Join Campbell X and friends for a Homotopia 2021 screening of DES!RE, followed by a panel discussion on trans masculine visibility and representation.
DES!RE by award-winning filmmaker Campbell X (Stud Life, VISIBLE, Spectrum London, Different for Girls, Still We Thrive) takes it’s visual influence from the homo-erotic photography of Bruce Weber and queers it further with a trans and feminist lens. It is in Black and White with a dreamy soundtrack by Campbell L Sangster and animation by Neelu Bhuman.
In queer culture there has been a shift to speaking about the complexities of desire. But there is very little discussion about actively desiring those bodies which blur gender boundaries and binaries.
Mainstream visual culture is still stuck in cis heteronormative capitalistic binary attractiveness – even for those who define as transgender. So there is a wealth of images of those trans mascs who approximate cis male embodiment. Butch women or those who reject womanhood who are not trans men are also not celebrated or “seen” especially in mainstream LGBTQ timelines.
DES!RE attempts to explore the desire for sameness and difference using the bodies of people of diverse ages and races, who were assigned female at birth, yet now identify as transmen, men, masculine of centre, butch, stud, non-binary and AG.
The dialogue between the images and the voice over by femme lesbian and bisexual women, transmen, and butch women subverts heteronormative understanding of love and lust for this queer masculinity. DES!RE celebrates while acknowledging the challenges for loving masculinity, maleness and manhood.
With local artists Felix Mufti-Wright and Campbell L Sangster.
13:30: Doors
14:00: Intro
14:10 Film
14:20 Q&A
A film screening and panel discussion with members of Liverpool’s African diasporic community. Panel members will reflect on a series of workshops they attended at the Museum.
The workshops – recorded in the winter of 2019/20 – were designed to help the Museum rethink the display of its Benin collection, and address historical legacies of injustice to create a more inclusive and engaging display.
The new display, which will include a number of looted items, is part of the World Cultures gallery, which will reopen in 2022. The gallery will celebrate the Edo Kingdom’s brilliant inheritance of court art, and confront the violent colonial history behind its theft by a British force in 1897.
Free event, online booking essential.
To complement British Music Experience’a Frankie say 1984! Exhibition and further explore the social and political context of the mid-1980s, they are screening My Beautiful Laundrette.
The 1985 British comedy-drama directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi was one of the first films released by Working Title Films.
The story is set in London during the Thatcher years, as reflected in the complex—and often comical—relationships between members of the Pakistani and English communities.
The story focuses on Omar, played by Gordon Warnecke, a young Pakistani man living in London, and his reunion and eventual romance with his old friend, a street punk named Johnny, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The two become the caretakers and business managers of a launderette originally owned by Omar’s uncle Nasser.
The British Film Institute ranked My Beautiful Laundrette the 50th greatest British film of the 20th century.
Please note, their museum galleries are closed during film screenings. There are no ads or trailers.
Director: Stephen Frears
Certificate: 15
Length: 1hr 37mins
Tickets £8 adult, £6.50 concession/Independent Liverpool member (ID required)
I Am Cuba is an anti-American propaganda film, made as a Cuban-Soviet co-production, that has been snatched from oblivion, restored, and released in the United States as a presentation of Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola.
The film is shown FACT, 12 October, 8pm. See here for tickets.
Since the film’s prediction of a brave new world under Fidel Castro has not resulted in a utopia for Cubans, who suffer under one of the world’s most dismal bureaucracies, the film today seems naive and dated – but fascinating.
This screening will begin with a short 10-15 minute introduction from the Liverpool Architectural Society.
This screening is part of our Community Cinema. If you’re an artist, independent filmmaker, charity, film club, or arts organisation, find out how FACT can support your film screening.
Part documentary and part cinematic art, this film follows a city in the 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, from morning to night.
The event is held FACT, 21 September, 8pm. See here for tickets.
Directed by Dziga Vertov, with a variety of complex and innovative camera shots, the film depicts scenes of ordinary daily life in Russia. Vertov celebrates the modernity of the city, with its vast buildings, dense population and bustling industries. While there are no titles or narration, Vertov still naturally conveys the marvels of the modern city.
This screening will begin with a short 10-15 minute introduction from the Liverpool Architectural Society.
This screening is part of our Community Cinema. If you’re an artist, independent filmmaker, charity, film club, or arts organisation, find out how FACT can support your film screening.
Still grieving over the accidental death of their daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) head to Venice, Italy, where John’s been commissioned to restore a church.
There Laura meets two sisters (Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania) who claim to be in touch with the spirit of the Baxters’ daughter. Laura takes them seriously, but John scoffs until he himself catches a glimpse of what looks like Christine running through the streets of Venice.
This screening is held FACT, 2 November, 8pm and will begin with a short 10-15 minute introduction from the Liverpool Architectural Society. See here for tickets.
This screening is part of their Community Cinema. If you’re an artist, independent filmmaker, charity, film club, or arts organisation, find out how FACT can support your film screening.
Join Reel Tours on the third Thursday of every month downstairs in the Everyman to test your cinematic knowledge in the most exciting film quiz in Liverpool… in a theatre.
Whatever your area of expertise, be it Golden Age Hollywood, Foreign flicks or the most recent Blockbusters, we cover all decades, genres and talent. There are also some lovely prizes which could be yours, your own, your precious.
Reel Tours is your cinematic map of the world. We provide walking tours to the many filming locations in Liverpool as well as hosting numerous other events in the region, such as interactive quizzes, film screenings, talks & much more.
• £3 per-person
• Teams up to 6 members
• 8pm start (doors from 7.30pm, first come, first served)
The Cremaster Cycle is a series of five visually extravagant films created by artist Matthew Barney that blasted its way into the art world nearly 20 years ago, and has had a lasting impact ever since: its influence can be found in film, video, art, media, commerce, theatre and more.
The event is held Picturehouse at FACT, 21/22 August, start times 4pm and 5.30pm respectively. See here for tickets.
Filmed over eight years, from 1994 to 2002, the films themselves are a grandiose mixture of history, autobiography and mythology, creating an intensely private universe where symbols and images are layered and interconnected.
Created for the big screen only and unavailable for many years, The Cremaster Cycle is a unique, must-see experience, guaranteed to leave you awestruck and mystified in a glorious way.
Strap on your singing boots and warm up those vocal chords, because Nightflix gin cinema is bringing song-tastic films to the New Brighton Football Club (R.U.) in Wirral, on the weekend of 20th – 22nd August.
At this immersive outdoor gin festival and cinema experience guests will be able to belt out the lyrics to some of the most popular musicals of recent years, such as Mamma Mia, A Star is Born, and The Greatest Showman, along with classics such as Grease and Dirty Dancing.
Get ready for good vibes, great films, and tasty gins as the order of the day. Bring your own chair, or hire a deck chair or giant beanbag, and sit back with a drink and get ready to enjoy the film on the outdoor LED screen.
As this is a gin cinema event, guests can of course enjoy a wide range of gins and mixers, along with a fully stocked bar for any non-gin drinkers with a wide range of soft drinks. There will also be a selection of hot food and sweet treats available at all locations.
And a little rain won’t get in the way, the show will go on. So bring a brolly or waterproofs. The Nightflix Gin Cinema has been well received by attendees as a fun day out and a good old-fashioned singalong – a special favourite for date nights, family outings or girls’ nights out.
