| While You Weren't Looking | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Catherine Stewart |
| Cinematography | Amelia Henning |
Production company | Out in Africa |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | South Africa |
| Languages |
|
| Budget | ZAR 8,000,000 |
While You Weren't Looking is a 2015 South African drama film directed by Catherine Stewart. The film examines the struggles experienced by lesbians living in suburban South Africa compared to those living in townships.
20 years after the end of apartheid, Dez and Terri are a mixed-race lesbian couple living in one of the most affluent suburbs of Cape Town. Their adopted daughter, Asanda, who is 18, is of mixed racial heritage. Dez and Terri are being torn apart by their marital insecurities, while also facing social pressure to "be normal" and "fit in", in spite of the wide range of LGBT rights guaranteed by the post-apartheid regime. Asanda, is caught up in exploring her own sexuality, wavering between her boyfriend Greg, and queer "Tommy boy" Shado. The family housekeeper, who is from the same township as Shado, makes it clear that she is unwelcome in the upper-class neighborhood. Conversely, Asanda's first visit to the township makes her feel she isn't "black enough". The developing relationship between Asanda and Shado forces Dez and Terri to confront their own prejudices. [1] [2] [3]
The film includes various takes on race and gender politics, from the personal stories of the protagonists, to the passionate voice of a university lecturer, to the images projected in the film. Subplots bring the suburban lesbians' lives into harsh contrast with the lives of queer women in the township. [1]
The film was shot in and around Cape Town over 24 days, and is an Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival production. [4] The film received funding by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and additional support from the Department of Trade and Industry, as well as a small grant from The Other Foundation. [3]
The film's international premiere took place at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on 2 May 2015, and the South African premiere was at the Durban International Film Festival on 20 July of the same year. [5] The original cut of the film is 104 minutes, but a shortened version of 74 minutes was also released.
The film was an official selection of multiple international film festivals, including:
Online magazine Spling! gave the film a "satisfactory" 6 out of 10 stars, positively citing the strong local talent, the incorporation of local music and art, and the beautiful photography. The review also opined that the theme of LGBTQ acceptance, as expounded upon by the academic lecture featured in the film, is too disconnected from the narrative itself, and also that each subplot was complex enough to warrant a vehicle of its own. [1] The Back Row's review was harsher regarding the same issues, quoting "lovelorn gay lecturer Mack"'s cry that "If you can ‘queer’ gender, you can ‘queer’ anything" as the noble thesis of the film, calling for broadmindedness and acceptance for South Africa to move forward, but then condemns it as failing to match its vision with artistry, instead featuring clumsy dialogue and artificial performances. [11]
Sharon Calingasan's FilmDoo review, on the other hand, found the film "compelling" and lauded it for taking on the larger issues of the LGBTQ community in South Africa, while celebrating "individuality and humanity in its truest sense." [12] The GLIFF review of the film found the approach to dealing with LGBT, class and racial relations deft and sensitive, and reviewer Don Simpson felt that the "interjections from a queer theory class provides While You Weren’t Looking with an intellectualism that cleverly compliments and comments upon the narrative." [13]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 [14] | Pink Apple | Audience Award – Best Feature Film | Catherine Stewart (director) Nodi Murphy (producer) Warren Gray (production designer) | Won |
| Queer Film Festival Bremen | Audience Award – Best Feature Film | Catherine Stewart | Won | |
| Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival | Best Narrative Feature Film | Catherine Stewart | Won | |
| Long Beach Qfilm festival | Best Director | Catherine Stewart | Won | |
| 2016 [15] | South African Film and Television Awards | SAFTA Golden Horn for Best Achievement in Production Design – Feature Film | Warren Gray | Nominated |
Curve is a global lesbian media project. It covers news, politics, social issues, and includes celebrity interviews and stories on entertainment, pop culture, style, and travel.
Angela Robinson is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival awarded Robinson with the Fusion Achievement Award in 2013 for her contribution to LGBTQ+ media visibility.
Jenni Olson is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015) — premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive, and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history was published as a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema from Oxford University Press in 2021. In 2020, she was named to the Out Magazine Out 100 list. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the Berlin Film Festival. She also campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.
