2017 Programme

Iris Prize Shorts 3

A showcase of international documentaries, encompassing everything from frank and moving character studies to an animated snapshot of gay life in contemporary, post “Arab Spring” Egypt.

77 mins

Hattie Goes Cruising
Konstantin Bock
USA | 18 min | 2015

In an age of online cruising and sex apps, having sex in public parks and restrooms might seems like a thing of the past, but for Hank Major, a 70-year-old gay African-American from Philadelphia, picking up guys on the street or at old-school cruising grounds is still very much a way of life. In this charming and surprisingly tender documentary, Major – nicknamed Hattie Louise by his friends – walks us through his memories of a turbulent lifetime of cruising.

 

Little Potato
Wes Hurley & Nathan M. Miller
USA | 14 min | 2017

Following the collapse of communism in Russia, Wes Hurley’s mother becomes a “mail order bride”. But neither she nor Wes could possibly guess what lies in store for them when she marries a conservative Christian fundamentalist, and takes her son to the Pacific Northwest.

 

Half a Life
Tamara Shogaolu
Indonesia | 12 min | 2016

Half a Life pairs the intimate narration of a young, Egyptian gay activist with stylized animation, bringing the streets of Cairo to life through this first-hand account. The anonymous narrator shares the story of the traumatic encounter which prompted him to become a gay-rights activist in the unstable, oppressive and increasingly dangerous social climate in present-day Egypt.

 

Picture This
Jari Osborne
Canada | 33 min | 2017

Picture This follows Andrew Gurza, a self-described “queer cripple,” as he organises the second Justify My Love, a sex-positive play party which the international media labelled a “handicapped orgy” when it launched in Toronto the year before. At the heart of the film is the uneasy dichotomy that disabled people face, of feeling either invisible or like a freak show, especially when it comes to their sexuality.