CAMP
2003. 114 min. Directed by Todd Graff.
Tickets here: https://www.ifccenter.com/films/camp/
In Todd Graff’s beloved 2003 coming-of-age comedy, a diverse group of mostly queer kids set off for a musical theater camp in upstate New York, where they plan to spend the summers putting on productions of beloved musicals. But when an “honest-to-god straight-boy” named Vlad boards the bus, he becomes the object of multiple crushes and the backstage drama begins! As the summer rolls along, each camper struggles to deal with their own personal problems, including disapproving parents, self-image issues, mental health and of course, first love! Anna Kendrick, Robin DeJesus, and Tiffany Taylor are just a few of the young show-stoppers in this charming queering of the “summer camp” teen movie subgenre. Our guest presenter for the evening is critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Shamir, who calls the film one of his “comfort movies,” writing, “Although I wasn’t a theater kid, I still found myself resonating with the kids in the film.”
Shamir on CAMP:
“I selected CAMP as my film because it’s one of my comfort movies. I came across this movie as a young queer in high school nearly a decade after its release. Although I wasn't a theater kid, I still found myself resonating with the kids in the film. I instantly found it refreshing to see a young adult film full of queer characters that was tragic, as well as being uplifted by their allies and Peers."
It’s been a long road over the last six years for Shamir to finally make the album that matched his vision. Becoming a globe-trotting touring act behind his 2015 debut, Ratchet, taking a hard left turn stylistically, confronting his mental health issues, and moving from his native Las Vegas to Philadelphia--that’s just the start of this journey. His seventh full-length, the self-titled Shamir, is his most intimate, his most crafted, and a huge step forward, for an artist who can hardly sit still. “I felt like it didn’t need a name, cuz it’s the record that’s most me,” Shamir says. In the arc of catharsis that has been his half-dozen records of the last several years, Shamir is the light after the storm, a Resolution of his journey to artistic realization. Having adopted the iconography of the butterfly, the chrysalis has fallen away, and Shamir is floating. “I felt like I had to make those records to build to this point.”
Queer|Art|Film is supported by HBO and presented in partnership with IFC.