History

                                                                                                                     photo courtesy of AMDL!?

The idea of “a million different loves!?” came into being during the fall of 2005 as a cultural and academic project in Poland and Germany. Its goal was to confront and compare attitudes towards gender, sexuality and identity in Lodz, Poland and the former communist East German city of Leipzig. As an informal group, AMDL!? is supported by the Kulturstiftung Des Bundes Foundation. AMDL!? is interested in taking a closer look at differences in handling gender and sexual identity by politics, legislation, and society, taking into consideration the communist past of both cities.

With the generous support of countless numbers of people from all over the world, with a special consideration of Paul Lee from Canada, the idea of an international academic conference was extended to an International Queer Film Festival. The Festival began in Lodz (18-23 October 2006) and Leipzig (25-29 October), and then in: Warsaw (2-4 November), Gdansk and Sopot (9-11 November), Torun (9-12 November), Cracow (17-21 November), Poznan (26-30 November), Wroclaw (11-14 December), Szczecin (11-14 January 2007) and Katowice (12-18 January). In the meantime, we managed to rally many people and institutions, in championing queer culture in Polish public life.

Currently, the Polish and German teams of organizers work, to a certain degree, separately. The gained answer for the question of social and cultural differences between Poland and Germany has resulted in taking various strategies in promoting queer culture. We tirelessly take part in many initiatives in order to achieve our goals.

The support, which the AMDL!? project achieved from many people of good will, made us aware of an immediate desire of cooperation among people craving to express, without fear, their love, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. For there is no one “best” model of love – there is at least a million different ways. Through screenings, concerts, exhibitions, and in particular, discussion panels, conversations and meetings will serve as a platform for the dialogue of true expression.

The 2nd edition of Queer Film Festival in Lodz, Poland “a million different loves!?” is organized together with the Cultural Initiatives Foundation Plaster.