Laugh in the Dark (1999)

Directed by

Justine Pimlott

Genre

documentary film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

Canada

How it feels

This documentary follows a group of gay men who, during the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis, try to turn a run-down lakeside town into a gay resort. They start a bed and breakfast, a restaurant, and a drag show to build a new community.

affectionatebittersweetdocumentary-styleoptimisticresilientcommunity-focusednostalgicreflective

What happens

Laugh in the Dark is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Justine Pimlott and released in 1999. The film profiles a group of gay men who, in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis of the early 1980s, moved to the faded resort town of Crystal Beach, Ontario with an eye to reviving it as a gay resort comparable to Provincetown or Fire Island; spearheaded by Gary Colwell and Don Morden, the group launched a bed and breakfast, a restaurant and a drag cabaret. The film's name is taken from a dark ride of the same name that operated at Crystal Beach Park. In his book Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas, Thomas Waugh called the film "one of the most effective and affecting elegies in Canadian queer cinema." The film premiered at the Inside Out Film and Video Festival in 1999, winning the award for Best Canadian Film. It was subsequently screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in 2000, winning the award for Best Film on Social Issues. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• The Pinco Triangle (1999)
• Take Me to Prom (2019)
• The Grace of God (1998)
• Letters from Home (1996)
• Full Blast (1999)
• Lifecycles: A Story of AIDS in Malawi (2003)
• Drag Kids (2019)
• Better Than Chocolate (1999)