In this article we reflect on our experiences researching and curating a Canadian lesbian feature film, Dreamers of the Day (1990, dirs. Patricia Rivera Spencer and Philip Wood). We explore how a community-driven approach to archival research is necessary for investigating low-budget lesbian films such as this, and in turn, should inform accompanying curatorial practices. When screening lesser-known queer films, the community networks necessary to their creation and then later for their preservation tend to be overlooked in favor of celebrating the accomplishments of an individual director. If curators of queer film focus exclusively on the finished product and exhibit only remarkable films, they risk missing works that speak to queer filmmaking practices and the importance of these histories to queer community-building. To counteract these investments, we instead consider how strategies of collaboration can inform filmmaking, research methods, and curatorial practices, illuminating the relational networks that make queer art possible.
Dreamers of the Day and the Living Archive of 1990s Lesbian Cinema in Canada Available to Purchase
Tamara de Szegheo Lang is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University. Her research takes up queer history, community-based archives, visual culture, and the affective relationships between LGBT2Q+ people and the past.
Dan Vena is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University. He locates his academic interests within the spheres of visual and popular cultures, merging together trans, queer, and feminist approaches to an array of topics, including monsters and horror cinema, Classical Hollywood Cinema, comic book superheroes, and histories of medicine.
Prerna Subramanian earned their PhD in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University and is currently an Assistant Professor in Jindal Global Law School, OP Jindal University, India. Their research takes an interdisciplinary approach to representation of social justice in Indian pop culture—especially with regard to trans and queer communities. Outside academia and movement spaces, they can be found making memes around abolition and building international solidarity networks within the kpop fandom space.
Tamara de Szegheo Lang, Dan Vena, Prerna Subramanian; Dreamers of the Day and the Living Archive of 1990s Lesbian Cinema in Canada. Feminist Media Histories 1 April 2024; 10 (2-3): 283–294. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2024.10.2-3.283
Download citation file: