02/05/2024
QueerGuru, the excellent culture and arts website, reports that a new movie documentary looks at the history and contemporary culture of Fire Island, the Atlantic car free island territory forty nine miles from New York and a haven for LGBTQIA+ people since the days of the early gay liberation movement. QueerGuru reports " An excellent new documentary, A House Is Not A Disco, directed by Brian J. Smith, takes a deep dive into the Fire Island Pines community of today. Smith details one six-month season on the island, from its opening up in April, the build-up to the annual Pines Party on the beach fundraiser, through to the closing Halloween party at the end of October. We follow a bunch of residents, both long-term and new, as well as business owners, house-sharers, drag performers and the organisers of the Pines Party. The resulting documentary is an interesting, eye-opening profile of one of the most iconic queer places on the planet." The movie also shares the ups and downs of the island's LGBTQIA communities, including the devastation of the AIDS pandemic in the eighties and how a new generation of gender fluid young people are living side by side with an older cohort of gay men, and the issues this presents. In conclusion. QueerGuru says "A House Is Not A Disco is a fun, sexy, insiders insight into a unique place on the planet. It’s beautifully shot with a great soundtrack and fun, interesting interviewees. A few of the spirited talking heads exaggerate to camera a little, and some of the observations lack depth. Overall, however, Smith has created a time-capsule study of queer life today on the island that will be an important reference in future decades. Let’s hope Fire Island survives and continues to evolve and thrive."
https://queerguru.com/queergurus-ris-fatah-reviews-a-house-is-not-a-disc...
