Are You Still Watching? continues its award-winning journey around the world. The short animation that I wrote and directed recently screened in competition at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), Edinburgh Film Festival, Outfest amongst others.

SYNOPSIS
Jamie is a 20 something year old non-binary person living in Melbourne. They’re whip-smart, creative and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema and pop culture. They’re also single, bored and perpetually horny.

Forced into near-isolation during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown, Jamie keeps themselves entertained bingeing on queer film and TV. What begins as mere escapism turns sensual when they start having sexual delusions involving their favourite queer characters. Fantasy and reality merge as they recount their erotic encounters to their physician Dr. Holland and receive an unusual diagnosis.

Are You Still Watching? explores the emancipatory power of the queer imagination, combining erotic fan fiction tropes, magical realism and a firm camp sensibility.

CREDITS
Created & produced by: Sissy Screens
Directed by: Tali Polichtuk, Alex Cardy & Kitty Chrystal
Produced by: Alexandra George
Written by: Tali Polichtuk
Cinematography by: Alex Cardy
Art Director & Character Design by: Kitty Chrystal
Cityscape Artist & Animation by: Sorcha Mackenzie
Backgrounds, Colour & Animation by: Adam Price
Sound Supervisor & Mix by: Jennifer Leonforte
Music Composition by: Stellar Ruby Marshall
Sound Edited by: Lachlan Harris

CAST
Jamie: Zoe Terakes
Dr Holland: Frances J Clark
Victorian Premier Porter: Liz Esguerra
Adèle Bready Lady, Nurse Sarah & Léa: Kassie Junkeer
Femme Power Top: Eugene Howard

Special Thanks To:
Unison Sound
Thought & Found

This film was made possible by support from Melbourne Queer Film Festival & Creative Victoria.

In Take 2, The Capitol asked friends across Melbourne’s film and creative communities to pick a film that’s available to watch online and talk about it in two minutes or less.

In this instalment Tali Polichtuk, editor of Sissy Screens, recommends Eliza Hittman’s 2017 film Beach Rats. View the full video here.

As the success of queer screen culture magazine Sissy Screens proves, even a global pandemic won’t hinder Melbourne’s vibrant queer arts community. With support from a City of Yarra Creative Community COVID-19 Quick Response Grant, the not-for-profit organisation recently created and commissioned a suite of new content made by Melbourne LGBTQIA+ creatives.

What began as a queer film screening series launched at Collingwood’s Schoolhouse Studios evolved into a larger project, culminating in the February launch of a digital magazine dedicated to queer screen culture. Run entirely by LGBTQIA+ Melbourne creatives, Sissy Screens publishes interviews, reviews, articles, photography and original video projects.

Directors Alex Cardy and Tali Polichtuk are the driving forces behind the project. A cinematographer with a passion for empowering female-identifying and LGBTQIA+ screen creatives, Cardy is the Head of Moving Image. Polichtuk, a self-professed “arts management hag” and event producer, serves as the magazine’s Editor and also programs Sissy Screens’ screenings. Other members of the core creative team include Creative Director Amery Oke-Johnston and Photo Editor Parker Blain.

While events are currently on hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions, the team look forward to hosting a series of dynamic arts events soon, including co-presenting the exhibition ‘Disco Instamatic’ with musician and film director Tanzer at The Abbotsford Convent in early 2021. In the interim, Sissy Screens is focusing on fostering gender and sexuality diverse communities through enhanced digital connectedness.

“In this volatile climate, it is especially vital to support intersectional, LGBTQIA+ cultural production. Thanks to Yarra City Arts, Sissy Screens has been able to produce projects that empower the queer community and offer paid work to local queer creatives ” says Sissy Screens Editor and Co-Director Tali Polichtuk.

Excerpt:

It was Australian duo, Alex Cardy and Tali Polichtuk’s mutual interest in the LGBTQ+ community that inspired their soon-to-launch queer screen culture magazine Sissy Screens. Run by queer and gender diverse artists, the platform – which is due to launch on 16 February – is a curated space for queer writing, photography, reviews, interviews and original videos and was borne out of an event screening series under the same name.

“It was an accident and slowly evolved,” says Alex. “The project was Tali’s idea, then I started helping and got more involved. I stayed on because I enjoyed the creative freedom.”

“We’re lesbians; we do everything together!” jokes Tali, although she has a point – Sissy Screens is fulfilling a much-needed gap in the market and working together as partners to bring it to the fore seemed inevitable.

Read the full article here.