Five@50
2019
| 5 short Films
Selections and Awards
LGBTQ2+ lives, 50 years later
Five personal stories of victories, losses, and empowerment.
In 1969, Canada passed Bill C-150 into law, which partially decriminalized homosexuality in Canada.
Fifty years later, the NFB presents Five@50, a unique collection of five-minute shorts reflecting on contemporary LGBTQ2+ lives and identities. These intimate documentaries range from personal reflection to cultural history, and include experimental forms, animation, and dramatization.
When it comes to progress and queer culture, what have we gained? And what have we lost along the way?
Featuring films by Michèle Pearson Clarke, Thirza Cuthand, Tiffany Hsiung, Vivek Shraya and Michael V. Smith.
A unique collection of five-minute shorts reflecting on contemporary LGBTQ2+ lives and identities. When it comes to progress and queer culture, what have we gained in the last 50 years? And what have we lost along the way?
Trailer: Five@50
Handmade Mountain | Michèle Pearson Clarke , 6 min 42 s
In Handmade Mountain, Michèle Pearson Clarke explores the emotional fallout of being both early to gay marriage and early to gay divorce. Fifteen years after same-sex marriage became legal, she and friends reflect on its personal and political meaning in this experimental film.
Long Synopsis
Fifteen years after we gained the right to same-sex marriage, Michèle Pearson Clarke explores the emotional fallout of being both early to gay marriage and early to gay divorce in this experimental film. Through audio excerpts from conversations with friends who attended her 2005 wedding, she considers the emotional complexities and collective stakes involved when your personal choices are entangled with your political rights. Visually, Handmade Mountain juxtaposes documentary reaction shots, using repetition and jump cuts for further effect.
CREDITS
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA PRESENTS
HANDMADE MOUNTAIN
Written and Directed by
Michèle Pearson Clarke
In Conversation with
Ross Burnett and Nick Hanning
Scott Ferguson and Russell Mathew
Rachel Giese and Jenn Miller
Producer
Justine Pimlott
Executive Producer
Anita Lee
Director of Photography
Alyssa Bistonath
Editor
Michèle Pearson Clarke
Sound Recordist
Jordan Kawai
Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas
Senior Production Coordinator
Andrew Martin-Smith
Gaffer
Cheska Appave
Assistant Editor
Jordan Kawai
Credits Design and Visual Effects
Branden Bratuhin
Studio Operations Manager
Mark Wilson
Studio Administrator
Patricia Bourgeois
Technical Coordinator
Kevin Riley
Studio Coordinator
Carly Kastner
Technical Assistant
Q’mal Labad-Workman
Marketing Manager
Melissa Wheeler
Publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal Counsel
Christian Pitchen
Post-Production Services provided by
SIM Post Toronto
Colourist
Arlene Moelker
Online Editor
Darren Hinchy
Assistant Online Editor
Steve Thorpe
Finishing Producer
Mateusz Sklarzyk
Sound Editor
Chris King
Assistant Re-Recording Mixer
Ella Melanson
Re-Recording Mixer
James Bastable
“Hmmmm?” Copyright © 2013 Beach Moon/Peach Moon (Robert Prisco). All rights reserved.
“Bed of Truth” Copyright © 2013 Beach Moon/Peach Moon (Robert Prisco). All rights reserved.
A Very Special Thank you
Nasreen Khan
Thank you
401 Richmond Pat Mills
Ricardo Acosta Mia Nielsen
Arielle Berger Emma Phelan
Nicola Brown Mariangela Piccione
Jacqueline Clarke Nolan Pike
Maya Gallus Mark Savoia
Peter Gibson The Drake Hotel
Tammy Hinsche Lulu Wei
Anisa Khan Christina Zeidler
Nina Levitt
Clip
Images: Handmade Mountain
Woman Dress | Thirza Cuthand, 6 min 26 s
Pre-contact, a Two Spirit person named Woman Dress travels the Plains, gathering and sharing stories. Featuring archival images and dramatized re-enactments, this film shares a Cuthand family oral story, honouring and respecting Woman Dress without imposing colonial binaries on them.
