An exhibit of film works by Queer and BIPOC filmmakers in Montreal
curated by Jela Dela Peña
in collaboration with Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi Montreal
The second iteration of our 2021 BIPOC Film Festival
During the height of the lockdowns in the first year of the pandemic, a group of young creatives in Montreal musered to set out a public outdoor film festival which is . This free-admission event showcased that the collective desire of the masses to celebrate art with each other is what makes this community thrive.
In this spirit, I want to continue providing a film festival outside of institutional structures to ensure that the masses can keep commemorating the arts of moving images by artists of queer, black, indigenous and people of color identities in Montreal.
BADING
Noun. Intl Phonetic : /baˈdiŋ/, [bɐˈdiŋ]
If one looks up the meaning of bading, search engines will tell them it is a colloquial and derogatory word used to refer to "effeminate man; womanish man; homosexual male; hermaphrodite" in the Filipino language. However, young queer activists of today are reclaiming this word. Even through oppressive laws and conservative catholic traditions, the people are firm and united in turning this word that used to have a demeaning weight into an empowering one.
KA
This is the symbol used in this festival's logo, which is a syllable in the ancient Filipino languge, Baybayin. Ka is another Filipino word which can be translated into multiple manners.
It can refer to "you" when being used as a standalone. For example, the sentence "Bading ka" translates to "You are gay". Reclaiming this phrase is my intention of ridding its old vilifying gist by using these two words for this festival and normalizing it into an uplifting tone instead.
Ka is also used as a prefix in words which turns them into "to be with" when added.
BADING Film Festival 2024; When and Where?
This event will happen on the night of 29th and 30th of March at CJE Montreal (460 Saint-Catherine St W bureau 602) on 18h00. After the screening of films from each category, the floor will be open for a Q&A discussion panel with the directors. Instead of awarding trophies, an honorarium will be given to each director. Furthermore, this is to highlight the selected filmmakers by getting to know them and their works. The festival will feature the same three categories of shorts from the first iteration: fiction/narrative, documentary, and experimental. In addition to this new rendition, a new category, Queer Spotlight, will be the new section of the event. This category is for those works of Queer/Trans BIPOC filmmakers whose story centers on queerness.
About the Curator
Jela Dela Peña is a trans non-binary Filipino immigrant residing in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal. Diverting from the path of sciences, he started filmmaking shortly after moving to Canada in 2015. Dela Peña has been involved in organizing art exhibits like the BIPOC Film Fest in 2021 and an asian heritage month exhibit, In Visible Stories in 2022. Dela Peña was also a part of the organizing team of Chrysalis, a burlesque and drag show led by Concordia Students in March 2023.
Dela Peña's latest works Aking Senakulo, which was filmed in the spring of 2023, will also be showcased during the Queer Spotlight category of Bading Film Festival 2024.
About CJE
Carrefour jeunesse-emploi Montréal Centre-Ville (CJEMCV)
Écosystème de soutien directe à la relève artistique, entrepreneuriale, et professionnelle de Montréal/Tiohtià:ke
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Direct support ecosystem for emerging artistic, entrepreneurial, and professional talent in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke
This event is made possible by the funding of Ville de Montreal