Over the course of a year, film follows Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolen to various international Pride events, including Poland, Hungary, Russia, Sri Lanka and others where there is great opposition to pride parades. In North America, Pride is complicated by commercialization and a sense that the festivals are turning away from their political roots toward tourism, party promotion and entertainment. Christie documents the ways larger, more mainstream Pride events have supported the global Pride movement and how human rights components are being added to more established events. In the New York sequence, leaders organize an alternative Pride parade, the Drag March, set up to protest the corporatization of New York Pride. A parade in São Paulo, the world's largest Pride festival, itself includes a completely empty float, meant to symbolize all those lost to HIV and to anti-gay violence.
Editing
Sharp cuts between glitter bombs and police barricades.
Production
Access to hostile environments most Pride tourists never see.
Director
Bob Christie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Filmed during 2009-2010, capturing a pivotal moment before mainstream corporate Pride saturation peaked.
Gilbert Baker, interviewed here, created the original rainbow flag in 1978 — his presence bridges decades of activism.
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