“Ich bin meine eigene Frau” (“I am my own woman/wife”)Ich bin meine eigene Frau [I Am My Own Woman] (Rosa von Praunheim, 1992)
May
16
Honor Our LGBT Elders Day
Ichgola Androgyn, Jens Taschner, and Charlotte von Mahlsdorf as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. DP: Lorenz Haarmann.
An LGBTQ actor, director, or character over 55 for Honor Our LGBT Elders Day (USA)
– Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, in response to her mother's request to settle and get married
The extraordinary life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Berliner, gender bender, Nazi killer (her own father, with a wooden rolling pin, mind you), prisoner, custodian, museum founder, barmaid, Stasi informer (arguably), den mother to the GDR's LGBT+ youngsters, but most of all, her own woman.
RosaVonPraunheim
“Werdet stolz auf eure Homosexualität! Raus aus den Toiletten, rein in die Strassen! Freiheit für die Schwulen!”Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt [It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives] (Rosa von Praunheim, 1971)
Jul
6
National Daniel Day
A gay couple kissing on the street in front of a black-tiled Berlin bar. A third gay man nearby looks away. DP: Robert van Ackeren.
Daniel (Bernd Feuerhelm) is a young man in #WestBerlin exploring his homosexuality. Initially he opts for a spießbürgerlich, petit-bourgeois, almost heterosexual affair. He then probes further, swings by Berlin's public toilets and pools. Only when he encounters a leftwing gay commune he finds that pride, not conformity, is his way of living his life.
Von Praunheim's Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers is a plea for rebellion and visibility. For revolt and love. A wakeup call for gays and straights alike. Such a stir this film pamphlet made it became the blueprint for West-Germany's gay liberation movement.