forbidden love : the unashamed stories of lesbian lives
forbidden love [ videorecording ]: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives. - version details - trove
forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives 1992 u. s. poster | posteritati movie poster gallery | new york
the 1992 documentary forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives has been re - released on wolfeondemand for its 20th anniversary .
national film board of canada .
nfb - - forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives .
national film board of canada. urltoken .
forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives. dir. aerlyn weissman and linne fernie. film board of canada english programs, studio d, 1992 .
rich, b. ruby .
true stories of forbidden love .
[
this chapter originally appeared as' making love' ,
lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman are interdisciplinary artists and award - winning filmmakers, who co - directed the genie and internationally award - winning documentaries forbidden love: unashamed stories of lesbian lives (1992) and fiction and other truths: a film about jane rule (1995) .
one of the nfb’s most successful and beloved films of all time is making a comeback after years of being unavailable. forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives has now been re - released in a new, remastered hd version. and we’re celebrating the release with a week full of lgbtq * programming on urltoken !
the 1992 documentary forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives has been re - released on wolfeondemand for its 20 th anniversary to celebrate its place as an integral part of lgbt film history. the documentary is a canadian film written and directed by lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman that documented the lives of lesbian women and their experiences of lesbian pulp fiction. it incorporates interviews, archival footage and dramatizations to illustrate lesbian life in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. check out the trailer below !
throughout the early 90s, studio d produced films that diverged from the studio’s earlier didactic strategies. lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman’s 1992 film, for example, forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives, dispenses with traditional cinematic techniques like voice - over narration in exchange for more experimental forms, including fictional dramatizations of 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. forbidden love contrasts these romanticized reenactments of lesbian love with women’s real stories of struggle within gay, straight and feminist communities. unlike many of the previous films produced by studio d, this technique exposes fragmentation and alienation without affirming a unifying moral .
if you' re interested in taking a look at a slice of canadian lgbt history to see how much has (and also what hasn' t) changed in our country, the national film board of canada' s forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives is being re - released in a remastered high - definition version .
bruce, jean .
queer cinema at the nfb: the' strange case' of forbidden love .
in
at the house of a famous chinese botanist teacher his daughter and a female intern fall in love with each other - a forbidden love that must be kept secret .
in a recent film board of canada production, a character laughingly recommends that the world be governed by postmenopausal women. the film is forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives; the character is one of the aging women who were interviewed for the documentary. men, she explains, are only boys, and, she adds, we know from lord of the flies what boys are like .
this year’s redux program concentrates on a selection of canadian films directed by women, including lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman’s forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives, janis cole and holly dale’s p4w: prison for women, anne claire poirer’s tu as crié: let me go and tracy deer’s mohawk girls – the latter accompanied by short docs from alanis obomsawin and michelle latimer .
beyond same - sex orientation, there is little if anything to connect this year' s films to one another in style, mood and theme. aerlyn weissman and lynne fernie' s film
forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives
is an imaginative mixture of fact and fiction that intercuts documentary interviews about being lesbian in the 1950' s and 60' s with a cinematic dramatization of a typical 50' s - style pulp lesbian novel .
nine women paint a portrait of lesbian sexuality against a backdrop of lesbian representations in popular culture .
goldie, terry .
talking forbidden love: an interview with lynne fernie .
interview with lynne fernie. in
lynne fernie is a visual artist, documentary filmmaker and the senior canadian programmer for the hot docs international festival of documentary film in toronto. she wrote and co - directed the genie and multi - award - winning documentaries forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives, fiction and other truths: a film about jane rule, and apples and oranges, and her visual art is shown at oeno gallery .
becomes more than a film about history and emerges as an historical act itself. by alerting the viewer to forbidden love’s singularity within the documentary tradition of the
the women’s and gender studies program and the provost’s advisory committee on gender and sexual diversity will present a screening of the documentary film forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives on monday, march 28 at 6: 30 p. m. at the broadway theatre in saskatoon. the film' s co - director, lynne fernie, will be in attendance for a reception and q & a following the film. admission is free. there will be door prizes !
i am viewing: forbidden love, now on logo - nyc, still no captions! !! in 2006! !! sorry - but this is my story: when i first saw this ground - breaking film - truly outstanding among the early documentaries - (possibly the first depiction) of: lesbian (hidden) history & culture, i enjoyed it immensely, but i had difficulty understanding any speech in the film, because i am deaf - i rely on captions! it' s hard to believe that an up - dated newer (closed caption) version is not now being shown on logo! at the same time, as i write, i am amazed how well
forbidden love
remains one of the best - if not the best - documentary on: forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives .
