The perfect fit. We’re all seeking it—for our jobs, our jeans, our lovers and our leaders. But perfection usually proves elusive and we end up settling for pretty good or make-do solutions. Once in a while, though, fate throws us a bone. Like, for example, Thom Fitzgerald hooking up with Halifax Pride to curate and present the first Reel Out Film Festival, running during Pride Week.
This will be the first year Halifax Pride has had an actual film festival as part of its events calendar. Previous years saw one or two films exhibited, but film didn’t factor heavily in the agenda. This year’s Pride co-chair Hugo Dann wanted to change that, but was faced with the challenge of finding someone who could make it happen. Names were being bandied about, Dann says, when a committee member mentioned he knew Fitzgerald: “I just said ‘Oh God! Thank you!’”
Fitzgerald (3 Needles, The Hanging Garden) is one of Canada’s most widely celebrated and prolific filmmakers. He knows and loves film and is passionate about the role of cinema as both educator and entertainer. He lives in Halifax. And he’s gay. If there is a more perfect person to run Reel Out, it’s hard to think of who it could be.
Fitzgerald has programmed four feature films and three documentaries, representing works from Australia, Canada, Israel, India and the US. Exhibiting films from other countries and perspectives was a crucial element of his decision-making, because it provides a much-needed larger context in which to interpret Pride celebrations.
“Years ago we were marching for a cause. It’s become much more celebratory now,” he says. And while he doesn’t see that as a bad thing, Fitzgerald points out that gay rights are far from equal around the world and there’s value in understanding the circumstances outside of one’s own communities. Reel Out is also about access to international cinema. “Look at Halifax these days,” he says, “the population is exploding, but culturally, it’s imploding. There’s nothing to see here. One week a year”—the Atlantic Film Festival—“is not enough.”
This is not Fitzgerald’s first foray into festival programming. Over brunch, he talks about Peggy’s Film Festival, which he founded in the early ’90s. “Peggy’s was way more avant-garde than I would attempt now, because all the films I’m showing now, would have shown at Wormwoods, when there was a loyal independent film audience,” he says of the defunct rep cinema. “Then, alternative theatre would have been Annie Sprinkle.”
A single five-day festival can hardly be expected to change all that, but it’s a start, and one that Fitzgerald argues is a Halifax must-have. And he’s putting his money where his mouth is. Not only is he programming the festival, he’s also footing the bill. His company, Emotion Pictures, is presenting the entire festival, save one documentary, and he hired a coordinator, Peter Knegt, to help deal with the logistics. In keeping with Pride’s mandate of making sure all events are affordable, there’s only a $5 requested donation for each film, making this a risky endeavour for him.
He’s not concerned. “I don’t take it personally when they don’t show up for my films,” he says. “Why would I take it personally that people don’t show up for lesbian Bollywood films?”
The films range in length, style and tone, offering something for almost all sensibilities. There’s a teenage comedy about a group of gay boys all trying to loose their virginity in one summer (closing night’s Another Gay Movie), poignant documentaries about searching for identity (Keep Not Silent and 533 Statements) and Fitzgerald’s favourite, a doomed-lovers’ story from India (The Journey).
Against the threat that all this independent cinema earnestness might drown out the fabulousness, Fitzgerald has programmed a doozy of a festival opener. Dubbed “Dragging the Harbour,” the event includes an outdoor screening of the cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, at Tall Ships Quay and a liquor-licensed boat docked right in front of the screen for those interested in libations. One can expect to see plenty of boas. And a lot of people, for this is not a movie to be watched alone.
That’s exactly the point, says Fitzgerald. “It’s bringing a communal viewing experience to something that’s become private and isolated. You shouldn’t have to watch gay and lesbian films by yourself all the time.”
Reel Out Film Festival, July 15-20, various times and locations, $5, www.halifaxpride.com
This article appears in Jul 13-19, 2006.