QueerWave at the Goethe garden

The Goethe-Institut Cyprus supports the Queer Wave 2021 retrospective. Within this framework two iconic German classics from queer cinema history are celebrated: Girls in Uniform (90th anniversary); and It Is Not The Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But The Society in Which He Lives (50th anniversary).

Mädchen in Uniform, a remarkable film with a female filmmaker directing an all-female cast, is considered one of the first truly significant queer films ever made, while It Is Not The Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But The Society in Which He Lives, directed by Rosa von Praunheim, pioneer of the gay rights movement, and which premiered at the Berlinale in 1971, is a rare example of a film that has had a direct socio-political impact.
 
Mädchen in Uniform (Girls in Uniform)
Drama // 1931 // Germany // 89 minutes
Directed by: Leontine Sagan
7:30 pm
Fräulein von Bernburg is an empathetic teacher at an all-girls boarding school. When new student Manuela starts to fall in love with her kindly tutor, pupil and teacher soon discover that their feelings are mutual. As Manuela seeks to follow her heart, she encounters the challenges of pursuing a forbidden romance and a scandal soon erupts. A key film of the Weimar era, which also carries a potent anti-fascist message, Mädchen in Uniform is an undisputed landmark of lesbian representation on screen.
 
Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt (It is not the homosexual who is perverse, but the society in which he lives)
Documentary/Drama // 1971 //  Germany // 67 minutes
Directed by: Rosa von Praunheim
9:30 pm
In the commentary, the word “gay” is uttered 90 times, which was still being used in the context of hate speech in 1971, two years after the abolition of Section 175 of the German criminal code, which criminalized homosexual acts between males. Those affected had not yet reclaimed the word. Delivered in a declamatory tone in voiceover to silent images showing clichéd gay scenes, the commentary provoked those unwilling to hear anything about it and those who were suffering from the use of the term in equal measure.

The film’s critique, expressed from a deliberately “diffuse artistic stance” (Praunheim), mixed elements of fiction and documentary films as well as of polemics and appeal, thereby queering classical film narratives. It was directed at the gay scene itself in particular, which Praunheim accused of self-imposed invisibility. The modern German gay men’s movement developed out of the discourse on visibility triggered by the film. It is a rare example of a film that has had a direct socio-political impact.