Yony Leyser directed this branded three-part 86 minute documentary miniseries for NYX Professional Makeup X Vice. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Changing The Game is a three-part portrait series that features three LGBTQ+ influencers in Germany: The Drag Performer Miss Ivanka T, The podcaster working for lesbian-visibility Ricarda Hoffman and Trans influencer Jolina Mennen.
Full Content on Youtube @NYXCosmeticsGermany
One hot summer night in New Orleans a drag collective staged wrestling night. They dressed up as their vibrant alter-egos, and proceeded to beat the living daylights out each other while the audience collectively lost their shit. That night, Chokehole was born. This documentary follows Chokehole as they take the show to Germany, sharing the stories of cast members as they grapple with racism, gender conformism, queer identity and America’s suppression of the arts. The film depicts the artists both with and without drag, sharing their larger-than-life and theatrical alter egos while displaying the unique vulnerabilities that lie behind the character. This film explores their loud, vibrant personas alongside their heart-breaking personal stories, and the adversity they’ve had to overcome to be accepted in the US. As the documentary progresses, we learn how each character copes with love, sex, transitions, post-trauma, and socioeconomics while offering a glimpse into their fantastical, vivid world… which is as much an escape for the artists as it is for the audience.
“Chokehole: Drag Wrestlers do Deutschland” is the story of how disenfranchised, queer performers defeated all the odds to make a compelling theatrical show.
New Orleans Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Outfest
San Francisco Documentary Film Festival
Festival of Nations
Revelation International Film Festival Perth
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg
The Fourth Generation, is a homage to Berlin’s vibrant underground and the communities that breathe life into the city. The film is set in a dystopian future, but the themes explored are very real. Queer identity, feminism, sexuality and the intersection of politics and art. In the near future Professional provocateur and artist Maven Shegula has returned to Berlin after a hiatus in Zürich. She’s back to celebrate her 50th birthday, and to appear on a popular German talk show. As she wanders the streets of Berlin with her girlfriend and friend, it
becomes apparent that being an artist in this city is no longer acceptable. The humming nightlife has disappeared, and the vibrant creative community pushed to the margins of society. The film is alive with tension, both sexual and otherwise. As Maven’s story unfurls on live television, we learn about her son, her politics, her heritage and her alter-ego Rosa who champions radical self-expression and feminism. The interview is dispersed with beautiful and volcanic eruptions from Maven that act as both a denunciation of the city’s leadership and a love letter to Berlin.
Packed full of vibrant fashion, queerness, dark humour and experimental visuals, The Fourth Generation depicts every artists worst nightmare – and the lengths one woman will go to stand by
what she believes in. The film features a predominantly trans and non-binary cast.
Premiere – Vienna Queer Shorts Festival
Set in the distant future and within a society that depicts a distorted version of our current world, Choke Hole is the most popular form of entertainment, regularly broadcasted to millions of viewers. What began as a justice system for solving disputes between the absurd citizens of Choke Hole, grew into a gladiator-esque cultural and capitalist phenomenon. As a multimedia entertainment experience based in New Orleans, Choke Hole places a queer lens on the traditionally machismo world of wrestling, using drag and queer performance to intensify the inherently flamboyant and camp elements of professional wrestling. Choke Hole combines lip sync performances, choreographed wrestling matches, acting, character building, and pre-recorded »backstage drama« videos to create a fully immersive nightlife experience. With CHOKE HOLE VS. HAMBURG QUEENS, they are developing a special Kampnagel edition of their show together with drag and queer performers from Hamburg and Berlin, including numerous Kampnagel companions such as PREACH, Dancing Svensation and Gieza Poke, just in time for the opening of the season. 2021 Kampnagel Season Opener.
Drei Drag Queens – Elyssa Fleur, Miss Ivanka T und Vivienne Lovecraft – machen einen Roadtrip durch den Süden der USA, von New Orleans bis Los Angeles: “Drag me to the USA”. RTL+ zeigt 3 Folgen à 30 Min. des wilden und verrückten Abenteuers voller Emotionen, Empowerment und Selbstfindung am Puls der Queer-Community ab 29.9.2022.
Vivienne Lovecraft will in den USA die Community entdecken und viele Eindrücke mitnehmen. Miss Ivanka T will die berühmteste Dragqueen der Welt werden und auf dem Trip ihr Talent unter Beweis stellen. Elyssa Fleur will in den USA sich selbst entdecken.
Auf ihrer Reise erleben die drei Queens die Realität der USA, vom bunten Mardi Gras in New Orleans mit seiner Vielfalt und Skurrilität, über eine deutschstämmige Stadt in Texas oder eine Cruising Zone mitten in der Wüste bis hin zu fast vergessenen Durchfahrtsorten und der verführerisch falschen Glitzerwelt Los Angeles. Dabei treffen die Queens auf viele inspirierende Menschen. Miss Ivanka T, Elyssa Fleur und Vivienne Lovecraft, die sich vorher nicht kannten und zuvor nie in den USA waren, wachsen über sich hinaus und entdecken mehr über sich selbst, als sie sich je hätten vorstellen können.
