Watch: Noah Cowan on ‘what’s good for the gays’ at TIFF 2010

Lightbox artistic director chats about films by Xavier Dolan, Gregg Araki and Bruce LaBruce

Noah Cowan, TIFF Bell Lightbox artistic director, chats with Elvira Kurt about the film festival’s new venue, which opens Sept 12, and what films queers should be checking out this year.

On Cowan’s list: Bruce LaBruce’s LA Zombie, which was recently banned in Australia. “I think we’re showing the hardcore version here in Toronto,” says Cowan, who notes that it was actually a softcore cut of LA Zombie that was banned in Australia. “We find the [Australian] censors’ reaction to the movie kind of an odd one, because all the good stuff is gone,” he laughs. [UPDATE: Bruce LaBruce tweets in response to Cowan: “Um, no, you’re showing the softcore version [at TIFF]…”]

Cowan also highlights Xavier Dolan’s Heartbeats and Gregg Araki’s Kaboom. Watch below:



For full film listings and schedules,
check out tiff.net.

  • Xavier Dolan’s Hearbeats screens Sept 14 and 15.
  • Gregg Araki’s Kaboom screens Sept 15 and 18.
  • Bruce La Bruce’s LA Zombie screens Sept 16, 18 and 19.


Read More About:
Video, Music, TV & Film, Culture, Canada, Arts

Keep Reading

Girlguiding patches

Trans girls banned from U.K. Girl Guides following Supreme Court ruling

The U.K. Women’s Institute also announced it will ban trans women from membership

Why is everyone obsessed with this gay Canadian hockey TV show?

“Heated Rivalry” has been a breakout hit. What’s the special sauce that’s making everyone so excited?
Stills from Somebody Somewhere, Clean Slate, and Mid-Century Modern - shows with queer characters that were cancelled or ended.

Nearly half of all queer characters on TV will disappear next year

An uptick in series endings and cancellations is bad news for queer and trans representation
On the left, a black and white still from Flaming Creatures featuring a person sniffing a bouquet of flowers. On the right, an illustrated poster for the film.

‘Flaming Creatures’ and the censorship of queer art

Jack Smith’s 1963 film “Flaming Creatures” was deemed legally obscene by the U.S. Supreme Court