What happens when the community you need is not the community you have? Tell yourself it exists over and over, make fan zines that fabricate hordes of queer punk revolutionaries, create subversive movies, and distribute those movies widely – and slowly, the community you’ve fabricated might become a real and radical heartbeat that spreads internationally. This is the story that QUEERCORE tells, from the start of a pseudo-movement in the mid-1980s, intended to punk the punk scene, to the widespread rise of artists who used radical queer identity to push back equally against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture. Interviewees discuss homophobia, gender, feminism, AIDS, assimilation, sex, and, of course, art. The extensive participant list includes Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, John Waters, Justin Vivian Bond, Tom Jennings, Beth Ditto, and many more.

“(…) is a feature-length snapshot into the music and magazines that gave voice to LGBTQ outsiders – those who didn’t subscribe to the dominant gay scenes erupting in vogue dance or macho dress, for example.” (Catherine Chapman, NBC News)

Yony Leyser, born in Chicago/USA is a filmmaker and photographer. He studied at CalArts in Los Angeles and moved in 2007 to Berlin/Germany, where he is still based. His documentary QUEERCORE: HOW TO PUNK A REVOLUTION won the Felix Award for Best Documentary at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.

Filmography: 2009 ANNA & BILL, 2019 WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, 2015 DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE, 2017 QUEERCORE: HOW TO PUNK A REVOLUTION