Don't dream it, be it
ROMANTSO GALLERY, Athens
JUNE 2025
Curated by
Konstantinos Menelaou
Presented during the 2025 Athens Pride at POWER DANCE PRIDE CLUB
In celebration of Athens Pride 2025, The Queer Archive brings a bold and unapologetic film program to Power Dance Club at Romantso—a vibrant selection of queer visibility, resistance, and radical expression through moving images. This curated selection of short films pulses with desire, defiance, sensuality, and raw vulnerability, capturing the multitude of queer voices across the globe. Each screening is a cinematic spark that mirrors the energy of the dance floor—intimate, charged, and subversive.
Always Show Courage When Burning to the Ground – Joseph Wilson
Roses, glitter, jockstraps. God’s gaze is everywhere—even in a gay sauna, especially when steam veils a trace of danger. In this charged, feverish vision, Joseph Wilson fuses camp with sincerity, staging a divine reckoning in an erotic limbo. Flamboyant, fierce, and fever-dreamlike, it’s a journey between provocation and play, with more bite than a poppers rush.
Mochit – Oat Montien
A tender, quietly erotic short tracing queer longing across urban Bangkok. With soft, dreamlike visuals and an ethereal tone, Mochit captures the ache of fleeting connection—the glances exchanged, the silences shared—in the liminal spaces of a city in motion. A meditative ode to intimacy suspended in time.
Bronski Beat “Why” – Matt Lambert
To mark 40 years of the iconic queer anthem “Why?”, Matt Lambert crafts a documentary-style homage that fuses archive with raw emotion. Revisiting Bronski Beat’s radical debut in The Age of Consent, the short confronts the socio-political violence faced by queer communities in the 1980s—while affirming the song’s enduring pulse in the fight for liberation.
All the Young Dudes – Slava Mogutin
A gritty visual companion to Pet Shop Boys’ cover of the David Bowie classic, directed by Slava Mogutin. Shot in New York’s Lower East Side on a mix of digital and Super 8, the film radiates queer punk energy, turning city streets into a nostalgic, electric playground where boyhood, rebellion, and desire collide.
Les fleurs du mâle – Hadi Moussally
Salma, a mystical figure, confronts a world unwilling to accept her truth. Inspired by Baudelaire’s censored Les Fleurs du Mal, Moussally conjures a surreal plea for grace in a realm where identity is punished. A visual poem on queerness, exile, and the search for mercy—where art becomes both prayer and provocation.
Spring at Beach 19 – Antonio Da Silva
Spring is when Beach 19 truly comes to life—wild bushes, free bodies, and unexpected encounters in the open air. Antonio Da Silva captures the raw beauty of awakening desire: hairy men basking in natural light, wrapped in the pleasures of naturism among dunes, pines, and sea. A sun-drenched celebration of queer sensuality and freedom.
LICORICE – Nicky Miller
Dyke Rider and ‘O’ as Fox in a Playroom. Breath play, wax, and roleplay unravel in a lush, tactile space. Licorice is a bold, sensuous reinterpretation of Joreen’s radical Bitch Manifesto—a short film that reclaims “bitch” through queer kink, erotic theory, and feminist insurgency. Dark, glossy, and defiant.
Refugees Welcome – Bruce LaBruce
Moonif, a young Syrian refugee, steps out of the camp into the uneasy streets of Berlin. As outer threats blur with inner longing, his journey becomes a tense confrontation with identity, belonging, and desire. LaBruce’s lens remains provocative and empathetic, offering a queer reimagining of exile in a foreign land.
Tranquila – Leo Adef
An intimate, ritualistic video performance featuring the late Perla Zúñiga and Vera Amores (aka Berenice). Through spoken word and experimental sound, Tranquila weaves a collaborative tapestry of queer spirituality, eroticism, fragility, and shared imagination. A shimmering meditation on trans embodiment and desire beyond binaries.
POCKET RAINCOAT – Cathal O’Brien
Wet, slick, and suggestively absurd, Pocket Raincoat finds erotic potential in something as mundane as a plastic poncho. With campy charm and subversive glee, O’Brien unpacks the hidden kinks of everyday materials—proving that even the most practical objects can turn unexpectedly perverse.
DUMP TRUMP – ROSS COLLAB
An act of queer protest distilled to a single, raw gesture: someone pisses on a photo of Donald Trump. Graphic, unapologetic, and politically charged, this micro-short embodies righteous anger and unfiltered rebellion—a fierce middle finger to fascism and the sanitizing of queer resistance.
