The Island


Edmonton 2008, 5:23 min, Dir: Trevor Anderson

What would it be like if gay people had their own island? In response to a piece of “fan mail” he received from a rabid homophobe, queer filmmaker Trevor Anderson opens his rumination on that question with the image of himself tromping across a barren, snow-covered prairie. It’s a motif that at once illustrates the isolation of a mind in meditation, evokes the loneliness that must, more than in other places, characterize the gay experience on the prairies and foreshadows the logical collapse of the fantasy island proposition, even if that gay paradise is nevertheless brought to vividly comical, comic book life by the colourful animation of Jeff LeDrew.

Trevor Anderson is a self-taught, independent filmmaker who lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His films have been seen on a wide range of screens, from the Berlin International Film Festival to the Drumheller Federal Penitentiary to MTV. In 2007 he received the Lindalee Tracey Award at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, presented to “an emerging Canadian filmmaker working with passion, humour, a strong sense of social justice and a personal point of view.” Trevor also plays in the rock and roll band The Wet Secrets.