The launch of a new queer virtual cinema intends to promote social change
A new virtual film theatre called Kasi 2 Kasi Queer Cinema, launched on Tuesday, July 28, aims to give society access to queer films.
“Before the pandemic, Kasi 2 Kasi was actually a film festival that has been running for three years, and the virtual cinema is a way that Kasi 2 Kasi has tried to adjust to the lockdown restrictions and social distancing,” said Nhlanhla Ndaba, co-founder of Kasi 2 Kasi.
Now in a virtual format, Kasi 2 Kasi had its first screening on July 31, and will continue with a selection of six films on rotation, until August 17. The public can access the screenings through a few mouse clicks on the cinema’s website.
By making queer films readily available, Kasi 2 Kasi is promoting the normalisation of queer love in the media, and ultimately in the realities of the general public.
“We use film as a form of activism. The LGBTQ community tends to speak to itself most of the time, and not the perpetrators, which does not always help to progress the cause. By making queer films and queer media accessible to society, we are confronting perpetrators and effectively starting open dialogues,” Ndaba told Wits Vuvuzela.
To effectively replace the social element of a physical cinema or bioscope, viewers have been initiating discussions with each other on social media.
Taphelo Kgatitswe (39), a member of Kasi 2 Kasi said, “In addition to the discussions that take place on social media, the primary form of interaction we get from the virtual cinema is the engagement with the film and its characters.”
In 2019, Kasi 2 Kasi had an opportunity to have a film screening at a village in Limpopo, which lead to constructive discussions about the villagers denial towards the queer community.
Ndaba said, “After the discussions, we even had chiefs apologising after realising that what they had been rejecting all along, were their children. It was a fulfilling moment.”
FEATURED IMAGE: A scene from Black Beulahs on the Kasi 2 Kasi website. Photo: Thobekile Moyo.
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