Film Club Archive

Sex Diss is extremely supportive. There are always loads of interesting activities, films, and speakers. It provides a sense of community, in the best sense of that word, for students who are interested in these issues. Students really utilise Sex Diss as a resource, and the interesting conversations that they have continue outside of the classroom.”CYNTHIA WEBER
Professor of International Relations, teacher on Sex Diss MA
  • Skoonheid [Beauty] (2011)

    [99 mins], dir. Oliver Hermanus

    Tue 29 September, Room Arts B324, 6pm-8.30pm

    Introduced by Matthew Beetar (School of Media, Film and Music)

    Awarded the Queer Palm Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, this harrowing film charts the rising obsession of South African François (Deon Lotz) as he covertly pursues handsome Christian (Charlie Keegan). The film explores the complexity of François’s attraction to men alongside his role as an openly racist and homophobic married man. His descent into obsession with Christian and the film’s shocking violence make it a powerful and harrowing portrayal of lust and desire at the intersection of whiteness and masculinity in post-apartheid South Africa 

  • Beautiful Thing (1996)

    [85 mins], dir. Hettie Macdonald

    Tue 24 November, Room Arts B274, 6pm-8.30pm

    Introduced by Michael Rowland (School of English)

    A landmark gay film when it was first released, and based on the play by Jonathan Harvey, Beautiful Thing charts the blossoming romance between teenage boys Jamie (Glen Berry) and Ste (Scott Neal) on London’s Thamesmead estate. Jamie and Ste’s relationship and coming out is only part of this examination of working-class life in London and the difficulties faced by teenagers both gay and straight. Standout performances from Jamie’s mother, Sandra (Linda Henry) and their quirky neighbour Leah (Tameka Empson), plus a Mama Cass soundtrack, give the film a positivity rarely seen in contemporary gay films of the time.

  • Outlaw (1994)

    Tue 26 May, Silverstone 121, 4pm-6.30pm

    [26 mins], dir. Alisa Lebow

    Introduced by Dr. Alisa Lebow (School of Media, Film and Music)

    Leslie Feinberg, a self-identified "gender outlaw" who has spent much of zir life passing as a man, speaks with passion and intelligence about zir experiences in this video manifesto. Raw and confrontational, this film asks its audience to examine their assumptions about the "nature" of gender and calls for more sensitivity and awareness of the human rights and the dignity of transgendered people.

    This film screening will form part of a discussion of Feinberg's life and work, including the first chapter from Stone Butch Blues (1993) and an article from Worker's World (2013).

  • The Fox (1967)

    Tue 2 June, Silverstone 309, 4pm-6.30pm

    [110 mins], dir. Mark Rydell

    Introduced by Dr. Michael Lawrence (School of Media, Film and Music)

    For the fiercely independent March and her partner Banford, the isolated farm provides a hardscrabble haven: while Banford bakes the muffins, March mends the fences. The winter is hard, and the women are happy. But if their living is threatened by the nightly visits of the local fox - who is after their chickens - their lives will be transformed by the sudden arrival of Paul, the old farmer's grandson - for he is after a wife. Repressions thaw as the icicles melt beneath the winter sun. Desires make their demands, with tragic consequences. Based on the novella by D. H. Lawrence, The Fox broke new ground in 1967 with its depiction of nudity, masturbation and lesbianism. Today, the film deserves reappraisal for its ambiguous exploration of sexuality and sacrifice.

  • Let The Right One In (2008)
    [114 mins], dir. Tomas Alfredson
    Tue 10 Feb, Arts B247, 6pm-8.30pm

    Introduced by Dr. Bethan Stevens (School of English)

    In this internationally acclaimed film Oskar, a bullied 12 year old boy living in 1980s Sweden, befriends Eli, a vampire girl who moves in next door. A film that examines teenage outsiderness, “queer” love and effectively critiques the horror/vampire genres. Alfredson’s sensitive direction, the evocative score and austerely beautiful frozen setting makes it a standout of the vampire movie genre, but also produces a deeper examination of love, desire and normativity.

  • Dirty Diaries (2009)

    Tue 24 March, Arts B247, 6pm-8.30pm

    [101 mins], prod. Mia Engberg

    Introduced by Beatrice Châteauvert-Gagnon (School of Global Studies)

    ‘Orgasms and art in films for the open mind’. A collection of thirteen short films of feminist pornography featuring the work of Swedish directors, activists and artists and produced by Mia Engberg. Featuring a great diversity of content, the collection aims at exploring different perspectives on sexuality based on a common manifesto of general feminist ideals. From queer sex to humour to power-reversal fantasies, Dirty Diaries provides a glimpse into the alternative sexual universe of feminist porn.

  • Transfiction (2007)

    [57 min.], dir. Johannes Sjöberg

    Tuesday 28th October, Silverstone 309, 6pm-8.30pm

    [Introduced by Dr. Paul Boyce (Department of Anthropology)

    Focusing on the lives of transgendered Brazilians in São Paolo, Transfiction is an ethnofiction, an experimental ethnographic film genre. The participants in the film act out their own and others’ lives, affording them the opportunity to comment, perform and improvise a shared anthropology. In this collaborative filming process, cultural knowledge is acted-out with the camera as much as for it, providing a reflexivity to the work and a blurring of the traditional subject/object binaries of traditional anthropological cinema. 

    www.centreforscreenstudies.manchester. ac.uk/transfiction.html