The Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival is an image of what it means to flourish in the middle of homophobia. The Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival is an annual film festival in Tunisia, which kicked off in 2018 to celebrate Tunisia’s LGBT communities. The festival, the first queer film festival in the country and all of North Africa, focuses on queer identities, especially in people from the Global South.
The first edition of the festival which took place from January 15–18, 2018 received funding support from the Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation and explored themes around gender and non-heteronormative sexuality. The festival featured 12 short- and medium-length films, concerts, debates, and the panel discussions “Queer as Art” and “Queer as Resistance”. According to Haaretz, “The first festival in 2018 took place in a secret location in the capital, Tunis. A handful of people who were trusted by Mawjoudin knew where and when it was taking place. The Tunisian authorities did not approve the holding of the event and even told organizers they could not provide security for it. In this way, they not only absolved themselves of any responsibility for the safety of the participants, but also in essence for ensuring the safety of the entire local gay community.”
The third edition was scheduled to hold between 20th to 23rd of March 2020. It was postponed till later this year because of the pandemic, but as the number of infections and deaths in Tunisia continue to rise, the team has now postponed the festival till 2021.
In a statement shared on Facebook, the LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation in charge of the festival shared, “We want to thank all our guests and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and reconnects. The health and safety of our fans, artists, partners, staff and the entire LGBTQI community remain our highest priority. For all these reasons, we will be organizing Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival in its third edition next year, from 19 to 22, [March] 2021.”
