The Gay Word documentary, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Tottenham, London, 19 September 2015
by Laurence Georgin
ALL Welcome!
Doors open 17.00, film starts at 17.30 (run time 50 minutes)
The documentary will be followed by a Q&A with the producer, Amy Ashenden. There will also be a bar open til 22.00 with drinks and refreshments. Arrive early for the best seats!
Nearest tube: Seven Sisters, 5 min walk (take the High Road exit and continue towards Tesco, just past Haringey college bear left onto Town Hall Approach Road and the Bernie Grant Arts Centre is on your left).
Register at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-gay-word-documentary-premiere-screening-qa-with-producer-tickets-18179268682
The Gay Word trailer: https://youtu.be/cItd4S0L4ug
The Gay Word is a documentary about the recent trend of saying the word ‘gay’ negatively to mean rubbish, uncool, or embarrassing. Amy Ashenden travels around the South East of England to find out why some people have started to say ‘eurgh that’s gay’. Is it homophobic or has language evolved?
Amy Ashenden asks gay and straight people, young and old, why it makes certain people deeply offended and others less phased. At Stonewall’s HQ in the city centre of London, Amy speaks to the largest gay rights organisation in Europe, which is campaigning against the word ‘gay’ being used negatively, and travels to meet the university academic who claims it’s harmless. She also speaks to teachers, parents, a LGBT+ activist, a transgender male, and young people still in school to find out where the trend of saying “that’s so gay” negatively comes from, and if it should be stopped.
Amy Ashenden is a BA French and Spanish graduate from the University of Southampton. She freelances for the Guardian<http://www.theguardian.com/profile/amy-ashenden>, is the former editor of the Guardian Student Website of the Year 2013, The Student Journals<http://studentjournals.co.uk/>, and has previously produced Working for Nothing<https://youtu.be/eRSVbNcHjJc> – a documentary about unpaid internships in the UK, which featured an interview with the leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett.
If you can’t go, there will be a showing of Amy’s work at the University in February. More about it soon!
Categories: Humanities and languages.