Film Categories: Abuse

  • Breathing Through a Straw

    When a hookup ends in homicide, Parker decides to confront the man who abused him as a child. Inspired by a true story, “Breathing Through a Straw” explores the consequences of secrets. It is Canadian theatre director Leigh Rivenbark’s debut film, starring Christian Lloyd (Emmy Award-winning The Handmaid’s Tale, Maps to the Stars, American Gods).

  • Birthday Suit

    A remake of the seminal Canadian feminist art tape by Lisa Steele. Featuring Lexi Tronic.

  • Drag Race

    A public three-event race in high heels and improvised monologue about all things political from pro-choice philosophies, the glass ceiling, the history of high heels, vandalism and gentrification, buying locally and seasonally, going vegan, sexual health and gender diversity. Participation was highly encouraged and pre-race makeovers were often held at my apartment. This is a document of the 10th annual drag race.

  • HOSER

    This video was constructed in response to my experience of sexual assault and linked to the data collection/research I was doing shortly thereafter in publicly accessible community discourses of sero-conversion (pozzing) fetish, which have since received some scholarly attention in the Academy in the Social Sciences in relation to HIV acquisition/prevention and Queer theory. This tape is a reflection upon ideas of disclosure, self-determination, self-loathing, and informal support networks.

  • Sick

    “Sick” is the second video in the “Misadventures of Pussy Boy” trans trilogy, produced in 2003. Alick is verbally and physically queer bashed at school, Kay shares with our anti-hero the power of reclaiming hurtful words like “sick”. Our protagonists find safety, comfort and acceptance in each other’s arms.

  • First Period

    “First Period”, the third video in the “Misadventures of Pussy Boy” trilogy, the title is a double entendre for the first period of school and Alick’s first menstrual cycle, a shocking event that sends our intersexed youth into an emotional tailspin. Alick is worried about how Kay will react, will she have anything to do with this “?”. Their burgeoning secret relationship is threatened by Kay’s friendship with Ray, the high school bad boy. Alick also relates how he acquired the name “pussy boy”. Alick learns his lessons well from his first love Kay and turns a bully’s taunt into…

  • Trans Cabaret

    “Trans Cabaret” is half hour long “edutainment” cabaret of sketches about “all things trans”, performed by members of the trans community for the purposes of bringing “translightenment to the masses”. The video also goes behind the scenes to show the performers coping with being homeless, dealing with transphobia in the shelter system, telling parents about being trans and dealing with abusive partners. During the cabaret the performers rehearse tongue-in-cheek sketches by “characters” in the cabaret. The video demonstrates through the cabaret an open attitude about the basics of gender reassignment surgery, gender identities and orientations, the myths and realities of…

  • Things That Happen in The Bathroom

    In the intimate sanctuary of the bathroom, a lonely young queer yearns for love, and learns how to survive heartbreak. For Jak (John Calvin Pierce), the bathroom is a refuge, a place where they can exist without wearing the mask they present to the world. But when their feelings of loneliness threaten to overwhelm them, Jak invites a new hookup into the bathroom – opening up to all the pleasure, embarrassment and self-discovery that comes with queer intimacy.

  • The Astronauts’ Bodies

    When his two mature children Anton and Linda start leaving the house, after graduating from school, father Michael stops taking care of his body as a protest. His son Anton takes part in a bed-rest-study to contribute to space-traveling, while his sister Linda is in search of her first sexual experience and is drawn to a suspicious young man. The film is a poetic story about the progression of dreams to go to space and about the organic beauty of the human body, its desires and longings.