Cary Cronenwett
Maggots and Men
Maggots and Men is an experimental historical narrative, set in a mythologized, post-revolutionary Russia that re-imagines/queers the story of the 1921 uprising of the Kronstadt sailors with a twist of gender anarchy. Agit-prop theater group Blue Blouse guides the viewer through the story, which is narrated by fictionalized letters written by Stepan Petrichenko, the leader of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee.
54 min, 2009
PEACE OF MIND
PEACE OF MIND documents the life of American artist, Flo McGarrell, prior to his untimely death in the earthquake that struck Haiti in January of 2010. Through interviews, local artists discuss McGarrell’s impact on the community and the small queer movement that was instigated around the FOSAJ Art Center in Jacmel where he worked. The director, Cary Cronenwett, was a collaborative partner of McGarrell’s, and through making the film, Peace of Mind, he processes his own grief and copes with the absence of a friend. Prior to the tragedy, Cronenwett and McGarrell were developing a film based on the novel, KATHY GOES TO HAITI, by Kathy Acker. Shot only weeks before McGarrell’s death, with Zackary Drucker playing Kathy Acker, the footage from the unfinished project blurs the line between fiction and documentary.
76 min, Completed June 2015
