|
BUBBLES AWEIGH
PLEASE NOTE NEW TIME: MONDAY 27 OCTOBER AT 11:10PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 2
Country USA Running Time 62 mins Format 35mm/DV Director Ed Buhr Producer Alissa
Dimock DoP Ed Buhr, Alissa Dimock Cast Jim Ballard, David Hay, Tom Wilson, Neil
Fenn, Jim Rhyne Print Source Fresh Daily Films E supere@mac.com
Bubbles Aweigh charts the compelling, comic stories of a swim team preparing
for the 5th Gay Games in Amsterdam. The focus of the film is one of the most
competitive events of the Games: the Pink Flamingo Relay, a fiercely contested
and hysterical drag relay swimming race. Along with the build-up to this, shown
in coverage of the meetings and rehearsals leading up to the event, are personal
interviews with individual swimmers. The film fondly tracks the West Hollywood
Aquatics as they develop their unique idea: an interpretive dance version of
the birth of Amsterdam, complete with dancing tulips and their secret weapon
- a six foot Queen Beatrix. Bubbles Aweigh combines a serious documentary style
with warm humour to approach a subject that is more than just a wacky event
and a portrayal of individual competitors.
Together with fascinating interviews and footage of dramatic races, there
is some beautiful 35mm underwater footage, as well as music written by Faith
No More keyboardist and Imperial Teen member Roddy Bottum. Through its documentation
of the kaleidoscopic experience of a quarter of a million gay people coming
together in Amsterdam, the film sheds light on the triumphs and complexities
of gay life at the turn of the millennium. OH
Ed Buhr is a freelance writer, a DJ and a lifelong swimmer. Bubbles Aweigh
is his first feature film and first documentary. He is currently producing Homeboy,
a documentary about gay Latino gang members in Los Angeles, with director Dino
Dinco.
|
|