2014 is the first time that forbidden love has been subtitled in french. we look forward to welcoming new audiences across canada with this re - release .
in their appropriation of the lesbian pulp genre, fernie and weissman counter the stereotypes of lesbians that often pervaded these books. their version of events has the couple together in the end, well - adjusted, and leading openly lesbian lives .
brings an important and empowering history of lesbian sexuality in canada out of the closet .
d. metzer. spurned love: eroticism and abstraction in the early works of aaron copland .
reviews recreations of classic works of boys' adventure stories, with special focus given to robinsonades and the coral island .
the book serves as an excellent companion to the film, recontextualizing forbidden love' s re - release with rich production detail, pithy formal analysis, critical theory and provocative cultural commentary. —
this was a wonderful film i also saw it when it first came out into theaters. . it' s a very positive look at lesbian lives. one of the best documentary films i have ever seen. there is some pulp fiction type lesbian story lines and a great discussion with lesbian authors whom writes the classic pulps .
the book serves as an excellent companion to the film, recontextualizing forbidden love' s re - release with rich production detail, pithy formal analysis, critical theory and provocative cultural commentary. “ pov magazine
e. a. gordon. gala: the lesbian and gay community of song .
history has not much favoured queer stories, let alone lesbian ones. lgbtq history is generally not taught in class (and the queers who make it into the books often face being straightwashed). this is why forbidden love, a documentary that focuses on canadian lesbian history in the 50s and 60s, exists. remastered in hd from its original 1992 release, the film now tells a new generation of the experiences of its queer elders during a time when homosexuality was illegal in canada .
framed through fictional narrative styled after the pulp lesbian novels of the 1950s, forbidden love features interviews from a handful of queer women who came of age in the middle of the 20th century. these women share informative, funny and heartbreaking stories about their lives and the lesbian scenes of the past. they recount tales of their first loves and searching for a queer community in urban areas. between their anecdotes and the archival footage, we get a vivid portrait of life as queer women a few generations ago. however, not all queer experiences can be the same. the directors aptly included stories of white women coming out, native experiences of residential schools and approaching the gay bars and community from a black perspective. these accounts are invaluable for providing a rich and nuanced history (or rather, herstory) that isn’t taught in schools. for this reason, forbidden love is a crucial work, reminding us not only how far we’ve come but also granting us a much needed perspective as we come together to celebrate pride this summer .
produced by the nfb’s acclaimed studio d, which specialized in films for, by, and about women, forbidden love features the alternately inspiring, charming, and thought - provoking stories of women who sought same - sex relationships at a time when such a thing was denounced. funny and heartbreaking, the film offers a valuable portrait of the history of an embattled community .
the clga strives to gather the stories of the unheard and silenced voices of the 2slgbtq + first peoples of this land. we acknowledge that some stories have already been lost, and we aim to ensure that those that remain and those that are to come are preserved for the future .
ten women are interviewed about lesbian sexuality and survival in canada during the fifties and sixties. against a backdrop of book covers from lesbian pulp novels, tabloid headlines referring to homosexuality, archival photographs and film clips, these women talk about love, beer parlours and bars for gay women in vancouver, toronto and montreal, male harassment and intolerance and the butch / ​femme subculture. their stories are interwoven with a fictional love story inspired by the then - popular lesbian paperback novels. novelist anne bannon compares how lesbians were fictionalised with the reality of their experience .
and because this is 2014, a new low - bid francophone contractor did the captioning on forbidden love, as opposed to the old low - bid francophone contractor on the original. (who can forget those hydegwye indians? )
it is certainly one of the most justified criticisms of the nfb’s feminist studio d that it took so long for the unit to produce a feature - length film about the lives of queer women .
bruce and cammaer deal dexterously with the film and the historical discourse it both participates in and disrupts; in their care forbidden love becomes more than a film about history and emerges as an historical act itself. “ pov magazine
compelling, often hilarious and always rebellious, nine women paint a portrait of lesbian sexuality against a backdrop of tabloid headlines, book covers and dramatizations from lesbian pulp novels .
ten women, most of them in vancouver or toronto, talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men' s responses, and the etiquette of butch and femme roles. interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel ,
forbidden love
: laura leaves her hick town and heads for the city, where she meets mitch in a bar. sparks fly, and so do laughter and joy. ann bannon, one of the writers of those paperback novels about forbidden love, talks about the genre .
accessibility concerns? email us at accessibility @ urltoken. we would love to hear from you .
this feature documentary delves into the rich history of canadian queer women’s experiences in the mid - 20th century. compelling, often hilarious and always rebellious, the women interviewed in this film recount stories about their search for the places where openly gay women gathered in urban centres. contemporary interviews, archival footage, and a stylized fictional narrative based on the pulp novels of the 1950s are woven throughout this simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and empowering film. forbidden love brings an important and empowering history of lesbian sexuality in canada out of the closet .
e. garber. a spectacle in color: the lesbian and gay subculture of jazz age harlem .
