Hello friends! I am not really stuck in a well, but I am writing to you from deep within a project-hole. Sure is dark and cozy down here!
You may remember that earlier this year I shared I was invited to be part of the incredible AFI DWW+ program, and that part of that program is making a film.
I wanted to send you all a message to let you know where I have been, and what I’ve been up to, and to assure you that Gender Appropriate and its film companion Paper Ties, are going nowhere.
The film I’m making is called Old Dykes and is a bittersweet love story about two women in their sixties. This narrative short film is taking the assumptions people make about the words “Old” and “Dyke” and pulling them apart like pizza dough.
As I work on Old Dykes, I consistently feel compelled to share the process with you, subscriber, as the intersections of Gender Appropriate and Old Dykes converge.
These days it often lies in reference. I have written here about the films Outlaw, the 1994 documentary about Leslie Feinberg, and Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box (1987) about Storme Delaverie. These films, and the film Esther Newton Made Me Gay (2022), have been guiding lights through this project too as I tunnel through the landscape of dykes on screen. I’m so compelled by the edges of gender (or lack thereof) in dyke traditions and these three films offer so much of that for me.
As work on Old Dykes continues and you would like to follow along, there is an Instagram @olddykesfilm. I will be returning to regularly scheduled Gender Appropriate programming in the fall.
We have a couple more days of fundraising for the film… and there is some spectacular merch involved.
With gratitude,
ez