Love lies Bleedingthe projection slips
The film Love lies bleedingworn by Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian, it first caused a sensation in France for a particular reason: its non-distribution, until then, in national theaters. In fact, A24, co-producer and distributor in the United States of Rose Glass’ second feature film, after Saint Maud released in 2022, would charge prices too high for a French distributor to bet on this film announced as sulfurous.
A new, very concrete and regrettable event occurred recently during its presentation at BIFFF, the international fantasy film festival in Brussels. In fact, during its screening on Saturday night April 13part of the audience left the room, touched and hurt by the “Lesbophobic comments“, from the “insults” and even physical attacks from another part of the public, as reported by RTBF. During the session, tensions reportedly rose between a group of lesbian women and the public who had uttered sexist insults and comments in front of the images of Love lies bleeding. Dozens of spectators left the screening. This was finally stopped.
A cinephile tradition that has not evolved
The problematic aspect of this situation is not the noise caused by the audience, a traditional and almost obligatory behavior of festivalgoers and spectators of the fantasy genre. It is customary for the public to react as freely – and loudly – as possible to what is proposed to them. But in this case it wasn’t blood, fear or special effects that motivated these reactions. But the very theme of the film, namely a lesbian love story. Logically, a whole part of the public, who discovered this film which deals with many intimate and painful themes, was shocked and hurt.
Over the weekend the testimonies regarding this screening of Love lies bleeding have multiplied on social networks. Highlighting in particular the fact that it is abnormal that the BIFFF organization did not intervene. A criticism that is at the center of the press release from the film’s Belgian distributor, The Searchers. They announced that they would end their collaboration with the festival, provided that it did not implement actions to ensure respect and safety during its screenings.
On April 14, the day after the screening of Love lies bleeding, the BIFFF issued a press release. In it, the organizers described the events as “unacceptable” and wrote, before apologizing:
Discriminatory comments against any community do not and will never have space within the festival, as well as any other manifestation of moral and/or physical violence to express disagreement.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
