Free screening and Q&A: Be Like Others

The SOAS Queer Film Club, in partnership with the SOAS Iranian Soc. present Be Like Others, the award-winning 2008 documentary on trans individuals in Iran.

B104 (Brunei Building)
Wednesday Jan 25th
7 - 830 pm

***

Despite homosexuality being illegal in the Islamic Republic of Iran the country has one of the highest rates of gender-reassignment surgeries in the world. Many men outed as gay and bisexual are often forced into undergoing medical procedures and live as women to avoid prison sentences or even the death penalty. Be Like Others (released in the UK as Transsexual in Iran) tells the story of a handful of trans and trans-assigned individuals living in an environment of intolerance and persecution.

The screening will open with an introduction to the film and its themes and will conclude with a Q&A with special guests:

Nina Nasim is an LGBTQ-focused support worker with the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group. She studied Persian at SOAS university before moving on to run UKLGIG's women and trans assylum support group.

Scott Long (via Skype) is a human rights activist and founder of the LGBTQ program at Human Rights Watch. He runs the blog Paper Bird, where he regularly writes about LGBTQ issues from an international context, and is considered one of the leading American voices on international LGBTQ rights.

(Not-so-special-guest) Tom Ana is the former outreach and communications officer for the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. He has previously worked with LGBTQ groups in several countries. He is a student at SOAS and organiser of the SOAS QFC.