So, you are making a film called travel queeries. How did you decide to do that? What made you decide to make a film?
I initially got the idea from going to Queeruption Barcelona, in 2005, I think it was in June.
In spring 2005 and was wanting to kind of get out of the US and also while I was out of the country, meet other queer people and so I found out that queeruption was happening in barcelona where I was actually planning on going anyways for a holiday and so I ended up going and it was really, really amazing. And I just met queer follks who were doing really interesting stuff in their communities from all over Europe and some folks from North America and the Middle East.
[I] kind of was just having typical queer conversations about politics and identity and stuff and community organising with people at the festival but people had a lot of different ideas or angles that I couldn’t really put my finger on but that were really -- i don’t know, but I felt like I was having similar conversations to what I’d had with people from the States but it just had this whole different skew with different cultural influences and perspectives and ways of thinking about things. It was really, really, really refreshing and really interesting to me. And since I’m obsessed with being gay, I really had to pursue it (laughs).
So I went back to Seattle and talked to my friend Margaritte who’s co-creator of the film and she’s co-producer now on it. And was just like, we have to go back .. and, y’know “oh mi god, let’s go hang out with hot queer people in Europe (laughs.) and talk to them about stuff and go see the different communities and.. And, yeah, we just figured it out."
I wanted to make it because I feel like, especially coming from the States, the community I come from is, y’know, really kind of like liberal, progressive whatever. People are doing a lot of activism work and stuff and also there is a big party scene where people aren’t really doing anything. But, point being is that even within the communities of people who are doing really interesting stuff there is a very kind of like right and wrong perspective and and there is not a lot of influences of different ideas. And I feel like it’s not a very open space in a lot of ways and I really feel like people need to be education and connected to communities that are really similar to them but doing different things internationally and get out of isolation.
Why did you decide to do the project as a film though? I mean, had you made films before or been involved in film projects before?
Yeah, film was my chosen medium because, I don’t know, yeah that’s what I have the most background in. I started doing video production stuff when I was 13 and from fake cooking shows to my eight grade year book video, short films I did as class projects at the Evergreen State College in Olympia and being involved in the Olympia Film Branch.
Who else is currently involved? I mean, you’ve mentioned Margaritte, the co-creator, and co-producer, but who else is on the team?
So, the team, what we like to call Team TQ, is made up of .. well, firstly myself. The title that I currently hold is Director/Executive Producer. Then there is Margaritte Kyneizic, who is co-creator but now is standing as Co-producer and Director of Photography (DP). Sidney Jo was somebody who I had actually lived with in Seattle before and she’s working on another documentary film project called the Descendents Project which is really interesting. Yeah, and I just feel like she had already been involved in that community and she was really smart, and well organised and so I invited her to be co-producer on the film also and she is also Director of Photography.
What places did you film in last summer?
Last summer we filmed in London, Leeds, we filmed a little bit in Manchester but I’m not really sure we’re going to use any of that. So, I don’t really want to say ten million different places ...
London , Leeds, Berlin and Warsaw.
This next summer we are going to be filming in Barcelona, Copenhagen (doing Queer Festival Copenhagen), Belgrade Serbia and Rome and Milan.
Have you stuck with the plan of the places that you had initially or has it changed a bit as you’ve met people and travelled?
Initially we had a really really really long list of places we wanted to go and we were just like “there is no fucking way we can do any of this.. we can’t do all of this”. I mean we don’t have the money to do all of it and we don’t have the time and we can’t fit all those places into one film. I mean there are places that there is obviously amazing stuff going on there or they have a history or reputation. y’know, like Paris or Amsterdam obviously have reputations internationally and we’re choosing not to visit those locations because..compared with other places, the scene there right now isn’t really.. It might be a good scene, but it’s not doing anything from my perspective that is really that innovative or new or interesting.
A lot of the film is based on personal connections that I have developed with people just from going to events and festivals.
So, it’s based on a lot of word of mouth?
yeah, it’s definitely based on word of mouth. Cause Queeruption Barcelonan is where I met everyone initially.
I met everyone initially at Queeruption Barcelona. It was like “oh, I know you from Queeruption” and they’re like oh, totally!” and then you’re friends. (laughs)
I mean that event had a huge impact on my life. I stopped taking anti-depressants and it was just like “oh mi god” i have this community, i have these amazing people and i felt like they were people who I could contact again and y’know, come here and have places to stay, people to collaborate with.
Another thing I wanted to ask about what funding. Has it been difficult to get funding for such an independent film project that’s not very mainstream?
Yes! (laughs). I feel like it’s hard to get funding for travelqeeries for a couple different reasons. Partly because.. well, there’s a couple of different avenues we can pursue. We can pursue funding for just arts in general, which is very competitive and you have to deal with people who, y’know, have 40 years experience.
You can get funding from feminist, women-based arts or social justice-y stuff or you can get queer funding. And then there’s the difference also between pursuing funding --there’s stuff for women filmmakers but there’s nothing for queer filmmakers. There’s like two things; frameline and something else. So, if you’re doing something that’s more about the community you’re coming from, it has to be very social justice-based. And it can’t be.. that sounds like art .. hmm.. that’s a little bit suspicious. I don’t know.
So.. they’re more aimed at a Michael Moore-style straightforward documentary style?
I guess its something like that. It’s basically like you’re either too political or you’re too artsy. And there’s this weird middle ground that we’re falling in.
I went to a funding seminar with ITVS which is the Independent Television Services, I think they’re based out of San Francisco. And they will give you money for the majority of your film and then you have to get it matched or something and the biggest thing that they kept on telling me is that “we won’t fund things unless you have a seasoned producer involved in the production”.
A seasoned producer?
yeah, somebody that has experience basically. And I was like “oh, well obviously we need to get that so we can advance the film and get funding and and that kind of stuff. But do you just find somebody who will finally do the project if it’s not a natural fit and it’s not an organic development of the project. Because then you’re forcing the project into a different state and maybe that’s not... Maybe it’s just fine that it’s just me, Margaritte and Syd. and Amy.
So, at this point, we are basically running on funds that we get from community fundraisers. My feeling is that the film is going to struggle its little way through and we’ll figure it out and hopefully we’ll have food to eat the whole time.
When are you hoping to have the finished product?
Our deadline is Spring 2008, which means that we have roughly six months to edit it. Which, I feel pretty good about. I think that’s pretty good.
I’m really hoping to have animation and fun, draq queen narration and some video art and a really awesome soundtrack and I feel like that is going to make it ‘poppy’ enough to help sell it to wider audiences instead of it being this “identity politics documentary”.
Well, the trailer already has a soundtrack and that sort of feel to it..
Yeah, well I’m hoping we can reach a broader audience and have it not just be the academic and activist queer scene. Basically, I don’t want to be preaching to the choir too. I want it to be accessible to straight audiences. And maybe it will be a freak show and that’s fine (laughs) Just as long as people want to see it because it sounds interesting and then they get educated about stuff. And there’s nothing been made like it ever before! In the whole world! (laughs). No, no. We’ll see.
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