RSVP here: https://www.queer-art.org/rsvp-to-the-matrix
Streaming links here: https://www.queer-art.org/streaming-links-for-qaf-winter-2021
THE MATRIX
1999. 136 minutes. Directed by the Wachowski Sisters.
For our second program this season, activist, filmmaker, and writer Tourmaline will present the Wachoski Sisters’ 1999 cult classic, The Matrix. Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie-Anne Moss, The Matrix renders the liminal space in a future where the oppressors are hidden and the masses are satiated with simulations. Co-director Lilly Wachowski, describes this turn-of-the-century favorite as “a metaphor for transgender identities” and explains that, “when you talk about transformation, specifically in the world of science fiction, which is just about imagination and world-building…the idea of the seemingly impossible becomes possible.” In the Wachowski Sisters’ dystopian future, the physical body is only an avatar to the limitless power of the mind, as many of us on the gender spectrum have realized. For our guest presenter, Tourmaline, The Matrix elicits a “compelling invite to shift the beliefs we hold to be more aligned with the world we want.”
Tourmaline on THE MATRIX
“I’d like to screen The Matrix because it’s a fun and compelling invite to shift the beliefs we hold to be more aligned with the world we want.”
Tourmaline is an activist, filmmaker, and writer. Her work highlights the capacity of Black queer and trans people and communities to make and transform worlds. In her films, Tourmaline creates dreamlike portraits of people whose stories tell the history of New York City, including gay and trans liberation activists, drag queens, and queer icons Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHA, co-directed with Sasha Wortzel, 2018), Miss Major (THE PERSONAL THINGS, 2016), and Egyptt LaBeija (ATLANTIC IS A SEA OF BONES, 2017). Recent screenings of Tourmaline’s work have been presented at venues including BFI Flare, London; Seattle Transgender Film Festival; Portland Art Museum; New Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Brooklyn Museum.