From the 8th to the 15th of September, the HUMEN Festival offers a wide range of cultural events to celebrate the LGBT community
Happening every year during the late summer/early autumn days, the HUMEN Festival has become a tradition for the LGBT community in Budapest to enjoy cultural events that include film, exhibitions and theater. All focused on creators from the community and offering a space to highlight their talent, showing the contribution that LGBT people can add to art and culture.
For its 2020 edition, the HUMEN Festival includes film screenings, a photo exhibition, an art gallery tour and theater programs.
For information about tickets and the program, visit http://www.humenfesztival.hu/en/
Film screenings
From the 10th to the 13th of September, 8 movies from different countries will be presented at Művész Art Cinema (1066 Budapest, Teréz körút. 30). See the full list of movies below:
- Cocoon (Germany)
Nora, a shy 14-year-old Berlin girl, falls for Romy and discovers a whole new world. Surrounded by people with disrupted biographies, from different cultures and backgrounds, she makes her way into adulthood. Nora gets her first period, falls in love with another girl, learns to stand up for herself and gets her heart broken for the first time. When summer ends, things will never be the same again for Nora.
- Sauvage (France)
Leo is a 22-year-old sex worker who yearns for affection. In poor health and with no fixed address, he finds fleeting solace in the arms of the men he meets through his work. The crushing solitude of Leo’s life is tempered when he falls for fellow hustler Ahd. But when his romantic feelings are violently rebuffed, Leo begins to spiral, questioning if he will ever find the love he so desperately craves.
- And Then We Danced (Georgia)
This movie follows Merab, a devoted dancer who has been training for years with his partner Mary for a spot in the National Georgian Ensemble. The arrival of another male dancer, Irakli – gifted with perfect form and equipped with a rebellious streak – throws Merab off balance, sparking both an intense rivalry and romantic desire that may cause him to risk his future in dance as well as his relationships with Mary and his family.
- Moffie (South Africa/UK)
Nicholas has long known he is different, that there is something shameful and unacceptable in him that must stay hidden, denied even. But South Africa’s minority government are embroiled in conflict at the Angolan border and all white young men over 16 must serve two years of compulsory military service to defend the Apartheid regime and its culture of toxic racist machismo. The ‘black danger’ is the real and present threat; what is wrong with Nicholas and others like him can be rooted out, treated and cured like a cancer. But just when fear pushes Nicholas to accept unspeakable horrors in the hopes of staying invisible, a tender relationship with another recruit becomes as dangerous for them both as any enemy fire.
- Gay Chorus Deep South (United States)
In response to a wave of discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws in Southern states and the divisive 2016 election, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus embarks on a tour of the American Deep South. They perform in churches, community centers and concert halls in hopes of uniting people in a time of disagreement. The journey also challenges Tim and other Chorus members who fled the South to confront their own fears, pain and prejudices on a journey towards reconciliation. The conversations and connections that emerge offer a glimpse of a less divided America, where the things that divide us – faith, politics, sexual identity – are set aside by the soaring power of music, humanity, and a little drag.
- Song Lang (Vietnam)
An unlikely bond forms between an underground debt collector and a cai luong performer against the backdrop of Saigon in the 1990s. Linh Phung is a star of a traveling Cai-luong (traditional folk opera) troupe deep in debt to a local loan shark. Dung „Thunderbolt” is the enforcer come to collect. After an unlikely bond forms between the two, Linh Phung learns how a life is necessary for art and Dung follows art back to a life worth living.
- Taiwan Equals Love (Taiwan)
In 2016, the parties of the Taiwan Legislative Yuan submitted drafts on the marriage equality act but were confronted with anti-LGBTQ groups. Meanwhile, three pairs of same-sex partners are also facing their own family issues. Tien-Ming and Hsiang have been in love for more than 30 years, but their love is being tested with old age and illness. Jovi and Mindy spend most of their time protesting for marriage equality, fighting for the rights of Jovi’s daughter. Gu flew from Macau to live with Shinchi but is now struggling with finances and the pressure to come out to their parents.
- Dating Amber (Ireland)
Dating Amber is a poignant yet hilarious look at the highs and lows of teenage life where the only way to fit in is to not be yourself. Set in Ireland during the mid-90’s, two closeted teenagers, Eddie and Amber, decide to stage a relationship in order to stop everyone speculating about their sexuality. Eddie is keen to follow his Dad into the military, while Amber dreams of moving to liberal London. However, their ‘ideal’ arrangement begins to fall apart, forcing Eddie deeper into denial as Amber realizes that a perilous future awaits her best friend unless she intervenes. Dating Amber is a love letter to all those kids who grew up in a small town and who needed to escape in order to be themselves.
Photo exposition – Rainbow Families
From the 8th to the 25th, Gallery IX (1092 Budapest, Ráday utca 47) will be the space where a photo exhibition with the concept of rainbow families will be displayed, not only considering parents with children a family, but also well-established Hungarian LGBT couples.
Art – Keeping the Balance
Keeping the Balance is a temporary exhibition presenting about sixty works from the Art Collection Telekom. Most of the works are by artists of Eastern European roots. How can we find and keep the balance in a complex, contradictory and often conflict-laden reality? The question in the focus of the exhibition at once implies hope and formulates a statement that artistic discourse and confrontation can provoke thoughts and convey experiences, which are specifically helpful in finding this balance.
As part of the HUMEN Festival, a private guided tour and wine tasting will be offered on the 9th of September to participants.
Theater – Trafó
Trafó, the respected house of contemporary arts in Budapest (1094 Budapest, Liliom utca 41), has two programs included in the HUMEN Festival.
The first, Restlesslegs, is an English-friendly performance happening on the 14th and 15th of September. In this new circus creation, the five creators share their personal connection to the inner urge to keep moving, while their bodies creep, pull, crawl and buzz through us as soon as we slow down.
The second, The Shadow, is a self-ironic and a self-involved monologue in Hungarian performed by Kata Pető. She is going to be the only woman on stage speaking about her life with Orpheus, her feelings about her husband and also about her own death. She will be surrounded by male characters as well, like the members of the popular Hungarian band Freakin’ Disco or musician Árpád Kákonyi and also the well-known choreographer and dancer Krisztián Gergye.
For information about tickets and the program, visit http://www.humenfesztival.hu/en/
