On 15th May, The Lesbian Bar Project held their first ever UK screening, showing their second film, The Lesbian Bar Project: FLINTA at the Ritzy in Brixton. We headed down.
For those who don’t know, The Lesbian Bar Project was established in 2020 by Erica Rose and Elina Street. The pair were moved to action upon learning that at the time only 15 lesbian bars remained in their home country, the US, when there once used to be around 200. Increased costs of living and the Covid pandemic were amongst the reasons why lesbian+ communities were rapidly losing these vital safe spaces.
The project began as a short film and then became an Emmy and GLAAD media award-winning docuseries featuring US bars. Whilst this second film crosses the pond to document the stories of FLINTA (Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-Binary, Transgender and Asexual) communities in Cologne and Berlin.
It was an honour to learn about the queer scene in these two German cities. Despite the number of lesbian bars in the country still decreasing, the film pays homage to the growing FLINTA movement that holds so much hope for the future of ever-expansive and inclusive queer communities.
Some of the featured individuals in the film include Payman Neziri, owner of the beloved BOIze.bar in Cologne, politician Tessa Ganserer, comedian Ricarda Hofmann and human rights activist Anbid Zaman.
Neziri is seen in her element as a prominent Cologne nightlife figure, dedicating her life to creating a safe space for FLINTA people, for which the community loves her back so greatly. Hofmann and Zaman, frequent attendees of BOIze.bar also help explain the significance of these spaces for their individual self-expression, finding friends (and perhaps lovers) and feeling a sense of belonging. It was particularly touching to hear from Zaman, who provides a genderqueer and non-white perspective and tells of their journey to feeling at home in Cologne after a queerphobic upbringing.
After the screening, a Q&A with subjects Payman Neziri, Fraence Greth and the creators Erica Rose and Elina Street was hosted by actress and director Desiree Akhavan. This provided further insights to the process and the importance of such a project.
We can’t wait to see what the Lesbian Bar Project does next! It would be great to see them exploring other cities such as, wink, wink, London. Keep track of their moves.
Team Nonchalant x
Hii I’m Mads (they/them)! I’m an anthropology graduate who is passionate about queer politics and countering intersectional oppression through communal practices of queer joy!
Writing for Nonchalant is to me a way to help keep our community connected, informed about moments of cultural significance, and up to date with events that help foster solidarity amongst us!
