Harstad Kino, sal 2
TrAP, an independent art producer and promoter of diversity in Norwegian cultural life, has put together a film series they have given the title My Voice You Can't Hear / Tonen Du Ikke Vil Høre, where they want to explore gender-bending non-binary and trans identities within various non-Western contexts and narrative traditions. AMIFF shows one of the films in this programme, Neptune Frost, with the prequel Proud and Loud. One of the curators of the programme, Hanan Benammar, will introduce the screenings.
Neptune Frost
Directed by: Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams. Rwanda USA 2021. DCP, 1h 45min.
In this modern African (cult) film classic, Neptune is reborn at the age of 23 and breaks away from his upbringing in Burundi, which is based on mining coltan for the global technology industry. In the next step, Neptune and their allies, including the hacker phenomenon MartyrLoserKing, cross thresholds between parallel realities and make the world's digital technology their own. The film is a visually captivating and abstract journey open to interpretation and a strong political statement all in one, both about global power and gender.
Saul Williams is an artist from New York with a long and recognized career in the independent hip-hop scene, and has performed several concerts in Oslo. Anisia Uzeyman was born and raised in Rwanda and this is her fifth film. Neptune Frost has slowly begun to take over the world and had its regular cinema premiere in the US and England in the summer of 2022. In that context, to quote Neil Kulkarni in the August edition of The Wire: It’s a film I’m still reeling from, because like any masterpiece, it’s less about the answers it gives than than the questions it raises.
Prequel: Proud and Loud
Directed by: Arthur Xavier Wonder. Norway 2021. Documentary film. DCP, 19 min.
This series of five short films consists of: Keyse 42. Non-binary. - "When I grew up in Somalia there were no queers. Certainly none that I know of.” Mabel. 30. Not gender conforming. Black. Skewed. "It has been a bit difficult growing up to become an individual who needs many labels. It's almost a little ironic. I'm not really that fond of labels because it's been thrown at me all my life." Maruwa. 30. Black. Eritrean. Norwegian. Muslim. Skewed. Lesbian. "Being black and queer, it's pride in myself, and pride in what I've managed to achieve." Stephen. 28. Queer. "Just being queer is so unique, and being black is so unique, it brings so much culture into society." Sam. 22. Transgender. "Man is man. I am human.”
The short films were made on behalf of Salam - Organization for queer Muslims in collaboration with Mental Health Youth in autumn 2021 by Arthur Xavier Wonder; Writer, filmmaker, trans and student based in Oslo. Photo by Chai and Ravn, with Lara Okafor as coordinator and project manager.
The series is curated by Hanan Benammar and Brynjar Bjerkem for the art producer TrAP and is a collaboration with the Cinematheques in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø and the National Museum on the occasion of the Skeivt kulturår.