This film symposium will contribute to a broader understanding of sexual normativity in Russia, whether our working understanding of that category operates with a notion of “queer” as endlessly fluid or whether it is identified with fixed boundaries across historical breakpoints. Join us for the screening of two films and follow-up discussions with filmmakers and scholars on three questions. We will explore how our understanding of queer theory is rooted in definitions within contemporary US culture, ask whether queerness lends itself to a transregional definition, and consider what Russian queer cinema can reveal about unacknowledged Anglo-American assumptions.

Friday, 5 November, 1 PM EST The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Russia, 2018, dir. Natasha Merkulova and Aleksei Chupov)

Introducer:
Stasia Korotkova, Founder, Queer Screen

Discussants:
Todd W. Reeser, Chair, Department of French and Italian, University of Pittsburgh 

Dan Healey, Professor of Modern Russian History, University of Oxford

Saturday, 6 November, 1 PM EST Come On, Scumbags (Kazakhstan, 2013, dir. Madina Mustafina)

Introducer:
Madina Mustafina, Director and Cinematographer

Discussants:
Frank G. Karioris, Faculty, The Branson School

Nick Davis, Associate Professor of English, Northwestern University