MEDIAQUER.CA + the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University present:

This is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights and the War in Ukraine with director Marusya Bociurkiw present (documentary, 2015, 53 minutes, in English, Ukrainian, and Russian with English subtitles, Winds of Change Prod.). THIS IS A FREE, NON-TICKETED EVENT.

FRIDAY MARCH 10, 6:30PM

Concordia University Visual Arts Building – VA114
1395 René Lévesque Ouest                                                                                                                     

Ukrainian-Canadian filmmaker and Ryerson University Professor Marusya Bociurkiw (Bodies in Trouble, 1990; The Women Stayed: The Untold Story of the Euromaidan, 2014) follows the progress of the Euromaidan revolution, in which LGBT activists played a significant role. In this moving and incisive documentary, she traces the impact of the Russian occupation of Eastern Ukraine which took place on the heels of this erstwhile hopeful time. From accounts of exile and torture, to stories of resistance, this film shows a side of the conflict in Ukraine the world has not yet seen through interviews with LGBTQ Ukrainians who have suffered displacement, legal harassment, and worse, as Russia imposed its laws against “gay propaganda” on a region still illegally occupied while the world acquiesced to the invasion and its impact on queer people. Since showing excerpts from This is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights and the War in Ukraine at a panel in Montréal in 2015, Bociurkiw’s fearless (and fearsome) documentary enjoyed a world premiere in Poland, a Canadian premiere at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (2015) and has just been screened to communities across Ukraine, where at least once it was met with right-wing hooligan threats. As the Russian occupation of Ukraine enters its fourth year, the Queer Media Database Base de donnéee des médias queer Canada-Québec is proud to present this daring and important work by one of Canada’s most critical and politically engaged creators. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director facilitated by CKUT’s culture coordinator Tamara Filyavich, a Montréal sound artist involved in feminist Ukrainian solidarity.

This is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights and the War in Ukraine

Marusya Bociurkiw, 2015, 53 min | Winds of Change Productions | Documentary | In Ukrainian, English + Russian w/ English subtitles

FREE FILM SCREENING w/ DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE + Q&A w/ Marusya Bociurkiw facilitated by Tamara Filyavich

Presented by MEDIAQUEER.CA + Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema + Office of VP Research, Concordia University + CKUT 90.3FM

Info: mediaqueer.ca | www.thisisgaypropaganda.com

Bio:

Marusya Bociurkiw is writer/director of 10 films and videos, including Bodies in Trouble (1990), and the author of five books, including the award-winning Comfort Food for Breakups: The Memoir of a Hungry Girl (Arsenal Pulp Press 2007). Her creative non-fiction story, “A Girl, Waiting”, was recently shortlisted for the prestigious CBC Canada Writes Literary Award. She is a longtime media activist: her multi-genre work, which links issues of ethnicity, nation, sexuality, and social justice, has been presented on four continents. She is associate professor of media theory, and director of The Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought, at Ryerson University in Toronto. In the 1980s, she was active in Women's Action for Peace, International Women's Day Coalition, the pro-choice movement, and Women for Economic Justice While living in Montréal, she co-designed and co-taught the first course on LGBT cinema in Canada, at Concordia, with Thomas Waugh. This is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights and the War in Ukraine (2015) is the culmination of fieldwork and grassroots documentary evident in What’s the Ukrainian Word for Sex? (2009) and The Women Stayed: The Untold Story of the Euromaidan (2014).