The 14th annual Mezipatra festival is so wide-ranging that it will welcome New York University’s Lisa Duggan and the Czech Internet stars Jan Zelenka and Lukáš Rejmon in a single week. This year's theme is “Truth or Dare”, and the festival starts Nov. 7 in Prague, where it will play until Nov. 14, before moving on to Brno from Nov. 13 to Nov. 20. The events that make up the accompanying “off program” will echo the main topic of the festival.
The aforementioned Lisa Duggan coined the "homonormativity", and she has cooperated with Prague’s Charles University for many years. Duggan will give a lecture on gender, the history of sexuality, and the precise meaning of "homonormativity" in the small hall of Světozor theater on Nov. 11 from 3:45 p.m.
Zelenka and Rejmon, stars of Internet vlogs, will be hosted by Kvér Radio Wave Bára Šichanová and Josef Rabara, who will look at their guests from different perspectives than what tabloids usually do. World Wide Queer's hosts will be at the Langhans Gallery on Sunday, Nov. 10 from 2 p.m. Prior to the show, starting at 10 a.m., a brunch will take place at the same place.
The way queer people are presented online is one of the topics of this year's festival. Mezipatra's theme song has been composed by Ukrainian gay blogger and performer, Sergei Dudnik. The fascinating story of another videoblogger, Chris Crocker, served as inspiration for the movie "Me @ the ZOO", which is part of the program. Crocker is most famous for his video "Leave Britney alone!"
One debate with a particularly promising topic is "The Position of LGBT People in Russia Today", which will take place in the Langhans Gallery on Saturday Nov. 9 from 4 p.m. The participants in this debate will examine what is it like for to be a gay person in a country that prohibits the promotion of homosexuality and where major homosexual activists have to become pretend-heterosexuals? What is homosexual activism like in Russia, where Pride has been prohibited for the next 100 years? What does the future hold, and how is the situation going to be reflected in the upcoming 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics? The guests of the debate will be Roman Bayguzov, a Russian designer; Libor Kukal, the head of the Russian staff of Radio Praha; and the head of A People in Need Eastern European projects, Rostislav Valvoda.
The biggest party of the festival will take place in Palace Ilusion on Saturday, Nov. 9. Part of the program will be a performance by the Canadian electro star, Peaches, called “Peaches Does Herself”. The price of admission is 120 Kč, and the welcome drink is Jameson whiskey, a partner of the festival. Peaches served as an inspiration for a film in one of the documentary sections, and she will also be discussed in a lecture by music publicist Pavel Klusák titled “Queer Me on Stage”, which will take place in the Langhans Gallery on Friday Nov. 8 from 4 p.m.
