Society of Cinema presents Lina Bembe & Bishop Black: Kitchen Talk
Film screening & conversation
Wednesday November 10th, 2021
From 18:00 to 20:00
“Kitchen Talk was never planned. The film captures a specific, powerful moment within a workshop, called “Reclaiming my Image,” where our main intention was to re-appropriate the ways in which we are seen and portrayed as black, indigenous and POC sex workers and performers. Kitchen Talk goes beyond the mere process of filmmaking. It deals with questions of spaces, community, the complexities of pornographic representation and how they affect their participants. The process and interactions that led to the film are complex and meaningful in their own right.”
The screening will be followed by a conversation between Lina Bembe and Bishop Black, moderated by Synes Elischka.
About the Artists
Lina Bembe is a porn performer, director and writer based in Berlin. She has been featured in a diverse range of pornographic narratives, from mainstream to different flavors of ‘feminist’, all the way to DIY queer post-porn. Lina’s first short film, ’Ritual Waves’ premiered in October 2019. Besides porn, Lina often gets invited to write, speak or curate screenings about feminism, culture, sex education and explicit sexuality.
Bishop Black is a British performance artist and porn performer based in Berlin. His works plays with themes of BDSM, eroticism and sexuality and dance. He has performed in pieces for theaters such as the Berliner Ensemble and Deutsche Opera, as well as being a dancer for several prominent artists such as Peaches, the Knife and Hercules and the Love Affair. His film work in film spans over 10 years with various prominent companies in both the mainstream and alternative pornography. He can be found on sites like Himeros, Four Chambers, Blue Artichoke films, Altshift, Xconfessions and LustCinema. He is also a part of the Sex School hub, which aims to revolutionise the way sex education is presented, by working with sex educators and performers from the adult industry.
Synes Elischka (they/them) is a researcher at Aalto’s Film Department, finishing their PhD on immersion, Virtual Reality, and the viewer’s imagination. Co-founder Querq ry and Virtual Cinema Lab research group. MA in transdisciplinary media arts. Worked in cinema (directing, cinematography, acting, editing) for more than 15 years.
During 2021-2022 Society of Cinema concentrates on independent film production practices and feminist filmmaking strategies worldwide and in the local context. Aiming to strengthen the connections of the local scene with other filmmaking groups and film scholars internationally; our program engages with, analyses, discusses, and counteracts (yet to be renounced) effects of its structures. We are taking a practice-based, yet research- centric approach through workshops, creative programming and critical publications.
Society of Cinema is a collaboration between Museum of Impossible Forms and Kenno Filmi. The series is curated by Danai Anagnostou in conversation with Giovanna Esposito Yussif.
This presentation has the kind support of the Goethe-Institut Finnland.