PERVO! PERVO! PERVO!, the very first own film festival organized by the Turku Book Cafe, is the newest arrival on the Finnish film festival scene. Taking place in mid April, the festival focuses on political and queer historical themes by hosting film screenings, exhibitions, discussions, a guided city walk down the queer memory lane, and the Qlub – Movie Star Realness dance party. The film screenings and other program will take place at the Book Cafe and Brinkkalan talo. Free admission to all events, but be aware that in the screenings there are seats for only 40 people at a time.
The interconnection between the films screened at the festival is their historicity. In a unique way, each film brings forth silenced or little known pieces of queer history – be it the historiography of gay and lesbian film, stories from the early years of sexology, recollections of the hidden lives of lesbians behind the Iron Curtain, or glimpses of the current Jerusalem/Al-Quds queer scene, which both confronts and transcends political borders and historical animosities.
The stories heard during the festival weekend are located on three continents and include films from Israel/Palestine, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Finland, and the United States. Several films have their Finnish premiere at P!P!P!.
For the duration of the festival, the Book Cafe hosts an exhibition on the anarchist BDSM lesbian group Extaasi, which was active in the late 1980s Finland. Put together by the Queer Beograd collective, the April exhibition at the Book Cafe gallery deals with the near past and present of grass roots LGBT activism in Serbia. The exhibition is currently touring Europe with the publication events of Queer Beograd’s book “Anti-Fascism and Direct Action”.
During the festival, various queer historical installations are also seen and heard at the Book Cafe. The weekend ends with a performance by the migrant Finnish tango band Särkyneet sydämet oy (Hsinwen Hsu – accordion, Jin Haritaworn – vocals and violin, Milena Solomun – guitar and vocals).
PERVO! PERVO! PERVO! at the Turku Book Cafe Fri–Sun 15.-17.4.2011. For schedules and more information, check the website at http://www.kirjakahvila.org/pervopervopervo
