Trailer
On International Dawn Chorus Day (May 3, 2020), birds from six continents join a Zoom call. They gossip about storms and cats and wires and dates. They talk about Egyptian filmmaker Shady Habash, known for his satiric anti-dictator music videos, who died the day before in Cairo’s notorious Tora prison. They wonder about Egyptian queer activist Sarah Hegazi, famously incarcerated for flying a rainbow flag at a Cairo concert, now living as a refugee in Toronto. They don’t realize that a month later, unable to bear the pain of her prison trauma, Sarah will take her own life. John Greyson has once again fashioned a polyphonous, subtly political work, the fruit of collaboration, activism, friendship and empathy.
This film is part of the FIFA EXPERIMENTAL section program MOSAIC OF VIEWS.
This film is part of the FIFA EXPERIMENTAL section program MOSAIC OF VIEWS.
Overview of some festivals:
Berlinale Film Festival, Teddy Award for Best Short Film, Germany (2021)
Inside/Out Film Festival, Canada (2021)
Hot Docs Film Festival, Canada (2021)
Queer Lisboa, Portugal (2021)
Queer Wave, Cypress (2021)
Berlinale Film Festival, Teddy Award for Best Short Film, Germany (2021)
Inside/Out Film Festival, Canada (2021)
Hot Docs Film Festival, Canada (2021)
Queer Lisboa, Portugal (2021)
Queer Wave, Cypress (2021)
| Director | John Greyson |
| Production | Shant Joshi |
In Partnership with
Session
Image tirée du film International Dawn Chorus Day // Image from the film International Dawn Chorus Day
Image tirée du film International Dawn Chorus Day // Image from the film International Dawn Chorus Day
Production
John Greyson
John Greyson (writer/director) is video/film artist and pioneer of the new queer cinema. Since 1984, his many features, shorts and transmedia works have explored such queer activist issues as police violence, prison, AIDS activism, solidarity, homo-nationalism and apartheid (both South African and Israeli). These include International Dawn Chorus Day (2021), Mercurial (2018), Gazonto (2016), Murder in Passing (2013), Fig Trees (2009), Lilies (1996), Zero Patience (1993), The Making of Monsters (1991) and Urinal (1989), and have received 40+ best film awards at such festivals as TIFF, Lisbon, Ann Arbor, Hamburg, San Francisco, Vancouver, Locarno, Montreal, Los Angeles, Sudbury and Hong Kong, as well as 3 Berlinale Teddies and 5 Canadian Screen Awards (Canada’s Oscars). He teaches in York University’s Cinema & Media Arts department, and is co-editor of Queer Looks: Perspectives on Lesbian & Gay Film & Video. His works are the subject of the critical anthology The Perils of Pedagogy: The Works of John Greyson. I.D.C.D. is his eighth film to premiere at the Berlinale.
Biographical notes provided by the film production team
Biographical notes provided by the film production team
Selected films:
Gazonto (2014)
Prison Arabic in 50 Days (2013)
The Ballad of Roy and Silo (2011)
Rex vs Singh (2009)
Covered (2009)
Fig Trees (2009)
Gazonto (2014)
Prison Arabic in 50 Days (2013)
The Ballad of Roy and Silo (2011)
Rex vs Singh (2009)
Covered (2009)
Fig Trees (2009)
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