dir Chris Vargas & Eric Stanley | US | 2016 | 63′
with Angela Davis, Miss Major Griffin-Macy, CeCe MacDonald
Criminal Queers is a weighty slice of satire, simultaneously uncompromising and fully entertaining. DIY in its attitude and filming style, it trashes a society that values gay assimilation and corporatism over trans safety and legitimate protest. A courageous cabal of underground queers fight to emancipate their leader Lucy Parsons, trapped in prison for a bogus crime. Delightful scenes include an epic opening gambit passing illegal letters across land, sea and accordion players, to Black feminist guardian angel Angela Davies explaining the prison industrial complex. Black trans women also play key roles in this film, from cabal leader Lucy Parsons to cameos from titans of the LGBT community such as Miss Marcy Major Griffin and Cece McDonald.
Criminal Queers utterly rejects the liberal trap of respectability and instead presents the farce and nonsense of the prison complex. The queer world we see is interconnected, radical, loving, and fully active – the worst nightmare of those who try to oppress us. And Fringe!’s utter joy to screen.