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Co-presented by Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, GLAAD & Arab American National Museum
find yourself through forming connections with others. The The The The The This year's Queer Lens program highlights the importance of relationships and community building for young LGBTQ+ Arabs. Featuring a diverse set of award-winning shorts from the Levant, North Africa, and the diaspora, each of these films contend with what it means to find yourself through forming connections with others. The filmmakers explore how Queer Arab youth seek out one another across space and time: by connecting across countries, finding solace in older generations, or through exploring hidden queer narratives in Arab history. Despite the obstacles of social stigma, physical distance, and historical distortion, Queer Arabs remain steadfast in their efforts to establish a community of acceptance and understanding with and for each other.
Through a fusion of drawing, animation techniques, and real-life footage, these artistic portrayals highlight the experiences of queer individuals from the "BIG Maghreb" region, including Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. These individuals have courageously shattered societal taboos surrounding their gender and sexuality, defying legal, social, and familial pressures, even among those who have chosen to distance themselves from their families.
About the Filmmaker:
Bassem Ben Brahim (She,He) is a Queer film director from Tunisia. Bassem graduated in image design at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts, Nabeul Tunisia. He got his Masters in editing from the School of Audiovisual and Cinema Gammart ESAC. He has directed two animated films; CHROMOPHOBIA and THE RED FISH in 2019 around the issue of gender and sexuality. In 2022 he made his first short documentary NIDHAL which has made various international festivals such as Reeling LGBTQ+ Film Festival; Lovers Film Festival. He is the co-founder of Gender Betounsi, a project on gender culture through the art of animation and painting.
- Year2023
- Runtime24 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountryAlgeria, Brazil, Morocco, Tunisia
- PremiereSan Francisco Premiere
- GenreDocumentary, LGBTQ+
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorBassem Ben Brahim
- Executive ProducerAli Bousselmi
- CinematographerRafi - Rayen
- EditorBassem Ben Brahim
- AnimatorAla Eddine Jelassi
- Sound DesignSaber Gueblaoui
- MusicMeryam Toumi
Co-presented by Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, GLAAD & Arab American National Museum
find yourself through forming connections with others. The The The The The This year's Queer Lens program highlights the importance of relationships and community building for young LGBTQ+ Arabs. Featuring a diverse set of award-winning shorts from the Levant, North Africa, and the diaspora, each of these films contend with what it means to find yourself through forming connections with others. The filmmakers explore how Queer Arab youth seek out one another across space and time: by connecting across countries, finding solace in older generations, or through exploring hidden queer narratives in Arab history. Despite the obstacles of social stigma, physical distance, and historical distortion, Queer Arabs remain steadfast in their efforts to establish a community of acceptance and understanding with and for each other.
Through a fusion of drawing, animation techniques, and real-life footage, these artistic portrayals highlight the experiences of queer individuals from the "BIG Maghreb" region, including Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. These individuals have courageously shattered societal taboos surrounding their gender and sexuality, defying legal, social, and familial pressures, even among those who have chosen to distance themselves from their families.
About the Filmmaker:
Bassem Ben Brahim (She,He) is a Queer film director from Tunisia. Bassem graduated in image design at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts, Nabeul Tunisia. He got his Masters in editing from the School of Audiovisual and Cinema Gammart ESAC. He has directed two animated films; CHROMOPHOBIA and THE RED FISH in 2019 around the issue of gender and sexuality. In 2022 he made his first short documentary NIDHAL which has made various international festivals such as Reeling LGBTQ+ Film Festival; Lovers Film Festival. He is the co-founder of Gender Betounsi, a project on gender culture through the art of animation and painting.
- Year2023
- Runtime24 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountryAlgeria, Brazil, Morocco, Tunisia
- PremiereSan Francisco Premiere
- GenreDocumentary, LGBTQ+
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorBassem Ben Brahim
- Executive ProducerAli Bousselmi
- CinematographerRafi - Rayen
- EditorBassem Ben Brahim
- AnimatorAla Eddine Jelassi
- Sound DesignSaber Gueblaoui
- MusicMeryam Toumi