Brother to Brother is a 2004 film written and directed by Rodney Evans. The film debuted at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded with the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature. It went on to play the gay and lesbian film festival circuit where it collected many top festival awards. Brother to Brother was given a limited theatrical release in November 2004.
Cheryl Dunye is a Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye's work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians. She is known as the first out black lesbian to ever direct a feature film with her 1996 film The Watermelon Woman. She runs the production company Jingletown Films based in Oakland, California.
Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, and the Inside Out Film and Video Festival, in launching the North American Queer Festival Alliance, an initiative to further publicize and promote LGBT film.
The Frameline Film Festival began as a storefront event in 1976. The first film festival, named the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films, was held in 1977. The festival is organized by Frameline, a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.
Dakan (Destiny) is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Mohamed Camara. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Telling the story of two young men struggling with their love for each other, it has been described as the first West African feature film to deal with homosexuality.
The Iris Prize, established in 2007 by Berwyn Rowlands of The Festivals Company, is an international LGBTQ film prize and festival which is open to any film which is by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex audiences and which must have been completed within two years of the prize deadline.
Catherine Crouch is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and actor. She has been active in independent film-making for over two decades. Most of her work explores gender, race, and class in lesbian and queer lives. She is known for Stranger Inside (2001), Stray Dogs (2002), and The Gendercator (2007).
Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdóttir for their company Bless Bless Productions, in association with Sundance Channel. The film tells the story of the long-term lesbian relationship between Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, including their respective childhoods, their meeting in 1963, their lives and careers in New York City, Thea's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and Edie's care for her partner, and their wedding in Toronto, Canada, in May 2007, because gay marriage was not then legal in their home state of New York.
Andrew Haigh is an English filmmaker. He is best known for writing and directing the films Weekend (2011), 45 Years (2015), Lean on Pete (2017), and All of Us Strangers (2023). He also wrote and directed the HBO series Looking (2014–2015) and its film sequel Looking: The Movie (2016), as well as the BBC Two limited series The North Water (2021).
Andrew Ahn is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed the feature films Spa Night (2016), Driveways (2019), and Fire Island (2022).
Tchindas is a 2015 Spanish-Cape Verdean documentary film directed by Pablo García Pérez de Lara and Marc Serena. The film premiered at the Outfest Los Angeles 2015 where it received a Grand Jury Award.
Suicide Kale is a 2016 American dark comedy film, directed by Carly Usdin and written by Brittani Nichols. The film centers on Jasmine and Penn, a lesbian couple who unexpectedly find a hidden suicide note in the home of their friends Billie and Jordan. The film premiered at the Queer Hippo International LGBT Film Festival in Houston, Texas on April 3, 2016. Usdin won the Audience Award for Best First U.S. Dramatic Feature at 2016 Outfest.
Queer Japan is a 2019 documentary film directed, edited, and co-written by Graham Kolbeins. The documentary profiles a range of individuals in Japan who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). Queer Japan is produced by Hiromi Iida with Anne Ishii, written by Ishii and Kolbeins, and features an original score composed by Geotic.
195 Lewis is an American comedy-drama web series created by Rae Leone Allen and Yaani Supreme, and co-written with Terence Nance and director Chanelle Aponte Pearson. It follows several Black queer women living in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (Bed-Stuy). The series was released online on its website, One Nine Five Lewis, on November 16, 2017. It received the 2018 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series and a Special Mention at Outfest 2017.
The Quiet Room is a 2018 American short horror film written and directed by Sam Wineman. It stars Jamal Douglas as Michael, a man who, after a suicide attempt, wakes up in a hospital and starts to believe that he has awakened a demon. Alongside Douglas, the film stars Alaska Thunderfuck, Kit Williamson, and Lisa Wilcox.
Ahead of the Curve is a 2020 American biographical documentary film co-produced and co-directed by Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow, with music composed by Meshell Ndegeocello. The film is based on the true story of Franco Stevens, one of the most influential women in lesbian history, and the founding publisher of Curve Magazine, a leading international lesbian lifestyle magazine. Portraying themselves in the film are, Franco Stevens, Kim Katrin, Denice Frohman, Amber Hikes, Andrea Pino-Silva, Melissa Etheridge and Jewelle Gomez. The documentary premiered in June 2020 at the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)