As one of the organizers of the Fringe! film festival, I am
occasionally stunned to find out what's going on in it. I mean
sure, I helped write the programme but one of the joys of working
on a volunteer-run film festival - pulled together through
late nights on instant messenger, sessions of wine and spreadsheets
in cafes, much pleading and persuading our friends to do things
like driving mattresses around central London - is finding out
about really interesting things that creep in while I'm busy
emailing someone about a spreadsheet.
Fringe! relies on a lot of people who have given their time and
ideas to the festival. And some of those ideas are pretty weird and
wonderful.
Here are five weird Fringe! events that are so off the beat
they're practically the next beat. Or maybe the one, two before.
We'd love it if you could come to one or two ...
1. A Female ejaculation workshop - with a
projection. Again, I knew there was going to be a club night with a
darkroom, but I didn't know it would feature a workshop on female
ejaculation. Turns out it does.
Workshop £6, Stav B's Darkroom £2, 6pm Friday 13. The
Lumiere
dark-room
2. Tweet the Dawn: I knew tweet the dawn was
happening, but I didn't know that everyone would be eating fruit,
colour-co-ordinated to match the colours of the rising sun.
Tweet the dawn - watch the sun rise from a Hackney rooftop
FREE, 4am Sunday 15, Hackney
tweet-the-dawn
3. Gay boy porn - it works for the couple in The
Kids Are Alright: hot date with the girlfriend?
Director Travis Mathews got the funding for this intimate and
erotic film that lays bare some truths about queer experience
from a San Francisco porn house.
Opening Film - I Want Your Love
£8, 9.30pm Thursday 12, Hackney Picture House
i-want-your-love
4. There's going to be a gay film discussion in a log
cabin. The log cabin features real logs cut down by the
cabin co-ordinator, the editor of queer film magazine Little Joe
and a film library and projecting screen.
The Little Joe Clubhouse
FREE, all weekend, Rich Mix Cinema
little-joe-clubhouse
5. A projected drawing performance used to
illustrate what actress/director Lisa Gornick is thinking about
lesbian generations: the theme of a discussion on Saturday, hosted
by queer art magazine Girls Like Us. Lisa will be talking as well
and showing a short film. Come and do another drawing for us.
FREE, from 2pm, Saturday 14th April, XOYO Café
glu-generations-like-us
For a much more thorough run-down of our highlights see the Fringe
Film Fest website: fringefilmfest.com
Download the festival as an app here: FringeEast
