James MacSwain

A look at the 1950s muscle men's magazines and the representative industry which were popular supposedly as health and fitness magazines, but were in reality primarily being purchased by the still-underground homosexual community. Chief among the purveyors of this literature was Bob Mizer, who maintained a magazine and developed sexually inexplicit men's films for over 40 years. Aided by his mother, the two maintained a stable of not so innocent studs.

This film is animated in the rough collage style that James MacSwain has made his own. Utilizing a series of vignettes, the film traces the story of the child born to Marilyn Monroe and President Kennedy. As the satire unfolds, the story becomes a metaphor for the collapse of the American Empire due to mysticism and drugs.

A Space Opera.

A fittingly eclectic and colourful ode to Halifax treasure, multi-media artist James MacSwain, Celestial Queer documents MacSwain’s journey growing up gay in the ‘50s and ‘60s in small-town Nova Scotia and finding his community and artistic practice. Co-directors and long-time-Jim-disciples Eryn Foster and Sue Johnson compiled footage for this epic documentary for close to a decade to tell the story of this quietly outspoken feminist, naturalist and gay-rights activist.

Shot within the urban and industrial landscapes of Halifax, Canada, Here Kitty Kitty! is an improvised film that showcases the beautiful and bleak life of Lucy, a late 30- something woman whose world is falling apart. A not-so-traditional Christmas movie with an off-beat, surreal and comic edge.

A glimpse into how young lives are destroyed by war.

The Medicine Show utilizes narrative storytelling, mock interviews, and staged theatrical vignettes to create a satirical portrait of a day in the life of an HIV-positive gay man named Gregory navigating his treatment options.