In manyways,Witchesand Faggots,Dykesand Poofters
canbeviewedasa turningpointin therepresentationof
Australiangaysandlesbians.Perhapsmostimportantly,it
enabledqueer audiencesto see themselvesreflectedback in
an authentic,dynamicway, potentiallyfor the first time ever.
Pioneeringcriticofthe‘NewQueerCinema’ofthe1990s
B Ruby Rich arguesthat queer audiencestake on a sense
of propriety and collusion when it comes to representation:Queerviewerresponsesare inflectedby somethingfar more
specificand complexthan the subjectivetastesgoverning
mainstreammoviechoices.Queeraudiencesseethemselves
as complicitin these representations,as if they were compro
misedor validatedby them,and the cathexisthey experience
surpasses other audiences’ investments.^28Giventhissenseofqueer‘ownership’overtheimage,the
communityrepresentedinWitchesand Faggots,Dykesand
Poofterswouldhavefoundtremendoustransformativepower
in it.Forwhilethesociopoliticallandscapewasgradually
shifting,the film was a call to arms for gays, lesbiansand
theirallies.Theactofrecordingthemarches,arrestsand
meetingsis also an act of defiantrefusal– a refusalto be
ignored, a refusal to bestereotyped– but,mostofall,it
is a materialcommitmenttothe
preservationofvisibility.In thisway,
Duncan’sdocumentationofevents
wasaninherentlyradicalactivist
gesture:a meansof counteringthe
oppressiveparadigmsofinvisibility
andofnegativerepresentationthat
associatednon-heterosexualitywith
illness,perversion,or a more general
failureor‘lack’.Images of redress
Lesbianvisibilitywasparticularlylowin Australiain thelate
1970s;in keepingwiththeissuesofrepresentationandcontrol
associatedwitha patriarchalframework,it wasmenwhowere
generallyin chargeoftheformulationandperpetuationof
messagesaboutwhomattered.Asa result,gaymenwerefea-
turedfarmoreprominentlyin thepublicconsciousness,and
it wasgaymenwhocontrolledthenarrativeofdiscrimination.
Theytendedtofocusontheirownexperiences,relegating
thoseofwomenat besttothebackground,andat worstinto
completeirrelevance.This was even reflectedin Australian
law; as activist and historian Graham Carbery puts it:WhileallAustralian[s]tatesoutlawedsexualbehaviourbet
weenmales,the law was silenton the questionof lesbian
behaviour.It is difficultto know why this was the case but it
probablyhada lottodowiththecommonlyheld19thcentury
beliefthat unlikemen, womendid not have strongsexual
desires,thereforethe possibilityof womenbeingsexuallyat
tracted to other women did not occur to (male) politicians.^29Witchesand Faggots,Dykesand Pooftersredressesthis
genderimbalance.We meet a lesbiansinglemotherwho is
battlingthecourtstomaintaincustodyofherdaughter;a
lesbianteacherwho is worriedthat she will be fired; a lesbian
feministwhoacknowledgesthepoliticalnecessityof‘outing’
herself, but is anxious about losing her female best friendAgainstthisemergingbackdrop
ofa slowlylegitimisingnon-
heterosexualidentity,thekindof
symbolictransgressionofpublic
spaceenactedbythepoliceproved
evenmoreincendiar y...This
notionofreclaimingqueerspace
is central to the events depicted.thecameracouldbea weaponofoppressionwhichthreat
enedto exposethosewhowishedto remainhidden.Witches,
Faggots,DykesandPooftersreflectsa significantshift
wherebythecamerawasrecruitedasa weaponoflibera
tion, whichenabledgay and lesbianpeopleto tell their own
truthandclaimtherighttoliveopenly.It is a callto‘come
out’ as a meansto achieveequal rightsand indicates a defi
ant choice to be seen and to be heard.^23
Clearly,thepersonalis political;fromDuncan’sproduction
team of volunteersto the subjectsbeing filmed,authentic
representationis at the heart of the film. Visibilityand ‘coming
out’arekeynotesoftheconversationspresentedin Witches
and Faggots,Dykesand Poofters.As one protesterin the film
says: ‘We’reforcedinto invisibility in order to allow other peo-
pletofeelcomfortable.’
Fromreclaimingthepublicspacesofthecity’sstreets
tohavingtheirsexualityacknowledgedasdifferentbutnot
‘deviant’,thisis a workthatspeakstoanemergingqueer
cinematicculturein Australia.It’s significantthat the world’s
first ever gay film festival,the Festivalof Gay Films,took
placein Sydney– at theFilmmakersCinemain June1976.^24
And,indeed,Witchesand Faggots,Dykesand Poofterswas
first screenedto an audienceof mostly gay and lesbian
peopleatthisvenuein June1980.
Theaudiencewastoolargefor
theeighty-seatcinema,sotwo
screeningswereheld;peoplestill
hadtobeturnedaway.A partyfor
thequeercommunitywasthen
held after the screening.^25
AccordingtoDuncan,themain
productiondifficultiesthat she and
the team encounteredwere finan-
cial: ‘The initial moneycame from
thecommunityaswepassed
aroundthe hat at each event we filmed.Peoplealso donated
their time, film and equipment.’A work of activism,the film
was a labourof love for the filmmakers;they had to sporadi-
callyceaseworkonit in ordertoreturntopaidemployment
astheirpersonalfundsweregraduallydepleted.Thismade
theproductionprocessmorelengthythanit mighthave
been had they securedsufficientfinancing.The film cost
approximatelyA$32,000tomake,includingconcessionsto
unpaidlabour.A NewZealandeditor,MelanieRead,offered
her servicesfree of charge;she spent five months editing the
film but had to returnhome to a payingjob.^26
AsresearcherSamanthaSearlehasrightlypointedout,
in order to adequatelyassessqueer cinemaculture,it cannot
beextractedfromitspoliticalframework.Sheparticularly
emphasisestheimportanceofrepresentation,alongwith
queer filmmakershavingaccessto a meansof production
as well as a meansof distributionin order to effectivelycon-
trolboththecreativeandthescreeningspaces.^27 Withinthis
framework,Duncan’sfilm takes on even greatersignificance;
beyondthemilestonesforgayandlesbianrightsthatshe
hasrecorded,thesymbioticinteractionsbetweenproduction,
representationandaudiencemarkanadditionalmilestone
in Australianqueer film history.Here is a documentarythat is
partiallyfundedbythecommunity,andthatsetsouttocoun-
terthenegativestereotypingofgayandlesbianAustralians
that dominatedthe media, particularly film and television,
back in 1980.
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