Celebrate Pride with Austria at the First MNLxVIE Equality Fest
Celebrate love this Pride Month as Austria stands together with the Philippines against gender-based discrimination and violence at the first-ever MNLxVIE Equality Fest! It’s happening this coming June 25 to June 29, 2019 all over Manila.
With the theme “LGBTQIA+ Greatness in Leadership and the Arts”, the Austrian Embassy, together with its partners from Frontrow Philippines and Love Is All We Need, brings together Austrian and Filipino equality advocates. Said advocates come from various disciplines of photography, visual arts, fashion and makeup, performance art, film, and music, celebrating diversity, unity, and equality through creative activism.
Flying in straight from Austria to join the festival include intersex rights activist Noah Rieser, filmmaker Gregor Schmidinger, and drag queen Tamara Mascara.
The festival opens on June 25 with a launch party to be held at Tarzeer Pictures, Makati, headed by the ambassador herself and equal rights advocates RS Francisco and Queenmelo Esguerra. There will be a photo exhibit entitled “RECORD, RECORD” on Austria’s LGBTQIA+ history and excerpts from the book “Anong Pangalan Mo Sa Gabi?” by UP Babaylan, Babaylanes, Inc., and UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.
On June 26, the Intramuros Administration will unveil a Pride-themed public mural—a collaborative project of the Austrian Embassy, Austrian artist Katharina Kapsamer, and Salzburg Global Forum fellow Ralph Eya, situated across Museo de Intramuros.
On the same day, well-known drag queen Tamara Mascara will perform at Tomatito, BGC along with Filipino queens MC Black, Precious Paula Nicole, and Queen Viña, while on June 28, Tamara will join the XX:XX’s Elephant Night closing party.
Intersex activist Noah Rieser will lead the panel in “LGBTQIA+ Greatness in Leadership: An Equality Talk” at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde on June 27. Joining him are Myla Escultura of Intersex Philippines, 2018 bar top-notcher Sean Borja, Filipino artist fellows of the Salzburg Global Forum Reymart Cerin, Mark Salvatus and Andrei Venal, as well as filmmaker Cha Roque.
Meanwhile, renowned Filipino filmmakers Joel Lamangan, Moira Lang and Samantha Lee, and Austrian filmmaker Gregor Schmidinger will discuss LGBTQIA+ films in a Q&A event at the UP Film Institute on June 28.
To cap off the five-day event on June 29, MNL-VIE Equality Fest culminates with the Metro Manila Pride March, where Ambassador Rasoulian and all festival-goers will march together with The Red Whistle campaign #FuelTheLove and #ExtinguishTheStigma.
For more information regarding the event’s programs, contact Austrian Embassy Press and Cultural Attaché Zelpha Marie Bombais at Zelpha-Marie.Bombais@bmeia.gv.at. For updates, follow their Facebook event page here.
Details
What: MNLxVIE Equality Fest
Where: Various areas in Manila
When: June 25 to 29, 2019
This is a press release. Minor edits were made prior to publishing.
Images courtesy of Austrian Embassy Manila
