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05.06.2024 – 26.06.2024

Queer 80s: Cinema on the Brink of Global Change

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From ground-breaking movies from across the globe as part of the Barbican’s Pride season this summer. 'Queer 80s: Cinema on the Brink of Global Change' invites audiences to time travel back to a decade when LGBTQ+ representation and creativity on screen thrived.

Throughout the 80s, queer filmmakers across the world seized the camera to tell new stories in different ways with provocative and unapologetic depictions of LGBTQ+ people making it to the big screen. The world was on the edge of transformation. Borders were about to shift (three of the films in this film programme originate from countries that would not exist beyond 1991), the work to end Apartheid in South Africa continued while - even as archaic laws around homosexuality began to be revoked - the Aids crisis led to a terrible wave of homophobia.

Screenings & Events

  • Wednesday 5 Jun: Freak Orlando (West Germany 1981) + ScreenTalk with Ulrike Ottinger.
  • Thursday 6 Jun: Beautiful Mystery (Japan 1983) + introduction by Tony Rayns.
  • Saturday 8 June: Beyond Gravity (New Zealand 1988) + other Gay Shorts from New Zealand + introduction by Daniel Theophanous.
  • Sunday 9 June: The Farewell (Sweden-Finland 1982) + introduction by Mekella Broomberg.
  • Wednesday 12 June: Radical Defiance: Queer Brazilian Super-8 Shorts 1982-3 + introduction.
  • Thursday 13 June: Tongues Untied (US 1989) + introduction by Rikki Beadle-Blair and live poetry.
  • Tuesday 16 June: Ashik Kerib (Soviet Union 1988) + introduction by Michael Brooke.
  • Thursday 20 June: Law of Desire + introduction (Spain 1987).
  • Saturday 22 June: Quest for Love (South Africa 1988) + introduction by Tara Brown.
  • Wednesday 26 June: Coming Out (East Germany 1989) + ScreenTalk with actor Dirk Kummer.

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