This post is commiting to try to be a descriptive and objective text on the incident at Entzaubert festival on the evening of the 3.8.2012. Feel free to comment, correct or complete this description. Comment moderation is enabled to avoid the usual internet spam, but I will publish everything which is not offtopic. I will aboundantly comment and give my opinion in a separate post.
Save the place, or the tragic end of a real-estate agent, was screened as the opening film at the "collective block" from Entzaubert festival last friday.
Here the link to the film´s synopsis, and the youtube links. The film has a very liberal CC licence, so feel free to distribute the link aboundantly, and feed the discussion with your contributions, information, insight and gasoline.
http://www.lube-nomads.blogspot.de/2011/09/save-place.html
http://strangesavagelives.net.tc (official, but still under construction)
During the screening one person erupted to protest that the film depicted sexual violence and that it should not be screened in a queer place. The film was nevertheless quite applauded after the screening(s).
Afterwards, during the Q&A session with me and Lun (one of the other "Save the 'Place" authors) and other filmmakers on the stage, the same person grabed the microfone and repeated the same argumentation, that sexual violence should not be present at Entzaubert festival . Other people had things to say, and tried to get into the discussioon, specially (from the stage perspective) a group in the front row, at the right handed side, but they never had the chance to get their point heard (if you read this, I and others would like to know what you have to say).
I grabed the microfone to say that (1) there was never the intention to depict sexual violence, from any of the persons involved in the film. (2) that if this caused any suffering that it was definetely never our intention (3) that the film is a satire, and not an appology of any type of violence.
The people from the orga at the stage had a hard time bringing the discussion down, stating that during the selection they did not see "Save the Place" as a sexually violent film, rather seen as satire and definetely not as violence appology, and that art is subjective, interpretations being in the eye of he beholder. It was then proposed to halt the current discussion and to continue it at a latter point, as the current discussion had stalled at the same point over and over, with accusations flying on that there was indeed an intention to represent rape and that our - at some point quite loud and impatient- refusal to further discuss this exact point after the disclaimer above was taken as silencing a victim.
Me and Lun spent the night exhausting ourselves in discussing and answering people´s questions, in separate private discussions. During this, I (and a lot others) noticed that very few people seemed aware that there was *not* a trigger warning policy neither an age rating statement in the program the entzauber festival, but at the same time argumenting as this would be a matter of fact.
The next couple of days the focus of the whole discussion moved in the direction of the (curational) need or not of having trigger warnings in queer festivals, and in the queer community and if Entzaubert festival will want to have a trigger warning in future events.
Tuesday (7.8.2012) there has been a feedback round which shoud deal with these topics where I was not present (N.T. for not being able to deal with what could become yet another very violent discussion). Discussion is anyway going on at several informal channels. I will complete this post with links and texts if/when they are provided.
Post containing comments and musings will follow.
Thanks for reading!
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