Local film festival has expanded its reach as Calgary opens its mind
The theme of this year’s 15th Fairy Tales Film Festival is Know Your Roots which takes a look back at Calgary’s rich and varied queer culture. Each screening will feature short films celebrating the heroes and events that have made queer history in Calgary.
Program and outreach co-ordinator James Demers says he was surprised to learn how much queer culture in Calgary had been documented and buried from underground gay theatres to sports teams. “The effect of being out in a conservative city especially in the ‘80s was a different animal altogether” he says. “The community at one time almost enforced the idea of having very separate public and private lives.” He says that public/private divide is still a contentious issue in Calgary’s queer community and the film project celebrates those who had the courage to be out at a time when many were hesitant. (And still are.)
“Our first Pride parade in the early ‘90s consisted of 100 people two-thirds of whom wore masks for fear of either losing their jobs or experiencing physical violence” he says. “By comparison other North American Pride parades had been running successfully since the ‘70s. Calgary’s heroes and elders are very much still around and active in our communities. Since we limited the opportunity to pass down oral and written histories not many realize the person sitting beside them at Pride or with them at the movies is and was a critical part of them being gifted the freedom to participate in these events.” He says part of this shift involves Calgary’s corporate culture finally beginning to support LGBT events like Fairy Tales.
The range of films selected this year reflects a change in funding for queer films says Demers. There is a greater variety of subjects beyond the usual documentary and issue-based stories – genre films where the queer content plays more of a supportive role. “It’s new moving out of a bombardment of soft romance where one or both characters are closeted until they meet to films that show openly gay secure characters who are examining facets of life that are normally present in other cinema – getting married growing up and dating” he says.
Some of those flicks include Love Free or Die a documentary that focuses on the conflict between religion and the LGBT community; Margarita a dramedy about a young lesbian Mexican nanny who faces deportation after she’s fired by her Canadian employers; Pit Stop a drama about a gay man who struggles to reconcile an ex-wife and daughter with his newfound sexuality; and The Skin I’m In a documentary by Broderick Fox whose narrow escape from death sends him on a global journey to discover the limits of the body and spirit.
The festival is also screening its first-ever animated film Strange Frame. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick imagines a world where gender and race are fashion accessories. Demers says he’s excited to see more films like it at the festival. “Sci-fi has always held a queer audience for its often not-so-subtle social commentary” he says.
Not to be missed he adds is the Retro Drag Gala featuring a 35 mm print screening of camp cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. He says flicks like Priscilla as well as being crowd pleasers are favourites for other reasons. “I believe most queer people… have a film that they hold dear” he says. “It’s difficult to explain to the straight community who see their sexuality represented on every ad or billboard the electric feeling of seeing yourself represented on the big screen. For some people the knowledge that these characters exist can be the push they need to come out and seek community.”
For more information including a full list of films and a screening schedule visit fairytalesfilmfest.com.
FAIRY TALES PICKS
“Bound was the second lesbian film I ever saw and it certainly did a number on me leading me to more mob-centred films and Gina Gershon respectively” says Fairy Tales program co-ordinator James Demers. The Wachowski brothers’ debut is one of Demers’ favourite queer cult flicks next to a crossover (and cross-dressing) Australian film that’s gained a significant cult following since its release in 1994. Retro flicks always get the fans out and those looking for a dose of cult cinema won’t want to miss The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert screening in colour-bursting 35 mm.
The most anticipated film in the festival is Renaissance man James Franco’s Interior. Leather Bar. The film imagines what the missing 40-odd minutes of William Friedkin’s S&M murder mystery Cruising may have looked like. (The film was cut for being too sexually explicit.) Prepare for a heavy dose of possible Franco awesomeness – he both stars in the film and serves as co-director with Travis Matthews.
Demers’ picks include Intersexion a documentary about intersexed individuals (those born without genitals that clearly define them as man or woman). “(It’s) a topic rarely discussed within the queer community which I have a personal passion for as a transgendered man” he says. Additionally Demers suggests the lesbian drama A Perfect Ending “which discusses the controversies around sex work.”
If this is your first time checking out Fairy Tales Demers recommends Cloudburst a drama starring Oscar-winners Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker as an elderly American lesbian couple who take off to Canada in the hope of getting married. For those looking for something a little saucier there are the two short film packages Sexy Shorts (adults only) and Sugar Sweet. And celebrate some homegrown talent with the Youth Queer Media Program Gala “a fantastic night to come out and see what the youth of the city have put together…. New directors and filmmakers onstage for the first time” says Demers.