Yes, We Are

Yes, We Are

Magda Wystub

PL
2010
Documentary
69’
desired! – film lust & queer

»Berlin, April 2006: at an event organised by myself about the current situation of lesbian and gays in Poland, a female listener asked the LGBT activist from Poland who was speaking: ›You only talk about gay groups. What about the lesbian scene?‹ The prompt response, ›There aren’t any lesbians in Poland!‹ doesn’t just provoke all the women in the room – the general indignation is considerable. In my role as a presenter I try to negotiate, but even afterwards, Szymon Niemiec remains stubborn: ›Just take a look around – Polish lesbians simply don’t come out of the closet.‹ … Of course there are lesbians in Poland, but why are they so invisible? How do Polish lesbians perceive themselves? How do they organise themselves? What clubs do they go to? What difficulties do women face in their daily lives if they do not conform to the conservative, catholic image of women? I noticed that contact with my country of origin had diminished and began doing some research. This eventually resulted in the idea for this film.«
– Magda Wystub

The queer protagonists who had their say in Yes, We Are are combative, but also disillusioned. Some identify themselves with the term lesbian, others reject being classified in their sexual orientation or sex. They all have in common that they do not fit into the heterosexual matrix and are driven by the same motive: the desire for a pluralistic society in which everyone has the right to self-determination. They are committed to this in very different ways.
Magda Wystub’s documentation for the first time places the focus deliberately and exclusively on emancipated thinking lesbians and queer women in Poland. She shows the diversity of their strategies in asserting themselves in a homophobic environment. The feelings and analyses of the heterogeneous daily life of the protagonists provide an insight here into the general political climate and the social upheaval in Poland.
The film title is taken from a central slogan of the Polish lesbian movement: Yes – we are in Poland! (Jesteśmy w Polsce!)

Director / Script / Editing

Magda Wystub

Cinematography

Katrina Schaffer

Production

Magda Wystub in co-production with Katrina Schaffer

Music

Moja Zona perf. Anna Laszuk

Contact

Magda Wystub

Portrait of Magda Wystub

Magda Wystub

Magda Wystub was born in 1972 Wroclaw, Poland. She studied sociology in Warsaw, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. Wystub lives and works in Berlin. Yes, We Are is her debut film.