“Drag me to the USA”, produziert von eitelsonnenschein GmbH im Auftrag von RTL+, ist ein wildes und verrücktes Abenteuer voller Emotionen, Empowerment und Selbstfindung am Puls der Queer-Community.
Produzenten sind Lutz Heineking jr. und Marco Gilles. Producerin ist Corinna C. Poetter. Verantwortlich für Buch und Regie ist Yony Leyser. Redaktionell für RTL+ zuständig ist Markus Böhlke.
Das Drehteam wurde im Frühjahr 2022 auf die Reise geschickt. Drehorte waren u. a. New Orleans, Eunice, Tucson, die Wüste Arizona und Los Angeles. Der große Abschluss der Tour wird im Berliner SchwuZ mit einem großen Wiedersehen gefeiert.
Die Drag Queens:
Miss Ivanka T (26) @miss.ivanka.t
hat sich in Deutschland einen Namen gemacht als eine der bekanntesten Dragqueens mit makellosem Make-up und ist die Dragqueen-in-Residenz im SchwuZ Club in Berlin. Gemeinsam mit Prince-Charming-2021-Kandidat Robin Solf moderiert sie Deutschlands beliebtesten Schwulen-Podcast “GAG – Der Podcast”. Es gibt Gerüchte, dass die beiden ein Paar sind, aber das wurde nie bestätigt. Ursprünglich aus Leonding in Österreich stammend, zog Miss Ivanka T alias Niklas nach dem Militärdienst vor sieben Jahren nach Berlin. Neben seinem Podcast und seiner Tätigkeit als Drag-Musiker betreibt er auch das Modefotolabel Van Schwarzdorn, ist Herausgeber des schwulen Fetischmagazins “Hart” und hat gerade sein Bekleidungslabel “Atelier Hart” gegründet. Niklas freut sich darauf, in den Vereinigten Staaten hart zu arbeiten und noch härter (und perverser) zu spielen.
Vivienne Lovecraft (31) @vivienne_lovecraft
Vivienne Lovecraft wurde auf den Philippinen geboren, lebt aber in Deutschland, seit sie vier Jahre alt ist. Sie arbeitet tagsüber in einer Kreativagentur in Berlin und macht nachts Drag. Sie steht für Body Positivity Diversity. Zu ihrer Familie hat sie seit über einem Jahrzehnt keinen Kontakt mehr, hofft aber, dass sie eines Tages wieder Kontakt aufnehmen kann.
Elyssa Fleur (27) @elyssafleur
Elyssa Fleur ist eine Schweizer Drag Queen aus Neuchâtel. Ihre Aktivitäten sind vielfältig und reichen von Unterhaltung, Podcasting, Lehrvideos und Social-Media-Aktivisten bis hin zu Tanz. Drag hat ihr nach eigener Aussage das Leben gerettet. Elyssa Fleur will in den USA sich selbst entdecken.
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History is the very first comprehensive overview of the movement that defied both the music underground and the LGBT mainstream community—queercore.
Through exclusive interviews with protagonists like Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Jayne County, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, film director and author John Waters, Lynn Breedlove of Tribe 8, Jon Ginoli of Pansy Division, and many more, alongside a treasure trove of never-before-seen photographs and reprinted zines from the time, Queercore traces the history of a scene originally “fabricated” in the bedrooms and coffee shops of Toronto and San Francisco by a few young, queer punks to its emergence as a relevant and real revolution. Queercore gets a down-to-details firsthand account of the movement explored through the people that lived it—from punk’s early queer elements, to the moments Toronto kids decided they needed to create a scene that didn’t exist, to the infiltration of the mainstream by Pansy Division, and the emergence of riot grrrl as a sister movement—as well as the clothes, zines, art, film, and music that made this movement an exciting in-your-face middle finger to complacent gay and straight society. Queercore will stand as both a testament to radically gay politics and culture and an important reference for those who wish to better understand this explosive movement.
Five queers Berliners of different generations and backgrounds take the audience on a performative journey through Berlin’s queer history between Pankow and Schöneberg, Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, Mahlsdorf and Charlottenburg.
In search for the intersections of queer identities in a collective consciousness, they liquefy time, space, body and gender and connect with ancestors and future generations. The performers have been living in Berlin for generations or have recently moved here. They will channel their icons, ex-lovers and former selves to draw a political-personal portrait of queer Berlin between East and West.
Staged at Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin in 2019.
What happens when the community you need is not the community you have? Tell yourself it exists over and over, make fan zines that fabricate hordes of queer punk revolutionaries, create subversive movies, and distribute those movies widely—and slowly, the community you’ve fabricated might become a real and radical heartbeat that spreads internationally. This is the story that Queercore tells, from the start of a pseudo-movement in the mid-1980s, intended to punk the punk scene, to the widespread rise of artists who used radical queer identity to push back equally against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture.
Interviewees discuss homophobia, gender, feminism, AIDS, assimilation, sex, and, of course, art. The extensive participant list includes Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, John Waters, Justin Vivian Bond, Lynn Breedlove, Silas Howard, Pansy Division, Penny Arcade, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Deke Elash, Tom Jennings, Team Dresch, and many more. Encompassing a breadth of history and influence, Queercore ends with a glimpse towards Riot Grrl and artists like Peaches and The Gossip, who, inspired by queercore legacy, were next to take the stage.
Underscoring the interviews are clips from movies, zines, concerts, and actions iconic to the movement. As steeped in the radical queer, anti-capitalist, DIY, and give-no-fucks approach as queercore itself, the movie reveals the perspectives and experiences of bands, moviemakers, writers, and other outsiders, taking audiences inside the creation of the community—and art—so desperately needed by the same queers it encompassed.
— SOPHIA LANZA-WEIL
IDFA
Hot Docs
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Viennale, Frameline, Outfest
Doc NYC
IN-EDIT Music Documentary Film Festival
!f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival
DOXA Documentary Film Festival,
One World Romania
Felix Award for Best Documentary – Rio International Film Festival
Best Queer Documentary – Melinka Festival in Serbia
Audience Award for Best Documentary – Homochrom Film Festival Germany
Audience Award – Soundwatch
Based on a true story, Desire Will Set You Free is a feature-length narrative film that portrays artistic and marginalized life in contemporary Berlin.
Ezra, an American writer of Palestinian and Israeli parentage living in Berlin, spends his days clubbing, taking drugs, having pseudo-philosophical conversations and wanting to be more punk, whilst wishing he wrote more. Most of his time is spent with his privileged dark, but witty friend Catharine, who has an unsettling fetish for Nazi paraphernalia. As the two of them look for their next excitement fix, they end up in one of Berlin’s famous gay hustler bars.
Almost on a dare Ezra meets Sasha, a Russian immigrant working as an escort. Ezra pulls Sasha on a journey through Berlin’s underground and queer scenes. He discovers the stomping ground for hedonism and exploration. He discovers remnants of WWII, The Weimar Republic, Bowie and the present day party kids. Much like taking a drug itself, the line between reality and desire is blurred in the land of excess. What starts out as a seemingly conventional gay relationship reveals itself as more complex and dynamic as their true inner desires are revealed.
Filmed entirely in Berlin, the film uses real locations where many Berlin based personali- ties give performances some playing themselves. These include ‘Godmother of Punk’ Nina Hagen as Oracle, cult musician and performance artist Peaches, along with Rosa Von Praunheim, Rummelsnuff, Blood Orange, and Einstuerzende Neubauten and Blixa Bargeld (formerly of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds).
Best Soundtrack, Chicago International Movie and Music Festival
East End Film Festival, London, UK
Sled Island Music & Arts Festival, Calgary, Canada
Chicago International Movie and Music Festival
Boston LGBT Film Festival (Wicked Queer)
Puerto Vallarta as part of the FICG film festival
Guadalajara International Film Festival (Competition)
Schwule-Filmtage Mannheim, Germany (Opening Night Film)
!f Istanbul Independent Film Festival
Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis January 2016 (Competition Wettbewerb) German Premiere
Florence Queer Festival Nov. 11 2015 (Opening Night film)
Montreal World Film Festival August 2015 (World Premiere)
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within features never before seen footage as well as exclusive interviews with his closest friends and colleagues. Born the heir of the Burroughs’ adding machine estate, he struggled throughout his life with addiction, control systems, and self. He was forced to deal with the tragedy of killing his wife and the repercussions of neglecting his son. His novel, Naked Lunch, was one of the last books to be banned by the U.S. government. Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer testified on behalf of the book. The courts eventually overturned their decision in 1966, ruling that the book had an important social value. It remains one of the most recognized literary works of the 20th century. William Burroughs was one of the first to cross the dangerous boundaries of queer and drug culture in the 1950s, and write about his experiences. Eventually he was hailed the godfather of the beat generation and influenced artists for generations to come. However, his friends were left wondering, did William ever find happiness? This extremely personal documentary breaks the surface of the troubled and brilliant world of one of the greatest authors of all time. “William S. Burroughs: A Man Within” is the first and only posthumous documentary about this legendary figure.
Van Gogh Award for Best Biography, Amsterdam International Film Festival, the Netherlands.
Gold Kahuna Award, Honolulu International Film Festival, Hawaii.
New York Times Critic’s Pick
Sight and Sound Magazine top ten film of the year 2010
Official Selection at the 2010 Chicago International Movies and Music Festival
Sao Paul International Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival
Sarasota Film Festival, the Maryland Film Festival
Vienna International Film Festival
Jameson Dublin International Film Festival
Slamdance
BFI London Film Festival
Sheffield Doc/Fest