QUEER CYMRU 2007 is a series of performances and films to coincide with this year's Cardiff Mardi Gras.
Based at Chapter, Cardiff, Wales, UK from Straight, gay, bi sexual and trans gendered performers that challenges stereotypes and celebrates and explores diversity.
There is something here for everyone whatever your orientation, and we hope to provide a safe and alternative, stimulating environment outside of the usual 'scene.'
QUEER CYMRU FILMS - you can buy tickets online at: http://www.chapter.org and they're a lot cheaper. NB.
Exhibitions are FREE.
Special Iris Prize preview
Itty Bitty Titty Committee 8.30pm
Fri 31 Aug
USA/2007/87 mins/ctba. Dir: Jamie Babbit (who also made 'But I'm a Cheerleader').
The story of Anna, an insecure, apolitical girl who encounters a radical political art group, falls in love with its leader, Sadie, and transforms from a girl into a woman.
A favourite on the festival circuit the film has secured many awards including South by South West, Berlin, Melbourne and the audience award in Philadelphia. The film has yet to secure UK distribution – this preview screening officially kicks off Queer Cymru 2007 and is sponsored by the Iris Prize.
“An upfront call to action that takes no prisoners and pulls no punches… For anyone in despair over the state of the world or the movies, this posse of revolting dykes deliver a mega dose of hope.” – Sight and Sound.
A Year Without Love (Un Año sin Amor) 6.30pm
Tue 4 Sept
Argentina/2005/95 mins/subtitled/18. Dir: Anahí Berners.
A young HIV positive poet decides to document his attempts to cure both his failing love life and health. Eventually he becomes part of an intimate leather circle and begins to fully explore his fascination with S&M practices.
Unveiled (Fremde Haut)6.30pm
Wed 5 Sept
Germany/2005/97 mins/subtitled/15. Dir: Angelina Maccarone.
Fariba escapes from Iran to Germany, fleeing persecution because of her sexuality. When her neighbour in the internment centre commits suicide, she assumes his identity to evade repatriation and passes herself off as a man.
Beyond Hatred (Au-delá de la haine) 6.30pm
Thu 6 Sept
France/2006/86 mins/subtitled/ctba.* Dir: Olivier Meyrou.
François Chenu was killed by three young men in a pointless attack motivated by hate.
This considered and respectful film documents some of the aftermath of his death – the steps that French society takes to achieve justice via the courts and the incredible efforts his family make to feel a personal sense of justice and peace.
QUEER CYMRU PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS:
Fri 31 Aug • 8pm
Gareth Llyr
Sbïwch Arnai Rwan / Before I Fade
Drwy gyfnuo testun gwreiddiol a gwaith corfforol byrfyfyr, mae gwaith solo cyntaf Gareth Llyr yn darlunio pump llun ohono tra’n blentyn. Gyda cyferiadau at Sontag, Kushner, a Walter Benjamin, mae Sbïwch Arnai Rwan / Before I Fade yn archwilio’r berthynas rhwng natur diflanedig perfformiad byw a delwedd barhaus y llun ffotograffig, a’r gwirioneddau a ddaw i’r amlwg trwy edrych yn ôl.
“I am standing in my underwear. I am surrounded by a hundred and fifty blue Ty Nant water bottles and a few red ones. You are looking at me and I am looking at you. I am going to tell you about five photographs, and I hardly remember any of them.”
This intimate and revealing autobiographical work explores recollections of memory in Welsh and English through a series of portraits in movement drawn from childhood photos, in which the truths only emerge with hindsight.
A knowledge of Welsh is not essential for the understanding and appreciation of this performance.
£6/£4
Sat 1 + Sun 2 Sept • 8pm
uhhuh dance
Albedo
uhhuh dance follow last year’s audacious, controversial and critically acclaimed 'The Son the Lover & the Holy Spin' with a new performance that holds up a mirror to the work of Frida Kahlo and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Devised and performed by Jon Luxton, Kylie Ann Smith and Esme Addams with additional direction from Sarah Hall and Andy Marshall.