Long Synopsis
In this short doc featuring dramatized re-enactments, filmmaker Thirza Cuthand’s Auntie Beth tells the story of a Two Spirit person named Woman Dress. Pre-contact, Woman Dress travels the Plains, going from village to village, collecting and telling stories, and sharing news.
Woman Dress’s own story has been kept alive orally in the Cuthand family, an act of resistance against colonialism and Christianity, which almost eradicated the position of Two Spirit people in Cree communities.
Cree has no gendered pronouns, and the film honours and respects Woman Dress’s gender identity by alternating she/he pronouns instead of imposing a colonial binary system on them. The film draws on archival NFB footage of the Prairies and images of contemporary urban settings as a backdrop for Woman Dress’s own story. It is a powerful act of reclaiming history and present-day space for Two Spirit people.
CREDITS
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA PRESENTS
WOMAN DRESS
Written and Directed by
Thirza Cuthand
Producer
Justine Pimlott
Executive Producer
Anita Lee
Featuring
Beth Cuthand
Thirza Cuthand
Kiley May
Director of Photography
Gabriela Osio Vanden
Editor
Maria Todorov-Topouzov
Costume Designer
Sage Paul
Costume Designer
Sage Paul
Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas
Unit Production Manager
Priscilla Galvez
Production Coordinator
Andrew Martin-Smith
Assistant Camera
Jacob White
Gaffer
John Palanca
Hair and Makeup Artist
Misty Fox
Sound Recordists
Miles Thorogood
Kevin Riley
Production Assistants
Alexander Humilde
Renee Poujade
VFX Supervisor
Maria Todorov-Topouzov
Transcription
Grahame Hinton-Barber
Manager: Studio Operations
Mark Wilson
Studio Administrator
Patricia Bourgeois
Technical Coordinator
Kevin Riley
Studio Coordinator
Carly Kastner
Technical Assistant
Q’mal Labad-Workman
Marketing Manager
Melissa Wheeler
Publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal Counsel
Christian Pitchen
Post Production Services provided by
SIM Post Toronto
Colourist
Andrew Ross
Online Editor
Ty Delgaty
Assistant Online Editor
Steve Thorpe
Sound Editor
Kathy Choi
Assistant Re-Recording Mixer
Jesse Fellows
Re-Recording Mixer
Stacy Coutts
“Southern Thunderbird Woman”
Written and performed by Southern Thunderbird Medicine Drum.
© 2019 by Maegan Salwan. All rights reserved.
Archival footage courtesy of
NFB ARCHIVES ONF
and
Thirza Cuthand
Special Thanks
Ricardo Acosta
Beth Cuthand
Stan Cuthand
Maya Gallus
Peter Gibson
Adam Weitner
Clip
Images : Woman Dress
The Bassinet | Tiffany Hsiung , 6 min 25 s
When a vintage bassinet appears at filmmaker Tiffany Hsiung and long-time fiancée Victoria Mata’s home, it sets off a chain reaction of emotions. The Bassinet is a gentle and affecting story about Tiffany’s personal struggle with the intersection of her sexual orientation and cultural identity, and the cross-generational burden of having a baby in the context of rigid social constructs of marriage and family.
Long Synopsis
Tiffany Hsiung and Victoria Mata have been engaged for more than three years. At this point, whether or not they get married seems less significant than whether they have a baby—something Tiffany thinks would change everything in her life. When Victoria brings home a vintage bassinet that’s long been in her family, it sets off a chain reaction of thoughts and emotions for Tiffany, forcing her to deal with her own internal conflicts about becoming a parent.
Lined with Chinese idioms and notions from the cultural upbringing that has shaped Tiffany, The Bassinet is a gentle and affecting story about her personal struggle with the intersection of her sexual orientation and cultural identity, and the cross-generational burden of having a baby in the context of rigid social constructs of marriage and family.
