This 2-hour online event brings together international filmmakers, curators and activists to use images, film and sound to explore alternative and decolonised ways of imagining and mapping the queer world in a non-Eurocentric way.
This interactive screening and panel discussion with Q&A will bridge the gap between LGBTQ+ social activism, decolonial knowledge and cinematic imagination by inviting the audience to challenge heteronormative historical narratives of anti-colonial struggles. The event explores how we can imagine alternative approaches in which queer bodies, across Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean participate in and reclaim these discourses for themselves, their communities, and their liberation, as neither national nor sexual objects. What’s the event about?: “But what harm is in diversity, when there is unity in desire?” With this question, the Indonesian president Sukarno opened the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, a ground-breaking political event that for the first time brought together newly independent states from both Africa and Asia. Whilst being known as one of the earliest global alliances of people of colour in politics not aligned with European and western power blocks, the conference represented only the interests of nation-states, at the cost of marginalising oppressing marginal queer and indigenous groups. Our Festival of Social Science event reflects on the international and decolonizing ambition of unity of the original summit by sharing with the public the work of ‘Imagining Queer Bandung’, a creative collective and workshop series on decolonial queer filmmaking and podcasting.
Chair: Dr Hongwei Bao, Associate Professor in Media Studies, University of Nottingham Panellists: Popo Fan (he/him), cocurator of Imagining Queer Bandung Ragil Huda (he/him), founder of Queer Asia Berlin and cocurator of Imagining Queer Bandung, Kit Hung (he/him), tutor at the Imagining Queer Bandung videomaking workshop and Sarnt Utamachote (they/them), cocurator of Imagining Queer Bandung.
This event will be open to all staff, students and the general public. This event will be particular of interest to BAME and LGBTQ+ people. Event registration is through Eventbrite and registered participants will receive a Teams link prior to the event. This event will be recorded, and the event recording will be edited into a short video hosted on the University Media Space and disseminated for public education.