The Queer cinema collective has come up with the idea to show two films this week, one a short, independently made film called 'Boy' by director Joe Morris: a film about a middle aged man who strikes up a friendship with a school boy, whilst simultaniously battling with feelings of attraction to children/the possibility that he is/might be a peadophile, followed by "Hard Candy" a feature length film shot from the perspective of 14 year old Hayley Stark who embarks on a mission of revenge against a suspected paedophile. These two films explore two extremes of the debate and conception of peadophilia, one approaching it from the idea that it could be a [unwanted] sexual orientation and focusses on the perspective of the peadophile, whilst the other takes a survivor-centric approach and explores the concept of power relations: normally peadophiles have the power in their relationships to children, but in this case the relationship is turned on its head.
Whilst neither of the films is necessarily explicitly queer, we feel that the debate they raise is interesting and important for queer people to think about, and the focus of this screening will be to discuss, debate, and anaylse these themes.
Trigger warnings for 'Boy': Implied actions or suggested notions of paedophillia (no sexual acts are actual depicted)Trigger warnings for "Hard Candy": Extreme violence, Scenes of Torture, mentions and discussion of peadophilia and sexual acts.
We recognise that this will be quite a heavy night, potentially not very enjoyable, and will have a lot of triggers. In future weeks we promise to show easier and more. enjoyable films.