QUEERYING NATURE
By Aline Magrez & Leonor Palmeira
A film by Aline Magrez & Leonor Palmeira
A coproduction Les Films de la Passerelle, Caméra-etc, R.T.B.F. Unité Documentaires le Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles WIP Wallonie Image Production l’Endroit With the participation of Wallimage (la Wallonie), Le Fonds international WERNAERS in association with Shelter prod with the support of Taxshelter.be and ING with the support of tax shelter du gouvernement fédéral de Belgique co-funded by Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union
Synopsis
Falsely objective thinking has imposed the idea that certain sexual, gender or family behaviours are "unnatural". Fortunately, this idea is finally being shaken up, thanks to new scientific publications, which demonstrate its absurdity and make previous assertions seem plausible. Nature is far more queer than we are!From the pioneering work on queer animals by biologist Joan Roughgarden, to the interrogations of philosopher Vinciane Despret, via the intimate portraits of Camille Pier and Gwenn Seemel, artists who have seized upon Joan's work and queer nature to emancipate themselves and to create, while reflecting on diversity with biologist Thierry Lodé and ethologist Fleur Daugey: the film interweaves words, thoughts and faces in an attempt to explode the idea of a sexual or gender norm. In parallel, through a poetic animation that explores certain animal behaviours, we question the human being who, by speaking in the place of animals, is above all telling himself.
The nature described today is incredibly diverse and varied, and hardly fits human labels. There are thousands of cases of homosexual birds, transsexual fish, non-binary animals, polyamorous families... So what has happened? Has our view changed? Why and how? Is the subjectivity of the scientist a factor to be taken into account? Will it be possible to free ourselves from our shackles, now that we know that they are cultural constructions and not natural "truths"?