Lives: Visible and Leftovers | Dykeumentary Night Screening

2,000 photos hidden away for over fifty years reveal the rich history of Chicago’s working-class butch/fem life, pre-Stonewall.

Dykeumentary Night is a monthly lesbian movie night in Toronto, hosted at Three Dollar Bill.

This month's movie is a short film double feature showcasing two films called "Lives: Visible" and "Leftovers."

SYNOPSIS

LIVES: VISIBLE (2017, 35 mins): Lesbians in a box… two thousand private snapshots hidden away for over fifty years reveal the rich history of Chicago’s working class butch/fem life in the pre-Stonewall era. Spanning four decades, from the 1930s to the early 1970s, the snapshots provide a rare look at a vanished and vibrant Lesbian culture: images of lovers and friends as they played, posed, serially switched partners, worked, partied, drank, and aged. Now we all take selfies; these women used a Brownie camera to tell the story of their community. LIVES: VISIBLE explores the ephemeral nature of culture and the power of the images we make.

LEFTOVERS (2014, 23 mins): Norma and Virginia were lovers for almost fifty years. They died isolated; the vibrant pre-Stonewall lesbian community of their youth long gone. A love story about the unforeseen trajectory of lives lived outside the mainstream told through the 2000 snapshots left behind.

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