Soosk, 12 minutes, 2021, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, 12:00 minutes
‘Soosk’ explores a queer utopian rewriting of a traditional Iranian children’s story named ‘Khale Sooske’, which originally follows a female cockroach’s hunt for a husband whilst normalising domestic violence.
This retelling, ‘Soosk’, follows the journey of a cockroach who survives gender-based violence and finds a queer safe haven with the help of a non-binary divine being. Very importantly, ‘Soosk’ revisits the trauma that sexist and abusive rhetoric in children’s stories contribute to, especially for queer people. Soosk is a fictional fantasy about queer euphoria, and the freedom queerness offers from the struggles under hetero-patriachy.
Credits:
Written and Directed by Katayoun Jalilipour
Sound design: Coral Rose Kindred-Boothby
Editing: Sweatmother and Katayoun Jalilipour.
Title Art Work: Corie McGowan
Screenings:
Nominated for Selected 11 (Video club x FLAMIN)
London Premier at Microacts, Jun 2021
Cryptofiction, Nov 2021, Curated by Andrea Zimmerman