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SEEK BROMANCE

Samira Elagoz (FI/NL) in coproductie met Frascati Producties
Tue 21 Mar ’23 and Wed 22 Mar ’23
A cinematic performance showing a transformative relationship between two transmasculines with very different attitudes about what masculinity can be.
Tue 21 Mar ’23
and
Wed 22 Mar ’23

Samira Elagoz dedicated years to filming and researching cis men when still a female artist. While his previous works explored cis-men and masculinity in its different forms from an outside position when still identifying as a woman, his latest work changes the vantage point as Elagoz captured his own transition.

Seek Bromance is a trans romance situated at the end of the world somewhere between insta-reality and sci-fi dystopia. It shows a relationship between two transmasculines who met during the beginning of the pandemic, who both have a history of performing extremely feminine characters but who have very different attitudes as to what masculinity can be. The images that Samira Elagoz captures with his collaborator, Brazilian artist Cade Moga, document their relation, from the moment they first met to their final breakup. But they also document Elagoz’s long farewell to his femme identity. A painfully beautiful, deserted world, as if a virus had wiped everything out, and they could only be infected by each other. With just a car, some cash, and a supply of testosterone they expose the integral dynamics of masculinity and femininity.

“I set out to edit a work that I needed to see while struggling with my gender. A trans work where it’s not about educating cis people, or justifying our existence or being shiny positive examples, but a real story, where the trans protagonists are complex and troubled, progressive and admirable, problematic and relatable. Where they are rebels, lovers and creators.” - Samira Elagoz

Awards

Winner Silver Lion op Biënnale di Venezia

"Investigating the effects of love, gender, femininity, desire, its consequent annihilation and the brutal covert power plays, Samira Elagoz embarks on a journey that is intimate and poetic, yet ironic and perturbing at the same time, exploring the clichés and issues that concern not only self-representation in the media, the behaviour of the male in his attempts at seduction in a relationship of domination and/or submission, as well as the tool-body as the terrain for a necessary and inevitable artistic experimentation," Jury Biënnale di Venezia

Running time: 2h 10min + 15min break + 1h 30min

Credits

concept and direction Samira Elagoz in collaboration with Cade Moga material in collaboration with Aris advice Bruno Listopad, Antonia Steffens extra advice Otto Rissanen, Tiana Hemlock-Yensen, Richard Sand, Valerie Cole, Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli, Michael Scerbo advice during filming Jeanette Groenendaal production SPRING Performing Arts Festival co-production Frascati Producties, Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek Brussels, Black Box Teater Oslo, BIT Teatergarasjen Bergen, Finish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, Arsenic - Contemporary Performing Arts Center, Lausanne with the support of Fonds Podiumkunsten NL, Koneen Säätiö FI, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds NL, Ammodo NL

Press

“MIND-EXPANDING GENDER ODYSSEY” Theaterkrant 

“A show not to be missed - Rarely do you get such an intimate insight into the complex process of changing gender and identity.” De Standaard

“Breathtaking romance at the end of the world” De Morgen

About Samira Elagoz

Samira Elagoz (b. 1989, Helsinki) is a filmmaker and performance artist, currently living between Amsterdam and Berlin. For several years, he dedicated his artistic practice to researching and filming cis-men and first encounters with male strangers while still a female artist. Today, Elagoz identifies as a transmasculine with a high femme past. His works are very personal and deal with significant social and political issues of our time (sexual violence, male gaze, loneliness in the digital age, etc.). He has toured his works worldwide in various international performance art, film, and visual art contexts.

Interview with Samira Elagoz
"SEEK BROMANCE is originally a 2010 Avicii song with a music video of two bros going on a road trip with a third wheel chick. I feel like that could be the tagline of my work.“ Read the entire interview.

 

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