Outliving Dracula explores the radical inf luence of the classic (and first) lesbian vampire story, JS Le Fanu’s Carmilla, on generations of filmmakers - from Carl Dreyer’s extraordinary Vampyr to Roger Vadim’s Blood and Roses, from the Gothic kitsch of Hammer through to films produced for an art gallery context. Featuring interviews with leading film scholars and lesbian artists influenced by Le Fanu, Outliving Dracula seeks to redefine Le Fanu’s critical importance as an Irish writer whose ghostly traces remain profound and enigmatic. This documentary suggests that Carmilla may perhaps be more radical and transgressive today as a creative wellspring than its successor Dracula.

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With glitter, wit, evening gowns, and enchanting storytelling, Miwa looks back over a 50-year career and a fascinating life in music, film, and television (including the cult classic Black Lizard). As a young singer, Miwa popularized androgyny as a fashion statement, fusing the masculine and the feminine into a signal of a new generation of aesthetics. This evolved into performing as a woman and living off-stage as a man. In recent years he has voiced characters in Hayao Miyazaki’s internationally successful anime films like Howl’s Moving Castle and appears almost daily on Japanese talk shows. Having sold millions of records, publishing over 20 books, and performing to sell out crowds, Miwa continues to fight for gay rights.

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Things get very complicated very quickly when Joe, an angsty drug dealer, meets Belle, a buoyant suicidal psychopath, in this dark comedy. After an outlandish accident in Tel Aviv leaves the pair with a body to dispose of, they embark on a madcap journey to lose the cops - and end up finding love in Sderot (the target of ongoing rocket attacks). Gritty but tender, Joe + Belle offers an absurd portrait of life in contemporary Israel. Come and see the film that AFTERELLEN.com calls “Totally offkilter, sexy and stylish in a distinctly grungy, almost ‘90s sort of way” that “manages to say something deep about love and violence while still offering all the gallows humor you could hope for.

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