After its initial guest curatorial project at this year’s festival, Queer East announces its open call today for programme proposals from curators, programmers and cultural creatives to be part of Queer East Festival 2025. This well-received initiative aims to support emerging talent from across the country and continue to reaffirm our mission by spotlighting authentic, diverse and dynamic voices from our communities.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
We are looking for original, playful and bold ideas for screening events that touch on queer experiences in East and Southeast Asia or its diaspora communities, pushing conventional norms of gender and sexuality and broadening audiences’ perspectives on Asian-ness and queerness. We welcome applicants of all experience levels and from across different disciplines, whether you have direct experience of film programming or not.
Proposed projects should include a film screening event with an additional live element, for example a: performance, panel discussion, Q&A, workshop, or poetry reading. The total event duration should be up to 120 minutes. Screening content must relate to East and Southeast Asian queer communities and narratives. There’s no limitation on film genre or type: fiction films, documentaries, archive films, or artist moving image works are all welcome. But ideally your programme will be a curated collection of short-length works.
Selected proposals will be presented at the Queer East Festival in London (April – May 2025) and with the potential to be included in our nationwide tour, Queer East: On The Road in venues across the UK.
FEE
Each project will receive a one-off £400 curation fee and be given a budget (up to £500) to cover production cost including film rights, speaker fees, etc.
WHO CAN APPLY
This opportunity is open to an individual, collective or organisation who resides in the UK. The applicants must have the right to work in the country in which they reside and be able to provide eligible documents demonstrating this, if required, at any stage of the process.
HOW TO APPLY
Please email your proposal to our Festival and Programme Director, Yi Wang at [email protected], with the subject “Open Call: Guest Curatorial Programme – [Your Name]”
You should send us a document of no more than three pages in length, or a video of less than ten minutes, to explain your proposal. You must address the following questions in your proposal to help us understand your artistic vision.
01. Tell us about you or your collective/organisation.
02. Tell us about your programming or curation experience, if you have related experience before.
03. Why are you or your collective/organisation interested in working with Queer East?
04. Tell us about your programme proposal. You might want to think about the following: What is it about? What films do you want to show? Why is your proposal related to East and Southeast Asian cultural contexts? Are there any potential partners or speakers you have in mind? Who is the intended audience for the event?
05. Provide an approximate budget.
HOW THE APPLICATIONS ARE ASSESSED
The applications will be assessed by a panel of Queer East team members and external professionals. Three proposals will be selected to be presented at the festival. The applications will be assessed on ambition, originality, feasibility, relevance, and audience-appeal.
You will receive an email confirmation of receipt within 14 days of your submission.
WHAT SUPPORT YOU WILL RECEIVE
If your proposal is offered a spot at Queer East Festival 2025, you will work with the Festival and Programme Director and the rest of the team, who will assist you in realising your proposal. You will have a chance to access this year’s film submissions and we might provide film or guest suggestions to help you finalise your programme.
Please email Yi Wang at [email protected] if you have any questions related to this programme open call.
KEY DATES
Application deadline: 15 December 2024
All applicants will receive an email with the outcome by 12 January 2025