‘Say My Name’ – screened at Shrewsbury LGBT+ History Festival, Feb. 2021
SHROPSHIRE RAINBOW FILM FESTIVAL CHARITY REG NO: 1168000
ANNUAL REPORT 2020/2021
Although our main event, our annual Film Festival, planned for the weekend of 2nd to 4th October 2020 could not take place because of Covid-19, we were, nonetheless, able to make very positive contributions to the Shrewsbury LGBT+ History Festival.
Our Mission
We are keeping to our mission which is to:
‘ ENTERTAIN, EDUCATE, CHALLENGE & CHANGE’
Life is dynamic; not least for LGBTQ+ people. How we describe ourselves and how we relate to wider communities is a process of constant change e.g. over the last year the evolving discussions relating to gender and non- binary identities. Otherwise, isolation during times of lock-down and coming to terms with different ways of communicating have had a huge impact. All of this against a
background of heightened nationalist identities, separation from the European Union and the plight of asylum seekers.
Status of the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival
We formed as a voluntary group in 2006; but as the Festival grew in popularity and our expenditure increased, we needed a more formal structure. Hence, since 4[th] July 2016 we have been a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, whose only voting members are our charity Trustees.
Governance & Management
Contact: Peter Roscoe c/o 19 Victoria Street. Shrewsbury, SY1 2HS
info@rainbowfilmfestival.org.uk
Over the year 2020/21, the Trustees continued to manage the charity and determine its direction; many thanks to them:
Sue Gorbing
Geoff Hardy
Peter Roscoe
Day to day management and work arising was undertaken by the Trustees; meeting formally as required, but usually informally (sometimes with others) dealing with the immediate tasks in hand.
Objectives
The principal objective of Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival is: ‘... to present a film festival aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender people, to increase awareness and to portray the lives of LGBT people in the UK and worldwide’ . It does this by:
a) putting on an annual film festival in Shrewsbury (Shropshire’s county town) and other film events over the year (now, all, of course, adapted viz Covid regulations)
b) running a website, FB Page and Mailchimp – to keep people informed and to also share information about organisations and events of interest to LGBT+ people
c) outreach – through participating in cultural events e.g. Pride events
d) working with and supporting other organisations – eg Fairness Respect Equality Shropshire (FRESh), Safe Ageing No Discrimination (SAND), Shrewsbury LGBT + History Month and Shrewsbury LGBT.
We are: ‘an anti-discriminatory organisation, committed to screening films and working in ways that demonstrate fairness for all’.
Achievements
We were able to negotiate the very difficult Covid landscape which, ultimately, rendered much of the initial planning for the 2020 festival superfluous.
However, by the stage we had to decide that an October 2020 Festival was unsustainable (even in an online format), 29 short films had been submitted to us and 2 feature documentaries, (most received via FilmFreeway).
With regret, we had to inform those film makers of our decision, but pledged that, if Covid circumstances allowed, we would screen our selection from the shorts and both of the documentaries as soon as we could.
We were able to honour that pledge and selected 11 shorts, one being given the status of ‘Festival Choice Short’ (Ionut & Calin). Nine of these plus the 2 documentaries, were available to be screened as part of the all online Shrewsbury LGBT+ History Festival in February 2021.
The Festival Choice Short and the documentaries were accompanied by pre-recorded Q&As/discussions. These were well received and details of all the films selected in 2020 (and a link to the film of the History Festival) can be found at the end of this Report.
Through the year we maintained contact with our, somewhat beleaguered, main venues: the Old Market Hall (OMH) and the Hive, both in Shrewsbury. Both closed from March 2020 because of the pandemic.
Volunteers
The support of a volunteer (JB), with an interest in promoting local films of queer interest, was appreciated and we were also grateful to another (SH), who helped secure a grant from the South Staffordshire Community Fund to promote the History Month films; this was invaluable.
Marketing
Our new website, launched during the year, has proved much easier to use and has attracted favourable comment. During the History Festival we engaged the services of a recent graduate (TL) and her work in promoting our films was first class.
Financial Review
A ‘Receipts & Payments Account’ for the year has, as usual, been completed; our finances are sound.
The Future
At the time of writing this report we are exploring what kind of film festival may be possible in October 2021. At present, the signs are
encouraging; the Old Market Hall hopes to be up and running then, and the same applies to our other venue, the Hive. Both, as ever, are very welcoming to the prospect of the festival resuming on the ground.
We are also looking at the potential to remotely stream this years’ films and have an application in to the Film Hub, Midlands’ Film Exhibition Fund, to help with the additional cost that that would entail.
Once these issues are settled we hope to be in a position to begin to craft a programme for the festival.
In the meantime we are continuing to advise our contacts and supporters of what we are doing and of films of LGBTQ+ interest that can be accessed on-line or, at local screening venues (reopened after May 17[th] 2021) on the ground and also keeping in contact with film makers, producers, other festivals etc.
