Director
Georden West
Composer
Aaron Michael Smith
Cast
Danielle Cooper, The Lady Bunny, Aidan Dick
Edition 2023
72'
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2023
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Fantasy, Drama
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Dialogue:
German, English
A raucous work of queer fantasy and history, Playland conjures a time-bending night in Boston's oldest and most notorious gay bar.
It doesn't always have to be about Stonewall. Places that fought (and continue to fight) for queer culture are numerous. The Playland Cafe in Boston was one such place, a home for the homeless in a hostile heterosexual world. Fragments from news broadcasts of that time – politicians wanting to clean up the entire neighborhood and referring to it as combat zones – are played over free and diverse reinterpretations of wild dance nights and melancholic bar scenes. And they are given a taste of their own medicine. Audio interviews bring up personal memories and memorable anecdotes, while an especially glamorous costume design paints the portrait of a physical place and an entire community that had to yield to urban renewal projects and... intolerance. A creative patchwork and an ambitious tribute, Playland is above all a demanding work of preservation that continues the legacy of the iconic bar, thus writing queer history.
“Alluding to experimental works like that of Derek Jarman and Sally Potter, West has crafted an uncanny and inventive film that boldly transcends physical space, reminding us that though certain pioneering queer spaces may be gone, their memories cannot be erased.” - IFFR
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Credits
Directors
Georden West
Composers
Aaron Michael Smith
Cast
Danielle Cooper, The Lady Bunny, Aidan Dick
Scenario
Georden West
Director of Photography
Jo Jo Lam
Editors
Georden West, Russell Sheaffer
Producers
Russell Sheaffer, Hannah McSwiggen, Danielle Cooper
Production studios
Artless Media
More info
Dialogue
German, English
Countries of production
United States of America
Year
2023
Filmography
Georden West
Patron Saint (short, 2019), Exorcisms and Other Supplications (short, 2020), Playland (2023)
