What's On - Events
JOBURG PRIDE ‘SIDE DISH’
Sun, 16 September 2012
Pride Side Dish, which serves as a “cultural appetiser” in the build-up to Joburg Pride, has expanded its 2012 programme to include art, film, theatre, cabaret and charity-drinks fundraisers.
Now in its second year, Pride Side Dish serves a key component in helping build a Pride Week concept, providing content to fill the week between Soweto Pride (29 September) with Joburg Pride (6 October).
The longer-term vision is that cultural and educational events will take place during the week between the two Pride events, helping create an LGBTI tourism product to attract visitors to Johannesburg, while providing a wide range of entertainment and educational offerings for Gauteng’s growing LGBTI community.
Please note: most of these events are created by independent organisers and are not official Pride events. Although most of the organisers are established, well-known operators and institutions, it’s best to double-check all times, dates and venues prior to booking.
Some of this year’s Pride Side Dish offerings include:
Art | Newtown
Joburg Tracks – a photographic exhibition that looks at the city and its history through the lens of its gay and lesbian inhabitants. Featuring photographers David Goldblatt, Zanele Muholi and Sabelo Mlangeni among others, the exhibition focuses on the lives of eight very different people. The exhibition was hailed by Mambaonline.com as, “A must-see for all LGBT people in Gauteng; giving a unique perspective of our community in South Africa’s biggest city”.
The exhibition was first developed in 2008 by Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) in collaboration with the TRACE exhibition group. The groundbreaking exhibition was curated by Mark Gevisser and Dr. Zethu Matebeni, was designed by Clive van den Berg and can be seen on the third level east concourse at Museum Africa.”
Venue: Museum Africa, 121 Bree Street, Newtown. Entrance to the museum is free. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on Mondays.
Details: Museum Africa, tel (011) 833 5624; or email museumafrica@joburg.org.za. To book a personal tour of Joburg Tracks please contact GALA archivist Gabriel Hoosain Khan by e-mail on hoosain.khan@wits.ac.za or by phone on (011) 717-1963.
Film | Braamfontein
Catch some of the popular crowd-pleasers from this year’s Durban Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, curated by festival director Jason Fiddler.
Thursday, 4 October
7.30pm – You Can’t Curry Love (2012 / UK/India / 24min / Director: Reid Waterer / Short Romantic Comedy): Westernised guy Vikas has been obsessing about his straight boss, Thom, for years, much to best friend Amrita’s displeasure. But when a business trip sends Vikas to New Delhi and he meets handsome Sunil, the desk clerk at his luxury hotel there, everything changes for him. A crowd-pleasing, east-meets-west, boy-meets-boy love story... with a Bollywood twist! Winner: Jury Award for Best Short Film at the 2012 Durban Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
8.15pm – eCupid: Love On The Download (2011 / USA / 100min / Director: JC Calciano / Romantic Comedy): Marshall’s in a dead-end advertising job, his partner Gabe owns a struggling coffee shop. They’ve been together seven years, have stopped communicating and are in a rut. Marshall’s becoming disillusioned, and on top of that, he’s turning 30! He goes online and along comes ‘eCupid’, a mysterious app that guarantees to find true love. From the moment it downloads, Marshall’s life will never be the same again. Thanks to ‘eCupid’, big changes happen, some secrets are revealed and a stream of sexy guys threatens to push Gabe and Marshall further apart. But is this the end of their love, or just the interlude before something greater?
Friday, 5 October
7.30pm – Disarm (2011 / Australia / 17min / Director: Wil Faulkner / Short Drama): Two men meet for a hook-up, but after an initial confrontation about who’s in control of the sex, they start talking and have something they didn’t expect: a connection.
8.15pm – Longhorns (2011 / USA / 90min / Director: David Lewis / Comedy): Travel back to Texas, 1982, where the world is ruled by big hair, synth-pop and cowboy boots. Kevin (Jacob Newton) is a straight frat-boy who enjoys bonding with his fellow schoolmates; besides, it’s all about helping a buddy out, right? When he encounters Cesar (Derek Villanueva), and openly gay student, Kevin’s heart starts to flutter for the young man, setting off a chain of events where sexual identity comes into question and a weekend fueled by beers, straight porn and sexual frustration will lead to multiple bed-hopping and questions about which side of the fence some of these ‘longhorns’ sit on!
Venue: Johnny Clegg Room, Hotel Lamunu, 90 De Korte Street, Braamfontein.
Tickets: sold at venue; R30 (R10 for students, on presentation of student university card).
Please note: Information is correct at time of submission, but screening times and titles are subject to change without notice.
Cocktail Fundraiser | Braamfontein
MediaSalon (from 6pm, Thursday, 4 October) – Join Joburg’s glossy lifestyle media pack for its long-standing, after-work monthly charity drinks fundraiser at Hotel Lamunu’s Grove Bar.
October’s R100 donation will benefit Joburg Pride programmes – and your donation also puts you in the running for fabulous lucky-draw thank-you prizes. Expect a cool crowd and chilled entertainment.
Venue: Hotel Lamunu, 90 De Korte Street, Braamfontein.
Details: (011) 242-8600; www.lamunu.co.za.
On stage | Auckland Park & Fourways
That’s So Gay Festival (28 August to 13 October)
Theatre productions presented by the University of Johannesburg Arts & Culture department; shows include:
The Boy Who Fell From The Roof, by Juliet Jenkin (7.30 p.m., 18 to 22 September)
This funny and enchanting play tells the tale of the life and untimely death of a boy called Simon. With his best friend, Georgina, Simon braves the waters of homosexuality, race, love, death and growing up in contemporary Cape Town. It`s a production with comedy, charm and pathos as it explores almost everything worth falling for in life.
Dalliances, by Pieter Jacobs (7.30 p.m., 9 to 13 October).
Janet is looking for love. Leo and Janet are friends. Ken is involved with Andy. When Ken meets Leo in a supermarket, the lives of these four characters intersect. Dalliances is a complex moral tale reflecting a world in which everything is possible but... The play won five awards and nominations at the fifth International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.
Venue: University of Johannesburg Con Cowan Theatre, Bunting Road Campus.
Details: book at Computicket. Visit www.uj.ac.za/arts or call (011) 559-3058.
Bitches Be Crazy (3 and 4 October)
Mash together a lesbian rock star (Mary Scary from New York) and a Namibian socialite (Champagne Le Roux) and you have Bitches Be Crazy, a “drag rock show that reinvents the perception of improv theatre”. Catch comedian and 2OceansVibe DJ Rhys Woods as he portrays two of South Africa’s most bad-ass characters in one show. The Mary Scary Show has performed to more than 100 sold-out audiences in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London and returns to Joburg for the Pride Side Dish programme.
Venue: Café Culture, Pineslopes Shopping Centre (opposite Montecasino), Witkoppen Road, Fourways.
Details and bookings: Call (011) 467-6367. Visit www.cafeculture.co.za
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