4 queer and trans happenings to wind you up or down beginning Mar. 4

What to watch

How To Fix Radios

Kingston Canadian Film Festival, running until Mar. 7, presents How to Fix Radios, the debut feature by Emily Russell and Casper Leonard on Mar. 5. The film follows Evan (James Rudden), an isolated, narrow-minded teenager living in a small rural community in Ontario. When Evan gets a new job at a run-down bait shop, his supervisor turns out to be a pink-haired, outspoken teenager named Ross (Dimitri Watson). Over the course of an eventful summer, Evan builds a friendship with Ross as they find their place as misplaced queer kids—and the newfound friendship may lead to changes for the both of them. 

How to Fix Radios by Emily Russell and Casper Leonard is screening (with no geo-location restrictions) at the virtual Kingston Canadian Film Festival on Mar. 5 at 7 p.m. EST, followed by a livestream Q&A with the directors at 8:40 p.m. EST. Tickets for the festival are available here. 

What to read

Sarahland by Sam Cohen

American author Sam Cohen is releasing her debut story collection Sarahland on Mar. 9. The loosely linked collection of short stories centres around different women named Sarah, ranging from a polyamorous trans woman in Biblical times, a pre-med student, a sex worker and more. The collection also features appearances from queer icons like Sarah Paulson and Sarah Schulman. The stories explore folklore, history, sexuality, religion and the gender binary. 

Sarahland by Sam Cohen will be available for purchase on Amazon in the U.S. and Canada on Mar. 9. 

What to listen to

Brenda, Call Me!

With their new podcast Brenda, Call Me! drag superstars Courtney Act and Vanity want to transport listeners into the high energy, campy conversations the pair have about whatever fires them up that week. From political issues to hilarious anecdotes to drag culture, no topic is off-limits. The most recent episode, “Fetch Your Rootin’ Wig,” touched on Vanity’s sex life, how Courtney Act got into performing and what Calvin Klein models, mannequins and soldiers have in common. 

The fourth and latest episode of Brenda, Call Me! is set to release on Mar. 4 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

What to look at

Tenille K. Campbell, in conversation with Joshua Whitehead

Toronto’s Koffler Centre of the Arts is presenting a virtual conversation with Tenille K. Campbell and Joshua Whitehead on Mar. 10. Campbell is a Dene/Métis author and photographer from English River First Nation (Treaty 10) in northern Saskatchewan. Her newest poetry collection nedί nezų (Good Medicine) was released on Mar. 2. Whitehead is an Oji-nehiyaw, Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1) in Manitoba, the author of the 2018 novel Jonny Appleseed and editor of Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, published last September. 

The virtual conversation with Tenille K. Campbell with Joshua Whitehead will be held on Mar. 10 beginning at 7 p.m. EST. The event is free; register here.