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ten women, most of them in vancouver or toronto, talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first... see full summary »
( new york), became more viable as opera companies acknowledged the strength of lesbian and gay support .
at once lyrical and psychologically acute ,
the blue hour ,
a german film by marcel gisler, details the affair of a gay callboy and the woman who lives next door .
the influence of lesbian pulp fiction also figures in the discussion. pulp fiction author ann bannon talks about her experience of working in the genre .
there will be a special screening (don’t forget: remastered in hd !) of forbidden love at the tiff bell lightbox on sunday, may 25th at 4: 30 pm. this screening is presented by the berkshire conference of women historians, the inside out festival, the national film board of canada and women in view .
a. stein. androgyny goes pop: but is it lesbian music?  .
i saw this when it was released and never forgot it, most of my friends also remember it clearly! it is a wonderful glimpse into the lives of lesbians in the 50s, in many ways different from now - the hidden = ness and secrecy, the butch femme culture - and in many ways so the same - who was going out with who, when, how they fell in love, broke up, wove their lives and made family of their friendships. highly recommend it as an uplifting piece of lesbian history, and a vision of what we younger lesbians may look like as we age. delightful !
) should broaden the range of criticism across the entire historical spectrum, throw new light on the meanings people attach to the music they identify with, and help to open the way toward new conversations about the power of music of various kinds in peoples' lives .
and wants to know where lesbian chic came from. it' s the movie of choice for dykes who suffered through
in four chapters, the authors explore forbidden love’s place within the archive of canadian queer history and its complex engagement with the archival process itself, the critical implications of the film’s unique production process, the peculiarities of the documentary and melodramatic forms the film employs, and finally the film’s colourful history of distribution and re - release. as bruce and cammaer guide the reader toward forbidden love from one angle before changing gears and approaching the film from yet another, one gets the sense s / he is privy to an ongoing dialogue between the filmmakers, the film itself, and the authors of this book. such a reading experience coincides with the model of history (re) making upon which the film insists. here we see how bruce and cammaer’s book and fernie and weissman’s film are fundamentally complementary—the book makes explicit what the film perhaps cannot .
lord of the flies is an overseas adventure story, the self - conscious culmination of a long line of boys' adventure stories .
it' s like in a book ,
ralph announces after their initial exploration of the island :
this groundbreaking 1996 film by indo - canadian filmmaker deepa mehta, about two sister - in - laws who fall in love with each other, was the first mainstream indian film to explore lesbian love. lesbianism was so outside the experience of hindus, we learn in the film, that their language even lacks a word for it. beautifully told, fire is a must - watch .
see also: the lesbian pulp fiction virtual exhibition drawn from the dworin collection at special collections, york university. urltoken
aitken, will .
' a history film with good sex': this nose - thumbing nfb documentary about the repressed lives of lesbians in the fifties tells its story with a salty directness .
coupled with this didactic representation of linda lee’s journey is the filmmakers’ decision to embrace traditional cinematic practices that objectify and further enforce polarized perceptions of gender and sexuality. the most obvious example of this formal choice is the documentation of women working in porn. rather than showing the point of view of the woman facing the audience or camera, not a love story captures its subjects from the perspectives of the observer. as american film scholar and critic b. ruby rich writes, “ not a love story is no call to arms, but rather an exercise in show - and - tell. gaze at the forbidden, react with your choice of anger or outrage or grief… and leave a changed person. ” like linda lee, not a love story’s audience is invited to sit in the position of the masculine observer, to witness the commodification of women’s sexuality, and to applaud one woman’s choice to liberate herself from the degrading world of porn. these didactic tools effectively communicate not a love story’ s message: porn is degrading, and the informed subject can find refuge from such patriarchal degradation by embracing a more balanced instance of heteronormative love .
this film contains scenes of nudity and / or sexuality. viewer discretion is advised. this feature documentary delves into the rich history of canadian queer women’s experiences in the mid - 20th century. compelling, often hilarious and always rebellious, the women interviewed in this film recount stories about their search for the places where openly gay women gathered in urban centres. contemporary interviews, archival footage, and a stylized fictional narrative based on the pulp novels of the 1950s are woven throughout this simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and empowering film. forbidden love
( full name robert michael ballantyne; also wrote under the pseudonym comus) scottish illustrator, autobiographer, and author of juvenile fiction, nonfiction, novels, and short stories .
film description :
compelling, often hilarious and always rebellious, nine women paint a portrait of lesbian sexuality against a backdrop of tabloid headlines, book covers and dramatizations from lesbian pulp novels .
