Nordic-Baltic Queer Film Festival – Round Up Events
Vilnius Queer Festival “Kreivės” is a cultural and social initiative which started in 2014. Building on earlier and cooperating with other current queer initiatives, they aspire to be a unique space for film screenings, events and community building.
The festival is committed to bringing stories that spring from diverse lives and transform our vision of who we are and who we can be. “Kreivės”‘s vision is a community which acknowledges and passionately supports variety in LGBTQ+ expressions and viewpoints.
The festival has since developed in various directions. One of these directions is towards a cross national partnership – The Nordic-Baltic Queer Festival Network is a cooperation of the main well established Nordic and Baltic festivals focusing on queer (meaning LGBTQI+) topics and using film as the central medium – Vilnius Queer Festival “Kreivės” (Lithuania), MIX Copenhagen (Denmark), Faroe Islands Int’l Minority Film Festival (Faroe Islands, Denmark), Cinema Queer (Sweden), Oslo/Fusion Int. Film Festival (Norway) and Vinokino (Finland). It is shaped as a response to the lack of ties and communication in the field and is the first and long-awaited initiative of the kind.
The organizers held a forum between Nordic and Baltic Queer Film Festivals in Kaunas from the 2. to the 8. of September and from the 9. to the 12. of September in Vilnius.
The Forum was devoted to getting to know each other, presenting the festivals and current developments. It involved thematic discussions, dividing the work around the festivals in some main areas, like programming, working with volunteers, practical arrangements and others.
This December a follow-up event has taken place. It took place in Kaunas and Vilnius respectively from the 4th to the 6th and from the 6th to the 8th.
The follow-up meeting was devoted to evaluation of this year’s partnership, sharing each other’s plans and envisioning future cooperation.
The meetings, consisting of the initial forum and the following ‘follow-up’ event, are specifically established as networking events.
The aim is for the participants to engage in thorough exchange and transfer of experience, knowledge, and know-how of arranging queer film festivals.
Furthermore, the meetings will work as a starting point for establishing and strengthening future cooperation between Nordic and Baltic queer film festivals.
As the rights of LGBTQ+ people should be equal and the same for everyone worldwide an international cooperation is an important stepping-stone. The forum and the follow-up event are the first steps towards a transnational cooperation between otherwise national queer film festivals.
DCI is sponsoring the event with transportation and accommodation of a Danish participant Mihaela Yordanova from MIX Copenhagen.