Fucking Different XXY

For the past 10 years German filmmaker Kristian Petersen has masterminded a whole series of short movies that have explored and pushed the boundaries of gay sexuality and gender-binarities questioning which he has produced under the ‘Fucking Different’ banner.

In 2007 for ‘Fucking Different New York’ Peterson chose six men and six women to make the twelve witty, illuminating and erotic short films that spanned all genres which conveyed the diverse spectrum of queer life in the city. In 2009 Petersen selected 14 Israeli directors to each make a short for the ‘Fucking Different Tel Aviv’ compilation. His only brief to them was that the lesbians had to make their movies on gay men, and vice versa.

The fourth film of the conceptual series was Fucking Different São Paulo which was the result of a group of local filmmakers who developed their projects in a script workshop during the 16th Mix Brasil Festival. And again Petersen had them address each other’s sexuality.

For this his sixth (and possibly last) collection of shorts as its XXY title indicates, Petersen has focused on transgender aspects of sexuality. It is a very powerful and diverse mixture that includes documentaries from pornographic filmmakers Buck Angel and Mor Vital, and two very vibrant experimental pieces about non-conforming from J Jackie Baier and Gwen Howarth.

The whole series attempts to overturn stereotypes within and outside the queer community and make one question one’s fiercely held concepts of what we have always believed is, and should be, acceptable as a norm. In my mind it, and Buck Angel’s own movie ‘Mr Angel’, goes a long way to achieving this.

This is not a movie for closed minds or anyone who doesnt want to deal with some in-your-face sexuality, but as the movie’s own motto claims sums it up so aptly it ‘breaks stereotypes, creates confusion, and celebrates diversity’.