- - national film board of canada (source )
more nuanced studies of the circumstances of all these composers may link them to patterns of same - sex love or desire that have been discerned among the literary figures of the age of sensibility and of romanticism. that these patterns did not always or inevitably include sexual acts in no way lessens their intensity or importance. reception of their music from a lesbian or gay standpoint (e. g .
along with the long - awaited re - release of forbidden love, we’re presenting a special selection of programming that deals with issues important to the gay community and their allies. start with the delightfully frank feature doc toward intimacy, which takes a sex - positive look at women with disabilities who are looking for love and intimacy in a world that stigmatizes them. one of the women featured in the film has a hearing impairment and identifies as gay; her commentary about her struggles, discoveries, and path towards her sexuality is nothing short of inspiring .
[ the colonial stereotype has a ] phantasmic quality—the same old stories of the negro' s animality, the coolie' s inscrutability or the stupidity of the irish must be told (compulsively) again and afresh, and are differently gratifying and terrifying each time .
not only was the film a hit with audiences, it cleaned up on the awards circuit too: forbidden love won 8 awards, including best feature documentary at the genies. if you have not seen this seminal doc yet, now is your chance to see what all the fuss is about. buy, rent, or download the film today !
photo taken at launch of lesbians making history digital collection, held at the canadian lesbian and gay archives, june 7, 2015 .
kitschy paperback book covers from the golden days of pulp fiction frame this look at a group of gay canadian women and their separate stories of growing up lesbian in the' 40' s,' 50' s and' 60' s. the reenactments of
forbidden
stories of passion are a little enervated and weak, but the women themselves are funny, smart, candid and exciting to listen to. there are some great quotes here, and plenty of funny and poignant memories. the only thing the movie isn' t is suggestive or sexy. it strives to be informative, and that it certainly is, but we really don' t get a sense of the sexual thrill behind the headlines. we learn why a married woman would leave her family and surroundings for the embrace of a lesbian lover, but we don' t sense the drive and passion that keeps them away, or what keeps two women together .
bruce, jean .
querying or' queering' the nation: the lesbian postmodern and canadian women' s cinema .
, that explore the oppression of women. real lesbian or gay characters are of course harder to find. mel and dov, the interracial couple in tippett' s
forbidden love premiered at toronto film festival in 1992 and went on to receive the glaad media award for best documentary, as well as the genie award for best documentary. after being unavailable for many years, it is now is available to watch and download in a re - mastered, hd version on urltoken for audiences worldwide .
j. rycenga. sisterhood: a loving lesbian ear listens to progressive heterosexual women' s rock music .
conversely, the non - specificity of musical language and the doctrine of its autonomy from social issues led to a special situation in which music played  and still plays  an important part as both safety valve and regulator in the mechanism of the closet, which is not only a symbol of the hidden nature of many lesbian and gay lives but is arguably the most important attribute of 20th century homosexuality, more defining and universal in western culture than sex acts themselves. in the words of gay author wayne koestenbaum (
makes some further inroads in the complex terrain of historical archaeology by intercutting the now requisite talking heads with reenactments based on the lesbian pulp novels of the fifties and sixties. produced by the women' s studio of the national film board of canada, the writers / directors aerlyn weissman and lynne fernie had the budget to successfully reproduce a filmic effect similar to the sultry, bad - girl esthetic of the novels. the music croons; the blonde ingenue nervously nurses her drink; the mannish (but elegant) brunette seduces; and a new lesbian femme is born, along with a renewed mythology of lesbian history .
if the work being shown in this year' s festival is an extraordinary mixture of creativity, candor and sophistication among lesbian and gay film makers, some, like ms. zeig, worry that the rebel spirit in gay and lesbian culture could eventually be lost .
irvine, robert .
separate accounts: class and colonization in the early stories of r. m. ballantyne .
journal of victorian culture 12, no. 2 (autumn 2007): 238 - 61 .
