In this blog post, our Communications Assistant Oscar Arminen shares his experience attending and volunteering at the Pink Screens – Brussels Queer Film Festival.
The 24th edition of Pink Screens took over Brussels’ cinemas at the turn of the month, adding some colour to Belgium’s autumnal shades of grey. With Cinema Nova as its headquarters, and with screenings in Cinema Galeries, Palace, Cinema Aventure, and Beursschouwburg, queer cinema dominated Brussel’s film scene for twelve days, from 30.10. to 10.11. I attended the festival not only as a visitor but also as a volunteer, eager to help out and get involved with the local LGBTQIA+ scene.
Pink Screens is an international film festival at its core, showcasing the lives of queer people from all over the world. This year’s three focus themes were Latitudes Queer, Queer & Cheap and Hecho en España, which included four to five films each. The narrower focus of the themes works well for people interested in a specific topic, as they can go watch all of the films within it. Seeing every single film shown at the festival would be physically impossible, anyway. Hecho en España seemed to be especially popular among visitors. The theme, naturally, was presented in collaboration with Europalia, which is celebrating Spain in its current edition.
I witnessed a wide scale of diverse queer realities across time and space.
In addition to thousands of festival goers, Pink Screens attracted more than a hundred volunteers to work shifts at the bar, check tickets, watch over the art exhibition and generally lend a helping hand. It was wonderful to see Brussels’ queer cinephiles brought together for a common cause, with different subcommunities and generations of queer people sharing a space for conversation and creativity.
I volunteered as a ticket inspector for two screenings at cinema Nova. Engaging in community activities and making local acquaintances is definitely a good way to start putting down roots in the city, although I still felt the distance of a language barrier – the clash of English and French as the lingua franca is ever present, even in the queerest of communities.
Cinema Nova was the main stage for Pink Screens.
Whereas the 2024 programme of Pink Screens saw quite a strong Finnish representation with Inari Niemi’s 2023 film Valoa Valoa Valoa, as well as UK-based Mikko Mäkelä’s feature film Sebastian and short film Nothing Special, this year’s programme included no Finnish films. For the Benelux representation, there was a strong focus on small film creators as well as animation, especially in the festival’s extensive selection of short films. Short films got specifically highlighted in the annual Pink Screens Awards, which reward queer short films across several categories. For example, this year’s winner of Best Belgian Short Film category was Once in a Full Moon by Bande James Bond.
I went to see three feature films and one short film collection. From tragicomedic fever dreams, and violent depictions of an oppressive and hostile political regime against queerness, to tender love stories with a rare happy ending, I witnessed a wide scale of diverse queer realities across time and space. My favourite out of these films was Sabar Bonda (‘Cactus Pears’ in Marathi) by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, which tells the story of Anand (played by Bhushaan Manoj) who returns to visit his home village after the unexpected death of his father, and struggling with his family’s expectations, ends up reconnecting with a childhood friend.
The festival managed to create a space for queer joy and community, which is increasingly important in the current societal climate.
Besides films, the festival offered a rich programme of workshops, talks, and afterparties, while the Queer Exhibition showcased interesting multidisciplinary artworks by various artists in the vaulted basement of Cinema Galeries. The festival concluded on Monday, 10 November with the Pink Night club event at Les Halles de Schaerbeek, conveniently timed before the Armistice Day national holiday.
Left: Video installation Victor & Naya (Mommen Kunst House) by Denitsa Ilcheva. Right: Pink Night.
I found the volunteering experience socially and emotionally enriching, and it was a great way to familiarise myself with the local cinemas. The festival managed to create a space for queer joy and community, which is increasingly important in the current societal climate. The Pink Screens festival is produced by the organisation Genres d’à Côté, which was founded in 2001. Throughout the year, they also host a cinéclub every first Thursday of the month at Cinema Aventure, and occasionally organise one-off screenings in other cities as well. I would highly recommend keeping up with their Instagram page, joining their screenings in the future, or even volunteering for next year’s festival edition – it gives much more than it takes, and includes some free movie tickets.
Photos by Oscar Arminen.