HOMO HUMOUR


 


Homo Humour: Gay Male Artist Moving Image curated by Lee Campbell explores the history of comedy as a queer identity defence, a means of expression and storytelling and the subversive and surprising ways that humour can be used on screen. Homo Humour responds to the growing interest in LGBTQ+ folk using film and moving image to tell their stories by focusing purely on humour. Whilst the concept of humour helping LGBTQ+ people is an interesting (and vital) world to explore, this event seeks to also engage wider groups of artists, academics and students interested in film and/or the study of humour. We also invite health/inclusion/wellbeing practitioners who are interested in how comedic storytelling may encourage people’s understanding of LGBTQ+ communities.

Homo Humour was first presented at Edgezones gallery in Miami in January 2020 and then at Sardinia Pride/Queeresima in June 2020.  This year, the showreel has already been screened at The Bridge House Theatre, London, Metal, Southend-on-Sea and FRISE Kunstlerhaus, Hamburg, Germany, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool bringing together emerging and established gay male artists/independent filmmakers for the first time from all over the world including Marcel Barelli, Jordan McKenzie, Hamid Waheed, Steve Reinke, Ernesto Sarezale, Harold Offeh, John Walter and Wrik Mead.

Curator (Lee Campbell) and filmmaker discussion (watch below) in 2020 with Peter Bond 



Lee presented a talk about Homo Humour at the conference Queer Pedagogies organised by the Queer-Feminist Interdisciplinary Working Group at The European University Institute in Florence at the end of May 2022.



 



 Looking forward to presenting aspects of my @ResearchUAL @CCWResearch  funded curatorial short film project 'Homo Humour' @Untold_LGBTQ at University of Surrey (where I used to work years ago) on July 22. Free registration. Details here: https://untoldlgbtqtales.wordpress.com



To extend ideas in Lee's film The Tale of Benny Harris (2022), a film written entirely in Polari (gay slang), visitors to the Homo Humour screening can also take part in 
 Polari writing workshop given by Lee. 

At the start of the workshop, Lee explains how his interest in Polari was triggered when he attended a Polari-writing workshop in Manchester several years ago where he was encouraged to write his own Polari phrases and how this led to the eventual development of a poem he wrote called The Tale of Benny Harris. Participants are then given printed out copies of a Polari dictionary which Lee uses as a basis for discussion including identifying Polari words that they may already be using. Lee then invites participants to write their own rhyming Polari poems and then, invites participants to speak their poems out aloud for everyone to enjoy.

Below are images of Lee giving the workshop at Wimbledon College of Arts Library, University of the Arts London in March 2022. You can also watch an interview with Lee for KMTV (local Kent television) about his Polari film when it was screened as part of Lee's solo exhibition Bona Polari! at The Margate School in February 2022 to coincide with LGBT History Month (click below to play) 








 ***** PREVIOUS SCREENINGS **** 

Homo Humour at Brewery Tap Project Space, Folkestone, U.K in February 2023 



#folkestone #kent #folkestonepride #shortfilm #indiefilm #LGBTHM23 #queerfilmmakers  #LGBTHM #queerfilm #queerfilmmakers



Homo Humour at Northumbria University in November 2022

Films by emerging and established gay male artists/independent filmmakers  from all over the world including Marcel Barelli, Jordan McKenzie, Hamid Waheed, Steve Reinke, Ernesto Sarezale, John Walter and Wrik Mead. 

Next stop is Centre for Comedy Studies, Brunel University February 2023 chaired by Stefan Moos

#queerwriting #movingimage #queerness #humour #film #videoart #artistfilm #queerhumour #gaycomedy #curator #curating #queerfilm #queerfilmmaker #queercinema #shortfilm





 

Great screening of my Homo Humour showreel  followed by discussion between me and Greg Thorpe at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool https://openeye.org.uk/whatson/homo-humour-film-screening-qa/
#liverpool #openeyegallery #queerwriting #movingimage #queerness #humour #film #videoart #artistfilm #curating #queerfilm #queerfilmmaker



                                Me in discussion with Greg Thorpe



   Steve Reinke COREY (1994) 

