Cape Town: The Queer Feminist Film Festival returns

The Queer Feminist Film Festival (QFFF) is back for a three-day event at Guga S’thebe, Langa, Cape Town, scheduled from December 7 to 9.

This year’s theme, “Honouring Memory, Re-membering and Invoking the Ancestral,” aligns with a collaboration between QFFF, Langa Centenary NPC, and Langa LGBTIQ+ Zone to commemorate 100 years of queer existence in Langa, coinciding with the township’s centenary celebrations this year.

The festival serves as a platform for young Queer Feminist organisers, storytellers, and business owners to showcase their work, establish connections within Queer networks, and enhance their capabilities.

Activities include a political debate on December 7, hosted by Triangle Project, and film screenings, “kiki spaces” for discussing strategies related to the LGBTIQ+ community’s lived experiences, entertainment, food, stalls, and interactive art installations on December 8 and 9.

A Pride march is scheduled for December 9, starting at 11:00 from Isilimela Primary School along King Langalibalele Drive.

The organisers describe QFFF as a crucible for a future black utopia, celebrating black queerness through thoughtful film content and challenging the perception of black queer content as inherently violent. It provides a “coming home” and “safe space” for young aspiring queer filmmakers to confidently create their first films and explore diverse stories of queerness.

Launched in 2018, QFFF has successfully introduced queer narratives to peri-urban areas, aiming to be a safe, affirming, and celebratory learning space. It offers LGBTQI+ individuals, communities, organisations, activists, and creators a platform to share their work and lived realities.

The event aims to foster learning and unlearning through film and art that portrays diverse narratives of LGBTQI+ individuals, generating dialogue and strategies to challenge homophobia and address social justice issues impacting LGBTQI+ persons and human rights.

QFFF engages communities on queer and feminist issues, promotes queer visibility, and facilitates conversations around community and movement building. The event challenges gender norms, cisnormative patriarchy, and rhetoric labelling queerness as un-African.

The festival is made possible with the support of Triangle Project, African Gender Institute (UCT), Heinrich Böll Foundation, and Kasi2Kasi Queer Cinema.

For information and details on the lineup and events, visit the Queer Feminist Film Festival Facebook page.