The new documentary focuses on the importance of LGBTQIA spaces in Germany
BY JULINE ARNOLDT, IMAGE BY PEXELS
The quest to find oneself in a world like this requires space. And to remain free from pretending to be someone you are not requires a place. Places where like-minded individuals can hang out and share similar experiences without the need for explanation. Streets that breathe with you. Slowly but surely, a demand for bars for women is resurfacing, and to help spread this message to the world, the concept of The Lesbian Bar Project was born.
Since the beginning of history, it has been a battle for the same air in different lungs. The LGBTQIA community has been thriving on courage and solidarity throughout history. The first venue for lesbians was opened in 1925 in New York City, by Eva Kotchever, a Polish-Jewish migrant. She named it Eve Addams Tearoom. So many women before us, have shown us what it means to want to live and to step out from the history of suffering. Simply to live in love and peace, without causing harm to anyone. And yet, it’s this very harmony that poses a threat to those who fail to grasp its significance, and who do not understand what it means to be in harmony.
A new major movement is underway. And we shall look up to it like a great wave that will wash away all the incomprehensible things that accumulated over the past decades.
The Lesbian Bar Project is both a documentary film and a fundraiser campaign, and is increasingly making a name for itself, and embracing this era once more. History is being written again. The project kicked off with filming lesbian bars across the United States. The wave has also found its place in Germany, from Berlin to Cologne. The project is expanding and can no longer be stopped. A global family returns to bars where they can feel safe and can leave all masks at the door, extending a warm welcome to everyone from the LGBTQIA community and allies. Sponsored by Jägermeister, the project has preserved many bars. Produced and directed by Elina Street and Erica Rose, and having Lea DeLaria as an executive producer on board along with The Katz Company, the film focuses on the human stories behind women’s bars.
This rising movement reminds me of the women in the 1920s, who deserve eternal honour; such as Libuše Moniková, Brigitte Reimann, Unica Zürn, Gisela Elsner, Inge Müller, Irmtraud Morgner, Undine Gruenter, Christa Reinig, Helga M. Novak, Sigrid Weigel, Ingeborg Bachmann, Ilse Aichinger, Elfriede Jelinek, Herta Müller, who never hesitated in their speeches, thoughts, poems, and other written works to be shared with the public, at a time when only male writers were allowed to recite their little words in the writer’s clubs. This torch of love must never be extinguished.
“How many names does it actually take?”
“As much as required to live in freedom!”
In the glittering 80s of the United States, there were roughly around 200 lesbian bars, but today there are only about 20. As the earth slowly swallowed these bars to vanish, filmmakers Elina and Erica helped the remaining spaces to stay open and vibrant by breathing their breath onto the camera lens and polishing it. And they will continue to help the bars become visible again throughout the world. The idea of a film project was born, interviewing people from existing lesbian bars and future bars globally, emphasising the necessity and importance of lesbian bars remaining open. On 30 March, the German version of the film premiered in Cologne at the Boize Bar, followed by a showcase in Berlin on 4 April. The number of women’s bars is slowly increasing and reaching towards the sun. And this sun lets our rainbow flag shine in a new light!
Let the film roll, as we rewrite history once more!
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