>>PREVIEW
FAIRY TALES INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
May 24 to 31
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Once upon a time… a functional and familiar phrase used to commence our favourite stories about magical spells, vast kingdoms and their kings and queens. A moral message often delivered through a character’s transformation, these tales are timeless because they are universally understood. They are fairy tales and they have contributed to our love of storytelling for centuries.
Fairy Tales, Calgary’s International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, may not have been around for centuries (yet), but it is an important outlet for contemporary narratives that embrace the broad questions and ideas surrounding self-discovery, coming out and revolution. These films are new school fairy tales and they are just as important as anything that ends with "happily ever after."
Festival director Matt Salton, who had previously programmed for the Reelout Queer Film and Video Festival in Kingston, Ontario, had a vision for Alberta’s only annual gay and lesbian film festival – one of inclusion and diversity.
"I wanted to see Fairy Tales reflect the new face of queer Calgarians," he says. "This meant more bi and trans content, more stories that focused on characters of colour and more programs that reached out to the ever-growing GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) youth population."
The theme of this year’s Fairy Tales is fresh, frisky and fearless – which is fitting for a festival in its ninth year, and the titles certainly reflect that. The Itty Bitty Titty Committee, directed by Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader), Outing Riley, Fat Girls and Creatures from the Pink Lagoon are some of the comedies at this year’s festival that look at radical punk-feminism, family, friendships and flesh-eating zombies with humorous and satirical eyes.
"Do yourself a favour," says Salton, "knock back a few bevies in Kensington on Saturday night and then come over to the Gay Grindhouse at 11 p.m. You'll have a great time. Dare I say, a gay ol' time?"
Another important piece of 2007’s programming is the focus on the transgender and transsexual communities in three documentary films presented in two programs. Transparent looks at 19 female-to-male transsexuals who have given birth and are raising their children. Despite looking at very specific examples, the film is ultimately about being a parent and the issues that go along with it. "Trans World Tales" is an evening of two films that explore trans culture internationally. Hotel Gondolin, is a place in Argentina where transgender and transsexual sex workers operate and Harsh Beauty travels to India and follows three eunuchs who live openly as women. Salton feels these are an especially important aspect of Fairy Tales programming.
"A lot of festivals don't show them because there is a threat that they aren't commercial enough, that their communities don't have a large enough trans community to support them. Our programming committee sees these films as incredibly informative and entertaining for everyone, not just the trans-identified members of our family," he says. "We've also scattered trans content throughout the festival so that we're not just segregating the trans stories, either."
Always a fan of the dialogue at film festivals, Fairy Tales has invited some high-profile guests to discuss queer identity and the fight against assimilation into mainstream culture. In two separate panel discussions, visiting artists Bruce LaBruce, Istvan Kantor, Lukas Blaak, Adam Garnet Jones, Sasha Van Bon Bon, Laura Ralph and Roewan Crowe among others will be addressing questions about the importance of queer art, how queer filmmakers find their voice and whether or not queer film festivals are still relevant.
"The theme of preserving positive queer space while it continues to be swallowed up by the hetero mainstream is something that any queer artist thinks about often," says Salton.
"I don't know if it is all that different from other queer film fests around the world, but it does show the world that Calgary isn't just the home of shit kickers and rednecks and that queer art and culture is alive and thriving in the conservative heartland."
And which of the old-school fairy tales is Salton’s favourite?
"The ones where the beast, or the duckling or the frog find their inner beauty and are transformed... that one and Jackin' The Beanstalk, but that's another story for another day." |
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