Made in East London

Tomorrow my film Lactasia gets its UK premiere at Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Festival in London. It's been a long process to get to this point, with many bumps in the road, not least Covid which delayed our post-production process by two years. 

still from Lactasia

Nonetheless, it's gratifying to finally get the chance to see the film on a proper cinema screen with an audience. And the film is very much steeped in East London, from its references, to its rehearsals, to its locations. Here I shall run through a bit of what that looks like. 

Rich Mix, the venue where the film is showing tomorrow, was the site of our rehearsals for our zombies, who stalk the film with their quest to find The Others. Two of the three zombies showed up for this meeting in September 2017, as we worked through what zombie drag queens sound like and how they move. It was great fun working through this. 

still from Lactasia

The montage sequences sprinkled throughout the film were largely shot in Shoreditch and Bethnal Green as I wandered up and down shooting interesting backdrops with a particular interest in street art such as murals and graffiti. Many of these, of course, no longer exist, as street art is usually ephemeral, unless it's Banksy's! But I felt that capturing a snap shot of how those streets looked at that moment gave the film a particular feeling of NOW. 

still from Lactasia

The climactic scenes at a goth club were shot in Bow, and I confess I have not been back since we shot there in 2019 but I assume the railway bridge is still there, quite eerie at night. 

Since our production and post process was so long, entire locations have disappeared. Some scenes were shot with the actors walking past such buildings as Mirth and Percy Ingle which have shut down. 

I have an especial fondness for a particular small alleyway in Walthamstow where our scenes of zombies trudging past a busker were soundtracked by the local sparrows in full song. I loved that sound, not quiet as the alleyway has been supplanted by blocks of flats. I hope the birds have found a new and better home. 

Elizabeth Fraser at 60

 Happy Birthday, Ms. Fraser!

Can it be 41 years since Cocteau Twins' first album, Garlands? Here's a live version of "Wax and Wane", my favourite of their early work. 

And now she has a new creative outlet courtesy of Sun's Signature with her partner Damon Reece. 

I had the pleasure of speaking to Liz back in the 1990s when she talked of lacking confidence to venture out on her own. She was working with tape loops and really enjoying herself. It's take far to long to hear her post-Cocteaus work but damn if "Underwater", which was released under her own name years back and has now been reworked for the duo, isn't a gorgeous piece of work. The irony of it having a lyric video, when for years, Liz refused to release her lyrics, is quite amusing. 

Many happy returns, madam.

RIP Sinéad

 This one is hard. Like many I have spent the last 24 hours immersed in the incredible back catalogue of Sinéad O'Connor who passed yesterday at age 56. 

"Be kind to Generation X," someone wrote on Twitter, and that is exactly how I feel. One of our own is gone and it really, really hurts. Here is one of my favourite songs by her, performed live in 1988 at a gig I should have been at!

I never met Ms. O'Connor. I'm sad to say I never interviewed her although there were near misses back in the 1990s. Many have amazing interactions to report, her humour, her sharp observations and pointy opinions to the fore. I was just a fan. 

But I can say that in my very polarized lesbian house in San Francisco, where we spanned a range from teens to 30s and from folkie to Riot Grrrl, we only agreed on one thing: we all loved Sinéad. So much so that we erected a shrine to her on one wall of our common room. I donated the poster, in which she slouched staring directly into the lens of the camera. Someone else draped fairy lights around it and a third added a home-made Irish flag. Anyone passing by the flat when the light was on could see it from across the road. That pleased me. She was our beacon. 

Slán abhaile. 

Women Make Movies Pride Month

 In line with their promotion for Women's History Month in March, Women Make Movies, the New York distributor, has offered free access to an array of its films for Pride month. 

I have so far watched four and and am on my fifth, but will concentrate on what I have finished. 

Among the highlights are Esther Newton Made Me Gay (dir Jean Carlomusto), a reflection on the life of the anthropologist who made drag queens her focus in the 1960s. Newton tells her story with a great deal of humour, though serious subjects such as lesbophobia and health issues nibble at the edges. I would have liked to see a bit more of her partner, the performance artist Holly Hughes, but the doc is quite rich with archive footage and interviews with exes, friends and a bit of academic pondering, which is the weakest aspect. 

