Produced within the framework of Project TRACE – Tracing Queer Citizenship Over Time, Outlasting – Living Archives of Older Queers (2025, 56') brings together the life stories of older LGBTQI+ people in Southern Europe, offering a powerful reflection on ageing, memory, resistance, and queer citizenship. Drawing on lived experiences from Portugal, Italy, Greece, Malta, and Slovenia, the film presents embodied memories as a living archive of sexual and gender diversity.

The film’s title — Outlasting — evokes the many meanings of endurance, persistence, and remaining. As the documentary makes clear, older LGBTQI+ people are those who persisted against all odds. When confronted with histories of stigma, silence, and exclusion, ageing queer bodies emerge as powerful reminders of the right to exist unashamed and unapologetic.

The film premiered at the Queer Porto International Film Festival and received the Best LGBTQ+ Film Award at the Your Way Film Festival (Malta) and at AIMAFF – Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival (Greece). In Portugal, it was also named Film of the Year by the independent LGBTQI+ media outlet dezanove.

This screening marks the first opportunity to see Outlasting in the city of Coimbra and stems from a partnership between Project TRACE and Casa do Cinema de Coimbra.

The session is part of the LGBTQI+ History Month celebrations, which have been held at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) since 2023. As part of this programme, audiences are also invited to visit the exhibition at Biblioteca Norte/Sul, open throughout the month of February.

Outlasting – Living Archives of Older Queers was directed by Ana Cristina Santos and Nuno Barbosa and produced within Project TRACE – Tracing Queer Citizenship Over Time: Ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics in Europe, funded by the European Research Council(ERC-2021-COG, TRACE,101044915).

The screening can be viewed at the usual prices practiced by Casa do Cinema de Coimbra – a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of culture in the city of Coimbra.

After the screening of the film (56 minutes), the programme continues with a conversation with directors Ana Cristina Santos and Nuno Barbosa, open to audience participation and questions and answers