13.05.25, 20:30, Drawn Together (animation short films)

Somewhere in a room, a girl stares at a computer screen, searching for herself among the image pixels. On the other side of the world, a boy in a cosy cinema seat discovers his own identity in the flashes of light from the silver screen. Somewhere else, a person finds their individuality among the noise of their television. Each of them finds a particle of themselves in brushstrokes, pencil scribbles, paper cuts, miniature dolls, piles of clay, vector strokes and numerous other materials. With every curious glance, every retina glued to the screen, they colour our drab world a little with red, pink, yellow, green, blue and purple.

In the week of IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on 17 May), we take you into the queer story that sits between the frames of animation with Film-Plateau. We start at the very beginning of the medium, uncover the underlying subtext of queercoding during a period of heavy censorship, and see where Bugs Bunny gets his status as a contemporary queer icon. After this, we take a leap into the present and are introduced to animators battling stereotypes. They deliberately meld their own identities into their short films in order to break conformist tendencies, but more importantly to let audiences experience love in its purest form. From a first crush in Liaisons Foireuses (2021) to a deep-seated love for the community and its history in Maurice's Bar (2023).

Between the pranks, scribbles, ‘stops’ and ‘motions’, there is a safe place for everyone. Characters remain untouched by stupid rules and imposed norms. On the silver canvas, love is just love, impossible to kill or suppress, unconditionally made a reservation for every person on earth. Join us with your queer eyes and lots of love at KASKcinema!

This programme will be introduced by Helene Van den Broeck, animation filmmaker and Art Science student.