Love Lies Bleeding was screened on Saturday evening as part of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. A projection that unfortunately quickly turned into a petty display of homophobia, misogyny and violence. But let’s take a step back.
Acclaimed at the Berlin Film Festival and Sundance and still waiting to be distributed in French-speaking European countries, the debut of Lwhere Lies Bleeding at BIFFF was rightly considered an unmissable opportunity for spectators waiting to see Rose Glass’s controversial thriller with Kristen Stewart And Katie O’Brian.
The plot of the thriller has at its center a love story between two women and doesn’t hesitate to show raw and realistic sex scenes. These factors ended up dragging into the theater not only the queer audience sincerely interested in the film, but also some fringes of spectators who were decidedly undisposed towards these themes.
As a result, the serenity of the audience present in the room was undermined by a barrage of homophobic and toxic comments characterized by a increasing verbal violence. A situation that quickly pushed well over 60 women belonging to the queer community to leave the room, and which also led to at least three cases of physical violence. Elina Fischer, one of the paying spectators, described the situation thus created Variety:
«Things got out of hand. We feared for our lives, because the kind of people who say these things at a film screening are the kind of people who attack us. We got scared and decided to leave.»
One participant described the atmosphere created in the room thus:
«Once we got up, we started hearing insults directed at us, but then it gradually became something much nastier. Violent. We were overwhelmed, crying and telling ourselves this wasn’t normal.»
The first irreverent comments coming from some sections of the auditorium took a increasingly disturbing turn, with the film’s love scenes met with homophobic slurs, while a sequence of sexual coercion was instead greeted with thunderous applause. Those present in the room then recounted the climax of the event in a statement shared with Variety in which they explain:
«We know the difference between standard jokes and insults and comments lesbophobic. When part of the audience applauds during what we perceive as a rape scene, when they mime masturbation by exclaiming to the actresses on the screen things like “Undress!”, “She only wants dick”, “They are disgusting”, and “ Dirty Lesbians” at the slightest scene of lesbian intimacy, once spectators get up to leave the theater or demand respect, only to be booed, insulted and physically attackedand once dozens of lesbians leave the theater in tears, insulted, degraded and shocked, we certainly cannot speak of a good-natured atmosphere.»
Such heated and vile language that it pushed between 60 and 80 of those present to leave the room and gather in the cinema lobby demanding that the screening of Love Lies Bleeding was interrupted. A request that did not find a positive response from the organization, further inflaming the crowd’s spirits. Jonathan Lenaerts, press officer of the BIFFF, confirmed the request for intervention by the police, who intervened to calm the situation and guarantee the continuation of the show:
«We had planned this film specifically because it touched the LGBT community. We thought it was great that this type of film was also being introduced to this community, giving us the perfect opportunity to welcome a new audience at our festival.»
Given the turn that events have taken, the move cannot be said to be completely successful, even if for his part Lenaerts believes it was worth it:
«We have a duty to contextualize. Make sure all communities feel equally welcome. Humor in the room should never be purposeful and malicious, and all exceptions are intolerable. To be honest, a gram of shit ruined a kilo of caviar, and now we will do everything we can to remove that gram of shit. We will take direct action: if anyone makes inappropriate comments, they will be kicked out immediately.»
On Sunday, the BIFFF then released an official statement that did not fail to attract strong criticism. Although the organizers do not hesitate to define what happened as “unacceptable”, many of those present who attended the screenings criticize the fact that they did not mention the explicit nature of the offenses in the press release, limiting themselves to apologizing for the “discriminatory comments against any community.”. One participant commented on the statement with rather harsh words:
«The press release makes absolutely no apologies, and takes no responsibility for having made a mistake, the BIFFF – and festivals in general – should recognize that their films are not neutral, that some have political value, something to say about certain community, as in this case it was on lesbian community. And it was a mistake to present this film without any context or preparation – especially for such an audience. […] We were truly robbed of something, robbed of our moment.»
Elina Fischer instead added:
«This film represents us. It was made for and by our community, so have our own experience ruined by homophobes present in the room was terrible. We all feel very sad, shocked and angry, because we feel that our position cannot exist without attack. The fight against homophobia still has a long way to go.»
What do you think ? Let us know in the comments!
Read also: Kristen Stewart, onanism in the theater: a viewer of Love Lies Bleeding arrested
Photo: MovieStillsDB
Source: Variety
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Tags: Chaos erupts films premiere
