Underplayed Gems

Laugh in the Dark (1999)

Laugh in the Dark poster
Directed by
Justine Pimlott
Genre
documentary film, LGBTQ-related film
Country
Canada
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

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

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.