Roz Kaveney

At any given time Roz Kaveney has several writing projects on the go. She will be reading from recent critical books, from her memoirs and from her fiction, including her erotic fan-fiction. Some of it will be posy intellectual stuff with the odd quite funny joke, and some of it will be hot, or at least hottish.

Roz's website

Andjela

Andjela is in her best part of life, living in a world of dreams and art. Graduated from Film Academy in Belgrade, and works also as a software developer. She is an artistic soul. She likes to dance, to do things by hand, to help people, to think about the planets future. Proud mother of her 8 year old son.

Josephine Wilson

Josephine Wilson is an academic, performer, dancer, musician, and event producer/programme. She is completing her PhD at the LSE Gender Insitute and speaks and performs regularly throughout Europe. She appears in films like Dykes of Hazzard (2006), Fem (2007) and Mirror Mirror (2007) and sings/drums on Truly Kaput's Homocrime EP and Bedsongs LP. She recently perfrormed in the filming of "The GenderQueer Playhouse", a show she programmed in 2007 for Transfabulous, and will be restaged at Europride Stockholm 2008. From September 2008 she will appear in Suzanne Osten's new production of Franz Lehar's Glada änkan (Die Lustige Witwe) at Stockholm's Folkoperan. For more information see Josephine's website

Majda

Majda is 28 year old queer unicorn from Belgrade and one of the fabulous founders of Queer Beograd collective. active in web journalism, antifascist struggles and the ne nato campaign. majda Likes cats and dogs.

Tommy Crash

Tommy Crash (Berlin). ‘sometimes I perform on stage, most of the time I am a political activist, D.I.Y., different kinds of political queer radical actions, antiracist action is important. In daily life I communicate a lot about class conflicts. i am 45 years old and feel myself as a transgender. but when i think it’s important in discussions i can also be a women, a man, a lesbian, whatever....’

Kris R

Kris.R (Beograd) I work with trans people for 12 years. Helping them and their families, also their friends and/or partners get through all procedures. I am in contact with all medical experts (with each segment of the medical team which is performing sex reassignments surgeries within 20 years in Belgrade). In August it will be two years anniversary of our first ever trans self support group in the Balkans. My mission is to unite all trans people from exYugoslavia region and I am starting with that.

Milan Djuric/Viva La Diva

Milan Djuric (alter ego - Viva la Diva) has been always trying to transmute suffering into consciousness, new age Marxist and anarchist, "serious" activist and counselor who now wants to take life less "seriously"... He lives with his cat Agatha and plants Lela, Ben and Lili... Loves nature...

Viva la Diva - the first official Serbian drag queen, feminist with hairy legs, who started her career at Women's Studies and thought feminists would eat her alive but they didn't... She only opens her mouth but actually sings with her own voice, acts, writes, does politics with a touch of post-communist transitional glamor... Known for her sentences "There are no better drag queens than straight men... they are in one hell of a drag all the time..."... Loves Louise Hay and always has an affirmation for everybody to solve any problem.

Maja

Maja lives in Beograd Serbian and works at the lesbian feminist organisation LABRIS, she has played a crucial role in dragging the organisations politics kicking and screaming out of the late seventies first wave feminism essentialism and into the present! She is a core member of the queer Beograd collective, activist in many areas. She loves to dance and be naked.

D. Sarzinski

D. Sarzinski is a Bosnian genderqueer ball of fun and laughter, with a keen interest in rain, color black, forensics and dead people.

Tom of Tottenham

As a child Tom of Tottenham was taught by nuns. Sister Eileen was the first to realise that the the young Tom had a 'voice of an angle', but then she was rather obtuse. Nevertheless, she personally trained Tom as a choral scholar but as puberty arrived, and the role of castrati set, Tom fled from the pews of St Ignatius to the colourful streets of North London.

Tom of Tottenham initially came to fame as 'Pearly King of the norf'. He is often compared to, but never seen in the same place as, the elusive drag queen Savage Myrtle (less said the better). Tom has performed venues the length and breadth of this fair city and is thrilled to be once again flexing his lallies at Transfabulous.

Jet Moon

Jet Moon is an artist/activist producing politically engaged creative work, that combines performance, writing, and film. Most often working with people and situations outside of the traditional arts context. Her background is both academic and practical having worked within academic/art institutions, arts collectives and activist groups.

Strongly influenced by her involvement with the alter-globalist movement she has developed a style of writing, performing, and directing that captures the fragmented nature of contemporary living; the practice of moving across borders, whether geographic, cultural, sexual, gendered, visible or invisible.

Jet moon is a founder member of the Queer Beograd collective. She has also had long-term connections with London 'No Borders', and a number of other arts/activist collectives.

The Queer Beograd Collective

Queer Beograd fills a huge gap in the Serbian social and human rights scene, as our events provide a space in which people can meet and discuss a range of issues, educating and forming links in strategic ways. We are the only group producing large scale and inclusive events where many ideas and activities meet under the umbrella of ‘queer’. By queer we mean a politicised notion of sexuality and gender which recognises the need to actively engage with all oppressive structures to achieve liberation. We have a no borders approach to politics aiming at smashing the borders of gender, sexuality, nations and race. Queer politics is one of inclusively; we accept all who identify for the need for building a society based in the recognition of freedom of expression.

in 2004 another attempt of organizing Gay Pride in Belgrade was cancelled due to the threat of violence. we refused to spend time on worries about violence and instead opted for building cooperation between people on an international and local level, having fun, and promoting radical queer politics. In clandestine manner we organized the first Queer Beograd festival in May 2005.

Our first festival was very ‘underground’ because of the fear of violence. It was held in a partly abandoned factory on the edge of Beograd. There were 30 of us, wondering if we were safe, and doing selfdefence lessons every morning. Over the course of our festivals we began to build links with women’s organisations, with anti militarist groups, with other politically radical groups, free thinkers, artists and writers and began to build a kind of free social space where we could feel safe from harassment. Together we explored ideas, we cooked food, went on actions, made books, and danced in the streets. No one is more amazed than us by the success of the festival and our activities. Now we have a festival that attracts 300 people and is well known through out the south east region, inspiring a number of other festivals and activities.

We believe that issues of freedom of sexuality as well as gender diversity need to be approached in connection with radical feminist, anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-capitalist and no borders struggles.

As such, we seek to build links with other groups and networks working in the area of social justice, queers, trans and gender queer people, peace activists, anti fascists, sex workers, Roma, artists, academics, students. We aim at creating a social and cultural setting where there is no single ‘correct identity’ but rather a space of acceptance that expands all notions of identity and through this expands the capabilities of our network to take action together.

This year we will hold our 5th festival since 2005. We have developed an event that provides an unprecedented space for political and social issues to be discussed, people to gather, and where new connections formed. The festival showcases the best of local radical cultural and political activity while bringing fresh ideas and energy to the area through collaborations with groundbreaking international political activists, performers and artists.

The cabaret performance is a result of the collaboration between Jet Moon and the Beograd crew. The performers are all associated with Queer Beograd and are all part of the activist community dedicated to human rights work, they share their own stories as a part of the performance.

Queer Beograd's website