Following the success of In the Garden of Sounds, Grozny Blues [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
ficha de la película] and, more recently, The Stone Eater [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], Nicola Bellucci is once again filming real life, pointing his camera on characters who emerge from the margins, take centre stage and tell stories in which they finally take the lead. Selected for gatherings such as the Florence Queer Festival and the Rome International Documentary Festival, Quir [+lee también:
entrevista: Nicola Bellucci
ficha de la película] is now landing in the Solothurn Film Festival where it’s in the running for the Audience Award.

Received in Solothurn with a long, standing ovation, Quir is a fortifying film, a tribute both distressing and light-hearted to those who have decided to free themselves from the oppressive ways of a society which tries to crush any form of rebellion in any way it can. Quir is a proud revindication of a kind of abnormality which is no longer a source of shame, but of pride, an overwhelming journey into the heart of a community which has decided to come out into the open to shout about its right to exist. In his latest film, Bellucci seems to urge us to observe the world through the eyes of his queens, a colourful world built upon solidarity, acceptance, tolerance and a cathartic helping of humour. Their bodies become receptacles and archives of a past full of pain and violence, but also light-heartedness and freedom; of battles to assert their right to be unashamedly diverse in a world which would have us all docile and obedient.

In Palermo, there’s a leatherware shop like no other called Quir, a place buoyed by love and tolerance which refutes all forms of discrimination. The owners of this confessional for souls in search of solidarity and affection are Massimo and Gino, a couple of who have stood strong for forty-two years and who have become role models for the fight for LGBTIQ+ rights for an entire generation. Their little boutique has become an indispensable meeting point for the local community, a unique establishment where everyone is welcomed for who they are, without judgement, in a spirit of care and tolerance which opposes the violent dominion of the Sicilian patriarchal culture in which they’re immersed.

In a decidedly camp key, the protagonists of Quir turn pain and violence into a joyous and exaggerated hymn to diversity. Their stories interweave, forming an intricate but stupendously harmonious tapestry, an ensemble of wounded but indomitable bodies which evolves from a tangled mess into a highly coloured arabesque. Quir is a film which celebrates life, even though death is hanging horribly over the heads of all those who have made the decision to fight for their rights and recover their dignity.

Bellucci portrays a rebirth, a utopia which is cradled and nurtured within the four walls of Massimo and Gino’s shop and which redirects people’s lives. The footage from Palermo’s Pride event are wonderful in this respect, depicting a veritable suspended moment in time, where bodies which are usually considered to be abnormal, if not outright monstrous, are publicly revealed in all their majestic splendour. Because bodies themselves are the undisputed protagonists of Quir, bodies which become cartographies of battles fought to defend non-confirming identities, so-called abhorrent love and life choices which don’t respect the rules. The bodies Bellucci films have rebelled against each and every norm, each and every attempt at normalisation, quite literally wearing what’s hiding in their hearts on their skin. With infinite affection and respect, the director films Hollywood diva Charly as she styles her hair or dries her aging body after showering, Ernesto Tomasini and his stupendous drag queenesque transformations, and courageous transgender woman Vivian as she caresses her body on the dark streets of Palermo, dressed as a black angel in magnificent latex boots. Quir sees Bellucci turning cinema into a political act, into a manifesto in favour of a rebellious, carefree and revolutionary queerness which urges us to fight through joy or through pain and which incites us to leave the role of victim behind us in order to become true queens.

Quir was produced by soap factory and SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen.