Encounters for Rural Queers

With {hobit, I hosted a regular meeting point for queer youth in Vorarlberg from 2010 to 2013. Because many of us were not out yet, it was important to me that the meeting point was safe and open at the same time. In a bar in Feldkirch we found a perfect spot. Queer folks from Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein and even Switzerland came to visit and spend some hours outside of the heteronormative world we would spend most of the time in. It fills me with joy to see that some of the people who met each other at {hobit are still friends, partners or even married.

Years later, in 2018, my friend Martina from GoWest approached me with the vision of a queer film festival in Vorarlberg. Next to our desire to see current queer cinema in our hometown, we also wanted to create an aspirational meeting point for rural queer folks. In collaboration with the cultural center Spielboden, we started a monthly queer film series that has been going on for over five years now and is an integral part of Spielboden’s programming.