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Photographers, filmmakers, writers - here are just some of the many talented Fellows of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum

Storytelling is a major tool of expressing of who we want to be – and of changing hearts. Our Forum cooperates with and amplifies the work of writers, filmmakers and photographers, from all over the world, who portray the complexities of our lives. Here, we profile just some of the vibrant international storytellers in our network.

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Álvaro Laiz, Spain

With a commitment to shed light on marginalized communities, Spanish photographer Álvaro Laiz travels to remote locations around the world telling visual stories of exclusion. His work, featured in The New York Times, National Geographic and the British Journal of Photography, has won numerous awards. In 2015, the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum mounted an exhibition of two of his projects documenting two very distinct LGBT communities: Transmongolian, which brought him to Mongolia to capture the secret lives of its LGBT communities, and Wonderland that narrated his travels to the Orinoco River delta in Venezuela documenting the lives of the Warao Indian communities, including its transgender individuals called Tida Wena by the Warao (in English, “The Twisted Women”). Their inclusion in Warao society goes back to pre-Columbian traditions. According to investigations, 40 to 80 percent of the Warao tribe are infected with HIV, due to outside influences.

“Photography for me is a tool to promote social change. And this drives my ideas.”

On his project in Mongolia: “My main idea was to take pictures of them in their traditional queen dresses, deep in the desert. We drove around for a week to find the right shots. I learned that since my departure, they decided to dress up as queens in the desert one a year. So they began a sort of pride parade. They definitely inspired me and I hope it was mutual.” 

Lyno Vuth, Cambodia

Cambodian artist, curator and photographer Lyno Vuth had his first European exhibition at the inaugural session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum. One group of photos that Vuth showed and discussed in Salzburg – a collection called Thoamada, which means “normal,” “everyday” and “commonplace” – consisted of portraits of nine Cambodian men who have sex with men, all disguised by having their faces covered in paint. For the project, Vuth invited a group men to discuss issues related to sex, gender and sexual orientation. At the end of the workshop he asked the men to pose for a photograph, but they were reluctant for fear of being identified. Vuth thus proposed that they paint their faces, and they were happy to do so – some with more paint, some with less. Although they were still recognizable once they finished painting, they were then willing to be photographed, signaling a transformation that had occurred, according to Vuth, as a result of the workshop.

“I wanted to share to the audience that there are different possibilities and realities; you can still define your own family, regardless of being gay, transgender, bisexual, or lesbian, and people have different ways to define that.”

A second group of Vuth’s photos also shown in Salzburg, from the exhibit Thoamada II, explores the family contexts, dynamics and memories of LGBT people in Cambodia.

“I interviewed people together with their families, inviting them to share their stories and journey. After the conversation, I asked them to pose for two different photographs. One was a simple family portrait inside their house. They decided on their dress and pose. For the second photograph, I asked them to collectively choose a memory to re-enact, improvised with their belongings and surroundings.”
In addition to the image, a narrative is offered to audiences in the titles and texts accompanying the images. In The Salt Seeker the text reads:

“I met my wife during the Pol Pot regime when we were digging a canal opposite each other… During rice transplanting month, I went to ask for some salt from her, but she refused… During harvest month, we met again and started to talk, and we fell in love… This love is difficult, because they didn’t let us meet… After 1979, we didn’t get married properly but we created wedding rituals. I play the role of head of the family, as husband and with her as a wife, and we have adopted three children—two daughters and a son—and have six grandchildren. My children call me dad, and my grandchildren call me granddad.”

Vuth Lyno on how artists shape our conversations on LGBT human rights

Photographer from Bangladesh

In 2017, as well as Bradley Secker’s work (see interview on page 122), the Forum also showcased the work of a photographer from Bangladesh. His name does not appear in this report for safety concerns, but his work has been guided by a desire to give voice to the alternative families built by Bangladesh’s Hijra communities. Hijra, he explains, “is a traditional group and they have long back history. Basically they are biological male and they do gender change as woman… but traditionally Hijra don’t like to call themselves trans woman. They have their own subculture, language and alternative family system. They love to stay together in a group. They have strong leader and follower systems.”

