It’s impossible to imagine Canada’s New Queer Cinema without artist, author, and filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, who has been amusing and provoking audiences with his subversive works since the 1980s: from punk home movies shot on 8 mm to politically conscious gay porn, his anti-mainstream stance is evident in the aesthetics and themes of his films. One of his favourite targets is heteronormativity, which he loves to attack and humorously reverse. This stimulating late-night program showcases three of LaBruce’s shorts from different periods.
I Know What It’s Like to Be Dead
Bruce LaBruce / Canada 1988 / 15' / colour/black & white / English / Exp
«My character in the film, played by myself, becomes ill and dies on the operating table», says the prolific director about his montage-like work. «He then has a life-after-death experience, including visions of zombie children, Lucille Ball, and the infamous kiss between Linda Evans and AIDS victim Rock Hudson on ‹Dynasty›.»
The Bad Breast
Bruce LaBruce / Canada/Germany 2010 / 19'30" / English / Exp
Starting as a theatre project developed and directed by Bruce LaBruce at the HAU in Berlin, «The Bad Breast» was inspired by the life and theoretical writings of Melanie Klein, one of the psychoanalytic thinkers who interpreted Freud’s work after his death. This short film is composed of visual material shot for the theatre piece and afterwards turned into a stand-alone film.
Purple Army Faction (PAF)
Bruce LaBruce / Canada 2018 / 26'58" / colour / English / Fic
In a topsy-turvy alternate reality, the militant Purple Army Faction (PAF) patrols the streets, hunting sexual deviants who need to be caught and converted. Arad Winwin leads Dato Foland and new recruit Levi Karter on a night patrol, and they nab François Sagat, taking him to their HQ to «reorient» him from straight to gay! Stripped to the waist and tied to a chair, François resists but is soon subjected to Arad’s forceful kisses and manhandling.