' s talking heads and archival footage are intercut with a dramatization of a lesbian pulp novel, which climaxes in a sizzling love scene complete with deep kisses and bare breasts, surely a first for the nfb, fernie says, though' no one at the board ever suggested cutting it.'
a new york writer, musicologist and former professor of lesbian / feminist studies at barnard and sarah lawrence colleges, elizabeth wood is the author of a novel and essays on music, gender, sexuality and ethel smyth, as well as coeditor of queering the pitch: the new gay and lesbian musicology. in 1997 she received the first philip brett award from the american musicological society for decomposition and the lesbian in the opera: desire unmasked in smyth' s fantasio and fete galante  .
makes for a refreshing read. we can perceive the labour of love that it is; the project is clearly very dear to the authors and their enthusiasm for the material fosters the reader’s own engagement. the book serves as an excellent companion to the film, recontextualizing
in popular music, the 1990s also saw a reversal of the cautious approach of the 1980s and the emergence of openly lesbian musicians into the mainstream from the alternative space of women' s music. the extraordinary singer - songwriter k. d. lang, who had earlier invaded the heterosexist field of country music with strongly woman - identified music, and as a result gained a lesbian following, came out decisively in 1992 (see mockus in
: 1718). but, while maintaining the importance for modern society of the categories of heterosexuality and homosexuality themselves and the process of acculturation that surrounds them, thinking historically about that sense of self has, paradoxically, become the basis of much lesbian and gay critical work. it also underwrites queer theory, the intellectual phenomenon based on the recuperation of the pejorative term queer and the inflecting of lesbian and gay knowledge with postmodern knowledge and ways of thinking. arguing along lines proposed by foucault, halperin (
a study of the lifestyles of gay women from the late 1940s to the early' 60s, focusing on specialized pulp fiction of the era. included: dramatizations of scenes from lesbian - themed fiction. written and directed by aerlyn weissman and lynne fernie .
, the book is very much in keeping with the film’s efforts to disrupt patterns of erasure in “official” history by reinserting into the record the marginalized lived histories of lesbian women in canada throughout the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s .
t. orteha. my name is sue! how do you do? : johnny cash as lesbian icon .
mailing address: canadian lesbian and gay archives p. o. box 699 663a yonge street toronto, on m4y 1z9
has the dubious honour of being one of the last films made by the women' s unit, studio d, as well as the first overtly lesbian film made at the nfb. lynne fernie suggests that the nfb' s working processes, at the time
as gay and lesbian lives come into mainstream press and media and we are acknowledged and accepted ,
she said ,
i maintain that we' re not just like everyone else, that our politics and life styles are subversive. we' re not all interested in fitting in, getting married or joining the military. some of us want to change society, and some of us do that by programming gay and lesbian film festivals .
78 films and 92 videos from 13 countries
there was a fear at the studio that the drama would overwhelm or belittle the women' s stories in the documentary. but when we shot the drama, we had seen our documentary rushes, and we knew that nothing but nothing was going to overpower the personalities and storytelling of the women in the documentary
lingers upon the book’s conclusion. one wonders to what extent a detectable apathy towards the recording of lesbian histories pervades the archival process and the practice of history (queer and otherwise) more generally. what becomes clear is that
such beliefs, when juxtaposed with the public scandals in many european countries and most importantly the trials of oscar wilde in 1895, leading to a maximum prison term of two years' hard labour for the misdemeanour of gross indecency with another male person (under the famous labouchère amendment to the criminal law amendment act of 1885), only exacerbated a climate in which neither the presence of homosexuals in music nor their contributions to it could be acknowledged, and in which the experience of social oppression that informs lesbian and gay lives could not be connected to musicality. given this background, any talk of forbidden and illegal sexuality and music was proscribed. you didn' t mention it, explained the ninety - one year old virgil thomson to his biographer, offering as ultimate explanation of course everybody knew about the oscar wilde case (
 (1977). the era also saw a number of independent (even rebellious) women singers. janis joplin, whose major relationships were with women, and who seemed as unashamed of this as of the rest of her colourful life, possessed an intensity that might have founded an entire movement, but for her premature death in 1970. dusty springfield, the spirited british soul singer who was a lesbian icon, survived a career slump in the 1970s and cemented her gay following by later recording with the pet shop boys .