Lee Campbell  RUFUS (2021)


 Lee Campbell
 LET RIP: THE BEAUTIFUL GAME (2020)

 
 Lee Campbell 
THE TALE OF BENNY HARRIS (2022)

Marcel Barelli 
DANS LA NATURE (IN NATURE) (2021)

  Jordan McKenzie  
               MONSIEUR POO-POURRI TAKES A TOUR OF HIS ESTATE, 
                                         Bethnal Green, LONDON 
                                                        (2010) 

    John Walter
                                       Courtship Disorder (2015)

   Ernesto Sarezale 
2020: LOCKDOWN EROTICA (2021) 

Wrik Mead  
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR CLOSET (2020) 


HOMO HUMOUR screens at FRISE, Hamburg including discussion with Stefan Moos

 Thank you Frise Künstlerhaus for screening my curatorial project Homo Humour - queer male artist moving image in Hamburg (27/03/22) - wonderful atmosphere, great discussion with Stefan Moos and thanks to Eske Schlüters for inviting me and and making this happen, finally after lockdown. Great also seeing Stefan Canham after so many years after All For Show (another curatorial project I created 2005-7) which screened in Hamburg. Next stop for the project: Liverpool

 


Me in discussion with Stefan Moos 


                                        Steve Reinke COREY (1994) 

  
      Steve Reinke COREY (1994) 


                                           Steve Reinke COREY (1994) 


     Steve Reinke COREY (1994) 


                                         
Lee Campbell  RUFUS (2021)



Lee Campbell 
RUFUS (2021) 



                      Lee Campbell LET RIP: THE BEAUTIFUL GAME (2020)


Marcel Barelli 
DANS LA NATURE (IN NATURE) (2021)



Marcel Barelli 
DANS LA NATURE (IN NATURE) (2021)



                                                Jordan McKenzie  
               MONSIEUR POO-POURRI TAKES A TOUR OF HIS ESTATE, 
                                         Bethnal Green, LONDON 
                                                        (2010) 


                                            Jordan McKenzie  
               MONSIEUR POO-POURRI TAKES A TOUR OF HIS ESTATE, 
                                         Bethnal Green, LONDON 
                                                        (2010) 


                                                 Jordan McKenzie  
               MONSIEUR POO-POURRI TAKES A TOUR OF HIS ESTATE, 
                                         Bethnal Green, LONDON 
                                                        (2010) 


                                                   Harold Offeh  
LOUNGING (After Teddy Pendergrass, 1981) (2018) 


Hamid Waheed   
I WANNA WRITE YOU LOVE SONGS (2017) 



John Walter
                                    Courtship Disorder (2015)


                                                    John Walter
                                    Courtship Disorder (2015)


                                                John Walter
                                    Courtship Disorder (2015)


                                               Ernesto Sarezale 
2020: LOCKDOWN EROTICA (2021) 
 

Wrik Mead  
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR CLOSET (2020)


Wrik Mead  
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR CLOSET (2020)

SCREENING at THE BRIDGE HOUSE THEATRE, LONDON IN FEBRUARY 2022







Me, Kate Jessop and Liberty Antonia Sadler (discussion chair) at yesterday’s LGBT Film Screenings I curated with Deb Espect at The Bridge House Theatre, London. Deb curated The Funny Side of Lesbianism and I curated Homo Humour #movingimage #queerness #homosexuality #humour #film #videoart #artistfilm #gayhumour #queerhumour #gaycomedy #curator #curating #queerfilm #queerfilmmaker #queercinema #shortfilm

SCREENING at METAL, SOUTHEND-ON-SEA IN FEBRUARY 2022






An evening of short comedy films marking February 2022’s LGBT History Month, followed by a Q&A. Curated by Lee Campbell and Deborah Espect 

http://www.metalculture.com/event/homo-humour/

*
SCREENING at QUEERESIMA (ITALY)  IN JUNE 2020

'We were THRILLED to have you and Homo Humour on our platform! Your curation was impeccable, the movies were great and you hosted a brilliant Q&A which was one of the highlights of Queeresima. And we got to discover so many new talents!' 

