The first queer festival took place in Narva
On February 17 and 18, 2024, the first open queer festival was held in Narva
Last weekend, the Q-Space queer culture festival brought together the queer community, journalists, educators and everyone interested in queer topics in Narva at film screenings, discussions and meetings with filmmakers.
At the Narva Art Residence, the first open queer festival Q-Space gathered about 150 visitors: film screenings and discussions brought together those interested from Narva, some guests came from Tartu and Tallinn. The festival was eventful, interesting, but at the same time calm and safe.
“We are proud to have held the first openly LGBTQ festival in Narva. As we expected, these issues turned out to be acutely relevant for city residents. Many noted the information vacuum or demonization of LGBTQ topics, ignorance in gender issues, and fear of starting a conversation about LGBTQ topics among many Narvitians, especially in schools. Many visitors noted that it is high time to break the silence, and that it is very important to gather more often and continue a public discussion. This is needed both by people from the community and by their relatives and friends, representatives of educational and cultural institutions, the media, in a word - the whole society - say festival organizers Gulya Sultanova and Manny de Guerre. “Q-Space will continue to organise LGBTQ events in Narva and other cities in Estonia.”
The festival featured a discussion about the acceptance of queer people in families; the discussion on transgender issues included a detailed account of how trans people lived in the late Soviet Union and how their life situation changed in Independent Estonia; The workshop with Narvitians about the needs of queer people became a very emotional and meaningful conversation, and the final discussion about the situation of the LGBTQ community in schools evoked a lively response and thunderous applause from the audience.
Participants and visitors of the festival expressed hope for the continuation of the Q-Space festival in Narva.