London’s Vanishing Queer Spaces
On August 12, 2015 I was invited to the British Film Institute to discuss the vanishing queer spaces of London. The event sold out on the first day that tickets were available.
Queer lives have always been less visible for historians, but valuable filmic fragments documenting London’s LGBT communities do survive, as we’ll see in this special event. BFI National Archive curator Simon McCallum will present fabulous rarely-seen footage, including a recently rediscovered record of 60s drag at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and Derek Jarman’s videotape tour of long-gone club Benjy’s. He will be joined onstage by a panel to reflect on the footage, and share concerns for the future. The panel will include Justin Bengry (writer and historian, Project Researcher on Pride of Place: England’s LGBTQ Heritage), Tamsin Bookey (archivist, DJ and co-founder of Unskinny Bop), Simon McCallum (BFI National Archive), and Ben Walters (critic and member of RVT Future campaign).
Wednesday 12 August 2015 18:10 | Total run time c.120 min | NFT3
See also Wotever @ BFI and LGBT Young Londoners