FILMMAKERS

Sridhar Rangayan, India

Sridhar Rangayan wears many hats: he is a gay rights activist; co-founder of India’s first gay NGO, the Humsafar Trust; co-founder of the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival; and an award-winning filmmaker. Among his accolades, Rangayan was selected through a worldwide nomination process to be part of the British Council’s inaugural “fiveFilms4freedom” Global List in 2016. The list consists of 33 inspiring people from 23 different countries who are changing social perceptions about LGBTQ communities throughout the world. Rangayan’s works include Breaking Free, a documentary aimed at exposing the harsh legal punishments gay people face under India’s Penal Code, and Gulabi Aaina (in English, “The Pink Mirror”) a widely-celebrated Bollywood-like film starring two drag queens and a gay teenager. The film, originally banned in India, was released on Netflix in early 2017.

“As a filmmaker, my main aim has been to use cinema as a tool for greater awareness, combining entertainment with advocacy. I have seen change in my lifetime, and I’m really happy that many things around me have changed for the better for the LGBT community.”

Lola Amaria, Indonesia

As the founder and program director of Kresna Duta Foundation, filmmaker Lola Amaria strives to raise visibility for human rights through audio visuals in all areas of her work. Amaria has conducted research and starred and directed films on LGBT rights, trafficking and women's issues. She contributed a short film to the LGBT “omnibus” film production, Sanubari Jakarta, which received its European première at the inaugural session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum in 2013. The film is a compilation of 10 films by 10 directors – the majority of whom are heterosexual and cisgender – each lasting around 10 minutes long. Each part of the film portrays a different LGBT life and experience, and collectively the directors aim to reduce violence towards LGBT people in Indonesia.

“Love belongs to everyone.”

Popo Fan, China

Chinese filmmaker and writer Popo Fan is determined to show the positive side of LGBT people and their experiences despite facing occasional questions on his portrayal of the happier side of LGBT lives. Fan’s dedication to visibility of LGBT rights has led him to pen Happy Together: Complete Record of a Hundred Queer Films, the first book published in mainland China about queer films. His films primarily focus on same-sex marriage, transgender individuals, and LGBT families, and the documentarian has recently branched out into feature films. Fan made history in a landmark case against state censorship after successfully suing the Chinese government following the removal of his film Mama Rainbow, profiling LGBT families in China, from the internet. Fan is the director of the Beijing Queer Film Festival and has received accolades such as being included in Advocate magazine’s “40 Under 40” list. His films have been shown at festivals around the world, and the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum was proud to show his ground-breaking documentary Pink Dads shortly after its release at its film festival during the 2016 session in Thailand.

“I am sometimes criticized because my films are too happy, but I am determined [to] tell positive stories about LGBT people and their families.”

Su Su Hlaing, Myanmar

Myanmar-based filmmaker Su Su Hlaing has witnessed the power film and art can have once the cameras are turned off. After making the documentary, Love and Other Matters, profiling LGBT people from humble rural backgrounds, she was shocked to see her subjects’ families come from far away to see the film’s premier. The film was shown at the fourth session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum as part of the impromptu Chiang Rai LGBT Film Festival.

“To my surprise, families came from far, far away to show support for their sons and daughters.”

Cha Roque, The Philippines

Cha Roque may have established herself as filmmaker dedicated to social change, but she has another equally important role as a mother. Her film What I Would’ve Told My Daughter if I Knew What to Say Back Then, her most personal work to date, made its European debut at the fifth session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum in May 2017. The film takes viewers on a personal journey of Roque’s relationship with her daughter Kelsey and her difficulty in coming out to her. It was part of the official selection of Hanoi International Queer Film Week, founded by Salzburg Global LGBT Forum Fellow, Bao Chau Nguyen.