CREDITS
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA PRESENTS
THE BASSINET
Written and Directed by
Tiffany Hsiung
Producer
Justine Pimlott
Executive Producer
Anita Lee
Director of Photography
Alex Tong
Editor
Tiffany Beaudin
Featuring
Tiffany Hsiung
Victoria Mata
Story Editor
Jennifer Kassabian
Music by
Tom Third
Sound Recordist
Peter Sawade
Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas
Production Manager
Priscilla Galvez
Senior Production Coordinator
Andrew Martin-Smith
First Assistant Camera
Sean Marjoram
Key Grip
Daniel Edwards
Production Assistant
Daniela Arango Cano
Studio Operations Manager
Mark Wilson
Studio Administrator
Patricia Bourgeois
Technical Coordinator
Kevin Riley
Studio Coordinator
Carly Kastner
Technical Assistant
Q’mal Labad-Workman
Marketing Manager
Melissa Wheeler
Publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal Counsel
Christian Pitchen
Post-Production Services provided by
SIM Post Toronto
Colourist
Arlene Moelker
Online Editor
Darren Hinchy
Assistant Online Editor
Steve Thorpe
Finishing Producer
Mateusz Sklarzyk
Sound Editor
David Caporale
Assistant Re-Recording Mixer
Ella Melanson
Re-Recording Mixer
James Bastable
Special Thanks
Peter Gibson
Lido Pimienta
Wendy Tan
Fernanda Yanchapaxi
Hsiung Family
Tu Family
Dunlop Family
Shoemaker Family
Geary Family
Future Baby
Clip
Images: The Bassinet
Reviving the Roost | Vivek Shraya , 6 min 14 s
Filmmaker and bestselling author Vivek Shraya’s ode to a popular Edmonton gay bar that closed in 2007. With pulsating neon-light animation, Reviving the Roost is a story about community complexity and longing, and an elegy to a lost space.
Long Synopsis
The Roost was a popular gay bar in Edmonton from 1997 to 2007.
In Reviving the Roost, filmmaker and bestselling author Vivek Shraya tells a story about community complexity and longing. With pulsating neon-light animation, the film is a reminder of a time of queer coexistence (and constraint), and an elegy to a lost space.
CREDITS
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA PRESENTS
REVIVING THE ROOST
Written & Directed by
Vivek Shraya
Producer
Justine Pimlott
Executive Producer
Anita Lee
Animator / Illustrator
Tim Singleton
Music / Sound Design
Johnny Spence
Additional Cinematography
Zachary Ayotte
Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas
Senior Production Coordinator
Andrew Martin-Smith
Manager: Studio Operations
Mark Wilson
Studio Administrator
Patricia Bourgeois
Technical Coordinator
Kevin Riley
Studio Coordinator
Carly Kastner
Technical Assistant
Q’mal Labad-Workman
Marketing Manager
Melissa Wheeler
Publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal Counsel
Christian Pitchen
Post Production Services provided by
SIM Post Toronto
Colourist
Andrew Ross
Online Editor
Ty Delgaty
Assistant Online Editor
Steve Thorpe
Sound Editor
Elma Bello
Assistant Re-Recording Mixer
Jesse Fellows
Re-Recording Mixer
Martin Lee
Special Thanks
Ricardo Acosta
Maya Gallus
Peter Gibson
Adam Holman
Patrick Ryley
Ivan Seymour
Moona Syed
Jesse Wente
Trish Yeo
Clip
Images: Reviving The Roost
The Hook Up | Michael V. Smith , 6 min 21 s
The Hook Up is an experimental doc featuring four gay men from two different generations: two nearing age 70 and two 20-somethings. Striking close-up visuals create a powerful sense of intimacy and connection as the men discuss how hooking up has (and has not) evolved for gay men.
Long Synopsis
Hook-up culture has changed a lot over the last 50 years. Or has it?
