My name is Justin Kuritzkes, and I am the screenwriter of QUEER, directed by Luca Guadagnino. Recently, I learned that our film will be screening at Ewha Women’s University’s Arthouse Momo theater in Seoul, news which would usually be exciting, except that today it is tied up in an infuriating hypocrisy.
The university, which is the actual owner of the space, and Arthouse MOMO, which is screening and promoting our film — a love story between two American men in Mexico City in the 1950s, based on a book by the legendary queer author William S. Burroughs — has just recently denied the use of Arthouse Momo for the Korea Queer Film Festival.
This is, of course, ridiculous for many reasons. Movies do not make people gay. Good movies simply reflect reality, and the reality is that queer people exist — and have existed — everywhere in the world since the beginning of human history. Furthermore, Queer people have been involved in the creation of cinema since the beginning of the art form, even as explicitly queer stories have been routinely suppressed and marginalized. Any filmgoer who has spent a life going to the cinema or watching films at home has undoubtedly enjoyed the work of countless queer artists, whether they be actors, writers, directors, grips, gaffers, camera operators, producers, etc. Queer cinema is simply cinema just as queer people are simply people. To ignore that fact is to commit oneself to a willful ignorance that both endangers already marginalized people and degrades one’s own intelligence and humanity.
With regards to my film QUEER, it is ridiculous for Ewha to deny screens to queer Korean films on the basis that they go against the university’s supposed “values” only to turn around and promote a queer film from abroad. If Ewha is ready to host our film, they should be eager and excited to serve as a home for queer films made in Korea. This will both enrich the landscape of world cinema and ennoble the university itself. A university’s primary “value,” after all, is its commitment to the truth. Therefore, I hope Ewha will reconsider its decision and commit itself in the future to welcoming films — both from abroad and from home — that speak to all expressions of the varied human experience.
Thank you,
Justin Kuritzkes (IG: @justinkuritzkes)
[Donate to the Korea Queer Film Festival]
- How to Donate: www.sqcf.org/donate
- For International Donations: https://www.paypal.me/sqcforg
My name is Justin Kuritzkes, and I am the screenwriter of QUEER, directed by Luca Guadagnino. Recently, I learned that our film will be screening at Ewha Women’s University’s Arthouse Momo theater in Seoul, news which would usually be exciting, except that today it is tied up in an infuriating hypocrisy.
The university, which is the actual owner of the space, and Arthouse MOMO, which is screening and promoting our film — a love story between two American men in Mexico City in the 1950s, based on a book by the legendary queer author William S. Burroughs — has just recently denied the use of Arthouse Momo for the Korea Queer Film Festival.
This is, of course, ridiculous for many reasons. Movies do not make people gay. Good movies simply reflect reality, and the reality is that queer people exist — and have existed — everywhere in the world since the beginning of human history. Furthermore, Queer people have been involved in the creation of cinema since the beginning of the art form, even as explicitly queer stories have been routinely suppressed and marginalized. Any filmgoer who has spent a life going to the cinema or watching films at home has undoubtedly enjoyed the work of countless queer artists, whether they be actors, writers, directors, grips, gaffers, camera operators, producers, etc. Queer cinema is simply cinema just as queer people are simply people. To ignore that fact is to commit oneself to a willful ignorance that both endangers already marginalized people and degrades one’s own intelligence and humanity.
With regards to my film QUEER, it is ridiculous for Ewha to deny screens to queer Korean films on the basis that they go against the university’s supposed “values” only to turn around and promote a queer film from abroad. If Ewha is ready to host our film, they should be eager and excited to serve as a home for queer films made in Korea. This will both enrich the landscape of world cinema and ennoble the university itself. A university’s primary “value,” after all, is its commitment to the truth. Therefore, I hope Ewha will reconsider its decision and commit itself in the future to welcoming films — both from abroad and from home — that speak to all expressions of the varied human experience.
Thank you,
Justin Kuritzkes (IG: @justinkuritzkes)
[Donate to the Korea Queer Film Festival]
- How to Donate: www.sqcf.org/donate
- For International Donations: https://www.paypal.me/sqcforg