WORLD PREMIERE!

Em and Jay, respectively a woman film director and her lead actress, both with an ailing career, embark on a journey between Montreal, Canada and Durham, North Carolina, where a short film of theirs is being presented at the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. They drive a Jeep and pull a pop tent, and decide to shoot a film along the way. Nothing much happens except that they develop a beautiful friendship and debunk quite a few taboos. Two Straight Girls at a Queer Fest is like Seinfeld meets Thelma & Louise, except without the bad ending. It also tackles the subject of mental illness and plays on the boundaries of true and false.

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Director Biography - Marie-Hélène Panisset

Marie-Hélène Panisset is an Academy Award Nominated producer, and a director and screenwriter as well. Her fiction, documentary and dance films have travelled the world and been shown in commercial theaters and on national television. She began her career as art director and she also occasionally works in the visual effects industry. Two Straight Girls at a Queer Fest is her first movie in English.

Director Statement

They say it’s not the destination that counts but the journey.

The road movie takes a whole new meaning with the camera being held by the two female protagonists, not afraid of showing their bad sides and crummy profile. The title itself says it all, with a tongue-in-cheek kind of humor. But it’s really a lie. All the expectations created by the title are false. The intents though are genuine. Two Straight Girls at a Queer fest is a philosophical essay backed by a surf rock punk soundtrack.

Shot on a shoestring budget with barely an outline as a script, the girl’s odyssey sees them evolving from something to nothing. They become somewhat of anti-heroic figures as their weaknesses become their strengths and they have the courage to go through with the project, surmounting fear, mastering obstacles, knowing when to quit and making the best out of a sorry situation. They are both reckless and sound. Annoying and lovable. We end up rooting for them even though we know they’re headed for disaster.

The film is also part documentary. It reflects my insecurities as a wannabe director at a time when it was still hard for a woman to get her stories up there on the screen. It’s soon after shooting this film that I joined Réalisatrices Équitables, Women in View and Film Fatale, and things began to change. It also documents Judith’s own struggles as an actress, getting to that age where parts don’t come along so easily and how the best way out of a sticky situation is often to take matters in your own hands. The film also depicts both our need to be loved and recognized.