music

When Tanzanian queer musician Tofa Jaxx discovered a brochure on AIDS in 2004, he decided to contact trans activist Aunty Ali, who knew from a young age that she was different from others. In a frank, extremely personal conversation, she then confides about her coming out, her love for men, or her experiences with prostitution and HIV.“Tanzanian customs and traditions do not acknowledge homosexuality, nor do they want to. They are contradictory and cold hearted because they are the ones who birthed us.” — Aunty Ali

Nyege Nyege Tapes! is probably the most famous label introducing today's African electronica to the European independent scene. A cinematic context now comes to the unique sound. Polish filmmakers went straight to Tanzania to capture how musicians and DJs cultivating the style called singeli live. As Tanzania embarked on the road to capitalism twenty years ago, the film is also a testament to the changes that are shaping Tanzanian society today.

Folk poetry collector Ōtani Masae visits the residents of the mountain village of Ubuyama in southern Japan and collects songs that are over a thousand years old. However, continuity is only an illusion and ancient cultural heritage is subject to fragmentary memory, rewriting and new contexts. Ballads, confessions and prayers are thus not a chronicle of old times, but a liberating manifesto against the patriarchal tradition that for centuries confined women to the solitude of their homes. Lyrically layered on 16mm filmstrip, with the intimacy of a family video and the poetics of a visual essay, the images explore the fragile power of ephemeral detail and the cathartic effect of communication and sharing.“By making this film, I have been able to discover and be amazed by the transformative power of the Japanese ‘uta’ (‘uta’ meaning song and poem at the same time). Gently, they help loosen iron bonds. They float over Ubuyama-mura’s heavy hetero-patriarchal heritage and its strict, unwritten laws of behaviour.”Source: Jorge Suárez Quiñones RivasFunded by INJUVE Grant for Contemporary Creation and Grant for contemporary creation and national and international mobility, Madrid City Council.

Let's move back to 1999, just before the boom of high-speed internet. Globally watched MTV broadcasts its programme Total Request Live, and a group of friends decide to infiltrate the popularity factory. Chain email as a tool of anarchy and audience power? This charming short film is a guide to consumer disobedience in every era!

In August 1965, The Beatles arrive in New York to play their now legendary concert at a sold-out Shea Stadium to fifty-five thousand passionate fans. Outside their hotel, crowds of teenage female fans gather, eager to catch even a glimpse of the four idols. Archival footage from the press conference and television broadcasts soon spins into a narrative based on the autofiction of American poet Geoffrey O'Brien and the biographical accounts of writer Judith Kristen. On the border between reality and fiction, a poetic narrative unfolds, complemented by drawings by French illustrator Yann Kebbi. The context of the film is gradually expanded to include other significant moments captured on television at the time, evoking the spirit of the era and the associated ethos of youth. We are unsure whether the characters are real or fictional as they pass through a rich audiovisual kaleidoscope, guiding us through a lost but ever-present past in our consciousness.“Someday when we're dreamingDeep in love, not a lot to sayThen we will rememberThe things we said today.” Source: The Beatles - Things We Said Today