Pervasive Media Studio Resident and organiser of Bristol Trans & Non-Binary Creatives Meet Up Harriet Taylor, invites audiences to reflect on how gender is presented and received in on-screen narratives worldwide, with Reflections and Refractions: Gender on Screen a season of films she has curated for Watershed.
An observation of cinema’s inclusive good intentions and its narrow-minded portrayals, the season kick starts in sixties Japan with Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses, launching us in at the deep end and exploding onto screens with no sense of inhibition. This is followed with Brian De Palma’s controversial Dressed To Kill, then Sally Potter’s free-spirited Orlando, and finally Alexandra-Therese Keining’s gender-switching fantasy drama Girls Lost.
Harriet says, "Reflections and Refractions is – in essence – the result of many, many cinema visits, and noticing that in 2023, I’m still not really up there. Not me, personally, but a huge part of my identity. There’s a value in seeing oneself reflected on screen – I think to 'Death & Bowling' as one of those rare, joyful moments. But the history of cinema is largely storied with misinformed portrayals of the trans community, and I wanted to address that full picture. There is good and bad, and sometimes murky grey areas where it can be uncomfortably both."
Harriet will be introducing each of these screenings with an opportunity to discuss the film in the Café & Bar afterwards.
The season precedes a special preview Q&A screening of the embattled, ground-breaking film Joyland (Thu 9 Feb) with director Saim Sadiq hosted by Harriet. Set in bustling Lahore, it is a love story involving trans starlet, Biba, which won the jury prize at Cannes and is still banned in Punjab province. Joyland opens on Fri 24 Feb.
Cinema Assistant Steph Read says "We’re so looking forward to presenting this striking season of films, curated by Harriet Taylor (Switch), that explores trans representation throughout screen history. Contextualising controversial classics like De Palma’s Dressed to Kill, while presenting more celebratory and contemporary titles alongside, the season offers an intriguing and nuanced selection of trans cinema."
You can read an article by Harriet on the season here.
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