As part of the Queer Activity Program FASHIONCLASH dedicated extra attention to filmmakers whose work integrates queer narratives into their artistic practices.

The Fashion Film Program was held at Lumière Cinema and highlighted the works of emerging filmmakers and artists who address queer narratives in cinema and moving image.

Fashion film has become an essential format for designers and brands to present their aesthetics and ethics, and in today’s multimedia age, it offers a growing way to capture stories and engage broad audiences through online platforms and media. Fashion film, as a genre, lends itself exceptionally well to portraying social issues, such as queer themes, by combining visual storytelling with the power of fashion to express complex identities and challenge societal norms.

This year’s program featured a selection of short fashion films that explored queer themes, showcasing the power of fashion film as a medium for self-expression and storytelling.

Photos: Stills from short fashion films: The Back Yard, The alter ego and ŻÓŁĆ

Highlighting filmmaker Hadi Moussally

One of the program's key highlights was a special focus on Lebanese-French filmmaker Hadi Moussally. Moussally has built an impressive portfolio of short films where queer themes are central. His unique approach to fashion film explores identity, gender, and cultural boundaries, with a strong emphasis on Arab queer perspectives, an often overlooked subject. Moussally has also developed an alter ego, Salma Zahore, to further delve into the underrepresented world of Arab queer narratives through film and performance.

The decision to focus on Hadi Moussally's work and the Arab queer perspective resonated deeply with audiences, especially in light of current global events. In an inspiring moment during the festival, the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2024 Fashion Film Award —a 1000 euro prize—was awarded to Moussally’s film Shame (عيب), which explores questions of cultural identity, masculinity, femininity, and religious roles. As Moussally reflects in an interview with FashionUnited, “What is culture? What is masculinity? What is femininity? What is religious?” His work challenges the narrow view of Arab identity and pushes boundaries in exploring what it means to be oneself in a society that tries to define you. As a queer Arab, Moussally feels a responsibility to raise his voice and provide representation: “In Europe, where some politicians fuel anti-Muslim rhetoric, representation is crucial.”

Looking forward, FASHIONCLASH will continue its collaboration with Fashion in Flux , with a special film program planned for Thursday 6 February 2025, at Nieuwe Instituut as part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) fringe program. This event will feature films related to Moussally’s work, with a continued focus on the queer perspective as a central theme.

Photos: Laura Knipsael

Screening of Queendom

A pre-festival screening of the outstanding documentary Queendom was held on the evening of Thursday, November 14. The film follows Gena, a 21-year-old Russian non-binary performance artist, and served as the perfect introduction to the festival, with a focus on queer creators and narratives. Following the screening, a Zoom Q&A with the filmmakers offered further insight into the making of the film and its cultural impact.

Through the Queer Fashion Film Program, FASHIONCLASH Festival not only celebrated the creative power of fashion film but also reinforced its commitment to promoting diverse, inclusive narratives that challenge societal norms and empower marginalized voices.

On Monday the 6th of May, FASHIONCLASH organised a Talk in collaboration with the Toneelacademie Maastricht about queer-driven art practices as a kick-off of the ‘FASHIONCLASH Queer Activity program’.

The Talk included a keynote lecture by Aynouk Tan, followed by interviews with Florian Myjer and Samuel Valor Reyes. The Talk was moderated by Mara van Nes. Participants varied between graduate students from the Toneelacademie, the FASHIONCLASH team, and guests who are interested in learning more on the topic. The Talk began with a lecture given by Aynouk Tan, a writer, curator, moderator, advisor, and public speaker in the field of gender, decolonization and (queer) identity and appearance.

The Talk opened with two main questions directed to the audience: ‘who is queer?’ and ‘who uses queer in their work?’ After the audience raised their hands, Aynouk claimed that “Queerness is a big part of who I am”, hence the interest in learning what other people, especially students, think about it. One of the students’ answers particularly caught Aynouk’s attention when they noted that these are quite difficult questions to answer, since the meaning of the word queer is still unclear to many. “Queerness is a great word, because it has different meanings to different people” Aynouk replies. They explained their idea of queerness and how we as human beings have the power to unpack the four notions (gender, sexuality, expression, and sex) that we have learned in this normative Western society.

Aynouk challenges these four notions by playing with expression and dressing themselves in different ways to see how they feel inside. They strongly believe that “gender is a spectrum” and there are so many different identities that still need to be found in society.

Following the lecture, Florian and Samuel’s interviews focused on how they use queerness in their work, and the importance of being part of a community. To the question ‘do you identify as queer makers?’ Florian reacts “I am on a mission to change the narrative and I do it through my performances”. On the other hand, Samuel aims at letting their performers choose what narrative they want their bodies to tell. They go on by saying “How I work is, I make different identities visible on stage”. Furthermore, Florian’s main goal is to address topics that are often not discussed enough, such as queerness in their performances. They are looking forward to the next step in queer art, and what they refer to as “the ultimate dialogue” in which all the intersections are going into dialogue with each other. In line with this, Samuel stresses the importance of focusing on rural areas and cities that are not queer driven yet.

Overall, the Talk: Queer Driven Art Practices proved to be a great and captivating discussion about what queerness is and what it means to be a queer maker. Through this Talk, FASHIONCLASH aimed at raising interesting questions about queerness and opening new conversations on other topics and sub-topics such as this one.

Words: Martina Bardelli
Photos: Evelyn Luo

Queer Fashion Film at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2024

As part of the Queer Activity Program FASHIONCLASH dedicated extra attention to filmmakers whose work integrates queer narratives into their artistic practices.

Highlighting filmmaker Hadi Moussally

Screening of Queendom

Recap of Talk: Queer-driven Art Practices

On Monday the 6th of May, FASHIONCLASH organised a Talk in collaboration with the Toneelacademie Maastricht about queer-driven art practices as a kick-off of the ‘FASHIONCLASH Queer Activity program’.