, but what these principally illustrated was the increasing commodification of lesbian or gay desire and its commercial exploitation. lesbian musicians and composers, in particular, have a tradition of not only remaining outside commercial and institutional networks but also of resisting all musical models, and the work of the composer sorrel hays (formerly recorded as pianist doris hays, she is a leading interpreter of henry cowell), as well as that of the performance artist and composer meredith monk, strongly maintains that tradition at a time when lesbian and gay artists were under increasing pressure to join the mainstream .
in emphasizing the personal over the political ,
i' ll love you forever... tonight
typifies many of the 30 feature films being shown in the festival, which opened yesterday and runs through june 17 at cinema village. while issues like homosexuals in the military and the aids epidemic have a prominent place in the festival, they are more than balanced by films that have no direct link to current news stories and hot talk - show subjects. gender balance
despite the success of experimental and political films like sisters in the struggle and forbidden love, as well as the unit’s public response to accusations of exclusivity, studio d implemented little change within its own workplace during the early 90s. dianne burgess writes: “although the nif allowed for the professional development of women of colour, problems arise when one faces the reality that these contract positions would not necessarily lead to changes in the management structure at the nfb. ” by welcoming more divergent issues and opinions into the women’s unit without implementing substantial change within the institution itself, executive producers subjected outgrowths of studio d to the same limitations they had inherited from the nfb .
) readers who may not be familiar with the film are quickly immersed in its text, subtext, and paratext. bruce and cammaer thoroughly unpack the film’s clever composition of interviews with ten women speaking about their personal experience including lesbian pulp fiction author ann bannon, fictional vignettes parodying the conventions of lesbian pulp fiction itself, and archival footage .
betty was born on a farm just outside in sydney, australia and shirley was born in sudbury in 1924. the two meet in toronto in the 1960s, where they were apart of the lesbian bar scene that gravitated around the continental. at the time of the…
premise: a study of the lifestyles of gay women from the late 1940s to the early' 60s, focusing on specialized pulp fiction of the era. included: dramatizations of scenes from lesbian - themed fiction. written and directed by aerlyn weissman and lynne fernie. (more )
regardless of the number of divergent films produced, the studio was still governed in accordance with the nfb’s tradition of marketing non - partisan and objective images of difference. this structural oversight leads elizabeth anderson to suggest that studio d’s efforts to produce films about women beyond the narrow demographic of the unit’s permanent staff were in fact token efforts that provided “a comfortable, distant way for audiences to sample the lives of people who exist at the margins of the national community without having to fully engage. ” in other words, studio d’s attempt to better accommodate difference actually realigned the unit with the nfb; studio d’s sub - units like nif only tokenized black and indigenous women’s stories in accordance to the aesthetic and political limitations that the nfb bestowed upon studio d itself .
accordingly, an important strategy among lesbian and gay critics is to insist on the possibility and the importance of different receptions of all kinds of music, an insistence which can undermine any authority or objectivity criticism might claim for itself, and of destroying the essentializing or minoritizing drive to confine lesbian and gay music criticism to style analysis. suzanne cusick, in an extremely radical statement quite early in the movement' s history (delivered at the first feminist theory and music conference, 1991), insisted on, and explored, a special lesbian relationship to music itself (
b. w. holsinger. the flesh of the voice: embodiment and the homoerotics of devotion in the music of hildegard of bingen (10981179)  .
this second wave of political action coincided with changes within musicology and criticism brought about by the belated impact of poststructural interdisciplinary ways of thinking. a phenomenon dubbed the new musicology began a process of wresting absolute music from the ideology of universal values, transcendence and autonomy. it also heralded a more inclusive, as well as more firmly located, critical practice that refused to leave the category music unmarked in the traditional manner, but embraced all musical phenomena and avoided meaningless comparisons between different genres and different cultural practices. there emerged around 1990 a group of lesbian and gay scholars and critics prepared to work on lesbian and gay topics with a set of procedures derived from feminist and poststructuralist critiques. like the lesbian and gay musical organizations before them, this group also ignored the traditional genre boundaries. the founding in 1989 of the gay and lesbian study group (glsg) of the american musicological society constituted a recognition of this phenomenon .
). his manipulation of the open secret was more extreme than that of any number of less flamboyant but also closeted gay musicians: the openly flaunted markings of a hidden identity allowed those who adored him to use their adoration (and his and their mother - love) to bolster their own sense of difference and superiority .
