Summer Programme Open Events: open to all
MONDAY 15 JULY
1730 – 1930
Panel Discussion: ‘Queer Asia as a Field?’ (Open Event)
Chair: Dibyesh Anand
Speakers: Nof Nasser Eddin (CTDC), Victoria Sin, Victor Fan (King’s College London)
Location: UG05, followed by reception in Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW
Free tickets available HERE (registration necessary)
What is it to conceive ‘queer Asia’ as a field? Is it useful (or not) to organise around the terms ‘queer’ and ‘Asia’ (separately or conjoined)? How does this differ within varied practices and disciplines? What organisational capacity does it hold? Our Opening Panel invites our speakers to reflect on ideas of ‘Queer’, ‘Asia’, and ‘Queer Asia’ in their disciplines, areas of expertise, and/or practice. Coming from academic, activist, and artistic backgrounds, panellists will reflect on their divergent expertise in thinking about these questions and discuss some of the significant queries we reflect upon in organising around the terms queer and Asia.
Timeframe: 2 hours, followed by reception
WEDNESDAY 17 JULY
1700 – 1900
QAFF ‘Feeling Bodies’ & Panel Discussion: Film Festival As Method – Curation, Challenges, Content (Open Event)
Speakers: Estrella Sentra (Cambridge African Film Festival), Matthew Baren & Will Dai (CINEMQ), Theresa Heath (Queer Wotever DIY Film Festival), Poorva Rajaram (Bangalore Queer Film Festival), J. Daniel Luther (Chair)
Location: S -2.08 (Lecture Theatre), Strand Building, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
Free tickets available HERE (registration necessary)
Cinema is rapidly changing the way queerness is imagined and visualised in diverse contexts. While rigid censorship laws, social oppression, and lack of funding push queer filmmakers to adopt a range of strategies in film making, distribution, and production, they have also resulted in queer film festivals emerging as crucial sites negotiating these regulatory powers amongst other critical goals. Keeping this in mind, this panel aims to examine how film festivals negotiate queer politics and challenges of distribution and exhibition through curation. It seeks to discuss questions on how festivals engage and contribute to queer politics in varied contexts, how curation can negotiate challenges of censorship, distribution, and funding, and what are the ways in which film festivals themselves situate themselves differently within divergent local contexts. It will incorporate the experiences of academics studying film festivals and festival curators.
Timeframe: 1.5 hours
THURSDAY 18 JULY
1730 – 1900
Book Launch: ‘Queer’ Asia: Decolonising and Reimagining Sexuality and Gender, followed by Reception
Location: Atrium (Paul Webley Wing), SOAS University of London, Russell Square, WC1H 0XG
Free to attend, no registration necessary
Join us to celebrate the book launch of ‘Queer’ Asia: Decolonising and Reimagining Sexuality and Gender (Zed Books, 2019). We will be joined by some of our fantastic contributors who will discuss their chapters and some of the themes and questions raised by the volume.