Another writer, the poet Kitty Tsui, tells her story in Nice Chinese Girls Don't (dir Jennifer Abod), which is very much a piece to camera with a bit of archive footage. Her poems are a highlight of this short piece. 

In Love, Barbara (dir Brydie O’Connor), it falls to Hammer's widow Florrie Burke to tell the story of their relationship and the burden of curating her partner's work. She mentions "turning over the archive" but does not say to where or whom. 

It could end up at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, which gets its due in The Archivettes (dir Megan Rossman), with a range of interviewees reflecting on their time there and its evolution from Joan Nestle's apartment to its dedicated space in Brooklyn. I would have liked a bit more on what is in the archives but the film covers its changing face well. 

Tina and Ronnie

Still digesting the news of Tina Turner's passing and I can't help but think about the parallels with the life of another iconic singer, Ronnie Spector, who passed in 2022: both in the 1960s miniskirt era; both playing with family members in their acts; both involved with abusive men who controlled their careers; both escaping and finally re-emerging in the 1980s. 

Turner had a longer career arc and was able to enjoy a retirement in Switzerland with her second husband. But I see the word "survivor" attached to both and they are both worth remembering for their personal qualities as well as their music. 

I was among those teens who bought Private Dancer in the 1980s and marvelled at Turner's incredibly lived in voice, the strut in her walk in her videos. Later I dug deeper into her oeuvre and appreciated her ability to sing and dance at the same time. See "Proud Mary" for evidence. Wow!

I still have a soft spot for her duet with David Bowie on "Tonight", especially the little boogie they do and the way she throws back her head to laugh at something he says. 

Fly high, Tina. 

Dyke March at 30

Happy Birthday, Dyke March! 

I have written before about the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation on 25 April 1993. 

But, of course, the night before that was the first ever Dyke March, a smaller but by no means less thrilling affair. It remains one of the greatest experiences of my life, caught up in a sea of drumming, dancing, singing, chanting lesbian humanity, marching from Dupont Circle to the White House, watching rapt as Lesbian Avengers stood in a line and ate fire. 

This video by Lesbian Avengers captures some of the scene. I can still remember some of these people. They are total (s)heroes.

Poets In Vogue

This was a small exhibit tucked away upstairs at the Southbank, in the National Poetry Library I never knew existed. Always good to make cultural discoveries and the exhibit is well worth seeing for the thoughts it inspires and the conversations it sparks.

On show are textiles relating to a handful of women poets. My first thought on arriving was the prevalence of writers known to have mental illness--Stevie Smith, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton for starters. The items on display are not necessarily original or even created by the writers, which confused me. Plath's skirt hangs next to a record player. But there is a large recreation of a red dress worn by Sexton. And there is a collection of shirt collars for Smith, but it's not clear if they are hers. Gwendolyn Brooks has a large typewriter with exploding forms. Hmm. 

Also of interest are the records displayed, recordings of Smith, Plath and Dame Edith Sitwell, who is given an enormous dress cum boudoir for her display. I have lived in smaller flats than this dress! Dame Edith's recordings show her to be worthy of such a display as she emotes in her best received pronunciation. One can imagine the gestures accompanying such discourse. 

And then there is Audre Lorde, represented by a vivid caftan hanging opposite Sylvia's skirt. The text reveals it was made to accommodate her asymmetrical form post-mastectomy. I wept. 

One participant easy to overlook because it is by the entrance is the display for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, the one writer with whom I was not familiar. Only when I looked her up did I realise her fascinating story. I wish I had known about her earlier. 

BFI Flare: Warnings from History

 Willem and Frieda is a gripping watch as Stephen Fry wanders present-day Amsterdam, like an absent-minded professor intoning lessons. The city looks lovely, with its lapping canals and twinkling lights. But the story he tells is of an extraordinary band of rebels who defied the occupying Nazis via forgery and sabotage. 

The titular heroes were two creative types, struggling artist Willem Arondeus and cellist Frieda Belinfante. Both were openly gay and when called, they stepped up and became part of a forgery circle producing legal documents to allow Jews and other hunted citizens to escape. 

The climax is an attack on the Population Registry, to sabotage the Nazis matching up the forgeries with the genuine documents. This would make a brilliant film in its own right. One can only admire the guts and determination to take a stand. The attack was on 27 March 1943, so a recent anniversary. One hopes there is at least a plaque commemorating it. 

