Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Essential free entry opportunity to see this criminally under-distributed doc from Baillie Walsh (of ABBA hologram fame). Mirror Mirror lays bare the dying years of a beautifully complex human - drag queen Consuela Cosmetic - with electric insight into the NY ballroom scene, the AIDS epidemic, and gentrification’s death blow to trans sex workers."
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A event held at Cloak on Tuesday 6th February. The event starts at 19:30.
GAY24 • SEASON 5, PROGRAM 2 • TUESDAY FEBRUARY 6TH •
Our second program of season five (and first one screened in Bristol!) is built around Baillie Walsh's 1996 film "Mirror, Mirror", a profile and document of the final year in the life of trans performer and sex worker Consuela Cosmetic.
Mirror, Mirror is an incredibly intimate (at times painfully so) portrait of a beautiful, complex woman. We are invited into Consula's life and home, listening to her opinions on, and experience of, just about every facet of life as a black trans woman with AIDS in the 1990s.
Within this structure, Consula's humour and attitude shines through in just about every opportunity she is given. Even when weakened and worn down by her disease, her presence on screen is electrifying.
Mirror, Mirror tells the story of Consuela in her own words and on her own terms, whilst simultaneously documenting the ways in which she comes to terms with both her own impending death and the fracturing and of a community she holds so dear.
The context of this film being shot in the midst of Guiliani's efforts to "clean up" Times Square is essential to fully understanding what it represents. It chronicles not only the last years of this woman's life, but also the last years of a trans sex worker community that had built a home in the clubs on and around 42nd St. (Sally's II, the nightclub featured in much of this film, closed permanently in December of 1997, shortly after Cosmetica's death and the release of Mirror, Mirror.)
With no access to stable housing or healthcare, the communities that formed around these spaces were essential in connecting trans people with each other so that they could share information and advice to keep each other safe. The loss of these spaces completely fractured all of those communities and had direct and instant material impact on the safety of trans people in New York City.
Presented alongside Mirror, Mirror will be Tourmaline's experimental short Atlantic is a Sea of Bones. In this work, Tourmaline maps and reflects the resilience and resistance of black trans women in response to ongoing violence from the state, and explores in particular how black queer spaces continue to be intimately informed be the AIDS crisis. Staring Egyptt LaBeija, a performer who was a contemporary of Consuela Cosmetic, the film is a gorgeous and intoxicating call to continued resistance.
Out of active distribution and tragically underseen due to music licencing issues, Mirror, Mirror is beautiful and essential viewing for anyone interested in the histories of trans community building, NY ballroom culture, and the continued effects of the AIDS crisis on queer bodies and spaces.
All GAY24 programs are free to attend, open to all, and screened with full English subtitles.
Entry requirements: 18+
Our second program of season five (and first one screened in Bristol!) is built around Baillie Walsh's 1996 film "Mirror, Mirror", a profile and document of the final year in the life of trans performer and sex worker Consuela Cosmetic.
Mirror, Mirror is an incredibly intimate (at times painfully so) portrait of a beautiful, complex woman. We are invited into Consula's life and home, listening to her opinions on, and experience of, just about every facet of life as a black trans woman with AIDS in the 1990s.
Within this structure, Consula's humour and attitude shines through in just about every opportunity she is given. Even when weakened and worn down by her disease, her presence on screen is electrifying.
Mirror, Mirror tells the story of Consuela in her own words and on her own terms, whilst simultaneously documenting the ways in which she comes to terms with both her own impending death and the fracturing and of a community she holds so dear.
The context of this film being shot in the midst of Guiliani's efforts to "clean up" Times Square is essential to fully understanding what it represents. It chronicles not only the last years of this woman's life, but also the last years of a trans sex worker community that had built a home in the clubs on and around 42nd St. (Sally's II, the nightclub featured in much of this film, closed permanently in December of 1997, shortly after Cosmetica's death and the release of Mirror, Mirror.)
With no access to stable housing or healthcare, the communities that formed around these spaces were essential in connecting trans people with each other so that they could share information and advice to keep each other safe. The loss of these spaces completely fractured all of those communities and had direct and instant material impact on the safety of trans people in New York City.
Presented alongside Mirror, Mirror will be Tourmaline's experimental short Atlantic is a Sea of Bones. In this work, Tourmaline maps and reflects the resilience and resistance of black trans women in response to ongoing violence from the state, and explores in particular how black queer spaces continue to be intimately informed be the AIDS crisis. Staring Egyptt LaBeija, a performer who was a contemporary of Consuela Cosmetic, the film is a gorgeous and intoxicating call to continued resistance.
Out of active distribution and tragically underseen due to music licencing issues, Mirror, Mirror is beautiful and essential viewing for anyone interested in the histories of trans community building, NY ballroom culture, and the continued effects of the AIDS crisis on queer bodies and spaces.
All GAY24 programs are free to attend, open to all, and screened with full English subtitles.
Entry requirements: 18+
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