£8/£5
Tue 4 + Wed 5 Sept • 8pm
Burst
Ode to Morten Harket
Join your larger than life, glammed-up hostess and macho, rock star host (both played by Emily Underwood) for a generous cocktail and perhaps a vol-auvont or two. Take a riotous journey through one woman’s 20-year obsession with Morten Harket, the lead singer of ‘80s pop-band a-ha. Comedy, dressing-up, bad tap dancing and conversations with the audience combine in this exploration of gender identity and the first stirrings of sexuality. Expect a return to bright colours, quick costume changes and a DIY aesthetic.
Previous Burst shows at Chapter include 2270 Seconds, BPM and Do I Come Here Often.
Written and performed by Emily Underwood.
Directed by Jodie Allinson.
£6/£4
Thu 6 + Fri 7 Sept • 8pm
Ivan Coyote
Chapter presents two nights of live stories from the wonderful Vancouver-based writer and performer Ivan Coyote. Ivan was born and raised in Whitehorse Yukon and is the son of a welder and the daughter of a government worker. Over the last ten years she has become an audience favourite at music, poetry, spoken word and writer’s festivals across North America and Canada.
“Canada. Good old fashioned kitchen table stories. Imagine you are drinking black tea with canned milk, and it is snowing outside. The kitchen smells like homemade soup, and you don’t have to work tomorrow so you can sit up all night talking and smoking cigarettes.”
£5/£4
http://www.myspace.com/ivancoyote
“What makes Coyote’s stories special - her humour, her humanity, her talent for sketching the bizarre in the everyday - soars beyond cliche.” - The Toronto Star
Fri 7 + Sat 8 Sept • 6pm
Cyw
gan Roger Williams
Bachgen, mamgu, a llond basged o wyau. Drama fer (10 muned) am yr ymosodiadau diweddar yn erbyn y gymuned hoyw ym Moscow.
Perfformir gan Ryan Chappell.
A new short Welsh language monologue inspired by the recent homophobic protests in Moscow.
Mynediad am ddim/Free
Sat 8 Sept • 7.30pm
Lucy Porter
The Good Life
Are you in your late twenties or older, and slightly worried that you’re not really a ‘good’ person? Worried that the legacy you’re leaving for future generations amounts to little more than a mountain of debt, a mountain of non-biodegradable rubbish, and a mountain of thoughts and opinions that add nothing to the advancement of the species?
Award-winning comedienne Lucy Porter is worried about all these things and plenty more besides. Can a drinking, gambling, allround hedonist ever consider herself to be morally good?
A Go Faster Stripe comedy production which will be recorded for release on DVD.
£10
http://www.lucyporter.info
http://www.gofasterstripe.com
Sat 15 Sept • 8pm
Peppermintpatti
Fake Tan
+ Emily Breeze
+ Vile Vile Creatures
+ Heck
Peppermintpatti returns after the summer break with some honest to goodness riot grrl action. Local outfit Heck kick off the night, followed by Manchester’s Vile Vile Creatures, much admired Bristol ‘badland’ rocker Emily Breeze and dance floor fillers Fake Tan.
£5/£4 in advance
£6/£5 on the door
http://www.peppermintpatti.co.uk
“Feel the grind, the husk and the rush of one of Bristol’s most unique and impassioned performers.” Venn (on Emily Breeze)
Tue 18 Sept • 8pm
Curious
(be)longing
Camouflaged in cowboy shirts with fancy stitches made to hide broken hearts and deflecting vulnerability with sequins and high heels, this is the award-winning, London-based Curious at their most personal and poignant. Beneath the neon glow of a highway road sign, their yearnings take them across vast desert landscapes in search of fulfilment and fitting in. Curious (Leslie Hill and Helen Paris) specialise in performance, film and video and are known for their edgy, humorous commentary on contemporary culture and politics, work which has been called ‘as smart as it is seductive’.
£10/£8/£6
http://www.placelessness.com
“the quiet power of Leslie Hill and Helen Paris’ performance lies in its low-key directness, its quirky juxtapositions and its understanding of the geography of loneliness and the myth of return.” — The Guardian
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http://www.myspace.com/queercymru
Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff
Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries
mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk
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