“As a filmmaker and as a lesbian I believe I have the responsibility to tell the stories of fellow LGBT people in our community and to make other people understand what we are going through, and help LGBT people become accepted by society. It might not always be my own story, or my daughters story, but as a filmmaker I think I can use my voice in helping other people tell their stories, especially those who are not yet open about it.”

Cha Roque on being a lesbian filmmaker

Klaus Mueller, Germany

Klaus Mueller has worked for decades on the plight of gay and lesbian survivors of the Holocaust and engaged in film as a tool to widely share his conversations with them. He was the initiator, research director and associate producer of the award-winning American documentary film Paragraph 175 (2000) that profiled gay survivors of Nazi persecution and won many international prizes, including from the Berlin and Sundance film festivals. He was assistant director of But I was a Girl (1999) that is based on his eight hour interview with lesbian Dutch resistance fighter Frieda Belinfante and director of Just happy the way I am (1998) on LGBT youth. In 2017, his documentary with Salzburg Global Seminar on Family is…? A Global Conversation premièred at the fifth session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum in Salzburg and Berlin. He has taught film history at the University of Amsterdam and shared his enthusiasm for blockbuster movies in many film reviews.

“Going through and weaving together the many interviews conducted over three years with our LGBT fellows on their understanding of family for me was a long journey coming to fruition. The film portrays deep and global connections between our various different stories. It felt like coming home. And I felt protected to talk about my own family.”

Klaus Mueller on cultivating global voices for global conversations

Nilu Doma Sherpa (1985-2017)

The LGBT Forum family suffered a great loss in 2017, with the passing of Nepalese filmmaker and Forum fellow Nilu Doma Sherpa. Nilu was a participant at the fourth session of the Forum in Chiang Rai, Thailand, in 2016. A leading member of the mainstream Nepalese film industry, her work included main choreographer for Jholay (2014), producer for the films Anaagat (2017), actor for Punte Parade (2014) and director for the highly praised films How Funny (2016) and Kagaj (2016). She was also part of the LGBT digital short documentary series Stories of Being Me by the social entrepreneurship platform B-Change, for which she directed the heartfelt autobiographical film The Story of Nilu, which she shared with Fellows at the session in Thailand. As described by B-Change, Nilu’s film “explores the universality of love with the help of some of Nepal’s leading women.”

The Story of Nilu - Stories of Being Me - Episode 7 (Kathmandu)

WRITERS

Fadi Zaghmout, Jordan

Widely celebrated for his commentary on Arab society in his novel The Bride of Amman, Jordanian writer Fadi Zaghmout has secured a reputation for being outspoken on issues including women’s rights, religious coexistence and sexuality. His book, which centers around four women and one gay man in Jordan’s historic capital, particularly attracted a lot of attention for addressing homosexuality in Arab societies. Zaghmout is the founder of the blog the Arab Observer, covering social issues unaddressed by traditional Arab media outlets, and with over 350,000 Twitter followers, remains one of the most prolific online voices in Jordan.

“It has been a wonderful experience for me to be here, in 2017, at Salzburg Global LGBT Forum for the second time. In 2013, when I joined for the first time, I had just published my book in Jordan and was encouraged by the Forum to do a reading of one chapter in English that a friend helped to translate. It was great then to get so many responses and I felt encouraged. Now I returned as a writer, with my book ‘The Bride in Amman’ having been translated in English, having published two more books and working on the fourth. I had the chance to meet activists, writers, journalists, artists, politicians and filmmakers from all over the world and listen to their stories and how each one of them is making change. I was able to share my story as a writer and present my book ‘The Bride of Amman’ to this big audience. The connections I have made in this week are priceless, not just in terms of strengthening my knowledge and empowering me as an activist but also as human connections and life-long friendships.”