The short doc Golden Voice brings us another astonishing story, of a trans man who met his wife  when both were working as forced labour under the Khmer Rouge in 1979. The story-telling is poor, a mix of badly recorded interviews and random shots of people wandering fields, but underneath is a tale of fortitude and self confidence. 

BFI Flare: Sting in the Tail

Next up are two features that are ostensibly comedies but end up being a bit more than expected. Jess Plus None starts with a woman masturbating and ends with her at the side of the road making a decision about her future. In between Jess attends the wedding of her best friend and all hell breaks loose. Most of the action takes place on a campsite, the second film I've seen at the festival (Big Boys) to do so. Although the film is set up to see Jess confronting her ex, Sam, at the wedding, it veers off in an unexpected direction which is refreshing. The titular character does a lot of cringey things, some of them unpleasant, and it's not as funny as one might expect, but I like the way it brings uncertainty and spirituality into the mix.

Egghead and Twinkie

I spent several days watching Egghead and Twinkie, as I found it overly busy and needlessly gimmicky, but that is apparently in tune with its Generation Z aesthetic--lots of flashing animation and bright colours. At its heart it is about a friendship that is tested over a roadtrip spanning several days with the two title characters revealing secrets that test their relationship. The best character is the boba girl they meet in a diner as the film jumps back and forth in time and the duo get in and out of scrapes as they make their trip. It felt a bit glib but I enjoyed the performances and the message. It's a welcome change to see friendship foregrounded over romance and with a bit of comedy thrown in, to boot.

BFI Flare: Drifting

Drifter

The festival finishes today but I may yet review some more films after that. For today I shall cover last night's closing night film, Drifter, from Germany. While the first shot is an explicit one of a hand job, the rest of the film is a bit coy although there is an abundance of sexuality on show. Moritz, newly arrived in Berlin, has no particular plans other than with his boyfriend, who quickly drops him. Thereafter the main character wanders from scene to scene, being picked up and invited in by all and sundry. He is curiously passive, a blank canvas to be painted on over and over, as everyone seems to be attracted by his slim build, smooth skin and bland features. 

I wondered at the message of the film, as he never  seems fully immersed in anything and adopts whatever masks his peers are wearing. There is an extraordinary scene set in the wet room of a club and the performers all throw themselves into the action, but it feels a bit meh by the end. 

Of the many shorts I have watched, I was especially taken by Oisín, an Irish film centring on a single mum and her young son who is autistic. Shot in a style that makes you question reality, it is a very affecting family portrait as well as an unexpected girl meets girl story with a charismatic performance by Sarah Jane Seymour as the next door neighbour full of intentions. 

Also worth a look is I Was Never Really Here, as two young men form an attachment under the shadow of immigration decisions. It's beautifully shot on actual film!

Kitchen Sink Fantasy

Kitchen Sink Fantasy is a quirky sci fi comedy bursting with colour, as a shapeshifter goes on a quest, abetted by a Fairy Godmum. 

Life in Love: Cinthia & Robyn is either a doc or a very realist fiction film featuring a couple celebrating a birthday with the added complication that the birthday girl is an introvert. I enjoyed seeing their interactions with another couple wandering the streets. I did wonder why they broke into a property to smash cutlery but OK. 

BFI Flare: Crowdpleaser

I am still working my way slowly through the online offerings for this year's Flare, but I want to say how amazing it felt to attend in person for the first time since 2019. I had one short screening but to settle into the plush seats and see something on the big screen for the first time since January 2020 was lit. Will review that one later on. 

But Polarized is probably something that would look good on the big screen, with its wide open vistas showing acres of lush Canadian farm country. Shamim Sarif's drama follows her other films in foregrounding forbidden love, in this instance between white farmer Lisa and her employer, Palestinean emigre Dalia, who is engaged to a man. Oh, No!

No spoilers but hmmm. I wonder if they get together? The first 20 minutes are rather painful in cramming in the exposition but once it gets going, the film maintains interest as the two women grapple with their difficult families and try to be true to themselves. Kudos to the two leads Holly Deveaux and Maxine Denis for their chemistry and Deveaux also sings quite well. The ending is a bit rushed and unsatisfying but there is drama aplenty in this small town....

