2017

Ivy Rosenauer @ GenderFest | Saturday 28/1, 22:00, Girls Like Us Q&A

Ivy Rosenauer

Ivy is a model who has also been working as a DJ and marketer.
Recently, she has joined forces with famed transgender activists such as Saga Becker and Vanessa Lopez for “Girls Like Us”—a documentary reality show made for Swedish SVT, following the lives of trans women and highlighting struggles like SRS surgery.

That documentary led to a further film collaboration with Saga Becker: “Fuck Girls”—a short film focusing on three trans women’s sisterly bond and fight against abuse in society.

She will be present for the Q&A after the screening of the first episode of Girls Like Us.

Melita Scabeau

 

Drag Queen Melita Scabeau exists for one reason only: to entertain the audience. Her shows are packed with stand up comedy, live singing and improv acts and so she lifts us all to places full of pizzazz and smiley faces. She may be as short as a can of soda but that does not stop her from presenting innovative shows. Although she doesn’t forget that she was born in an opressed community, she keeps on working towards a better future, with our total support. If you happen to meet her, talk to her! Her wig may look wild, but it doesn’t bite!

Melita Scabeau will be our compère at Gender Fest!

Melita Scabeau Facebook Page

Zackie Oh!

Zackie Oh! was created by the Goddess HermAphrodite from a rib taken out of Zak Kostopoulos, who had removed it for better…flexibility!

She used to be very wealthy and live a happy life with her husband in their mansion she liked to call Eden. Then, one night, a snake came to her door, offering her an apple. Since she hates healthy food and doesn’t eat fruit, she rejected it. But the insidious snake came back the next day, this time with the apple made into hard cider. She drank it at once (since she couldn’t resist the alcohol), turned into an alcoholic, drank away all her fortune and lost Eden and her husband.

Since then, she has made it her life goal to use her charm, wit, body and everything else it takes to snatch the title of the Queen from Madonna herself and gain fame, fortune and her place back in Eden.


In her free time, she is also a Dragtivist fighting for social justice and world peace. Her hobbies include exterminating fascists by throwing ‘faggot dust’ bombs (a.k.a ‘glitter bombs’).

Zackie Oh! will appear on the Gender Fest stage for two fabulous, one-of-a-kind drag shows!

The Beatches

Four female djs on the decks: Nicol Chorinopoulou, Gina Dimakopoulou, Katerina Panopoulou and Irene Karaoglou. After years and years of live dj sets and music performances in Athens, they join forces to throw the most fancy electro dance parties.

The Beatches will play live at Gender Fest, so don’t forget to bring your friends and energy and dance to some killer electro tunes!

The Beatches Facebook Page

 

Samania: Samira Mahoub & Ania Catherine @ GenderFest Samania: Samira Mahoub & Ania Catherine @ GenderFest

Samania

Samania is an artist/scholar duo composed of Samira Mahboub and Ania Catherine. Samira (Germany) and Ania (USA) met in 2013 while pursuing master’s degrees at the London School of Economics Gender Institute. Their work combines movement, performance, photography, film, theory and fashion, and is grounded in political and social critique around the subjects of gender, coloniality and sexuality. Samira was born in Munich, Germany, and works internationally as a model. Ania was born in Santa Ana, California, and works in Los Angeles as an artist and choreographer.

One of their most powerful projects is ‘Cloth’, which is a video art piece intended to start an inter/intracultural conversation about women, identity, restriction, agency, freedom, and (mis)perceptions thereof.

http://bysamania.com/

GenderFest HBO Greece transgender The Trans List of HBO 27 Jan 2017 at 22.15

The Trans List (2016)

The ‘Trans List’ explores the range of experiences lived by Americans who identify as transgender (an umbrella term for people whose gender identity does not conform to that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth). No two experiences of trans people are exactly alike. ‘Transgender’, ‘trans- sexual’, ‘genderqueer’, ‘bi-gender’ and ‘non gender-binary’ are just a few of the multitude of self-identifiers in the trans community. This film gives a platform to a diverse group of eleven individuals to tell their stories, in their own words, of their experience with identity, family, career, love, struggle and accomplishment.

 

 

Girl Like Us, 28 Jan at 22.30

Girls Like Us (2016)

Girls Like Us  is a Swedish TV series about five trans women and their everyday lives. From having been invisible or ridiculed, transgender persons are getting lead roles in films and ΤV series and are seen on covers of fashion magazines. Five Swedish girls now get their own TV series where their stories about their spiritual life, dating, partying, and just everyday life are told from their perspective.

Vanessa Lopez, one of the protagonists of Girls Like Us , trans-activist and winner of  Miss Trans Star International Contest in 2015, will be present to talk about the series and answer questions from the audience.

Casablanca Calling, 29 Jan at 19:30

Casablanca Calling (2014)

Casablanca Calling is an intimate portrait of three Morchidat, female religious preachers, based in Morocco.
Their stories illustrate a society in transition and a mission to educate a nation as they preach the virtues of tolerance, compassion and equality.
Karima is young and outgoing; in the capital Rabat, she relishes working with young people. Bouchra is a powerhouse of energy working in Larache in the north and she is determined to change the culture of misogyny and champion girls’ education. Hannane is warm and compassionate, working to explain the true teachings of Islam and expose superstition, misinterpretation and blind adherence to tradition.
In this film, we follow these three Morchidat as they work in mosques, schools and prisons around the country.

 

Something Must Break, 28 Jan at 20.30

Something Must Break (2014)

Gender Fest 2017 presents the sold out movie which was screened at Outview Film Festival 2015 and has won multiple awards and nominations in various film festivals around the world, such as Tribeca Film Festival, Berlin Feminist Film Week, Bergen International Film Festival and more.

A gritty story set in Stockholm, about the passionate love between self-abusive Sebastian who wants to be a woman, and easy-going Andreas, who is certainly not gay. When Sebastian meets Andreas for the first time there is an instant feeling of belonging together. For Sebastian, gender norms are fluid and his determination to live as ‘Ellie’ grows stronger. Andreas, on the other hand, identifies as straight and is struggling to accept his attraction to another man.

Ester Martin Bergsmark has created an intimate, romantic and intense Stockholm love story which feels very current.


Το Fucking Different (XXY) στις 29 Ιανουαρίου, 23:00

Fucking Different XXY (2014)

‘The sixth part in the compilation film series FUCKING DIFFERENT  breaks new ground. Since 2005, producer and project initiator Kristian Petersen has asked gay and lesbian filmmakers from various cities to make short documentary and fiction films – in each case, a lesbian taking on gay topics and vice versa. FUCKING DIFFERENT XXY  intends to finally dissolve the binarity of classic gender identities. Seven transgender filmmakers from all over the world have made short films about aspects of sexuality which are alien to them. The mixture is colourful and diverse and includes documentary contributions from pornographic filmmakers Buck Angel and Mor Vital and experimental approaches by J Jackie Baier and Gwen Haworth, who both come from a documentary background. The film series attempts to overturn stereotypes about the ‘other’ and what’s ‘normal’ – stereotypes which also exist in the queer community. To quote the film’s own motto: break stereotypes, create confusion and celebrate diversity!’ Berlinale