). there has also been a long tradition of appropriation of the material from musicals in every conceivable gay context. with the 1970s articulation of gay and lesbian identity, musicals with gay themes or characters arrived, many of them becoming mainstream commercial successes. if
notably, the film is now available for the first time as a subtitled version in french. accessibility to this much - loved film is a big part of maintaining the canadian gay community’s heritage. in fact, just last year, professor thomas waugh (a well - known queer film theory and history scholar and concordia university research chair in documentary film and in sexual representation) called for the re - release of forbidden love due to its seminal place in canadian history. waugh says the film is at the “centre of our queer heritage. ”
maya gallus is the subject of this year’s focus on series, which will screen half a dozen of her films from 1991’s elizabeth smart: on the side of the angels to 2013’s derby crazy love. and music documentarian tony palmer receives this year’s outstanding achievement award and attendant retrospective, including his 1968 bbc program all my loving, an episode of his massive 1976 series all you need is love (the one about the beatles, naturally) and his 2010 feature bird on a wire, about leonard cohen’s 1972 european tour .
nicole & julie (2005, 50 x 60) by grace moon. | resplendent | pinterest | lesbian, fiction and queer art
the canadian lesbian and gay archives is located on the traditional lands of the mississaugas of the new credit first nation, the haudenosaunee, the anishnaabe and the huron - wendat. today, toronto is still the home to many indigenous people from across turtle island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land .
bonnie sherr klein’s 1981 documentary, not a love story: a film about pornography, encapsulates the challenges studio d faced when attempting to disrupt patriarchal norms in a larger project of feminist community building. many women both within and outside of the unit celebrated the film for “representing the first collage of pornographic culture, ” chris sherbarth writes, “presented from a critical—and accessible—perspective. ” not a love story fulfilled studio d’s larger intention to both document feminist movements and take part in their impetus insofar as klein’s documentary simultaneously recorded and contributed to the anti - pornography movement in 1980s. but the film was also criticized for its employment of inherited cinematic forms and its imposition of stagnating moral judgments. much like studio d, not a love story functioned as a point of contention for many feminist groups invested in the possibilities of representation .
this sequel to yossi and jagger finds dr. yossi gutmann reminiscing about his love ten years after his death; however, as he encounters a group of young soldiers, one of them, tom, reignites his romantic feelings .
ahead of its time, the history of lesbian sexuality was brought out of the closet in this 1992 documentary. featuring interviews from a variety of rebellious women discussing their queer experiences in the' 40s,' 50s and' 60s, it' s required viewing for any queer woman .
despite its issues with transitioning and diversity within the lesbian community, this trend - setting series portrayed an audience not used to seeing themselves so glam and with a plethora of problems (not just coming out) to tackle on screen. the l word candidly explored the drama of lesbian life and pulling no punches, it was a world where you were gay until proven straight .
love is love became the clear motto for dan levy' s character on the cbc sitcom schitt' s creek, when he came out as pansexual. kudos to levy for delivering one of the most hilarious explanations to date of what it means to be pansexual :
i do drink red wine. but i also drink white wine and i' ve been known to sample the occasional rosé. and a couple summers back i tried a merlot that used to be a chardonnay .
there would always have been a danger, in writing a combined article like this, of an imbalance between the sexes: we worked hard to eliminate that possibility, but our editor again did not help us. the change of title, which he would not accept, was a statement of our intent. he also rejected our attempt to relate the gay and lesbian movement post - stonewall and the appearance of lesbian and gay perspectives / studies in music in the 1990s to political and intellectual contexts and developments. these included the impact the women' s liberation movement of the 1960s had upon lesbian visibility, feminist debates about sex, sex differences and sexual oppression, the women' s music movement and study of women in music and the development of feminist critique and studies of gender and sexuality .
another phenomenon of the period was the inception of specifically lesbian / gay bands and choruses. among the earliest of these was new york' s victoria woodhull all - women' s marching band (1973), named after a 19th century feminist and presidential candidate (and not exclusively lesbian, although its theme song was the dykes go marching in), and catherine roma' s anna crusis women' s choir in philadelphia (1975), still a leading organization in the performance of new music by women. the gotham male chorus, founded in 1977, later incorporated women to become the stonewall chorale, the first lesbian and gay chorus. in 1978 jon sims founded the san francisco gay freedom day marching band and twirling corps, which became a noted focus for the political aspirations of the large lesbian and gay community in that city; a gay men' s chorus soon followed .
the big threat now, of course, is from the pc thought - police. one of sadie' s innovations is a series of articles on attitudes and ideologies: no problem with nazism or marxism, or with nationalism  on which the formidable richard taruskin pontificates  but the discussion of homosexuality gave a lot of problems. sadie has an article on gay and lesbian music, whose authors  a male brit and an australian female  initially wanted it billed as lesbian and gay music .
very different from this case is the increasing number of examinations of works for cultural traces that are writ large in the surrounding societal context, or identity - based critical interpretations enriched with a sense of the history of culture. work on communities of nuns and on the many women composers of italy, for instance, has prompted questions about how early modern religious eroticism might reflect an erotics of these suppressed voices, and has invited lesbian interpretations of the work of the many religious women who exhibit extravagant devotion to the virgin mary. recent work (by cusick) on francesca caccini also shows how a feminist and specifically lesbian approach can enliven and illumine the discussion of historical issues around music and the patriarchy. in view of the various inflections of the orpheus legend, too, significance has been read into the fact that in the monteverdi - striggio
d. eder, s. staggenborg and l. sudderth. the national women' s music festival: collective identity and diversity in a lesbian - feminist community .
