US PREMIERE
SHORT FILM PROGRAM
WORLD PREMIERE
FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT
THROWBACK FROM
1995
Butterflies on a Scaffold
with Gay Cuba
Mariposas en el andamio
Saturday
Jun 15, 1996
@
2:15 pm
12th Annual Boston Gay & Lesbian Film/Video Festival

After the Revolution, gays were not respected in Cuba, but in the small Havana neighborhood of La Güinera, a few courageous women came to power and encouraged the gay community. Glamorous gowns fashioned from grain sacks and eyelashes made out of carbon paper are the reality of drag in Cuba. In La Güinera, gay transvestite performers have earned respect and status through creative work for the neighbourhood. On stage action and backstage preparation opens out into insightful interviews with community leaders, families, and the performers themselves. the question; can you be gay and accepted in Cuba?
Gay Cuba is a survey of evolving attitudes about homosexuality in Cuba, and Butterflies on a Scaffold shows how Cuban drag queens have gained their communities' respect through their creative work.
Wicked Queer is proud to co-present this program with
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This short film program includes the following films:


Gay Cuba
The 1959 revolution which gave Cuba its independence ushered in a new era of equality, blind to race and to gender - but not to sexual orientation. Military necessity and contemporary Stalinist ideology served only to reinforce long-held stereotypes detrimental to the integration of homosexuals into Cuba's perpetually reforming social structure.
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