Giorgio Simbula, Queeresima/USNexpo Sardinia Queer Short Film Festival 2020




Queerguru.com promotion:





** FIRST  SCREENING ** 





As part of PerforMIA 2020
Edge Zones Presents an evening of Performance, noise, videos and experimental sound.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/performia-2020-tickets-93174215587

Sat, February 15, 2020
7:00 PM – 11:00 PM EST

Edge Zones
3317 NW 7th Ave. Cir.
Miami, FL 33127
United States









About the Curator

Dr Lee Campbell is an artist, experimental filmmaker, writer, Senior Lecturer at University of the Arts London, curator of regular performance poetry night POW? Play on Words in South London and founder of Homo Humour, the first of its kind project on contemporary queer male film and moving image practices that explore humour and LGBTQ+ storytelling.

Lee’s experimental performance poetry films have been selected for many international film festivals since 2019 including Queerbee LGBT Film Festival, The Gilbert Baker Film Festival, Kansas 2020 and 2021, HOMOGRAPHY, Brussels and STATES OF DESIRE: Tom of Finland in the Queer Imagination, Casa de Duende, Philadelphia, USA, 2020 WICKED QUEER 2021, Boston, USA, FilmPride - Brighton & Hove Pride's official LGBTQ+ film festival, Brighton, UK, Splice Film Festival 2021, Brooklyn, USA and Darkroom Festival, London. 

He has won several awards/nominations for these films including Best Psychedelic Fantasy film winner for 'See Me' (2020), Retro Avant Garde Film Festival NYC 2021, Semi-Finalist at Serbest International Film Festival 2021, Honorable Mention and Semi Finalist winner at Splice Film Festival, New York (2020 and 2021), Nominee for Best Original Concept and Best Atmosphere Independent Horror Movie Awards 2021, Honorable Mention Award, Screener Short Films 2020, Best Kent Film nominee, Margate Bookie Film Festival, 2020 and Special Mention Award, London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival, 2019. 

Lee has been interviewed numerously about his current film/performance work including interviews with Tim Kirk, Matt Skallerud for I Love Gay Today/Pink Media LGBT, Hamish Downie’s Five Questions With – Lee Campbell (March 2021) BBC Radio Kent- Interview with Dominic King for The Dominic King Show January 2021. His film work has received critical acclaim with recent review features of his film work by Francesca de Luca in Cut Frame Magazine and James Clark in Lost Creatives. 

His live Zoom poetry performances have been showcased this year at events including Disturbance#2, Ugly Duck, London, Theatre Deli, London Festival ECRÃ Edition 5, Rio de Janeiro, and the Immersive Storytelling Symposium, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham. In October 2021, Lee headlined Forum+ Incite! Lee currently performs regularly at poetry events across London including Poetry Shack, Mind Over Matter, Poetry LGBT, The Word Zoo, Mother Wolf Club and Gob Jaw. He is a regular performer at Paper Tiger Poetry at Tea House Theatre where he recently won Best Poem of the Night (September 2021). 

His poem ‘Clever at Seeing without being Seen’ was recorded for Sometimes, The Revolution is Small, Disarm Hate x Poetry project by Nymphs & Thugs Recording Co. UK
and recent publications of his poetry include Queerlings: A Literary Magazine for Queer Writing, First Times, Powders Press, Gob Jaw Zine 8, You Are Here - The Journal of Creative Geography and Otherwise magazine. 

Lee has a long history of curating performance and fine art exhibitions internationally. For example, between 2005-2008, he curated All for Show, an internationally touring film showreel of emerging and established British moving image artists whose work exposed the banalities of everyday life through humour, self-introspection, and serious play. In 2020, Lee curated Radical Ventriloquism at Kelder, London and presented a compilation of short films by queer male filmmakers entitled Homo Humour in Miami and Italy (Online) with a further screening planned for FRISE, Hamburg, Germany in 2022. Lee runs a regular monthly experimental poetry /spoken word night, POW! Play on Words, at The Bridge House Theatre in South London where he is currently curatorial poet in residence. In January 2021, he curated a set of queer poetry evenings for BBC Radio. 



For further information: 
lee.campbell@arts.ac.uk

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