Home

Among the shorts viewed was Home, which I found intriguing but hard to hear in places. I was less enamoured of The Dads, which seemed oddly pleased with itself as the fathers of various LGBT kids gathered for a fishing trip to share their feelings. It seemed perfunctory and superficial to me. Grace and Sophie was amusing in its depiction of the awkward morning after, but the camerawork was all over the place with its oddly shifting focus and it distracted from the story. 

And then there's A Different Place which puts two women in one hotel room for a totally unbelievable chat about honesty before they go back to their respective lives after a night of passion. A whole other kind of crowd pleasing.

BFI Flare: Difficult Age

If the last post looked at films exploring the golden years, this one looks at films covering the teen years, that oh so difficult time of confusion, soaring hormones and parental disapproval. 

Big Boys

The US indie comedy Big Boys takes us on a camping trip with 14-year-old Jamie, his older brother, their older cousin and her hunky boyfriend Dan. Dan will prove pivotal in this, just saying. Jamie is a big lad with a high pitched voice and a very horny older brother who goads him into unfortunate escapades like stealing liquor and chatting up girls he is not really interested in. There is a lot of cringe in this film, as we watch Jamie try to be what everyone else wants him to be while secretly nurturing a crush on Dan. The film takes its time and I found myself losing patience with it several times, but the last 20 minutes are quite good and the film lingers in the mind. 

The South Korean drama XX + XY is a curiosity, a BL-inspired series that has been compressed into a film, with iffy results. The lead character, Jay, is intersex and just starting at a new school, accompanied by best friend Sera. Jay attracts the attentions of Wooram who does not know Jay's gender status and is confused when he finds himself falling for someone he thinks is a boy. In better hands this could be a whimsical comedy or serious drama, but in fact it's a bit of a mess. The lead has no chemistry with any of the possible romantic partners and a sub plot involving blackmail and humiliation is quite creepy. The ending suggests a sequel, which possibly means a season two in Korea. Maybe it works better on the small screen. 

BFI Flare: Grey Power

Jewelle: a Just Vision

The word legacy is thrown around a lot in Jewelle: A Just Vision, which I find interesting, as the writer Jewelle Gomez is still with us at 74, still working and still fighting. I am sure she would like to be appreciated now and not just in future, so it's good that Madeleine Lim made this doc. I well remember Gomez from my time in SF and her book The Gilda Stories remains a touchstone for black lesbian literature. 

Watching the doc, I found out a lot about her early life in Boston, her family origins and her interactions with a whole bunch of circles in NYC, SF and beyond. I hope a new generation discovers her now when they can still see her in action. 

The short G Flat, starring Richard Wilson, showcases a rather sadder older life, as a man struggles to adapt to his reduced circumstances and finds brief comfort in the shape of a sex worker. 

Another short, Where Do All the Old Gays Go?, looks at a range of older LGBT folk in Ireland although I was surprised to find no bisexuals among them. The lesbian couple were total couple's goals, however. 

Afterparty is a bit of a puzzle, as a man played by David Hoyle gets into a bath and is joined by party people one assumes are from his past. 

BFI Flare: 5 Films for Freedom 2023

 Hurrah! Flare is back. In fact, I should have been attending the immersive experience today but transport strikes put paid to that. I hope to get back to the festival but for now will be reviewing online material. 

So, this year's edition of 5 Films for Freedom includes dramas from Guyana, Nigeria, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, plus a comedy from South Korea. Here are my picks. 

Butch Up! ( dir Yu-Jin Lee) features a lovelorn singer who splits from her band and winds up in a new one. I found the end song quite catchy and the lyrics are filthy! Good fun. 

Buffer Zone (dir Savvas Stavrou) starts off quite solemnly, bursts into high camp with a duet across a border zone, and ends solemnly again. It's a great premise for a musical, as two soldiers gaze at each other and express repressed desires through song. 

All I Know (dir Obinna Robert Onyeri) is the best of the bunch, an intense drama in which revealing what you know about your missing friend could put him in worse danger. It feels like a proof of concept for a longer film but the ending lets it down. 