The Hook Up is an experimental doc featuring four gay men from two different generations: two nearing age 70 and two 20-somethings. The older men, out in Vancouver since the late ’60s and early ’70s, describe the complexities of hooking up in the pre-app era. Meanwhile, the younger men’s experience is generally—but not exclusively—more straightforward and transactional.
Writer and filmmaker Michael V. Smith uses striking close-up visuals of the men, creating a powerful sense of intimacy and connection as they discuss how hooking up has (and has not) evolved for gay men.
CREDITS
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA PRESENTS
THE HOOK-UP
Written and Directed by
Michael V. Smith
Producer
Justine Pimlott
Executive Producer
Anita Lee
Director of Photography
Lindsay George
Editor
Jessica Dymond
Featuring
Otto Chan
Josh Gradilone
Colin Thomas
Paul Wong
Sound Design
Eva Madden
Sound Recordist
Sandor Gyurkovics
Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas
Senior Production Coordinator
Andrew Martin-Smith
Gaffer
Bradley Davis
Make-up Artist
Min-Jee Mowat
Production Assistants
Amelia Morris
Katrina Tadros
Visual Effects
Branden Bratuhin
Manager: Studio Operations
Mark Wilson
Studio Administrator
Patricia Bourgeois
Technical Coordinator
Kevin Riley
Studio Coordinator
Carly Kastner
Technical Assistant
Q’mal Labad-Workman
Marketing Manager
Melissa Wheeler
Publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal Counsel
Christian Pitchen
Post Production Services provided by
SIM Post Toronto
Sound Editor
Jean Choi Bot
Re-Recording Mixer
Martin Lee
Assistant Re-Recording Mixer
Will Stephens
Colourist
Andrew Ross
Online Editor
Ty Delgaty
Assistant Online Editor
Steve Thorpe
Special Thanks
Ricardo Acosta
Daniel Collins
Kevin Dale McKeown
Ron Dutton
Maya Gallus
Peter Gibson
Denise Kenney
Bryan McKinnon
Francis Langevin
Kaschelle Thiessen
VIVO
Nettie Wild
Clip
Images: The Hook Up
Team
Michèle Pearson Clarke
Filmmaker
Biography
Photo
Photo : Jessica Laforet
Michèle Pearson Clarke
Michèle Pearson Clarke is a Trinidad-born artist, writer and educator who works in photography, film, video and installation. Using archival, performative and process-oriented strategies, her work explores the personal and political possibilities afforded by considering experiences of emotions related to longing and loss. Her work has been featured in exhibitions and screenings at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (2019), the LagosPhoto festival (2018), Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (2018), the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (2018), ltd los angeles (2018), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2016). Based in Toronto, Clarke holds an MSW from the University of Toronto, and in 2015 she received her MFA in Documentary Media Studies from Ryerson University, where she is currently a contract lecturer. Most recently, Clarke has been awarded the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts 2019 Finalist Artist Prize, and she has been appointed to serve a three-year term as the second Photo Laureate for the City of Toronto.
Thirza Jean Cuthand
Filmmaker
Biography
Photo
Thirza Jean Cuthand
Thirza Jean Cuthand makes short experimental videos and films about sexuality, madness, queer identity, love and Indigeneity, which have screened in festivals and galleries internationally. She completed her BFA with a major in Film/Video at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2005 and her MA in Media Production at Ryerson University in 2015. She has performed at Live at the End of the Century in Vancouver, Performatorium in Regina, and 7a*11d in Toronto. She is a Whitney Biennial 2019 artist. She is Plains Cree/Scots, a member of Little Pine First Nation, and resides in Toronto, Canada.
