Shani Mootoo

Her Sweetness Lingers

Shani Mootoo

A video poem about one woman's longing and desire for another whom she is shy to approach. The use of multiple layering of images, intense colour saturation, close-ups and a lush nature setting with flowering plants and insects create a tactile and sensuous visual poem.

English Lesson

Shani Mootoo

Bernard Fernandes

Take a lesson from hilarious "professor" Bernard Fernandes, as he teaches his audience to speak Trinidadian style English. Using typically Trinidadian humour, this work turns a few stereotypes upside down and questions what is "correct".

And the Rest is Drag

Shani Mootoo, Melisa Brittain

Lucas Crawford, Deb Farstad

And the Rest is Drag explores gender from the perspective of drag kings who consciously and politically queer their gender, both on and off stage. Using an eclectic mix of performance footage, still photography, and interviews with members of the Alberta Beef Drag King Troupe, the film draws audiences into the sexy, rebellious, and sometimes humorous world of drag kinging. And the Rest is Drag questions how different experiences of race, class, size, sexuality and ability inform our many-gendered identities, and invites viewers to do the same.

A Paddle and a Compass

Wendy Oberlander, Shani Mootoo

Shani Mootoo, Wendy Oberlander

This collaborative video shot at a glacial lake in the Rocky Mountains, features a dialogue between two women friends who explore their relationship to the natural environment as influenced by their different cultural backgrounds. Through the layering of meditative images of canoeing, this video evokes a subtle examination of race, gender and privilege: how do we enter into this landscape, as residents, immigrants, tourists, and adventurers?