Location | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Belgrade, Serbia Podgorica, Montenegro |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
Language | International |
Website | www |
The International Queer Film Festival Merlinka or Merlinka Festival is an annual LGBT-themed film festival which is annually organized in Belgrade (since 2009), Sarajevo (since 2013) and Podgorica (since 2014). The Belgrade edition is organized in the Belgrade Youth Center during the second week of December, and it lasts for five days. The Sarajevo and Podgorica editions are organized in January and February of each year, with the former being organized in the Art Cinema Kriterion, and the latter being organized in the PR Centre. The festival was founded in 2009 by the Gay Lesbian Info Centre and Belgrade Youth Center. It screens feature, documentary and short films from all over the world that deal with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex and queer issues. [1]
The festival was named after Vjeran Miladinović Merlinka, a transgender sex worker and actress who was murdered in 2003. She is best known for her role in the Teddy award winning film Marble Ass directed by Želimir Žilnik. The festival was established to promote LGBT art and culture. In 2014, the festival produced a theater play about Vjeran's life, Merlinka's confession, directed by Stevan Bodroža. Merlinka is the only active film festival to be annually organized in several countries.
The Festival awards the Dorothy's slipper award for the best short film. Until 2012 the festival awarded prizes for the best feature and documentary film.
Year | Film | Genre | Country |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Otto; or Up with Dead People | Featured | Germany |
2010 | Tools 4 Fools | Short | United States |
2010 | The Big Gay Musical | Featured | United States |
2010 | Familiensache | Documentary | Switzerland |
2011 | Frischluft-Therapie | Short | Germany |
2011 | Weekend | Featured | United Kingdom |
2011 | East Bloc Love | Documentary | Belarus |
2012 | I've Only Just Begun | Short | Russia |
2012 | Gayby | Featured | United States |
2012 | I Am a Woman Now | Documentary | Netherlands |
2013 | Camionero | Short | Cuba |
2014 | Through The Mirror I call it love | Short Short | Philippines |
2015 | 09:55-11:05, Ingrid Ekman, Bergsgatan 4B | Short | Sweden |
2016 | Open Wound | Featured | Serbia |
2016 | Strike A Pose | Documentary | Netherlands |
2016 | Dove | Short | Greece |
2016 | Transition | Short | Serbia |
2017 | BPM (Beats per Minute) | Featured | France |
2017 | Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution | Documentary | Germany |
2017 | Fish Curry | Short | India |
2017 | Quiero decirte | Short | Serbia |
2018 | Hard Paint | Featured | Brazil |
2018 | Tranny Fag | Documentary | Brazil |
2018 | Whole | Short | Bulgaria |
2018 | Two of Every Kind | Animated | Israel |
2018 | Sisak | Short | India |
2018 | Zid | Short | Serbia |
2019 | This is not Berlin | Featured | Mexico |
2019 | Until Porn Do Us Part | Documentary | Portugal |
2019 | Dante vs. Mohammed Ali | Short | Netherlands |
2019 | Butterflies in Berlin | Animated | Italy |
2019 | Support | Short | Serbia |
2019 | Ficus | Short | North Macedonia |
2019 | Crocodile | Short | Spain |
2020 | Summer of 85 | Feature | France |
2020 | Maria Luiza | Documentary | Brazil |
2020 | Fabiu | Short | Austria |
2020 | Carrousel | Animated | Belgium |
2020 | Prom Night | Short | Serbia |
2020 | Snake | Short | North Macedonia |
2020 | Let there be colour | Short | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
2020 | I'm not gay | Short | North Macedonia |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Bosnia and Herzegovina may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
COLAGE is an organization created in 1990 by the children of several lesbian and gay parents and guardians who felt a need for support.
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Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985, he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.
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The Frameline Film Festival began as a storefront event in 1976. The first film festival, named the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films, was held in 1977. The festival is organized by Frameline, a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.
The Theater Offensive is a Boston-based theatrical organization dedicated to the production of queer works. The Theater Offensive was founded in 1989 by Abraham Rybeck "to present the diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lives in art so bold it breaks through personal isolation, challenges the status quo, and builds thriving communities." The Theater Offensive mounts and produces festivals and individual productions by national and local queer performers, and also serves as a development environment for new theatrical work. In addition, The Theater Offensive works to build community through education, outreach, and political activism.
Transparent is a 2005 documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jules Rosskam. Its title is a play on the words “trans” and “parent” implying the invisibility of transgender parenting in society today. The documentary follows 19 transgender men from 14 different states who have given birth to, and in most cases, gone on to raise, their biological children and the challenges they face while transitioning.
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Gay Lesbian Info Centre is a lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity in the Serbia. It was formed in 2009 by Predrag Azdejković, Serbian gay journalist, Blogger and writer to promote LGBTQ right through media, culture and art, to collect information on LGBT human right and violation of LGBT human rights, recognise and promote good practices regarding promotion of LGBT human rights and cooperate with media, media associations, cultural organizations and government institutions.
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The following list is a partially completed compilation of events considered to have a profound effect on the welfare or image of Tamil sexual minorities. The use of bold typeface indicates that the event is widely considered to be landmark:
Predrag Azdejković is Serbian LGBT human rights activist, journalist, writer, film and theater producer. Azdejković is director of Gay Lesbian Info Center, director of Merlinka festival, editor in chief of Serbian only gay magazine Optimist, producer of several short films and documentaries and several award-winning theater plays that all are dedicated to LGBT population. He is a member of Journalists' Association of Serbia.
Vjeran Miladinović, also known as Merlinka, was a transgender sex worker and actress best known for the 1995 film Marble Ass, directed by Želimir Žilnik. Merlika identified as both gay and a crossdresser, and is believed to have been the first openly trans person in the Balkans.