Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Cultural Crossovers
- 2 LGBTQ Film Festivals and their Audiences
- 3 LGBQ Themes and Responses
- 4 Trans Issues
- 5 Audiences and Critics: Dialogue and Disagreement
- Conclusion
- Appendix I: Standard Questions for Respondents
- Appendix II: Project Web Page
- Filmography
- References
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Cultural Crossovers
- 2 LGBTQ Film Festivals and their Audiences
- 3 LGBQ Themes and Responses
- 4 Trans Issues
- 5 Audiences and Critics: Dialogue and Disagreement
- Conclusion
- Appendix I: Standard Questions for Respondents
- Appendix II: Project Web Page
- Filmography
- References
- Index
Summary
The opening shot of Michèle Massé's 2014 documentary about ageing among four lesbians, Las ventanas abiertas (Open Windows), shows two instantly recognisable cityscape images, one above the other. The familiar smooth grey tiles and windows of Parisian mansard roofs fill the top half of the screen; in the bottom half, a panorama of Madrid's Palacio Real and the Almudena Cathedral, lit by the setting sun. Two cities, which serve internationally as metonyms for the countries of which they are capitals, countries that have played pivotal roles in the historical evolution of Western Europe, are brought together in a film that examines the experiences of four older lesbians, two in France and two in Spain.
At the heart of Massé's film, albeit unintentionally according to the filmmaker, is the issue that preoccupies us in this book: the existence – or not – of a cinematically mediated cross-cultural flow and exchange of tastes, opinions, experiences, desires and values between France and Spain. For Massé, cultural exchange between the two countries in her film is located principally in the fact that older lesbians in both are facing similar challenges (equality, combating homophobia and so on) and working towards the same goals, but she argues that approaches to those challenges differ (in an email exchange with Darren Waldron). A striking example is attitudes to the construction of nursing homes for LGBT people; where the Spanish lesbians worry that queer residents will be forced to return to the closet, the French lesbians are concerned about the potential of segregation in the provision of accommodation specifically for LGBT pensioners. And yet, diversity of attitudes is, of course, explained as much by individual life experiences as by cultural differences. The two Spanish lesbians are prominent activists, one of whom, Boti García, is now single and the other, Empar Pineda, is married. She, and the two French lesbians (Jocelyne Pasqualini and Micheline Boussaingault), in a relationship together, talk of the continuing importance of romantic attachments and sexual pleasure as we age, while Boti has abandoned seduction for fear of rejection because of her age.
In this book, we are interested in examining and analysing such divergences and similarities. However, perhaps of greater importance to us is whether and how commonalities and diversity in perception, approach and stance are claimed in the encounter between the audience and the film.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- French and Spanish Queer FilmAudiences, Communities and Cultural Exchange, pp. 1 - 20Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2016