The Queer Underground is a place beyond the flash of mardi gras, beyond the pulse of Friday in Taylor Square. It’s a world where labels mean nothing: there are no bears, no lipsticks, no twinks, no femmes – just queerness and acceptance. The new tribe.
A collection of filmmakers shine a light on the heroes and heroines of the queer underground
Bee Cruse – “I am Kai” Brotherboy is a term used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to describe gender diverse people that have a male spirit and take on male roles within the community. This story follows BrotherBoy Kai Klancy.
Tilly & Steph – “Lesbians on the Loose” The story of a grass roots magazine, Australia’s longest running lesbian publication and the women behind it.
Lee Matthews “I’m Not Into Labels” – We explore why gay men and women use labels, their helps and hindrances, even though they might declare superficially, that they’re not actually into them.
Tilly Robba & Steph Jowett work creative direction, design and production. The trailer is for their film Lesbians on the Loose. They pride themselves on an uncompromising aesthetic & a highly authored story.
In 2020, they created the animation series Single with development support from Screen Australia. The first short film Winona which they had written, directed and produced premiered at Palms Springs International ShortFest in 2021. They have creative directed and produced a number of music videos for Australian Artists (Alfie Arcuri, BVT, ASTON).
Bee Cruse is a Storyteller born and bred on Cabrogal country (a clan within Western Sydney’s Darug nation). Her family come from the Gomeroi, Wiradjuri and Monaroo-Yuin peoples of NSW. Her stories centre around her strong indigenous culture. She has worked across film, theatre and television; working with Rachel Perkins on REDFERN NOW (2014) and with Wayne Blair on CLEVERMAN (2015). On the stage, Bee worked with Urban Theatre Projects as the Assistant Director of Home Country for Sydney Festival 2017. She has just Produced and starred in her first short film series NIGHTWALKERS (2019) and acted in TOTAL CONTROL (2019).
Lee Matthews is an Australian filmmaker passionate about producing and developing entertaining engaging comedies and thought-provoking documentaries . Films include feature doc Hating Peter Tatchell, irreverent high school movie EMO the Musical, indie body-swap comedy The Heckler and broadcast documentary Our Little Secret (2013) He has been twice-selected for Berlin and is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents.
