Michael Achtman
2021
Uncut
John Greyson
Michael Achtman, Matthew Ferguson
Freely drawing from a variety of film genres, including musicals, the sudsy melodramas and documentaries and combing them with a free-flowing narrative and bright pop-art sensibilities, this hard-hitting experimental romp from Canadian filmmaker John Greyson packs a political wallop while satirically comparing and contrasting the issues of censorship and circumcision. The tale centers on the exploits of three homosexuals named Peter. Peter Koosens is obsessed with the semi-scandalous behavior of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau while college student Peter Cort, ponders the significance and necessity of male circumcision. Peter Denham is an artist who seduces the other two and freely borrows from their work to make something of his own. Their exploits land the trio in prison after an operatic number (the police sing songs adapted from Bizet's Carmen).
Uncut
Awake
Michael Achtman
Alex Bulmer, Margo Cargill
This existential comedy tells the story of Anna, a chronically ill woman, who is visited by Doreen, a door to door proselytizer who slowly overstays her welcome. Together, they walk in the park, bake a cake and watch an Ingmar Bergman film.
Awake
MASH Notes for Private Kyle Brown
Michael Achtman
Based on a poem by R.M. Vaughan about the torture and murder of a Somalian teenager by members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, this haunting work examines individual responsibility versus systemic corruption and the homophobic and racist elements central to the military enterprise.
MASH Notes for Private Kyle Brown
Shinto
Michael Achtman, R.M. Vaughan
Michael Achtman, R.M. Vaughan
"Shinto" is an examination of the meaning of objects. Do objects have powers or energies of their own? If so, can we see or feel it? While this may sound heavy and philosophical, the film is actually a lively argument between two neurotic gay men who have been together for too long. As they discuss whether or not to rid themselves of some extra junk, we watch a memory film of one of the character's childhood toy trucks being burned, and a handful of Asian film clips, meant to parody the characters' ridiculous, half understood adoption of Asian philosophy and spirituality.
Shinto
flesh of my flesh
Michael Achtman
Drawing on pre-biblical mythology, "flesh of my flesh" is a queer retelling of the "first" murder. Abel returns from the wars of God our Father to a bombed out and pillaged Canaan. His brother/lover Cain leads him to a barren field where, in an effort to reinstate the garden of paradise, he performs the sacrificial ritual. The consequence (for Cain and all his tribe) is banishment, to the land "east of Normal."
flesh of my flesh
