Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian: Radical Imagination & Film + Queer Ecofeminist Futures

Meet Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian - the “Willy Wonka of Design and Science."

Nelly is an unstoppable force of nature, drawing on out-of-this world experiences and combining them with underground politics and cosmic dreaming to challenge how we imagine our collective future. Here’s your chance to be a part of her latest film production, Heartsnatcher.

After a short presentation on Nelly’s diverse documentary practice, she’ll deliver a workshop inviting you to step inside the world of the work-in-progress feature documentary Heartsnatcher. Open to all - whether you’re a drag king, drag queen, someone from the queer community who fancies dressing up, or anyone else keen to take part.

Participants will warm up together, then split into groups to test script lines and embody three key scenes:

• Timortis climbing the hill in search of world peace
• Clementine’s hallucinatory birth
• The International Space Station reimagined as a Love Hotel

The session offers the chance to improvise, perform, contribute ideas, textures, and props. You’ll help shape the living storyboard of this new in-development documentary.

Nelly was last at Flatpack with her film International Space Orchestra and it’s a pleasure to have her back for the 20th fest. See also her film Doppelgängers³, screening on 15 May.