The Llamale H festival begins with controversy over discrimination

Llamale H, the international film festival on sexual and gender diversity, reaches its 15th edition today Tuesday amid a controversy over the discrimination of its contents.

Under the hashtag #UruguaySinCensura, Llamale H, which is also a civil association, has issued various statements about Antel’s refusal to broadcast the festival’s programming. Among them, a resolution of the National Human Rights Institution (INDDHH) that establishes that the state telephone company “did not make all the efforts within its reach to broadcast the festival and the subsequent dissemination of the rights of the group.”

José María Cote Romero, director of Llamale H, explained to the daily that in 2020, due to the pandemic, the festival, like so many others, had to reinvent itself: “We had the objective, together with the Network of Cinemas and Festivals of Uruguay, to be able to make use of the transmission platform by Antel, Vera TV. We managed to materialize it thanks to an agreement that the ICAU signed with Antel. When we started the process we were warned by Antel to be careful with the content we upload to the platform.

“Then, in writing, we were told that ‘The festival has the purpose of being a platform for the promotion of political content of vindication and enforceability of sexual rights as human rights and the visibility of dissident identities. As is known, this goes against the guidelines of the company, we were clear in this message since we began to talk about the project in general ‘. From this resolution we began to ask what the company’s guidelines were and they finally answered us that religious, political and adult content are taken care of. Our content was prejudged at the time under the premise that at the time of filling out the form, we catalog our content suitable for people over 18 years of age because it is stipulated by law ”.

The festival organizer explained: “In order to have a classification, it is the INAU [Instituto del Niño y el Adolescente de Uruguay] who is responsible for giving this classification, which takes a while that we did not have. Any show that lacks an INAU rating automatically has to be rated +18. That was the device that in our view Antel uses to deny us the use of Vera. It can be verified by anyone who uses the platform that there is content on it that is not suitable for all audiences. It must be made clear that what is not suitable for all audiences is not only for those over 18 years of age. There are different types of classifications: they can be found on the INAU page in the instructions ”.

“A condition was imposed on us that not even the content published on Vera TV has, which was also not discussed at the beginning of the negotiations. We therefore consider that an act of censorship and discrimination towards our festival is taking place, “said Romero.

For his part, Sebastián Chocca, from Antel’s communication management, explained to this medium that there is a technical incompatibility to broadcast content not suitable for minors in an open way: “the reason why Antel decided not to broadcast said festival was based on the impossibility of being able to transmit content not suitable for minors under 18 years of age and that at the same time time said content was freely accessible on the Vera TV platform. The content restricted by age, on the Vera TV platform, can only be broadcast in the section that requires a Premium Subscription, that is, paid. From Antel’s point of view, the objective of giving visibility to the festival’s contents was contradictory if said contents were already restricted by age ”, he pointed out.

Chocca also did reference to times and regulations: “Llamale H’s proposal was presented close to the tentative broadcast date of the Festival in question. In this context, with very limited deadlines, steps were taken for its operational implementation within the framework of the conditions pre-established by Antel for the transmission of content through the Vera TV platform in the open mode. However, during the conversations held in order to achieve the transmission, the initial proposal was substantially modified by the representative of the Festival, by changing the recommendation of the target audience to +18 years in order to be protected, expressed by the own interested party, to comply with the INAU regulations. ”

Llamale H’s complaint before the INDDHH was presented last year, but it was not made public, according to Romero, to not interfere with the departmental election campaign. The INDDHH’s resolution arrived on August 3 of this year, and then it was decided to give visibility to the issue.

“Currently we have the support of the Antel union and many organizations, festivals, national and international figures who have shown solidarity and supported by sharing our statement. With the now called INCAU, as mediating entity, a conciliation meeting was held between the National Director of Culture, Mariana Wainstein, and the director of INCAU, Roberto Blatt, in which a good understanding was reached. With Antel, things are still different. With regard to this resolution, he appealed, not recognizing the resolution of the INDDHH, given that it is not within its competence to make such recommendations and that there was no unanimity regarding this resolution but that it was given with four votes in favor. and one against, an almost absolute majority, which Antel does not recognize as such, “said Romero.

Chocca, on the other hand, highlights that” the most important thing to highlight is that the INDDHH, in Resolution No. 967/2021 of August 3, 2021, already determined that “there are no elements of conviction to affirm that Antel carried out any type of discrimination.” Likewise, it should be noted that Antel has been working for decades on policies of inclusion and against all types of discrimination, demonstrating its commitment to equity and diversity, which is endorsed by the various certifications and recognitions obtained over the years. To reaffirm all the above, it is enough to point out that on the days when this topic was publicized, the congress ‘Uruguay LGBT + 2021 + Summit Pride Connection’ ended, which took place on September 21 and 22 of the current, in the Sala Auditorium of the Torre de las Telecomunicaciones Complex, and which was organized by the LGTB + Chamber of Commerce of Uruguay. Said event was exempted from the payment of the Auditorium rental, its transmission through Vera TV and was opened by a representative of the company, Dr. Pablo Etchegaray, manager of the Personnel Assistance Management Area (the Last year, when it was held under the same terms as this year, the event was opened by the company’s president himself, the engineer Gabriel Gurméndez). ”

Romero expressed a different opinion on the latter: “It can be corroborated that Antel was the only entity that was not present at the last festival, despite the fact that the president himself was the one who opened last year’s congress, therefore this can be considered the which is commonly known as pinkwashing , a pink wash, a term used to refer to evasion of responsibility for LGBTIQ + rights ”.

The festival continues

Anyway, Call him H is going to be in theaters and also online e, thanks to an agreement with the Uruguayan Cinemateca and its platform + Cinemateca.

The opening is today at 8:00 p.m. in the Zitarrosa Hall (July 18, 1062) with the exhibition of Los Fuerte , by Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo, and admission is free.

In the Cinemateca theaters, the festival runs until Saturday 9 and the program can be consulted at cinemateca.org.uy / cycles / 159 , while the online edition is extended for one more week, free of charge, at mascinematheque. org.uy .