Xena Scullard
Co-Founder, Queer Feminist Film Festival
Xena Scullard is an unapologetic Coloured, queer, feminist young womxn from Cape Town, South Africa. Born on the Cape Flats, she was raised by a single Queer mother and an extended family comprised of mostly womxn. This is where Xena started becoming aware of alternative meanings and structures of family, community and identity.
Xena has a BA degree majoring in gender studies and ethics from the University of the Western Cape. Xena's work within the civil society sector for the past nine years, has been focused on forwarding youth leadership and human rights. Some highlights of her work include coordinating a transnational multi-country LGBTQI+ human rights advocacy project through Oxfam South Africa, leading on a collective impact model youth leadership pilot project through Fight for Peace International. Xena is also a co-founder and convenor of the Queer Feminist Film Festival (QFFF). The first of its kind in South Africa, this is a young queer feminist-led film festival, which seeks to celebrate and amplify the voices and stories of POC, African LGBTQIAP+ peoples. Her involvement in QFFF has allowed her to deepen her understanding of authentic feminist engagement and inter-generational co-creation. She was part of the Queer Feminist Artivist collective (WeSeeYou) who took occupation of a mansion in Camps Bay, South Africa. The occupation sought to centre artivism as praxis in the challenging and highlighting of the gendered racialised land issue in South Africa. Her work weaves a common thread through disrupting narratives, feminist artivism and inter-generational co-created solidarity building.