Shereen El Feki, UK / Egypt

Like many who straddle East and West, writer and former journalist Shereen El Feki, a Muslim woman raised in Canada, wanted to learn more about her Arab roots. Her work in HIV research led her to choose sex as her lens, spending five years traveling across the Arab region speaking to people about their views on sex and sexuality. Her non-fiction book Sex and the Citadel explores populations outside what she refers to as the “citadel,” in the context of marriage – typically the only socially accepted context for sexual activity in the Arab region – including LGBT communities. El Feki served as vice-chair of the UN’s Global Commission on HIV and the Law, representing the Arab region.

“Sexuality, which also brings in values and beliefs, is an incredibly powerful lens in which to understand any society because it tells you about politics, about economics, about religion and tradition, about gender and generations.

“It’s important to realize that LGBTQ populations within the Arab region are part of a spectrum of exclusion. What I discuss in my book is how we are going to find ways to bring people ‘inside the citadel.’”

Shereen El Feki on sexuality in the Arab world and the shifting borderlines between ḥalāl and ḥarām

Danny Ramadan, Syria / Canada

Named one of Canada’s “top immigrants” of 2017, Syrian refugee Danny Ramadan has used his personal experience to evolve his voice as a storyteller and writer. His novel The Clothesline Swing, which tells the story of two lovers fleeing the aftermath of the Arab Spring, features the stories of fictional refugees, some of which are inspired by stories Ramadan heard as a Fellow of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum, and many of which are based on his own personal experiences of fleeing war-torn Syria. With his advocacy based around refugee rights specific to the Syrian culture, Ramadan plans to continue sharing insights into the lives of LGBT refugees through his storytelling.

“Understanding how unique every person I met here is [has] helped me form bits and pieces of every character I included [in ‘The Clothesline Swing’]. What I noticed about my writing is that it’s evolved and instead of having one or two outcomes – whether you stay home or you leave – I started to imagine other outcomes that could happen. Other chosen families that could be created, other connections that could come between characters. That, in itself, has enhanced my storytelling abilities.”

Travis Kong, Hong Kong

Associate dean and sociology professor at the University of Hong Kong, Travis Kong presented a short video on older Chinese gay men during the inaugural session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum 2013, with a very lively and supportive discussion, and has continued working on this topic, among many others. One year later, he published Oral History of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong that documents twelve life stories of such men. The book captures how the complexity of their lives is interwoven with the Hong Kong history, as well as the difficulties and hardships they have encountered especially due to their sexual orientation, through colonial to contemporary times.

“I became an academic because it offered a way for me to theorize experiences through writing.
This ‘gay and grey’ project is my dream project as I found older gay men have been absent in LGBT studies, aging studies and social history studies in Hong Kong. They are the missing puzzle of local gay history and also the ‘minority of the minority’ in LGBT social services and aging services.”

Travis S K Kong on the lives of older LGBT men in Hong Kong

Elizabeth Khaxas, Namibia

Poet Elizabeth Khaxas is the director of the Women’s Leadership Centre, an organization that promotes feminist leadership among young women from marginalized sectors of Namibia’s society and a founding member of Women’s Solidarity and Sister Namibia. Through her love of poetry, Khaxas emits a voice for LGBT rights, using words to fight against gender barriers and sodomy laws, and express pride in the fight for LGBT visibility. At the inaugural session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum, Khaxas shared a number of her poems with participants.

Hella...hella

Our daughter has come home
Hella...hella
The one who has been cast away is home
let us dance and rejoice today
Shame on those who do not acknowledge
my daughter’s homecoming
The African!
Shame on those who treated my daughter
as the stepchild of this continent
Lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual, bisexual, heterosexual...
The image of the goddess, all of them...
Sons and daughter of Africa
Gods and goddesses!
Much beloved, know that nothing will separate you
from the love which is you
No homophobic dictators
No rejecting parents and siblings
No religion
No sodomy law
What took you so long to find your way home, daughter?
We have prepared a feast for you
Let all the world behold
Our daughter has arrived
The lesbian
The African lesbian
Sela...sela...
Africa
rejoice!