Experiencing Interruptions?

WATCH OUT! - a lesbian youth in tv of the 90s

Using television examples, WATCH OUT! analyzes the representation of lesbian series characters in the 90s and comes across a recurring pattern: the Bury Your Gays trope and, more pointedly, the Dead Lesbian Syndrome, terms for the fact that a disproportionate number of queer characters - and even more lesbian characters – have to die in film and television. The desktop film traces the origins of the trope and questions the responsibility of film and television makers to create a more positive and empowering representation of queer stories - because representation matters.

  • Rosa Wernecke
    Director
  • Rosa Wernecke
    Writer
  • Rosa Wernecke
    Key Cast
    "Voice over"
  • Katharina Pelosi
    Sounddesign
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    WATCH OUT! - eine lesbische Jugend im TV der 90er
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 31, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Rosa Wernecke

Rosa Wernecke born in 1986, lives and works in Berlin and Frankfurt. She studied Applied Theater Studies in Gießen and Media Arts in Cologne. Her work as a filmmaker and performance and media artist forces the dialogue between the performing and visual arts. A queer-feminist approach to content is intertwined with a strong formal focus on the use of technical means from the fields of stage technology, light and video art, and new digital media. Her work has been shown at Fleetstreet Hamburg, Moltkerei Cologne, Synnika Art Space Frankfurt, bauhaus reuse Berlin, Galerie Simone Menne Kiel, and the Center for the Holographic Arts New York, among others. Her video and light settings were part of scenic arrangements at Radialsystem Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Ruhrtriennale Bochum, among others.
She is co-founder of the feminist performance and media art collective Swoosh Lieu whose performances and installations have been invited to Tanzplattform Deutschland, Stückemarkt of the Berlin Theatertreffen, Impulse Festival Cologne and Festival Politik im freien Theater, among others. Radio plays have been produced with NDR Kultur and aired at Deutschlandfunk, WDR, BR. In 2018 she received the postgraduate scholarship “Artistic Research” of the Hessian Theater Academy. 2018 was spent as artist in residence at the Villa Kamogawa of the Goethe Institute Kyoto in Japan. For 2021/22, she has received a scholarship for the Cultural Academy Tarabya in Istanbul. In 2023/24 she will be artist in residence at the Cité international des arts Paris.

Filmography (selection)

2023
WATCH OUT! – a lesbian youth on TV in the 90s desktop documentary, 22 min
Function: concept, script, editing
Funded by the QueerScope short film funding

2022
NUN IV
Videoart for the composition by Sarah Nemtsov
Function: concept, camera, editing
Screenings: Sprengel Museum Hannover, Dara String Festival

Roses for my Funeral
Experimental Music Film, 53 min
Function: concept, camera, editing
Screenings: Festival les Amplitudes La Chaux des Fonds, Blurred Edges Festival Hamburg

2021
Caring for/from the Future
Mockumentary, 22 min
Function: concept, camera, editing
Screenings: La Loge Brussels, Club Transmediale Berlin, Favoriten Festival Dortmund, Tashweesh Festival Brussels

A Room of Our Own
Short film, 35 min
Function: concept, script, camera, editing
Screenings: Digital Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main, Home – Frankfurt – Tel Aviv, Kampnagel Hamburg, Zoom In Festival Nachtkritik, Heidelberger Stückmarkt, Hessische Theatertage, 7th Segal Center Film Festival New York, 15th Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt, Munich Kammerspiele, Oldenburg State Theater

Outernational #2: Wa & Davul
Experimental Music Film, 32 min
Function: concept, camera, editing
Screenings: Radialsystem Berlin

Absolutely believe that I am an Amazon
Experimental film, 11 min
Function: camera, editing
Screenings: Tarabya Istanbul Cultural Academy

The Appearance
Experimental film, 7 min
Function: concept, camera, editing
Screenings: GRRL HAUS CINEMA Film Festival Berlin, Pride on Screen – FLINTA* Outdoor Short Film Festival Berlin

2019
Fair Play Festival
Documentary 26 min
Function: Direction, camera, editing
Screenings: Discover Football Festival Berlin

Residencies/Fellowships
2023 Cité Internationale des Arts Paris
2022 Radio play scholarship from the Film and Media Foundation NRW
Exchange scholarship Global Senate Berlin / HoloCenter New York
2021 Tarabya Istanbul Cultural Academy
Artist exchange Frankfurt – Tel Aviv, Frankfurter Kranz
2020 The Only Artist | Bauhaus “reuse”, Ernst-Reuter-Platz
2018 Villa Kamogawa Kyoto, Goethe Institute
2017 Postgraduate funding for artistic research at the Hessian Theater Academy

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