Sunday, November 30, 7:00 pm.
CineCycle (129 Spadina Ave., rear)

Made by drug users, harm reduction activists and queer artists from Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil, Germany and Puerto Rico, these new films use hybrid methods to explore experiences of chemsex, pain, pleasure, community and street activism. Commissioned by Visual AIDS, Day With(out) Art, the films will be followed by a discussion with Juan Saavedra, Darien Taylor, Tim McCaskell and Nick Mule. (Note: films include depictions of sex and drug use.)

Kenneth Idongesit Usoro, Voices of Resilience
Voices of Resilience follows the lives of queer individuals and drug users living with HIV in Nigeria. Through personal interviews and experimental visual storytelling, the film shows the protagonists’ worlds as they seek out underground harm reduction services.

Hoàng Thái Anh, The Sisters’ Journey
Through a documentary style, The Sisters’ Journey explores the daily life of a transgender woman in Vietnam using drugs. The film delves into her fear of stigma, struggles she faces, and the vital role of harm reduction services and healthcare available to her.

Gustavo Vinagre and Vinicius Couto, chempassion
In the magical realist film, chempassion, a gay man reminisces about his orgy days and chem sex, contemplating what the future holds for himself and his close relationships.

Camilo Tapia Flores, Realce (Highlight)
Realce is a documentary short following two HIV-positive friends, DJ Deseo and porn actor Fernando Brutto, during one of their performances at Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival. The duo move through the streets of Rio and Carnival “blocos,” sharing their reflections on friendship, undetectability, their relationship with sex, and drug use within their own community.

Camila Flores-Fernández, Ghost in the Park
Ghost in the Park traces the narratives of the community of Görlitzer Park, an area in Berlin known for public drug use and trade. Highlighting “drug consumption buses” that promote safer use and aim to reduce HIV transmission among drug users, the space of the bus is taken as an axis through which the experiences and feelings of the community around the park are amplified.

José Luis Cortés, ¿Por qué tanto dolor? (Why so much pain?)
Instead of asking, “Why so much meth in the gay community?,” Cortés’s experimental film provokes the deeper question, “Why so much pain?” The film delves into the emotional and social wounds that fuel addiction and risk-taking behaviors.

Presented by Visual AIDS, Viral Interventions, Toronto Queer Film Festival & Vtape