Tiffany Hsiung
Filmmaker
Biography
Photo
Photo : Kevin Kelly
Tiffany Hsiung
Tiffany Hsiung is a Toronto-based filmmaker. Her debut feature-length documentary, The Apology (2016), produced by the National Film Board of Canada, has won more than a dozen awards internationally, including the prestigious Peabody Award and the Allan King Memorial Award, presented by the Documentary Organization of Canada. The Apology was one of the top 10 films at Hot Docs (2016), the winner of best documentary awards at the Busan International Film Festival and the Oslo International Film Festival, and nominated for an Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary by the Directors Guild of Canada. Hsiung co-created and co-directed the interactive web documentary The Space We Hold (2017), which had its world premiere at the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival and was awarded a Peabody – Futures of Media Award and a Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Digital Production.
Vivek Shraya
Filmmaker
Biography
Photo
Photo : Zachary Ayotte
Vivek Shraya
Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of literature, visual art, theatre and film. Her bestselling book, I’m Afraid of Men, was heralded by Vanity Fair as “cultural rocket fuel,” and her album with Queer Songbook Orchestra, Part‑Time Woman, was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached and the founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. A five-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek was a 2016 Pride Toronto Grand Marshal, was featured on The Globe and Mail’s Best Dressed list, and has received honours from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and the Publishing Triangle. She is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Calgary.
Michael V. Smith
Filmmaker
Biography
Photo
Photo : Sarah Race Photography
Michael V. Smith
Michael V. Smith is a queer writer, performer and associate professor teaching creative writing in the interdisciplinary department of Creative Studies at UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, in BC’s Interior. Smith is an MFA grad from UBC’s Creative Writing program.
Justine Pimlott
Producer
Biography
Photo
Photo : Jennifer Rowsom
Justine Pimlott
Justine Pimlott is a multi-award-winning producer based at the National Film Board of Canada’s Ontario Studio in Toronto. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, she has a long history of bringing stories that are often marginalized to the screen.
Her NFB credits include: A Better Man (Hot Docs 2017, Doc NYC 2017); the Canada 150 interactive project Portrait of a Family (2017); What Walaa Wants (Berlin 2018, Hot Docs 2018 DGC Special Jury Prize Best for Canadian Feature Documentary, TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Film, CSA nominee for Best Feature Length Documentary); Camera Test – Five Feminist Minutes (Hot Docs 2019); numerous Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards shorts; the online LGBTQ2+ short doc series, Five @ 50 (2019); Borealis (Hot Docs 2020); and Inconvenient Indian (2020).
Anita Lee
Executive Producer
Biography
Photo
Anita Lee
Anita Lee is Executive Producer and Head of Studio in Toronto for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), where she helms the programming and production of Ontario projects, including Canadian and international co-productions, and forges key strategic partnerships. A multi-award-winning producer, Lee produced some of the most critically acclaimed works in NFB history, including Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, named Best Documentary Feature by both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle and Best Canadian Film by the Toronto Film Critics Association. She was awarded a Peabody for The Apology. Recent projects as Executive Producer include: This Is Not a Movie (TIFF 2019); What Is Democracy? (TIFF 2018); What Walaa Wants (Berlin 2018, DGC Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs 2018, TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten, CSA nominee for 2019 Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary); Unarmed Verses (Best Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs 2017, TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten, CSA nominee for 2018 Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary); A Better Man (Hot Docs 2017, Doc NYC 2017); and Draw Me Close (Tribeca 2017, Venice 2017). Lee also established the NFB’s Creative Non-Fiction Immersive Lab, which partnered with the CFC and the Ford Foundation on the Open Immersion documentary VR lab, with the National Theatre (UK) on a creative doc VR lab, and with POV Spark (PBS) on Otherly, a non-fiction Instagram Stories lab. Lee is the Founder/Advisory Chair of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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About the NFB
The NFB is Canada’s public producer and distributor of award-winning documentaries, auteur animation, interactive stories and participatory experiences, working with talented creators across the country. The NFB is taking action to combat systemic racism and become a more open and diverse organization, while working to strengthen Indigenous-led production and gender equity in film and digital media. NFB productions have won more than 7,000 awards, including 12 Oscars. To access this unique content, visit NFB.ca.