A Persistent Desire, formerly known as Desire: Exploring Butch/Femme is a feature length documentary produced and directed by Lenn Keller about the re-emergence of butch/femme visibility over the last two decades. It goes beneath the surface, beyond the stereotypes, to reveal the essence of what it means to be a butch or femme identified lesbian or bisexual, and how these identities and dynamics have evolved and are being re-defined in the 21st century.
The idea for this film began in 1999, went into production in 2001, and to date has over 70 hours of interview footage. This project has been stuck in limbo for the last four years, due to a variety of circumstances; lack of funding, staff changes, legal complications, etc. With an infusion of new energy, and a small amount of cash that bought some badly needed equipment, this film is moving forward once more with a completion goal of spring 2009.
WHY IT'S IMPERATIVE THIS FILM GET MADE...
•To date there has been no other film that has documented within a political context, this vanguard lesbian sub-culture that has played a huge role in making lesbian communities visible historically.
•This film celebrates and validates femme and butch identities and dynamics, from a feminist perspective, within the spectrum of lesbian and bisexual gender identities.
•This film offers an intimate look into a hyper-marginalized lesbian sub-culture, that is rarely represented in mainstream or LGBT media (including the L Word).
•This film articulates the societal oppression and struggles experienced by self-identified femmes and butches from a widely diverse range of ages, cultures, ethnicities and class backgrounds.
•This film counters butchphobia with radically positive images of butches, in a society (including even the LGBT community) where masculinity is viewed as being an attribute of being male, as being at odds with being a female and a feminist. It asserts that butches can and do model an authentic masculinity that lacks machismo, is anti-sexist and anti-misogynist.
•This film asserts that claiming a femme identity is much more than being a feminine lesbian or bisexual woman. It asserts that making a conscious choice to reclaim and express femininity within a queer context is empowering, radically subversive, and disruptive of sexist and misogynist cultural norms.
•This film is the first to assert that as gender queer identities, femme and butch identities individually and together have the potential to resist and disrupt the traditional gender binary, heterosexist norms, as well as offer role models of equality in relationships between differently gendered people.
•Though apparently visible again, this community -- it's culture and history is in danger of being lost to future generations.
To find out more about this film and how you can get involved with it's completion, go to:
http://www.persistentdesire.com
or contact Magnet Films (415) 789-8477
To support this film with a donation, visit the Women Make Movies website at
http://www.wmm.com/filmmakers/sponsored_projects.shtml
(scroll down to the P's)
You can also visit the Cafe Press store and buy some cool gear (t-shirts, etc)...
http://www.cafepress.com
