03/26/2021
The Covid-19 pandemic taught us many things, and reminded us of many truths in the art of storytelling.
At the end of 2019, we were developing a concept that would have seen our crews criss-crossing Canada, conducting interviews with survivors of Canada’s LGBT Purge in their own homes. In March of 2020, reality hit that this was no longer going to be a safe or feasible undertaking. The world was quickly grinding to a halt, travel was ill-advised, and production tools we often take for granted – namely, insurance – were suddenly hard or impossible to secure. We feared this important project would be over before it started.
But disappointment was soon replaced with a creative spark of ingenuity common to us Canadians. We pivoted the project to 100% digital, allowing us to meet survivors safely where they were at – in their living rooms, their kitchen tables, their home offices – all over Zoom. It provided an achievable platform to capture these oral histories without further delay, without the risk of vital stories being lost. And what we discovered along the way was something magical: digital intimacy. We were reminded that great stories don’t always need expensive lenses and fancy lighting. We discovered that Zoom doesn’t have to be a dreaded new four-letter-word in our lives – it can be a tool for connection, for memorializing, for contributing to Canada’s missing q***r archive.
We’re very proud to announce the launch of this project: LGBT Purge – Survivor Stories. A curated digital series dedicated to the survivors of Canada’s LGBT Purge. We are the proud filmmakers behind the feature documentary, The Fruit Machine, and this series is an extension of that film; an opportunity for Canadians to hear from more survivors – and the loved ones of those survivors who have passed away, to learn more about the breadth of this Purge and its devastating effects. We hope you engage with this series. All of us hold a duty to hear from, and learn from, those who suffered unjustly. Their collective resiliency might just inspire all of us during these uncertain times.
Sincere thanks to the LGBT Purge Fund for Executive Producing this series, and to Know History who are our trusted partners in realizing this series. Huge thanks to our passionate and skilled freelance interviewers on this series as well, Alan Conter and Gerald L’Ecuyer. Merci infiniment pour votre dévoument à ce project.
We hope to share more than 100 of these oral histories over the course of the year. Kindly subscribe to the channel to show your support, and engage with the Survivors in the comment sections. And if you are reading this and would like to participate as a Survivor, or on behalf of one, please contact us at [email protected]
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClEtOz8X1sXEKwYv3pVs5KA
Be well, stay safe, and let us know what storytelling lessons you may be (re)learned during this pandemic.
The SandBay Team
