MIMA SIMIĆ: Croatian writer, film critic, activist, media personality, and Croatian LGBT person of the decade. Mima will talk on "LGBT Politics and Activist Strategies of Media Subversion,” discussing how she and other activists and organizations have used strategies of media subversion to affect public and social attitudes on homosexuality and gender in Croatia. Katherine McFarland Bruce, Elon visiting assistant professor of sociology, will join Mima and compare and discuss LGBT activism in the United States, specifically the South.
WHEN: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 5:30-7:00 IN ISABELLA CANNON ROOM, MCRARY CENTER FOR THE ARTS.
Light refreshments provided.
Event sponsored by: General Studies, International Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Science and Policy Studies, and Women and Gender Studies
ALSO JOIN MIMA SIMIC FOR A SCREENING OF THE FIRST CROATIAN LGBT FILM: FINE DEAD GIRLS (2002, 77 min) on Tues, Feb. 11, 7:00 pm. in McEwan screening room
Film Summary:
Iva and Marija, a young lesbian couple, rent an apartment in a seemingly quiet building in Zagreb. What initially appears as a safe home quickly turns into a nightmare when other tenants find out about their relationship. Finding themselves surrounded by a wide range of belligerent characters, the young couple deals with the situation as best as they can, until Marija’s father tries to sabotage their relationship, leading to a violent conclusion.
Bio of Mima Simic: Croatianwriter, film critic, activist, media personality, teacher, translator, and LGBT person of the decade. Mima holds MA degrees in Comparative Literature and English Language and Literature from the Zagreb University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences as well as an MA in Gender Studies from the Central European University in Budapest. She has published a book of short stories, (AGM, 2005), which is currently being adapted for screen as an animated series, and her book of essays on film, (Croatian Film Association, 2009), which earned her the Vladimir Vukovic award for best Croatian film critic. She is also a translator, having translated several books into Croatian and English, both fiction and theory. She teaches on feminism and popular culture (with focus on LGBT films in the post-Yugoslav region) at the Zagreb Women’s Studies Center and she teaches on activist strategies and interventions in the media at the Zagreb Peace Studies Center. She is also the editor of a weekly film program on the Croatian National Radio. She has long been involved in feminist and LGBT activist movements and in 2011 she was voted Croatian LGBT person of the decade. Mima is also the host of an intellectual talk show on TV in Zagreb called “Peti Dan.”
Mima and her partner Marta vote against the Croatian constitutional referendum to ban same-sex marriage in December 2013.
Image from Reuters News