The Pink Screens Festival, which sets out to explore the plurality of gender and sexuality identities, officially opens today in Brussels and will run until 20 November.
The programme of 35 feature films and 7 short film screenings will play out across the city in the Cinema Nova, Cinema Aventure, Cinema Galeries, Beursschouwburg and Cinema Palace.
"After an atypical and tough year for culture and associations, Pink Screens will be there in the flesh for its twentieth edition," organisers Genres d'à côté and Cinéma Nova announced in a press release. "For twenty years, it has been a consistent selection of fiction, documentaries and experimental films, in both feature and short films, chosen with passion and curiosity by a fantastic team of volunteers."
The festival will feature special appearances from a host of guests, including Nabil Ben Yadir, who will present his film "Animals". A special section of the festival called "And in the East, nothing new?" will focus on highlighting "the diversity of the struggles of our queer comrades from what has been called Eastern Europe!"
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"Europe is being built, but Europe is facing its demons when we witness the erection of barbed wire walls at its borders, when certain countries revise their constitutions to reduce or eliminate the rights of women and certain minorities," organisers explained.
"In this decried Europe, we see pockets of resistance emerge, which is why we wanted to offer you this focus on "And in the East, nothing new?" There are artists, activists and citizens expressing themselves and claiming loud and clear their right to the freedom of being who they are, to freedom of expression."
The 20th edition of the festival will still go ahead as close to usual as possible, but organisers do acknowledge it might not be quite as people remember. "The pandemic has taken its toll, so let’s see what is possible this year... But next year, for the 21st anniversary of Pink Screens, we'll pretend we're still 20 years old and we'll have a blast!"
More information on the festival and the films involved can be found here
