1981: Brisbane Festival of Gay Films
A couple of years ago someone posted a Comment on this blog asking, “if I lived in those times, would it have been possible to be happy as a gay male or not.” I replied that it most certainly was, as we’re a pretty resilient bunch.
The 1981 Festival of Gay Films, in Brisbane, Australia strikes me as a particularly good example of that. In the 80s, queer people in Brisbane – and the wider state of Queensland – were under siege from an intensely homophobic government that stopped at nothing to demonise and attack them. Its milder measures included a ban on the sale of LGBT publications and even an attempt to prevent queer people from being served in pubs! (I’ve covered this in much greater detail in other posts here and here.)
And yet queer Queenslanders continued to create safe and affirming spaces for socialising and support. The brochure for the Film Festival, for example, says “The movies have been selected for their exploratory and supportive treatment of our lifestyle.”
The programme itself is also a testament to an emerging global queer sensibility in film. Items include Jan Oxenburg’s 1975 short film A Comedy in Six Unnatural Acts (USA), Richard Turner’s Squeeze (New Zealand 1980), In the Best Interest of the Children (IRIS Feminist Collective, USA 1977) and Australia’s own Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Pooftas (One in Seven Collective, 1979).
Two years after the festival, the first case of AIDS was reported in Australia. The Queensland government’s response to this was to further ramp up the homophobia in an attempt to distract attention from its own corrupt activities. It got away with it for a while but by the end of the decade it’s activities had been exposed and they were kicked out. Queensland queer communities, on the other hand, continued to continue.
Hi, My name is Michael, I live in Toronto, Canada. I am looking for information about a film that might have been shown at the film festival in 1981, 82 or 83. I did this film when I was around 18. I thought the film was called “Paint me down” ,but I can’t be sure. Although, I am almost certain the song “Paint me Down” was used in the film during a scene of the 2 actors pouring paint on each other in an erotic scene. The film was about a young model who everyone thinks is straight, but is actually gay. I heard from a friend years after doing the film that the film had been shown in England at a gay film festival and won a small award. I have never seen the film and I do not know The director or the producers name. So little information to go on, but when I did a recent search this particular gay film festival in the UK came up and it looked like a good place to start my search. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.