Approved at the Trustees’ Meeting on: 4[th] June 2021
FILMS SCREENED AT THE SHREWSBURY LGBT + HISTORY FESTIVAL 2021 & LINK TO THE FILM OF THE HISTORY FESTIVAL
DOCUMENTARIES
MARCH FOR DIGNITY (UK/Georgia) 2019. (English subtitles) director: John Eames. A small group of LGBTI+ activists in Tbilisi, Georgia attempt to conduct the first Pride march in the country. They face (almost) overwhelming opposition ….
SAY MY NAME (Brazil) 2020 (English subtitles) director: Juliana
Chagas. T wo Brazilian trans women struggle for the right to have the name and gender with which they identify in all official documents and who seek (and find) respect from their families and society….
SHORTS
After that Party (Brazil) 15 mins , director Caio Scot. Leo had never imagined he would see his Dad kissing another man in the middle of a party… Until it happened. Now, with the help of Carol, his best friend, he has to find the most perfect way to tell his Dad that he found out about his secret.
Coming Out for Christmas (UK) 7 mins , director Caris Rianne. Charlotte, who after meeting the love of her life at university, is determined to come out as a lesbian to her family. What better time to do it…than on Christmas day. What could go wrong?
Confessional (UK) 4 mins , director Louise Marie Cooke. A teenage Catholic girl has been dreaming of ‘unnatural passions’ and feels she must confess to her school priest. As she stumbles over her carefully prepared speech, choking on words that do not ring true, she learns the delicious joy of owning her desires.
Don’t Let Go (U.S.A.) 10 mins , director Mel Orpen. When Sam and Reggie get engaged, their future seems bright–until a terrible car accident leaves Reggie in a coma. And Sam must confront Reggie’s homophobic mother to fight for a place at her hospital bedside before it’s too late.
Ionut & Calin (Romania) c20 mins , director: Sorin Poama, an award winning independent film. It is one of the very few films in Romanian cinematography which reflects a gay couple’s relationship. A portrayal of those times where a decision has to be made: ‘stay or leave’.
Kiko’s Saints 2020 (France) 25 mins , director Manual Marmier . Kiko, a Japanese illustrator on assignment in France, gets suddenly overwhelmed by a strange inspiration, while she realizes she’s been spying on a gay couple on the beach next to the chapel where she’s working. Obsessed by such a vision, she will spy on those men and draw them secretly. This will slowly push her towards an encounter that will change her life and breaks her social rules.
Missed (U.S.A.) 10 mins. ,director Fokke Baarssen. A diner on a dusty desert highway in the American Southwest seems an unlikely place to call neutral territory, but it’s Graham’s last chance to try and reconnect with his estranged father, John. With John clinging ever more to his conservatism and the differences between father and son seemingly insurmountable, the stakes are high. Can they reconcile their differences and reconnect before it is too late?
Taboo [UNFORTUNATELY, NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE HISTORY FESTIVAL 2021] (U.S.A) 13 mins , director Angela Koh. A short documentary film on LGBTQ Korea. The documentary is centered around two people; Luke Wiliams, who is a YouTuber/and LGBTQ activist and his fiancé, Joey Cisneros. Luke
shares about his coming out story as well as the witch hunting on military bases in Korea. Joey shares how it was to have lived in Korea as LGBTQ with Luke. This film was made to prevent further suicides based in the LGBTQ Community and especially in Korea, which has one of the highest suicides rates reported in the LGBTQ community.
Turn it Around, (Netherlands) 10 mins , director Niels Bourgonje. At a house party, fifteen year old Bram is surrounded by friends and draws the attention of many pretty girls. But he has no interest in them. He has fallen hopelessly in love with the pretty boy on the dance floor: seventeen year old Florian. Love at first sight. There is only one problem: no one knows that Bram is gay. As the evening progresses and the tension rises between the two boys, Bram realizes that he has to make a choice. When a game of spin the bottle starts, he decides to twist the fate of the evening, and maybe his whole life.
What If [UNFORTUNATELY, NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE HISTORY FESTIVAL 2021] (USA) 20 mins .,director Francisco Fuertes. David is forced to face his own prejudices and fears when he falls for another man who is not who he thinks he is.
Would You Rather I Was Dead? (U.S.A.) 7 mins. , director Laura LewisBarr . Bruce and Joe are having a tough day at home.
SHREWSBURY LGBT+ HISTORY FESTIVAL: FILM LINK:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9p1w6fc1m6h10sl/Shrewsbury%20LGBT%20History%20Festival %202021%20Film%20.mov?dl=0
Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival
Receipts and Payment Account Period ended 31[st] March 2021
Receipts Donations & Fundraising 379.94 Sponsorship Tickets and other sales Grants 1000.00 Other 150.00 Interest 6.13 Total 1536.07 Payments Film Licenses/Permissions Speaker fees and expenses Promotion 1000.00 Expenses/Administration 978.77 Festival Costs 1900.50 Venue Hire Other 153.50 Total 4032.77 Deficit for the year (2496.70) Opening bank balance: Nationwide 6034.16 Co-op 1572.87 7607.03 Closing bank balances: Nationwide 4280.29 Co-op 830.04 5110.33
These Accounts have been prepared from the books and records of the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival by Peter Roscoe – trustee.
Date: June 4[th] 2021