SESSION 125, ILLEGAL _CINEMA

Screening of 100 niños esperando un tren (1988) by Ignacio Agüero and The Girl Chewing Gum (1976) by John Smith, followed by a discussion. Session proposed by Semaj and Joni.

Documentor
Director
Didact
Dictator 

Joni & Semaj, participants of fluent’s PRAXIS study programme, introduce a film pairing of 100 niños esperando un tren (100 Children Waiting for a Train, Ignacio Agüero, 1988) and The Girl Chewing Gum (John Smith, 1976). 100 niños esperando un tren follows a film education program led by Alicia Vega in rural Santiago, Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship. Vega, in an attempt to introduce film & its means of production to children who have never been to the cinema, helps them make sense of their reality, and distinguish fiction from non-fiction. The Girl Chewing Gum also sets its focus on the construction of cinema, taking a busy London street in 1976 as its subject. As members of an arts education program, we want to investigate the utility of cinema as a public service. When cinema is a public space, who does it serve and who does it instrumentalise? Does cinema liberate or is it enclosing? When does cinema document reality and when does cinema dictate reality?”

Semaj is an archivist and curator based in Los Angeles, California. A recent graduate of the University of Amsterdam’s Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image program, Semaj specializes in lesbian and trans memory practices and avant-garde cinema vessels. Awarded Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions’ 2026 Emerging Curator, her curatorial focus is textured by themes of labor, deterritorialization, and archival abstraction.

Joni (a.k.a Biogal) is an artist, showgirl, archivist, & community organiser based in London. Her debut short sucking all the knobs in the house I grew up in has two 5 star reviews on letterboxd each from greek transsexuals she has never met.

Accesibilidad: There is a removable ramp enabling wheelchair access to the Bulegoa z/b space. The bathroom is not accessible for wheelchairs.

To request access needs, write to bulegoa@bulegoa.org