The Thing

So, by now we have all had a week to digest the furore surrounding Ariana De Bose's performance at last week's BAFTAs. Interestingly, I have not been able to find a clip of her full number, but the rap that spawned a thousand memes is easy enough to locate. 

Tasked with celebrating women, DeBose inserted a rap in her musical homage of "Sisters Are Doing it for Themselves" namechecking the female nominees in the room, including Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh and Angela Bassett. Some of the rhymes seemed rather random, if harmless. 

    Blanchett Cate/You're a genius

    And Jamie Lee/You're all of us

Not so the social media reaction to the line "Angela Bassett did the thing", which led Oscar winner DeBose to deactivate Twitter. This clips sums it up well. 

But if she re-emerges, DeBose will find support from many quarters including Wanda Sykes, Adele, Lizzo and Ms. Bassett herself. Indeed, she really did The Thing. Lighten up, peeps. 

Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel

I finally got out to see an exhibit! Since I have been lying low during the pandemic, I have rarely ventured into a gallery. But since I was meeting my old chum B., we decided to take in an exhibition. 

Rebel Rebel was a good choice. The Curve at the Barbican is a unique space which begs the visitor to take a journey. Sokhanvari has installed her paintings of a range of iconic Iranian women along its length, the small egg tempera pieces placed on a backdrop of geometric patterns recalling traditional Islamic art work. 

It's a sumptuous mix of pop art, portraiture and Iranian cultural history, as the artist places her subjects, among them directors, singers and actors, against vivid backdrops of rugs, curtains and walls all brilliantly coloured and patterned. The names were all new to me but well known in their times: Delkash was the first woman to cross dress on screen. Kobra Saeedi was an actor and writer who decried sexism and now lives in obscurity. Ramesh was a pop singer who fused genres. And many more besides.

At the end of the space is a giant mirrored screen showing some of the films of the subjects. When one reads the biographies of these amazing women it is sobering to hear how often their voices were silenced by the 1979 revolution. Some emigrated, some were imprisoned and others disappeared from view. Many died young. The triumph of the exhibit is to see them rendered as bursting with life and in full voice. 

Rebel Rebel continues until 26 February 2023 at the Barbican Centre in London. 

End of 2022 Thoughts

I usually find myself in a reflective mood toward the end of any year. I recount highlights and favourite books or films. This year, though, I really could not think of any cultural products that stood out. Partly that is because I am still not going out, but also because what I did read, listen to or watch did not seem especially note-worthy. 

However, I did find some wonderful moments to recount for my end of year thoughts. I have already blogged about the astonishing late acclaim for "Running Up That Hill", which remains one of the highlights of 2022 for me. 

To this I will add the colossal win of England's Lionesses to take home the Euros trophy. I was cheering as loudly as I could. I am so, so pleased that this has led to a real breakthrough for women's sport in the UK, with opportunities opening up not just for more participation in sport but also commercial opportunities for the players, everything from appearing on soaps to receiving awards. It is long overdue. 

The Euros campaign is recounted in this online documentary.

I also very much enjoyed the odd Twitter storm, such as when Lizzo played Pres James Madison's crystal flute. This appealed to me on so many levels, being a former flute nerd as a kid. Nobody liked this instrument! It was played by turtleneck-wearing men! Now it's played by amazing all round performers and nothing is more bling than a crystal flute. Kudos to the Library of Congress for inviting Lizzo in to try it out, horrifying gammon everywhere.

And my final moment also loomed large on the Twittersphere recently, when Greta Thunberg took out a misogynist with some well placed words. Delightful!

I wish all a calm, peaceful, inspiring 2023. 

Remember My Name

 Farewell then singer and actress Irene Cara whose passing was announced today. I was immediately struck by youthful pangs of idolatry, recalling her singing not one but two immensely popular title tracks from musical films, Fame and Flashdance. By the time Flashdance came out, I was old enough to see the film and buy the soundtrack which I wore out on the family turntable. It was groundbreaking to see a woman welder who also danced and flirted confidently with her love interest. The dancing was out of this world. 

Fame, however, came out when I was too young to see it and I knew of it only from reputation for years. But as a kid growing up in NYC I was mesmerised by the clips I saw of teenagers dancing and singing in the streets of Manhattan, of taut, thrusting bodies in body-hugging gear and leg warmers. How we all obsessed over leg warmers in those days. It really was a thing. We all wanted to attend the School of Performing Arts, too. The closest I came was when our high school choir performed a medley from Fame. 

