‘15 Years of Protest’ Premier

Film Audience

On Sunday 12th November we held the premiere of our short film ’15 Years of Exeter Pride’ as part of Exeter Phoenix’s yearly Come As You Are Festival, which explores issues around gender identity and celebrates the local trans, non-binary and genderqueer community. We were excited to be able to be part of the festival and to be able to invite all the interviewees, volunteers, and supporters of the project to watch the film held in the Phoenix’s independent cinema Studio 74.

We weren’t sure how many people would attend but we touched by how many people in the LGBT+ community made time to come watch the film and the cinema was packed! There is something magical about seeing the creation of a film from just ideas on a page to the big screen and be able to share it with others. 

I am so very proud of what we have created!

Simone Einfalt our director.

Enjoying some well deserve drinks and nibbles after the screening!

Filming day!

We are delighted to say that we found a talented film maker experienced in archival work, Simone Einfalt, to direct our short film, and on 15th October she traveled down from Bristol for a day of filming.

Our two main goals for the day were to interview Max Cohen about his experiences of Exeter Pride, and to record local poet Chris White's spoken word poem inspired by listening to all our wonderful interviewees.

We also had time to film some of the places around Exeter that have been important to Exeter Pride now or have been in the past including the Phoenix, Exeter Central Library and outside the Bishop's Palace.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Exeter Phoenix for providing the space for us to film in & also a big thank you to Lara Martin for being our boom operator and helping carry the heavy equipment around Exeter!

Filming Max Cohen in the Secret Garden at Exeter Phoenix

Creating the Film

So we’ve got our interviews, our donated films and photographs and our amazing filmmaker Simone Einfalt and we’re ready to start the process of what we want to explore through our short film. 

To gauge what audiences might find compelling on screen, we focused on the questions that sparked the most interest during our interviews and decided that "Is Exeter Pride now merely a celebration, or does it still hold the essence of a protest?" provoked some of the longest and most interesting conversation.

As Alan mentions in his interview, there have been significant changes in politics and society since the first Exeter Pride - the Equality Act in 2010, Same Sex Marriage Act in 2013, a rise in sports and media representation of LGBT+ individuals and an increase in films and television shows featuring LGBT+ characters, writers, or directors. This positive transformation deserves to be joyously celebrated!

But not all parts of the LGBT+ community have gained rights and progress at the same rate and rights for the trans community are even regressing. Access to puberty blockers for young people is under review, gender reassignment surgery waiting times have reached record lengths, and fear of trans people (particularly trans women) has been whipped up by politicians and the media.

As Tamsin says ’the need for political activism is much more pressing for trans people because … we’re fighting on a policy level … the urgency or tangible need for protests has been a lot less present in the community as a whole because a smaller part has required it’.

But as Chris’ spoken word piece encapsulates pride can be so many different things to different people, it can be joyous and silly whilst at the same time serious and political. You can protest for trans rights AND twerk at the same time! 

Interviews

We are excited to say we’ve begun recording our audio interviews!

We have made sure they reflect the diversity of the LGBT+ community in Exeter by including neurodiverse people, people of colour, different age ranges, sexualities, genders and disabilities.

We ensured we included both including long-time participants like Alan, who was a founding member, as well as newcomers such as Emmett, who experienced Exeter Pride for the first time in 2022.

We are also happy to welcome on board Lara Martin, a student at Exeter College studying film making, who will be helping with editing our audio interviews and helping with the filming.

We are grateful to the Exeter College staff, especially Amelie Foster & Kelly Lamb who invited us to come to talk to the film student at Exeter College about being involved in the heritage project.

We have also begun to collect images and film of Exeter Pride and to sort out the hundreds of photos taken by our own photographers over the years!

Here are the questions we’re asking interviewees:

Main Questions

1. When was your first Exeter Pride and why did you attend?

2. In your own words, why do you think Exeter Pride started?

3. What memory from Exeter Pride stands out for you and how does it make you feel?

4. How has attending Exeter Pride changed your feelings about yourself and being LGBTQIA+ in Exeter/Devon/the South West?

5. Do you feel that Exeter Pride is more of a celebration now or is it still a protest movement?

Supporting Questions

1. What was Exeter/Devon/the South West like before Exeter Pride OR what do you think Exeter/Devon/The South West would look and feel like without Exeter Pride?

2. Did your first Exeter Pride live up to your expectations?

3. How has your experience of Exeter and/or Exeter Pride changed since you first

   attended?

4. Who is Exeter Pride for?

5. Thinking back to your first Exeter Pride and all the events you have attended since, how

   would you describe Exeter Pride?

6. Why do we still need Exeter Pride?