Screening: 'A Florida Enchantment' (1914)

dublin | gender and sexuality | event notice Wednesday June 09, 2010 12:58 by Film Qlub - Dublin Film Qlub

The earliest gay/trans feature film ever made.

The Film Qlub is a not-for profit film club based in Dublin. It offers specially selected films, lesser know but of great quality and/or remarkable documentary value. All the films shown at the Film Qlub are of interest to the LGBTQ community and their friends. The first season of the Film Qlub focuses on silent films. The next screening is the comedy 'A Florida Enchantment' (USA, Dir Sidney Drew, 1914), the first gay/trans feature film in history.

The Dublin Film Qlub is pleased to announce its next screening, an Irish premiere:

A Florida Enchantment (USA, Dir. Sidney Drew, 1914).
Outhouse Theatre, tuesday 6 July 2010 at 6pm.

This is believed to be the earliest gay feature film ever made, as well as the earliest transgendered film ever made.
It is now available in a new restored print.

The Film Qlub offers monthly screenings of of films of interest to the LGBTQ community and their friends, in Dublin's city centre. Day-memberships are available, as well as Full-memberships for the First Season (10 screenings). This groundbreaking season focuses on Silent Films. There is free tea and coffee at the club, and each screening is followed by an open discussion. The programme of the recently launched Film Qlub has received praise from Silent Cinema experts such as Harpodeon, and activists such as David Norris (who launched the Qlub in June). For more information, see the Film Qlub website or find us in Facebook.

A Florida Enchantment
The outrageous A Florida Enchantment has more gay and lesbian seductions, kissing, and mischief than any other film of the period. It is thrilling to watch such abandon! This seems to be the first gay feature film ever made, and it is likely to be also the first trans film in history. In cinema, gender-transgression is normally a sign of variant sexuality, which is itself often read as a deviation from one’s own biological sex. A Florida Enchantment was made before the roaring twenties popularized androgyny and sexual freedom as an ideal in Europe and the USA; the film has a nineteenth century feel, because of a strong divide between men and women in attitude, behaviour, and appearance. A Florida Enchantment exploits these differences for comic effect, but also exposing the double-standards applied to men and women, and also using a ‘trans’ plot as an excuse to show gay and lesbian scenes and get away with it. Hilarious and provocative, the screening of this forgotten classic is an unmissable experience for anyone interested in film.

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Dublin Film Qlub
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