Steve Reinke, Untitled (detail), Needlepoint, 2017 | Floss on plastic backing, 18.1 x 9.3 cm | Courtesy the artist and gallery Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin

Queer World-Mending
Programmed by Jon Davies & Steve Reinke
June 17–23 2023
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY

“Better a mended sock than a torn one – not so with subjectivity.” –Hegel

The world – wounded, wasting, wheezing – needs mending. But our feral subjectivities, our libidos, need to remain torn, agape, asunder. So how can we mend the wounded world if we are open wounds ourselves? Sexuality is a force that cuts through histories and identities, and offers an embodied approach to thinking. Perhaps queer desire, through its very non-productive fucked-upness can mend the world better than more stable, normative approaches.

It is hard to have any hope these days, now that so many of the flaming creatures are literally flaming creatures. As the world burns, one can barely determine which fires to put out, which to ignore, and which to fuel and fan. This program will join the living and the dead because the only way into the future is through the ashes of the past. Queer World-Mending will be a playground of desire, a laboratory for developing and performing new subjectivities. And if we can’t build a new house, we can at least change the wallpaper. Long live the new flesh!

— Jon Davies, Steve Reinke

Join us!

The annual Flaherty Seminar is among the most significant non-fiction film events in the world. Filmmakers, scholars, students, curators, critics, archivists, and cinephiles gather for an immersive, week-long program of screenings, discussions, and multimedia works centered on a common theme.

Through thoughtful co-creation and conversation, we explore the impact of the moving image. The Flaherty Seminar strives to elevate the human experience, expand consciousness, and encourage critical thought about the world.

Join us! Registration will open March 1st and remain open until full. The registration link be available on our homepage theflaherty.org
You will:

Be asked to provide full or partial fee payment upon registration
Select rooms with AC or non-AC
Be able to sign-up to volunteer during the seminar

The all-inclusive in-person Seminar registration fee includes lodging, meals, screenings and discussions, receptions, and additional special events. The fee does not include travel to and from Skidmore College. Arrive by 5 pm Saturday, depart at noon Friday.

Don’t delay – Registration is limited. In past years, in-person registration moved to the waitlist within a few weeks.

Rates

In-person: $1750, suggested fee | $1,500–$2,500, sliding scale

Virtual: $250, suggested fee | $250–$400, sliding scale

We are offering sliding scale registration on an honor system with the aim of creating an accessible and equitable experience. Please contribute a rate that reflects your financial capacity and relative privilege.
The suggested fees would ensure that we can pay our staff equitable rates and cover rental and meal costs.
We especially encourage reduced rates for participants who are Indigenous to the land they call home, or have been historically dispossessed from their land, history, culture, and power, and experience precarity as a result.
We ask that participants with the means, including those receiving institutional support, pay a minimum of $2000 in person and $400 online, thereby directly making registration more affordable for others.

Fellowship. All Fellowship recipients receive a fully funded registration, courtesy of either The Flaherty or our Fellowship Partners. The Flaherty Fellowship begins a day earlier than the full seminar, on Friday, June 16th.

Applications for the Fellowship open March 1st.

The Flaherty at Skidmore College

We are inspired by Skidmore’s many modular and accessible spaces, invigorated by the campus’ collaborative and interdisciplinary environments, and heartened by recent changes in leadership and the unionization of non-tenure track faculty.

We are eager to collaborate with the teams at the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative, the MDOCS Storytellers' Institute, the Tang Teaching Museum, and the Office of Conferences and Events teams on the upcoming seminar.

_____

Images: 2018 Seminar photographed by Robert M. GoodmanImage; 2017 Seminar photographed by Anne-Katrine Hansen; courtesy skidmore.edu

Flaherty Filmmaker Event

An Evening with Bill Basquin
Monday, February 13, 7 pm
The Museum of Modern Art

MoMA's Modern Mondays series hosts Flaherty NYC alum and Bay Area–based filmmaker Bill Basquin (Flaherty NYC Filmmaker 2019) for the New York premiere of his feature From Inside of Here (2020), which explores the relationship between body and landscape.

_____

Image (detail) courtesy the artist

The Flaherty Recommends

Attend the One Earth Film Festival
March 3-12, 2023
Virtual & In-person across the Chicagoland area

One Earth Film Festival returns March 3-12, 2023, for its 12th festival season with its annual launch party and 10 thoughtfully curated film events that will be streamed online, with about a dozen in-person screenings, including “View & Brew” events, in the greater Chicago area.

Image courtesy One Earth Film Festival

Register for the Greaves Filmmaker Seminar
March 16-18, 2023, Philadelphia

Registration is open for BlackStar’s 2023 William + Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar! The Seminar is a rare space that brings together Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists for workshops, panels, and deep conversations about their filmmaking practice – without having to manage the added burden of representation. This year acclaimed artist Cauleen Smith will be holding the keynote and the visionary Terence Nance will be presenting a director’s commentary.

Photo by Mariam Dembele

Order SEEN 05
The Dreams Issue: Winter 2023

Seen is a journal of film and visual culture focused on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities globally, published by BlackStar Projects twice each calendar year.

The Dreams Issue features Flaherty Filmmaker Cauleen Smith In Her Own Words, and Anaïs Duplan, Aurella Yussuf, Beandrea July, Clarkisha Kent, Deborah Anzinger, Dessane Lopez Cassell, Flordalis Espinal, Ifeanyi Awachie, Iris Torres-Gatherer, Isabel Ling, Jasmin Hernandez, Kambole Campbell, Kareem Reid, Kenny Rivero, Lakshmi Padmanabhan, Lizania Cruz, Lou Cornum, Rashida Bumbray, Rianna Jade Parker, Rohini Kejriwal, Widline Cadet, Xia Gordon.

Photo by Shanlynne Silvestre, Imagenfotografi