Done watching Netflix? We got the thing for you: “Queer Cinema Now!” is a watchlist with 211 queer movies. International classics, such as “Moonlight”, “Tomboy” or “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” can be found on this listing. On top of that you’ll find various German productions from the past 13 years, like “Futur Drei”, “Freier Fall” and “Kokon”. The list also includes movie reviews, in order to ease your next choice. What is “Mommy” by Xavier Dolan about? Is “Tangerine L.A.” by Sean Baker worth the watch?
But “Queer Cinema Now” is not just some help for your next date. Rather, it constitutes a collection of over 200 reviews from the magazine “sissy”, which published a new issue every three month between 2009 and 2015. Starting in 2016, it went online at www.sissymag.de. Its publisher “Salzgeber”, a film distributor, used sissy not only as a means of advertisement, but also to initiate discussions about rainbow cinema in Germany. In their texts, cinema-lovers debate questions of representations of communities, innovative film language and queer aesthetics.
The compositions also show developments of queer cinema. The addition of lesbian and trans films expand “Gay Cinema”, pushing it to become a queer one. Furthermore, the cinematic approaches to queer desire are shifting; as far as the publishers Jan Künemund and Christian Weber can tell, away from a dangerous self determination towards an assemblage of governmental, religious and social discrimination. There is one thing, that all movies have in common though: the representation in them is empowering for queer communities.
The abundance of this collection insures a perfect pick for everyone. While being a great entrance point for baby queers, “Queer Cinema Now” should bring back some lost memories for all the experts of the field. Still, with 211 movies the probabilities of finding a new one shouldn’t be too low.
In the museum’s café you can look through Queer Cinema Now’s texts and gaze at the film stills during the whole month of May. The book is available online.
Anthology „Queer Cinema Now. Die wichtigsten nicht-heteronormativen Filme aus 12 Jahren sissy“, published by Björn Koll, Jan Künemund & Christian Weber. Berlin: Salzgeber 2022
Image: Ilaria de Rosa