TALK: Programmers Of Colour In Focus
Channel: Queer Academy
Date: 29/04/2019

Queer Academy Summit 2019, PANEL 1:
PROGRAMMERS OF COLOUR IN FOCUS: THEN, NOW AND THE FUTURE

Featuring members of this year’s TEDDY AWARDS jury, POC2 (Programmers of Colour Collective) will host this panel on whose stories get to be told by gatekeepers and tastemakers, the systemic gaps in the submissions and curatorial processes and pathways for POCs to become programmers.

With: 
Hebe Tabachnik, Palm Springs Film Festival/Seattle International Film Festival/Dance Camera West/Guadalajara International Film Festival in Los Angeles

F. Clementine Dramani-Issifou, Semaine de la Critique/Festival of New Documentary Cinemas/BeninDocs

Dr. Farzada Farkhooi, Trans*Formation Film Fest Berlin

Hussain Currimbhoy, Sundance Film Festival

Kevin Mwachiro, Out Film Festival

Paul Struthers, San Francisco International LGBTQI* Film Festival

Pecha Lo, Women Make Waves International Film Festival

Comprising programmers who are POCs, women and TSLGBTQ+, the primary aim of the recently formed POC2 (Programmers of Colour Collective) is not only to stimulate a conversation around the lack of programmers who are people of colour at film festivals, but also to be a catalyst of transformative change towards a more inclusive international programming pool. As a collective, POC2 advocates for greater inclusion of festival staff, including at senior levels, but to also explore how that inclusivity can affect not only decision-making but the way films are curated, submissions practices and outreach to diverse talent. Featuring members of this year’s TEDDY AWARDS jury, POC2 will host this panel on whose stories get to be told by gatekeepers and tastemakers, the systemic gaps in the submissions and curatorial processes and pathways for POCs to become programmers.

The Queer Academy
is an annual convention of international filmmakers and festival organizers in the gay-lesbian-transgender context (2015 figures: 180 persons/institutions) at the Berlinale. The Queer Academy aims to establish itself as an institute of queer cultural memory. The Academy will become an archive of queer culture and history that binds together queer cultural productions and cooperates with other organizations. Since memories are essential for the identity construction, the Queer Academy will offer an opportunity for queer people to form and find their identity in queer memory.
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