Softcore Program

SHORTS

Breathbeat (1984)
Stephen Cummins, 06:00 min
Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

A rhythmic study of the geography of the body. Flesh reduced to diagonals in frame. Tension, intent and the beat of the body.

 

Thrasher (2014)
Nat Randall, Anna Breckon, EO Gill

Thrasher depicts a fight between two queers who brawl, kick, spit and spank one another in a skate park in Sydney’s Western Suburbs. This work was commissioned by ACON’s Claude Project.

Performers: Nat Randall, EO Gill, Sofia Lo Bianco, Annaliese Constable, Ange Downing, Alex Frith, Rocky Pudney, Julia Stevens, Anastasia Zaravinos
DOP: Juntra Donovan-Santitharangkun
Second AD: Kate O’Halloran
Fight Choreography: Chris Ryan
Music Score: Ghetto Pussy
Editors: Anna Breckon, EO Gill, Anna Boydell
Boom Operators: Samar Haidar, Amy Blue
On-set Assistants: Jade Muratore, Sam Sperring

 

Fistimuff (2019)
Archie Barry, 11:00 min

Leading its audience into a different paradigm, FISTIMUFF disturbs the familiarity of the human body, suburban streets and domestic interiors with an inverted colour palette. The energetic interdependence between poetry, gesture and rhythm suggest a totalised system of bodily logic, whilst the divide between performance and rest is as fine and bruised as a hairline fracture.

Artist and Composer: Archie Barry
Sound Design and Production: Sean Lowry
Videographer: Emmett Aldred
*Commissioned by Channels Festival 2019 in partnership with BLINDSIDE Gallery.

 

Powa Wave (2023)
Hannah Brontë, 05:49 min

Me and my love are safe in the waves. POWA WAVE is a Queer romance that follows two lovers as they surf. They joyfully and powerfully walk on water, connected to each other and the ocean. POWA WAVE is the Queer answer to Blue Crush…. DIVE IN !

Artist: Hannah Brontë
Videographer: Nicholas Stevens
Surf Videographer: Stephanie Texeira
Models: Audrey Styman-Lane, Erin Mcartney
Soundscape: Jess Koroi
*Commissioned by UTS (University of Technology Sydney) 2022 as part of solo show Neon Oracle

 

Conversion (2023)
EO Gill, 12:20 min

In CONVERSION, several fragmented scenes unfold in a motel room concerning a Mother, a Son and a Doctor. CONVERSION uses Hollywood melodrama, porn and documentary aesthetics and stereotypes to draw on the inherently erotic, persuasive, and seductive nature of cinema and its capacity for conversion. This work traces the conversion prefix “con” to its Latin origins, meaning to trick or deceive, and tethers it to a Freudian theory of conversion as the process by which an unspeakable desire transforms into a speakable one.

Artist: EO Gill
Performers: Julia Hyde, Brian Fuata, Neil Beedie
Sound Design: Female Wizard
Set Design: Micha Couell
Camera: EO Gill & Garden Reflexxx

 

Troughman (1998)
Kellie Henneberry, 05:00 min

TROUGHMAN explores the mythology of Troughman through a series of interviews with queer community and Troughman himself. Troughman is a known and respected figure in the Sydney queer community, famous for his golden shower fetish and earning his nick-name by basking in public urinals.

 

Night Stalker (2023)
Megan Holloway & Kingskin, 05:00 min

Stares across a dark seedy restroom, sweat drips down the back of a neck, leathers creek, fists clench…The hunt is on.

Performers: Megan Holloway & Kingskin
Camera & Edit: EO Gill

 

Shredded (2023)
Samia Sayed, 01:30 min

LISTEN TO HER PUR. SHE’S A LOUD GIRL. SHE’S A BEAST. SHE’S A BIG GIRL. PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT.

Camera & Lighting: Priya Punch
Edit: EO Gill

 

kingsHead (2023)
Tarik Ahlip, 05:00 min

An irruption of repressed memory during a scene of casual living room debauchery leads to the enactment of an archaic vernal ritual.

Performers: Micha Couell, Mark Mailler
Voice: Catherine Clayton-Smith
Camera & Text: Tarik Ahlip
With thanks to EO Gill

 

Bianca B e la Settima Stronza Snella  (2023)
Joe Pol, 08:30 min

Told in the style of Giallo horror, ROSA FROTTA follows a hot young thing as she wakes to herself, alone and pissy in a big ol’ mansion. She bathes. She basks and bakes, washed out in an overcast of gloom. But someone is coming to collect her… She knows she’ll at least be ready.

BIANCA B – Eliza Faull
BIRDBOY – Joe Pol
Director – Joe Pol
Cinematography – Rahnee Bliss, Joe Pol
Camera – Rahnee Bliss, Joe Pol
Editing – Joe Pol
Makeup & Hair – David Cranson
Soundtrack – Rahnee Bliss
Special Thanks to Steven Collins

 

Resonance (1991)
Stephen Cummins & Simon Hunt, 12:00 min
Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

A stylised, wordless look at two men in Sydney: a gay man and a man who leads a gay-bashing gang. The gay man, recovering from his beating, practices dance that is sometimes tai chi, sometimes ballet, sometimes modern jazz. The man who rescued him from the beating is his teacher, his lover, and his dance partner. We also see his attacker, who, trapped in machismo, mistreats his own girlfriend as well. By the end, the male couple is joined by a third dancer, a woman, suggesting an artistic and social harmony.

 

 

FEATURE

Hyper Masculinity on the Dancefloor (2016)
Emre Busse, Selin Davasse, 50:00 min

This documentary takes the dancing body on the homo-social dance floor as a research site and aims to wander through the spectrum of hyper masculinity and its expressions, cultural origins and political implications.

Directors: Emre Busse and Selin Davasse
Participants: Lars Svenson, Spencer Reed, Karsten, Rocco, Kevin Andre, Boris, Osman,
Lukas, Michael Salu, Vasilis, Alexander, Robert, and Mike Holtz
Soundtrack: Furfriend

 

Register for Softcore, Thu 17 Aug, here.