An annual festival that boasts a stacked line up of Canadian filmmakers exploring identity, sexuality, gender and race is making a tour stop in Yellowknife.
Thirza Cuthand in a still from the short film 2 Spirit Introductory Special $19.99
The namesake Qaleidoscope contends that the tour showcases a broad spectrum of viewpoint and expression of sexual identity and race, said Gary Varro, executive and artistic director of Queer City Cinema.
A majority of the films are made by Indigenous artists and traverse genre from documentary to animation and experimental. Some films are shot on analog and then digitized.
On Jan. 25 and 26, the festival presented by Regina-based Queer City Cinema will show by Canadian artists.
It will feature artist Thirza Cuthand in a free live performance and artist talk with Thirza Cuthand, a Plains Cree filmmaker. Love Is The Only Socially Acceptable Psychosis will show Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. at Northern United Place and an artist talk at 12 p.m.
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CuthandSA国际影视传媒檚 performance alternates between live and recordings as vessel for uncontrollable emotions, connecting the experience of falling in love with that of manic psychosis.
Cuthand uses SA国际影视传媒渞itualisticSA国际影视传媒� performance and video projection in the privacy of her living room during a manic episode to display magic and tragedy of love and mood disorders.
In sarcastic spirit, Cuthands short film 2 Spirit Introductory Special $19.99 makes a play on drawn out late-night cheesy infomercials.
The tour itself is meant to address marginalization and xenophobia and to give audiences an opportunity to engage with works outside the mainstream.
SA国际影视传媒淥ur agenda is to promote queer experimental work and to ensure a broad diversity of expression to do with gender, race and sexuality,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
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With the advent of digital technologies, queer film festivals are programming more narrative works with actors playing roles and characters in theatrical length features, he said.
SA国际影视传媒淔ilm that is non-narrative is more open to interpretation and maybe reflects the experiences of queer individuals where things arenSA国际影视传媒檛 always conventional,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
A still from Doppleganger Memorandum, a claustrophic and surrealist film featuring a film-score composer distracted by a haunted video monitor.
Fluids, a sci-fi porno, is one film that encapsulates fluidity of identity, said Varro.
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The festival is sure to include diverse representations of identity and experimental works.
SA国际影视传媒�(Experimental) is one of those genres that is not super represented in a lot of queer film festivals. People find it challenging and difficult to understand and because it is non-narrative and can be difficult for people to find meaning in it,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 like building a new vocabulary or a new language. If you watch it long enough, itSA国际影视传媒檚 not necessarily meant to be understood,SA国际影视传媒� said Varro.
Where We Were Not SA国际影视传媒� Feeling Reserved, Alexus' Story by Jess MacCormack is a animated short documentary chronicling practices of police brutality against First Nations peoples. It documents SA国际影视传媒渟tarlight toursSA国际影视传媒� SA国际影视传媒� the practice of police officers driving Indigenous people to the outskirts of town and leaving them to freeze to death.
PaskwSA国际影视传媒歸 Mostos Iskwisis (Buffalo Girl) sets the extermination of buffalo in parallel to the loss of Queer Indigenous and Two Spirit knowledge.
Do I Have Boobs Now follows Victoria-based trans activist Courtney Demone in her viral campaign #DoIHaveBoobsNow, which follows her transition while undergoing hormone replacement therapy. The film visits themes of social media censorship, sexualization of feminine bodies and being in the spotlight as a trans activist and queer feminist.
The festival will show films from renowned Cree-Canadian artist Kent Monkman and Niagara, a short by Mohawk filmmaker and visual artist Shelley Niro, who explores culture and identity with sly humour.
