Queer Cinema of the Eastern Bloc: Marble Ass + introduction

The first film from the former Yugoslavia to openly depict the LGBTQ+ characters, this is rare chance to see a radical work on screen. Merlinka is a local trans sex worker and local matriarch for the Queer community. We follow Merlinka and her friends as they attempt to calm traumatised young men coming back from the war with sex. Imagine John Waters touching down in Belgrade, a city beset by war, international economic sanctions, criminality and violent ethno-nationalism and whipping up a comedic docu-fiction with the legendary performer Vjeran Miladinović that sent up the toxic masculinity of the world surrounding them. Award-winning on release, this film has been little-seen for three decades, made possible through Cinema Rediscovered and Cardiff critic Fedor Tot.

This film is shown as part of Cinema Rediscovered Queer Cinema of the Eastern Bloc season.