The organization of the International Queer Film Festival - Merlinka is becoming tradition in our city, slowly but surely. This time the festival is jointly organized by activists of Association of Citizens Zadrugarice and the COLLECTIVE initiative.
Merlinka no. 3 in Niš, under the slogan "Who is Still Afraid of Winter," will take place this year at the same time period as the one in Belgrade, on December 13-15th. and be held at the Cultural Center Niš. Festival is implementing in Niš thanks to cooperation with GLIC (Gay and Lesbian Info Center) from Belgrade, and the films selection for Niš, as in previous years, was made by the founder and director of the Merlinka festival Predrag Azdejković.
The idea of Merlinka is to promote the film titles dealing with gay, lesbian and transsexual themes, which rarely come to the local movie audience. Festival is not a ghetto of the LGBT community, it is a place for all film lovers and the LGBT community friends.
ENTRENCE for all Merlinka screenings in Niš is FREE!
Documentary, Music
Directors: Ester Gould, Reijer Zwaan
Netherlands, Belgium (English with Serbian subtitles)
Duration: 83′
In 1990, seven young male dancers – 6 gay, 1 straight – joined Madonna on her most controversial tour. On stage and in the iconic film Truth or Dare they showed the world how to express themrself. Now, 25 years later, they reveal the truth about life during and after the tour. Strike a Pose is a dramatic tale about overcoming shame and finding the courage to be who you are.
Ester Gould - Born in Scotland, UK in 1975, she studied journalism and film in Amsterdam and New York. Her debut feature documentary SHOUT (co-directed by Sabine Lubbe Bakker) won the prize for Best Film at the London International Documentary Film Festival in 2010. Reijer Zwaan - Born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1981, he studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York and then politics in Amsterdam and New York. He is deputy editor-in-chief for ‘Nieuwsuur’ (Newshour), the main current affairs programme in the Netherlands.
Drama
Director: Paddy Breathnach
Cast: Héctor Medina, Jorge Perugorría, Luis Alberto García
Ireland/Cuba (Spanish with English and Serbian subtitles)
Duration: 100’
Awards: ADL Stand Up Award – Santa Barbara International Film Festival
When everything is for sale, what’s the value of love? Jesus does make up for a troupe of drag performers in Havana, but dreams of being a performer. When he finally gets his chance to be on stage, a stranger emerges from the crowd and punches him in the face. The stranger is his father Angel, a former boxer, who has been absent from his life for 15 years. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, Viva becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and become a family again.
Paddy Breathnach ‒ His first feature, AILSA, won Best First/Second Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival. His second feature I WENT DOWN, starring Brendan Gleeson, won the New Directors prize at San Sebastian in 1997 and won Best Director awards at Thessaloniki and Bogota. Paddy has worked with Miramax, Ingeniuos and BBC Films. His comedy, MAN ABOUT DOG, became one of the most successful independent Irish films. His latest film, VIVA, received its world premier at Telluride Film Festival in 2015.
Documentary
Director: Aleksandar Princip
Serbia (Serbian with English subtitles)
Dragan, Nataša, Saša, Kristina and Darko came to Belgrade from small and closed environments in an attempt to live their true identities. Their testimonies are heartbreaking, warm, deep and sincere. Their lives are hidden under the mask, longing for a better one, beyond the mask.
Aleksandar Princip is a writer, researcher and film director. He is a member of the editorial board of “QT“ magazine for queer theory and culture and the Center for Queer Studies. This is his first documentary film.
Comedy, Drama
Director: Tor Iben
Cast: Cem Alkan, Martin Walde, Tuncay Gary
Germany (German with English and Serbian subtitles)
Duration: 79’
Ibrahim falls in love with Alexander, a blond, blue eyed German criminal and show wrestler who is straight – an impossible friendship that surpasses the both of them.
Tor Iben - Born in Hagen, Germany, Torn Iben is a self-taught filmmaker. In 1995 he made his debut as a director with three medium-length film,. then worked as a journalist in print and TV. Ten years later he returned to filmmaking: Blondie (2006), Underground (2007), Love Kills (2007), Sleeper (2009), CIBRÂIL (2010), THE PASSENGER (2013), The Phallometer (2013).
Documentary
Director: Patric Chiha
Austria (German, Bulgarian, Romany with English and Serbian subtitles)
Duration: 88’
Soft boys by day, kings by night. The film follows a group of young Bulgarian Roma who come to Vienna looking for freedom and a quick buck. They sell their bodies as if that’s all they had. What comforts them, so far from home, is the feeling of being together. But the nights are long and unpredictable.
Patric Chiha - Born in Vienna, Austria in 1975, he studied fashion design in Paris and then film editing at INSAS film school in Brussels. He currently lives and works in Paris. He has been making short films since 2001 and has received many awards. His debut feature film DOMAINE, starring Béatrice Dalle, premiered at the Biennale in Venice. His comedy BOYS LIKE US was released in cinemas in 2014.
Comedy
Director: Mandy Fletcher
Cast: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Jane Horrocks
UK, USA (English with Serbian subtitles)
Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to, shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London’s trendiest hot-spots. Blamed for a major incident at an fashion event, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!
Mandie Fletcher began her career at the BBC and won the Best Comedy Series Award at the BAFTA’s for directing the second and third series of Blackadder. Fletcher’s film credits include Deadly Advice starring Jane Horrocks, Brenda Fricker, Imelda Staunton, Jonathon Pryce and Sir John Mills and Born Kicking, a 90-minute film for BBC. In 2011 Fletcher was named Director of the Year by Women in Film and TV.
