MEDIA AND EVENTS

Moving Pictures

UW Bothell librarian curates a QTPOC film canon By Luna Reyna

As a teenager, Michael Mungin would go to Columbia City Library in South Seattle to find books and films about the intersecting complexities of being Black and gay, or what he called as a teenager, “same-gender loving.” Fortunately, some helpful librarians supported his pursuit by setting aside things that they thought he would find interesting. He learned that libraries can be a useful safe space and can point people toward resources that might make an impact in their lives. The experience stayed with him and has culminated in the work he is doing now as a research and instruction librarian at UW Bothell. According to Mungin, ’10, finding films that center the experiences of queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) may have saved his life. “I think the lack of representation robs you of your imagination for your own future,” he says. But when he was 13, he discovered the 1996 documentary “All God’s Children.” The short film explores the way Black Christian families with gay and lesbian family members are able to reconcile their faith with their family member’s sexuality. The documentary is an example of how people can learn to sit with their discomfort and accept the ones they love as they are. “I remember that really resonating with me because it’s what I had hoped my experience in coming out to my family would be like,” Mungin says.

In 2018, Mungin was awarded a Carnegie Whitney Grant from the American Library Association to create “An Intersectional Lens: Towards a QTPOC Film Canon.” The canon offers a curated list of films that showcase QTPOC in many intersecting and uniquely intimate and eccentric ways of being and loving. At the same time, the films navigate historical oppression and internalized and external racism and homophobia.

Mungin organizes the films alphabetically for searchability as well as by race, ethnicity and sexuality in order to further assist those looking for something specific to their personal experience or exploration. When he began sifting through films, the process required him to review many that represented queer and trans people in exploitative or tokenistic ways. Out of 174 films, just over 60 made the cut for his exploration into authentic QTPOC representation in American cinema.

“This is the kind of thing that I wish existed when I was a little younger, when I was a teenager just discovering libraries,” Mungin says. “It was always a struggle for me to find things that spoke to what my future might be. “This is the kind of thing that I wish existed when I was a little younger, when I was a teenager just discovering libraries,” Mungin says. “It was always a struggle for me to find things that spoke to what my future might be.”

To explore the list of films, visit qtpocfilmcanon.squarespace.com.

VIEWPOINT CALENDAR

GO

Maysoon Zayid—Survival of the Unfittest

Oct. 26, 6:30 pm | Meany Performing Arts Center Comedian, disability advocate and author Maysoon Zayid talks about being a Muslim American woman, her family, global culture and cerebral palsy. She co-founded the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Networks and "60 Minutes," and at comedy clubs at home and abroad. Due to COVID-19, there will be no wait list or walk-up admission the night of the event. This talk is sponsored by the Graduate School with support from The D Center, UW Disability and D/deaf Cultural Center and the UW Disability Studies Program. Tickets are $5 at www.washington.edu/lectures

SEE

Packaged Black: Derrick Adams and Barbara Earl Thomas

Through May 1 | Henry Art Gallery

Barbara Earl Thomas, ’73, ’77, teams up with Derrick Adams in a collaborative, multimedia installation developed from their shared dialogue about representation, Black identity and practices of cultural resistance. This must-see exhibition is a synthesis of a multiyear, intergenerational and cross-country exchange between New York-based Adams and Seattle-based Thomas that began after the two artists exhibited work alongside each other in 2017.

DO

Anne Gould Hauberg Artist Images Series featuring Juan Alonso-Rodríguez

Oct. 28, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Artist Juan Alonso-Rodríguez joins local arts advocate and DoubleXposure podcast host Vivian Phillips for a pre-recorded discussion of his work. The Cuban-American visual artist is based in Seattle and has works in museums and public spaces across the Pacific Northwest. After the interview, audiences can take part in a live Q&A, moderated by UW Libraries Special Collections PNW Curator Anne Jenner. Register for the free online event at washington.edu/alumni.