Freemuse operates within an international human rights and legal framework which upholds the principles of accountability, participation, equality, non-discrimination and cultural diversity. We document violations of artistic freedom and leverage evidence-based advocacy at international, regional and national levels for better protection of all people, including those at risk.
PBS Short Film Festival: Sweetheart Dancers
Documentary explores work of choreographer who changed dance
“Dance exercises over dancers an insidious attraction. It makes them work hours daily on perfecting an instrument which is really deteriorating from birth. To what end, this eternal daily struggle? Because inside of all that is an ecstasy. Brief, perhaps, not always released. But this can happen at any moment. And when it does for a dancer, he can smile without knowing it. There is no guarantee of this, but it does exist. We see it, and we know it.”
Georgia: A Gay Film Sent an Entire Nation Into a Frenzy
World Economic Forum Announces 2020 Crystal Award Winners
Ghana: Gay sex is banned - so Ghanaians dance against homophobia
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Gay sex may be illegal in Ghana - dancing isn’t. So rappers and singers are using music videos to embrace LGBT+ life and fight homophobia in this conservative West African nation.
“Definitely this is the strongest way to create change,” said Emmanuel Owusu-Bonsu, part of the rap duo FOKN Bois. “The main thing the youth consume is music videos.”
In one new video, young men dance provocatively in a gay club. In another, a singer wanders through a wonderland populated by scantily clad women and drag queens. Same-sex relations are illegal in the West African country, and it’s too dangerous for celebrities to come out as gay.
Hence the stealth attack on homophobia. Although the colonial-era law is rarely enforced, activists say it means that violence and abuse against the LGBT+ community are condoned and that attacks often go unreported. Read more via Reuters