] the opportunity to write abut the entire field (as opposed to the genre - inflected approach of previous encyclopaedias) was very instructive. the piece we produced was not intended to close the book on whatever lesbian and gay music might be, but to use theoretical speculation and suggestion to open it up. we hope that anyone reading it will be able to see straight away the possibility of dozens of dissertation or book topics. and we dedicate it to all those who have worked, often at considerable professional disadvantage, in this field that connects our scholarship to our lives in the most fruitful way .
did you know that forbidden love was a huge box - office and critical hit when it was initially released in 1992? in addition to a successful theatrical run in canada, the film was also distributed by women make movies in the us, where it played in 60 cities, including a 6 - week run at the film forum in new york city. after its theatrical run, the film played on the cbc in canada and on channel 4 in the uk (where it was seen by over 1 million people) .
such tensions of the human spirit brought about by the forces of oppression and the counterforces it also generates are much in need of deciphering in order to make greater sense of social and musical experience, both then and now. by focussing on such matters, a gay and lesbian perspective has the means to expand the entire critical and historical enterprise .
: 29) asking questions never posed during musicology' s long love - affair with straight fact. an example might be the placing of hildegard of bingen' s lyrical effusions in a context of the medieval eroticization of the body focussed (in her case) on same - sex desire. pointing out how insistently queer medieval christianity can be, holsinger (
a lesbian or gay approach to tchaikovsky' s life would most likely focus on his lively aspects, and the difference he made to the fields of concert music, opera and ballet. for instance, matthew bourne' s remarkable reinterpretation of
: 10836). at the close of the century, numerous lesbian and gay singers and queercore bands had a crossover popular following, or recorded on mainstream labels, including ani difranco, echobelly, janis ian, dan martin (founder of outmusic, an organization of lesbian and gay composers and lyricists) and michael biello, mouth almighty, me' shell ndegéocello, pansy division, linda perry, placebo, queer conscience, lucy ray, skin, debbie smith, suede, skunk anansie, and sister george. the institution of the gay / lesbian american music awards (glama) in 1996 did much to consolidate and encourage an already prolific field of endeavour .
1994, p 1039). with an emphasis on acoustic instruments, the music is grounded in folksong styles, sometimes inflected with blues, rock, jazz, reggae and even classical music. openly addressing lesbian desire and relationships as well as the feminist critique of patriarchy, misogyny and homophobia, it became important as an arena in which a lesbian community could be forged in the united states .
if you have any interest whatsoever in lesbian lives as they really have been and still are lived this is the documentary to see. no doubt that we have to salute those women who
dared
to show their faces on screen in this documentary; it' s not anything we are used to at least not outside the north america. even though the woman portraited are, of course, living in north america it is still a fabulous documentary, actually quite breathtaking in all its
naturalness
. also spiced with a bit of
filmic erotica
i feel is it a necessity to watch for any lesbian woman. bravo to those who came up with the idea and bravo for the woman who dared all along!
forbidden love : the unashamed stories of lesbian lives is a 1992 canadian documentary film about the lives of lesbian women and their experiences of lesbian pulp fiction . it was written and directed by lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman and featured author ann bannon . it premiered at the 1992 toronto festival of festivals and was released in the united states on 4 august 1993 . it was produced by studio d , the women 's studio of the national film board of canada . in may 2014 , the nfb re-released the film in a digitally remastered version . 
forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives is a 1992 canadian documentary film about the lives of lesbian women and their experiences of lesbian pulp fiction. it was written and directed by lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman and featured author ann bannon. it premiered at the 1992 toronto festival of festivals and was released in the united states on 4 august 1993. it was produced by studio d, the women's studio of the national film board of canada. in may 2014, the nfb re-released the film in a digitally remastered version.
forbidden love: the unashamed stories of lesbian lives is a 1992 canadian documentary film about the lives of lesbian women and their experiences of lesbian pulp fiction. it was written and directed by lynne fernie and aerlyn weissman and featured author ann bannon. it premiered at the 1992 toronto festival of festivals and was released in the united states on 4 august 1993. it was produced by studio d, the women's studio of the national film board of canada. in may 2014, the nfb re-released the film in a digitally remastered version.