Forbidden love: a queer film classic PDF
Preview Forbidden love: a queer film classic
FORBIDDEN LOVE Arsenal Pulp Press | Vancouver FORBIDDEN LOVE A QUEER FILM CLASSIC Jean Bruce and Gerda Cammaer FORBIDDEN LOVE: A Queer Film Classic Copyright © by Jean Bruce and Gerda Cammaer All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any part by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may use brief excerpts in a review, or in the case of photocopying in Canada, a license from Access Copyright. ARSENAL PULP PRESS Suite – East Georgia St. Vancouver, BC VA Z Canada arsenalpulp.com The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council for its publishing program, and the Government of Canada (through the Canada Book Fund) and the Government of British Columbia (through the Book Publishing Tax Credit Program) for its publishing activities. Parts of Chapter One have appeared in Jean Bruce, “A Melodramatic Imagined Nation: The Unruly Subject of Canadian Cinemas.” PhD Dissertation, Montreal: Humanities Doctoral Program, Concordia University, . Parts of Chapter Three have appeared in Jean Bruce, “Queer Cinema at the NFB: The ‘Strange Case’ of Forbidden Love.” In Candid Eyes: Essays on Canadian Documentaries, edited by Jeannette Sloniowski and Jim Leach, –. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, . Efforts have been made to locate copyright holders of source material wherever possible. The publisher welcomes hearing from any copyright holders of material used in this book who have not been contacted. Queer Film Classics editors: Matthew Hays and Thomas Waugh Cover and text design by Oliver McPartlin with Gerilee McBride Edited for the press by Susan Safyan Printed and bound in Canada Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication: Bruce, Jean, -, author Forbidden love / Jean Bruce, Gerda Cammaer. (A queer film classic) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN ---- (paperback).—ISBN ---- (epub) . Forbidden love (Motion picture). . Lesbians in motion pictures. . Homosexuality in motion pictures. . Documentary films—Canada. . Lesbians—Canada—Social life and customs. I. Cammaer, Gerda, author II. Title. III. Series: Queer film classics HQ..CB .' C-- C-- Contents | Acknowledgments | Synopsis | Credits | One: Queer Visibility and the Archive | Two: Making Forbidden Love | Three: Documentary Meets Melodrama | Four: Please Release Me | References | Filmography | Discography | Appendix One: Archival Materials | Appendix Two: Q&A with Susan G. Cole, Lynne | Fernie, B. Ruby Rich, and Rina Fraticelli | Index ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the National Film Board of Canada, especially Executive Producer Rina Fraticelli, and producers Ginny Stikeman and Margaret Pettigrew of Studio D, which was the Women’s Unit of the NFB from –. Their fore- sight and support of diverse film projects, including Forbidden Love, was remarkable. We are grateful for the efforts of all of Tom Perlmutter’s staff, especially James Roberts, for bringing the film to the attention of those who needed to know that it should be back in circula- tion and for finding the resources to get the rights renewed and the film digitally remastered. Thanks also to Moira Keigher and Oleksandra Synytsyna for timely and helpful information. Many thanks to our intrepid editors, Matt Hays and Tom Waugh, and the folks at Arsenal Pulp Press: Brian Lam, Robert Ballantyne, Susan Safyan, Gerilee McBride, and Oliver McPartlin for technical assistance, copyediting, image cor- rection, and coordination. Additional editorial assistance was provided by Laurel Aziz. Thanks to Zoe Dirse, Forbidden Love’s cinematographer, for providing photos and stories from the film. Thanks also to graduate students, Michèle Pearson Clarke and Kate Moore, for research, technical assistance, and transcription. Last but not least, we want to thank Aerlyn Weissman 7 queer film classics and Lynne Fernie for making a film that still captivates us all these years later. Lynne also provided answers to ongo- ing questions throughout the writing process, and gener- ously shared her archive of images, texts, and memories. 8 SYNOPSIS Forbidden Love (Aerlyn Weissman, Lynne Fernie, ) is a documentary-fiction hybrid produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The film was one of the last major productions made by the women’s unit, Studio D, as well as the first overtly lesbian feature-length film released by the NFB. The film alternates between documentary interviews involving ten women who reflect on their lives and times as lesbians in the repressive context of the s to ’s, and an open-ended melodramatic, fictional pulp romance set in the s where girl meets girl and has a great night of dancing and sex. Forbidden Love begins with the fictional story of Laura and Meg (noted as Beth in the credits). Laura is at Hays train sta- tion leaving her small town and her girl for the big city. Meg arrives with her boyfriend (Bill) to return the locket Laura has given her and this exchange launches Laura on her way. There are four such vignettes in the film interspersed throughout. The final pulp segment ends with Laura and Mitch the morn- ing after they meet in a bar and dance. Laura and Mitch have spent the night together and they have made love in Mitch’s apartment. The remainder of the film is comprised of inter- views with lesbians from across Canada telling their stories. These are: Ruth Christine, Reva Hutkin, Stephanie Ozard, 9
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