This June, for pride month, I tried something. I only watched movies by queer filmmakers. It was a little arbitrary. There were two documentaries that I wanted to watch (Bring Down the Walls, and The Gospel of Eureka), which center queer subjects, but the directors are not public figures, so who knows, they might be straight. I decided hey, whatever, they count. Queer until proven otherwise.
I made it a point to post tweet-length reviews for every film. I figured people might be interested, and I wanted to test it as an alternative to my bigass unwieldy roundup posts. I enjoyed the process well enough. In the future, I think I will try to post little tweet-length reviews, not of everything I ever watch, but of anything remarkable. This will avoid the awkward situation of feeling compelled to tweet about something I didn't care for, and it will still leave plenty of room for more long-form writing when I feel like it.
But, before we get started with the roundup, note that one of Sraëka-Lillian's and my favourite queer movies ever, Chocolate Babies, is available for free on director Stephen Winter's vimeo page right now. I think the video goes private sometimes, so I don't know how long it will be available to the public. This movie can be pretty hard to track down anywhere, so please please go watch it if you haven't yet! It desperately needs a wide release, it's such a gem.
Now, what follows is basically a cross-post of my pride month twitter thread, with one big change: more pictures. You can read the original here, if you prefer.
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it's my favourite time of year, time to forget that straight people even fucking watch movies let alone make em. all june, all lgbtq filmmakers* goin in my eyeballs and bouncing around in my head. mini-reviews in thread as we go
*note: arbitrary and capricious. might fuck around and watch some judy garland and what are ya gonna do about it?? she's in the club. may mark "exceptions" with a (bonus) and just give em 1 line reviews or something
Fresh Kill (1994) Dir. Shu Lea Cheang. Satire of our cyberpunk present. Waste colonialism, corporate takeovers, playing the accordion to cover up your sex noises. Poetic, absurd, funny. Bold editing brings you in without over-explaining everything.
A bunch of Malic Amalya shorts (all of which can be viewed online at the links provided):
Eddie, Pam, Gary, Sue (2007) Name(s) at Grandma's house.
Bolex Study #1 (2010) Same.
Gold Moon, Sharp Arrow (2012) Arbitrary tests, punishment.
Woven Knots (2013) Super-8 music video for the beautiful November's Daughter by Annah Anti-Palindrome.
Gossamer Walls (2007) (Collab with Peter Miller) Film remix with an excellent soundscape. Perfect short to watch on a bad day.
Song For Rent, After Jack Smith (2019) Captions and audio description are integral here, marking both as tools worthy of artistic consideration, not mere afterthoughts. Good for audiences and filmmakers to shift expectations.
Gash / Lace (2014) (Collab with 3 workshops, led by Amalya) Eye-popping collaborative found-film remix project that you just have to see. Adored it.
These two by Amalya were most "up my alley":
Decussation Chamber (2015) (Co-dir. Nathan Hill) Destruction of the senses.
Magnetic Resonance (2015) (Co-dir. Nathan Hill) Technology as gore as connection.
...But Then, She's Betty Carter (1980) Dir. Michelle Parkerson. A great portrait. Carter's voice glides smoothly through every dimension of the song she's working on. She's put in the work so that, night after night, everything that comes first to mind lands easily in place.
"I Aspire to be...!" (2010) Dir. Seyi Adebanjo. A two minute short of radical self-imagining. I really want to see some of his more recent work, bc the excerpts from those that he posts on his vimeo are really exciting.
Stud Life (2012) Dir. Campbell X. A queer romantic comedy and period piece of the late MySpace era. Should be added to the "But I'm a Cheerleader" tier of queer canon, movies you watch in big groups to have some laughs and feel less alone.
The Gospel of Eureka (2018) Dir. Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher. "Everybody is welcome in Eureka, even the, uh, the Christians." Great photography, interesting characters. Might be too sentimental, too simple, but a 73-minute long cry is kinda nice.
Bring Down the Walls (2020) Dir. Phil Collins. Loved this. House music and political education, dance film and documentary. Who knows if the filmmakers are queer, but prison abolition is, in an inclusive rather than exclusive sense.
Gerontophilia (2013) Dir. Bruce LaBruce. A tender, beautiful film. Like its protagonist, the movie tells its story calmly, smiling, with a shrug. Pretty funny coming-of-age elements-- not romantic about what 18yo's are like at all. Should've watched it nine years ago tbh
The Watermelon Woman (1996) Dir. Cheryl Dunye. Complex, creative, brilliant, but easy to watch. Big laugh out loud moments. A great story about trying to pull the shrouds off of history, and your own life.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. A melodrama drenched with meaning. Class conflict playing out constantly, through small, interpersonal gestures. The claustrophobic isolation of closeted life. Gorgeous, juicy movie.
And that's the end of that! Expect some of these to show up in future posts, and I highly encourage you to check them all out!