REEES Film Series – Welcome to the USA (2019)
Thu, 10/24 · 7:00 pm—9:00 pm · 100 Jones Hall
Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies; Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
“Borderlens”
Queer Outlines of Geography and Gender
Welcome to the USA (2019), dir. Assel Aushakimova, Kazakhstan
Aliya is a 36-year-old Kazakh queer woman who happens to win the green card lottery. The green card allegedly promises her a life free of the violence, sexism, and homophobia she encounters in her everyday life. Indeed, nothing fully satisfies Aliya in Kazakhstan. Her romantic life isn’t nurturing, her family relations nervously bring together the opposite ideological stances of the country, and her friends do not question the corruption of the post-Soviet political system. Yet, Aliya does not seem to look forward to leaving for the United States. And her dialogue with Kazakhstan will become more and more profound as she tries to make her decision.
Interrogating the teleology of the East-to-West migration waves for LGBTQIA+ people, debut feature film Welcome to the USA follows the many acclaimed short films directed by Assel Aushakimova.