As an adult I finally saw the film and was struck by how intense it was, how it dealt with serious issues like family abuse, exploitation, and so forth. I don't know why I am so surprised that a musical can also be a serious film, even knowing how Dirty Dancing and Footloose also addressed contemporary issues. I found out only today that Irene Cara was from the Bronx, which gives added resonance as that is my hometown, too. 

Decades on from its release, I still get a thrill seeing those kids dance onto the street and walk over those cars. RIP Irene. 

London Film Festival Shorts for Free 2022

 Once again this year I was not able to attend LFF but I did catch their Shorts for Free that were available online, with today being the last day to view.

It was quite a variable selection in terms of theme and quality. I was surprised to learn Dropout (writer/ dir Ade Femzo) won the audience award for best film, as I found it pleasant but unremarkable, a boy hiding the news of his music career taking off from his mum who wants him to stay in uni. John Boyega had some behind the scenes involvement, so perhaps that connection gave the film a publicity boost. 

The Chinese film I Have No Legs, and I Must Run won the festival's best short award, which is more understandable. It is an unsettling, atmospheric watch steepd in homoeroticism , as two runners compete for a place on the team, forcing each other to greater and greater effort until one of them breaks down. Director Yue Li makes references to pigs in a cage as his two leads work under the beady eye of a demanding coach. 

The other standout for me was Transparent, dancer Siobhan Davies' autobiographical reflection on her motivations and themes, beautifully shot and imaginatively rendered. I also recognised some of the East London locations. 

Several of the films I found annoyingly pretentious, but there were a couple other queer ones I want to mention. An Avocado Pit (dir Ary Zara) brings together a sex worker and potential client for a roam around Lisbon. Very talky but prettily shot. 

Checoslovaquia (dir Dennis Perinango), a Peruvian film, feels like the start of a longer work, as a mechanic-cum-taxi driver becomes entwined in the lives of the queer folk he spies on playing volleyball at the local river (as you do). His struggles with his own toxic masculinity play out over the course of the film and the title has something to do with a sport he watched as a youngster but this was not well rendered in the translated subtitles so I was left confused. The ending, too, feels rushed but it feels like the core of an excellent longer film is there. 

Fringe! Shorts: weird and wonderful

This year, as with the last, I am not able to attend Fringe! festival in person but the queer film festival is offering Fringe! From Home options which is welcome. 

So far I have viewed two shorts programmes and will extract the standouts for this post. 

The French long short Daughters of Destiny (dir. Valentin Noujaïm) is an absorbing atmospheric sci-fi tale of three young women being kidnapped by aliens who claim to have a paradise that looks a lot like a smoky queer night club. I found it quite imaginative and with resonances of Girlhood. It could also be expanded into a feature, should the filmmaker wish it. 

ELIZA (dir. Amy Pennington) is a comic mockumentary about lesser known poet Eliza Cook who wrote in the 19th century. I was slightly confused as to why the actor had a heavy Northern accent while claiming to be from London, but it was quite amusing to see the Victorian-clad poet wandering around present day Kent reminiscing about the last time she was there.

Another comedic short, How To Sex Your Cannabis (dir. Ryan Suits) uses facts about cannabis to make points about gender expression. A great example of using DIY techniques to create a world. 

Some films cross genres. A wild patience has taken me here (dir. Érica Sarmet) at first appears to be a documentary, as a Brazilian lesbian speaks to camera and then takes tea with her cat at home. Once she goes out, however, she meets up with four younger dykes and suddenly the film seems to be some kind of intergenerational fantasy in which everyone has sex and makes vlogs. Most odd. 

More sedate in tone is I was looking for you (dir. Georgia Helen Twigg) in which a woman bakes using a recipe from an older woman she realises recognised her as a kindred spirit. It poses the intriguing question as to whether people can see more in us than we do ourselves. Quietly affecting. 

Also bowing to queer elders is the futuristic comedy Don't Text Your Ex (dir. Jo Güstin) in which a filmmaker interviews an older couple who offer nuggets of wisdom and not a little swearing. The best bit is the end credits which read as text exchanges of the cast and crew. Quite clever.