Set photo Hans Scheugl Miliz in der Früh(1966)
Overview
The grand seigneur of Austrian avant-garde film is Hans Scheugl’s guest at Qwien. At SAMSTAGS UM 4 as always with coffee and cake – and this time also with a movie.
With his films Dear John, Prince of Peace and especially Sugar Daddies, Hans Scheugl is one of the pioneers of queer avant-garde film in Austria. For Sugar Dad dies in 1968 (!), he filmed men in public restrooms – known as lodges in a gay context in Vienna. The film was also shown in a box, projected onto the tiles of the toilet wall – a performative act until the police put a stop to it.
Before the Filmarchiv Austria presents a retrospective of his films at Metro Kino from March 26 to April 7, Hans Scheugl will be presenting himself as an author at Qwien. In addition to ground-breaking works on the history of sexuality in film, he has also published notable books of fiction. His autobiographical novel Belmen O, initially published anonymously, about gay socialization in the 1960s and 1970s is now one of the central testimonies to gay literature from Austria.
His autobiography Von fremden Vätern, published in 2024, also reads as a Bildungsroman, an éducation sentimentale in the best sense of the word, of a man who was born into the turmoil of the Second World War and tries to find his place in the world as an artist and gay man. The absence of his biological father leads him to search for foreign fathers, which he finds in the history of art and culture, but also in the gay past. A gay man’s search for himself is inscribed in this biography of an intellectual education.
His memories of the exclusions he experienced also show how difficult it was. He had learned the secret codes for clandestine sex in hidden places at an early age, but he had to keep his sexual desire a secret in his everyday life and his life as an artist. Sexual liberation was not for everyone, even in the enlightened circles of the avant-garde. Not for many women, and certainly not for gays.
In addition to texts from Von fremden Vätern, Hans Scheugl will also present a film: He used excerpts from The Cyclist and the Werewolf in his film Dear John. It will be shown in its entirety for the first time at Qwien.
Moderation: Andreas Brunner
Free admission!
Date
March 14, 2026, 4 p.m.
Sponsored by
