Tag: documentray
BILLIE : Andrew Hebden reviews a riveting new doc on BILLIE HOLLIDAY
Saying that this riveting telling of the life of Billie Holiday is our second favourite music documentary of the past few years does not seem like the compliment it is until we remind you that our favourite was the sublime Amazing Grace centered on Aretha Franklin. Whereas Amazing Grace focuses on the vocal…
PS Burn This Letter Please : a glimpse into NY’s gay drag scene in the 1950’s + 1960’s
In 2007 John Maloof a young graduate working on a history project bought a suitcase full of photographic negatives in a Chicago auction hoping that one or two them maybe useful in his research. However what he discovered that day was a treasure trove of what is undoubtedly one on the finest collection of street…
Transformistas : the pioneer drag queens of Santa Clara, Cuba
Despite its setting of poverty and oppression there is a real sense of joy and elation in the lives of the Cuban drag queens captured in Transformistas (the local term for Drag) this new documentary. Cuba has always held conflicting and ambiguous views on homosexuality. Even though in 1981, the Ministry of Culture…
Dragtime : looking back in time
A great wee find on YouTube (so its free) is this thoroughly entertaining HBO documentary by then newbie director Patti Kaplan about some of our favorite Drag Queens. The year is 1997 and Jeff Roberson aka Varla Jean Merman is so young he is totally unrecognizable in men’s attire : Lady Bunny had more…
Queen of The Capital : Muffy makes it to the Top
This is an affectionate portrait of a middle-aged man who is a Department of Labor official by day and a Drag Queen who dreams of being royalty at night. Daniel Hays may reside in Washington DC these days but he still loves his Southern upbringing so hence his alter-ego Muffy Blake Stephyns loves to…
