What Is Labia Cinematica?

Labia Cinematica was created out of necessity.

Out of exhaustion. Out of love. Out of refusal.

For too long, cinema has asked Black people, especially Black women and queer people, to relive trauma on screen in order to be seen as “important.”

Pain is rewarded. Exploitation is praised as bravery. And too often, films that center violence, humiliation, or hypersexualization of women are celebrated, especially when they are made by men.

Labia Cinematica exists because we are tired of that.

We are tired of seeing Black trauma framed as spectacle.

Tired of women’s bodies used as narrative devices rather than subjects with agency.

Tired of male desire being centered, rewarded, and normalized as the default gaze.

Labia Cinematica is a response to this fatigue, but it is not rooted in bitterness.

It is rooted in clarity.

A Space From Us, Made by Us

Labia Cinematica is a feminist and queer cinematic space created by us, for us.

A space where stories are told with care, intention, and accountability.

Where representation is not about visibility at any cost, but about dignity, complexity, and truth.

We believe cinema can be radical without being violent. Political without being exploitative. Intimate without being invasive.

Our vision is deeply inspired by thinkers and creators like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, The Vagina Monologues, and the long lineage of feminist and queer artists who insisted that the personal is political and that pleasure, softness, and care are revolutionary acts.

Reclaiming the Gaze

Labia Cinematica is about expanding the female and queer gaze, not as a reaction to the male gaze, but as its own language. A gaze that does not dominate, extract, or consume. A gaze that listens.

We honor the legacy of filmmakers like Céline Sciamma and other precursors who have shown us that power does not have to be loud, aggressive, or rooted in rage to be transformative. That silence, tenderness, and restraint can be just as radical.

We reject the idea that women’s power must always be expressed through anger, suffering, or resistance alone. Women and queer people deserve to be portrayed in moments of softness, pleasure, joy, desire, and rest. We deserve narratives where we are celebrated, not punished for existing.

Beyond Default Narratives

Labia Cinematica challenges the idea that men are the default storytellers, the neutral observers, or the ultimate arbiters of artistic value. We refuse to let our stories be filtered through gazes that do not serve us.

This is not about exclusion, it is about rebalancing power.

It is about recognizing our creative authority.

About refusing to be used, extracted from, or tokenized.About choosing collaboration over exploitation.

A Living, Growing Space

Labia Cinematica is more than a festival or a platform, it is a living space. A garden where feminist and queer stories can grow freely, without having to justify their existence through pain.

We believe cinema can be a place of healing. A place of pleasure. A place of softness.

And above all, a place where we get to tell our own stories, on our own terms.