(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The primary task of the international film festival environment is to supplement the routine commercial cinema offering. The biggest festivals with the broadest film programs do this simply by showing international films that for various reasons are never seen in the local cinema programs – often with varying program sections and themes from year to year. Others again choose to give the festival itself an overall theme, to add a given set of perspectives that are lacking in everyday film culture. Curiously, it is the latter type of festival that so far dominates in the Norwegian capital: Film Fra Sør has for many years been at the top of Oslo's biggest film festival, with little sister Arab Film Days in tow. The slanted film festival Oslo / Fusion has also asserted itself as an actor to count on.
When the festival formerly known as simply Skeive Films two years ago got its new name, there was a certain concern among its audience as to what this would mean for the content of the festival itself. The situation had many similarities to the process the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival had undergone just a year earlier, when it was transformed into BFI Flare – a name with no obvious reference to either target audience or thematic content. What was going to happen to the odd identity that had formed the basis of both these festivals, in addition to attracting loyal audiences?
So far, there seems to be no cause for concern. The Oslo / Fusion program for the 2017 edition gives room to the traditional portrait interviews and depictions of various icons, while allowing for completely different slanted voices that we in Europe are not used to hearing.
International liberation struggle. In our times, "intersectionalism" is a hot concept in any professionally serious debate on equality and liberation. Thus, it is fitting that a quirky film festival chooses to make room for stories from individuals who are marginalized not only because of their orientation or gender identity; but this in combination with, for example, ethnicity or nationality. The crown example from the festival catalog for Oslo / Fusion 2017 is the special event "Queer X Refugees". The program features six short films about odd people in flight. We meet a lesbian Ugandan asylum seeker in Denmark, a group of disgraced Syrian refugees in Lebanon and an Afghan refugee girl who is about to start a new school – among other things. The program is curated by Yavuz Kurtulmus, Founder and Festival Director of the TRANSITION International Queer Minorities Festival, which is Europe's largest festival for minorities located in the diverse spectrum. Kurtulmus is also part of the documentary jury under Oslo / Fusion.
The documentary section of the festival program contains nine films, of which three are particularly resistant to thematic comparison with the mentioned short film program:
I Girl Unbound (USA) we meet Pakistani Maria Toorpakai, who has grown up in a Taliban-controlled part of Pakistan. Early in her childhood, Maria began to dress up as a boy to be allowed to participate in sports activities. With the support of her parents, she keeps going for several years and becomes a skilled squash player, but in the end it becomes too difficult to keep her identity hidden. This poses a danger to life for both Maria herself and the rest of the family. Maria's almost magnetic presence in combination with the tragically relevant motif makes this a gripping film experience.
The Canadian-Pakistani production Abu: Father is described as a personal essay, where director Arshad Khan points the camera at himself and his family. The film is a personal and intimate portrait – which uses both family photographs and home videos, interviews, archival material and animation to tell the story of a family undergoing change.
We will also make the trip to Uganda, where we will meet 27 year old Cleo The Pearl of Africa. Cleo is a trans woman, and has had to fight an almost incredible fight to get the opportunity to decide on her own existence in a country where homosexuality is punished with life imprisonment. The title of the film refers to a nickname given to Uganda by Winston Churchill in his time, but which today is miles from everyday life to many of the country's inhabitants – not least those who fall outside of gender and sexuality norms.
Historical whisper. As mentioned, there are also several legendary characters, movements and places that are highlighted in the documentary section. Among these, I hope many take the time to see The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. In addition to being a portrayal of one of North America's best-known LGBT activists, this film stands as a reminder of the long history of police violence in the United States. Marsha is said to have been a central figure in the Stonewall uprising that took place in 1969, triggered by a police raid at a central New York LGBT bar. When she was found dead in the Hudson River in 1992, 46 years old, police quickly concluded suicide. In this documentary, director David France follows lawyer Victoria Cruz's fight to resume the case and find out what really lay behind the death of one of the most famous trans activists of the time.
Historically, we also find in My Wonderful West Berlin, which depicts the disjointed environment of West Berlin from the first postwar years until the fall of the wall in 1989 (See separate article). Homosexuality was prohibited by law in Germany until 1969, but today Berlin is still one of Europe's most central LGBT cities. How has this trend gone? Contemporary interviews and historical recordings form the basis for an alternative storytelling in this documentary.
Wide representation. A central part of any festival and similar events that claim to allow otherwise underrepresented voices to speak is precisely to offer representation and recognition to groups that usually feel marginalized in the larger community. Unfortunately, such measures will usually cause other groups, and often those who are normally very clearly represented in society otherwise, to feel alienated and outside. An excellent example of this phenomenon is the debate post "Sorry, I'm a white, heterosexual man", which was led by the pen of an FPU central board member and published on Agendamagasin.no 22. August. A trip to Oslo / Fusion is one possible remedy for such delusions; Here you can experience strange stories that are universally human, at a festival that actively contributes to diversity of expression.
Oslo / Fusion takes place at the Cinemateket in Oslo, 18. – 24. September
