This event is part of the Goethe-Institut New York's "Queer as German Folk" series, with which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots as a milestone in the fight for gender diversity and equality.
"Queer as German Folk" is a project of the Goethe-Instituts North America in cooperation with the Schwules Museum Berlin, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung).
Realized in cooperation with The DC Center for the LGBT Community, The Rainbow History Project, and Whitman-Walker Health.
#queerasgermanfolk #qagf #stonewall50 #smu #bpb
As a part of the Goethe-Institut North America’s „Queer as German Folk“ series – in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising as a milestone in the fight for gender diversity and equality – the Goethe-Institut Washington and its many local project partners have selected a number of culturally- and historically-significant films from Germany and North America, highlighting various aspects of queer rights movements. We present Kino-Q, a film series that guides viewers through parts of this history, paired with expert-led discussions.
The AIDS Trilogy, Pt. I: Silence = Death (Schweigen ist gleich Tod) (1989), dir. Rosa von Praunheim
Federal Republic of Germany and United States, 1989, 55 min., in English.
Directed by Rosa von Praunheim.
In the first part of the trilogy, a statement by Texas’ Governor, caught on an open microphone, summarizes Praunheim’s perspective on America’s attitude towards the millions of HIV-positive Americans: “If you want to stop AIDS … then shoot the queers.” Silence = Death brings together a multitude of short portraits that impress with their radicalness and openness. Focusing primarily on the response of New York artists to the AIDS Epidemic, Rosa von Praunheim’s cautious and yet demanding interview technique moves his subjects to reveal themselves. Among the more moderate advocates in the movement to use art as a medium expression we find poet Allen Ginsburg, who recites a hymn to his sphincter and artist Keith Haring, who died of AIDS shortly before the film premiered, whose pictogram-like graphics of little people were part of safer sex campaigns.
Following the film we are pleased to be joined by long-time staff from Whitman-Walker Health Joanne Sincero and Randy Pumphrey, who will talk about their experiences working with the LGBT community in DC.
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Joanne Sincero has been with Whitman-Walker Health since 1994, just before some of the newer HIV drug treatments became available and vastly changed many people’s lives. As a staff with The Austin Center for Health and Living day treatment program for people living with HIV, it was not unusual to lose a patient each week to the illness. She worked to do the sometimes impossible job of honoring those lost without letting the program be all about death and dying for those who remained. She has been humbled and privileged to have been a part of the journey of many over the years. Prior to joining Whitman-Walker, Joanne was also involved with AIDS/LGBTQ street activism with a local DC group called Oppression Under Target (OUT!) from the mid 1980’s to early 1990’s.
From
Randy Pumphrey: "I work at Whitman-Walker because of the communities we serve, my deep roots in the LGBTQ communities and my long history living within the HIV pandemic. As the Senior Director of Behavioral Health since 2015, I manage an amazing team that includes psychiatric medical providers, psychotherapists and peer counselors. I grew up right outside of DC, with my heritage in farming. I see my role as a therapist as someone who tends to many gardens, fostering new growth and life. I have a Bachelor of Science in American studies with a concentration in American literature. I have a master's in Divinity and a doctorate in ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. I began my journey as a board-certified Chaplain, working with the integration of spirituality and mental health prior to getting my licensure as a professional counselor. I have worked in mental health and substance use care since 1984 staring as an intern at the Washington Hospital Center and then St. Elizabeths. In 1998 I became the Clinical Director of The Psychiatric Institute of Washington’s - The Lambda Center, where my focus was working with LGBTQ persons dealing with mental health and substance use disorder issues. I came back to Whitman Walker in 2007 and feel deeply committed to our health as a community."
Director
Rosa von Praunheim was born in Riga, Latvia, during the Nazi occupation of the Baltic States in 1942. He was born in a Latvian prison where his mother, Edith Radtke, was being held captive. When his mother was murdered by Nazi doctors in a Berlin psychiatric hospital, von Praunheim was adopted and christened Holger Bernhard Bruno Waldemar Mischwitzky. Initially an East Berliner, von Praunheim’s family escaped into West Germany in 1953. He began working in film and creative writing in the 1960, at which point he chose “Rosa von Praunheim” as his stage name. In 1971, he released his groundbreaking documentary,
It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives, which prompted the founding of several gay rights groups throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. A prolific documentarian and feature film director, von Praunheim regularly pushed the envelope across genres, and closely examined activism, the AIDS crisis, societal norms, and shifting social dynamics within queer communities. An eccentric and at times controversial filmmaker, von Praunheim continues to work and live in Berlin.
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