge heteronormative ideas include a queer ballet class where bodies and identities that are non-traditional in the world of ballet can break classical rules and express who they are. If audiences are passionate about producing their own film projects but have little or no budget then they are invited to join the DIY queer filmmaking class led by Rob Eagle and Paul Samuel White. It’s set to be a whistle-stop tour including pre-production scripting and planning, mood board and aesthetics, cameras and lighting, post-production, and queer film festival and DIY distribution. Or maybe you are inspired by slugs? Join Vix Williams, and their interactive installation that employs UV-reactive slime as a tactile medium to combat anxiety and gives us a place where we can play, connect and collaborate. Lastly, local queer poet, writer and community activist T.S. IDIOT shares their thoughts on queer joy and what that means to us in a collaborative creative poetry writing workshop.