92YTribeca film series Queer/Art/Film is underway, with three more presentations slated to take place. After interviews with presenters Ira Sachs, Matt Wolf,and Jennie Livingston, today we bring you an interview with Tony-nominated writer/performer Kenny Mellman, recently named one of TimeOut New York‘s “40 New Yorkers who’ve made a positive impact on the city since TONY’s been around.” He will be presenting Queer and Unavailable this Thu, Jun 25 at 92YTribeca.

The title of your presentation is Queer and Unavailable. You said, “For some reason a lot of the best queer film content is not available to the general public.” What do you mean by that exactly? And why do you think that is?

I think that a lot of Queer orientated film/tv/performance gets shown at festivals and then fades out of sight.  I think it is important to dredge up this content every so often, so that new generations of queer and queer-friendly people get to see the history.

The rest of the interview is after the jump, and includes the same question we have asked each performer: “The use of the term Queer seems wide reaching nowadays, not restricted to “gay” individuals. For instance, we have heard it used by heterosexual people who identify as Queer, which implies definitions aside from sexual. Do you agree? What does “Queer” mean to you?”

You are a performer and an entertainer. How does the content in Queer and Unavailable influence you and your art?
I have always gravitated towards the obscure and indie.  Underground gay artists/writers/film-makers have all had a huge influence on what my art would portray.  I think it is important as a Queer artist to always be mindful of the history that we create on top of.

Co-curator of the series Ira Sachs said in a previous interview that when you put movies, gay people, and artists together, its bound to be interesting. Do you agree with that? And what do you think is the magic ingredient out of those three subject? (movies, gay people, and artists)
I think that gay people have open eyes and ears to commenting on the greater world from a perspective of the outsider.  So I think that the mirror that we hold up to society is unique and peculiar all that the same time.

Is there another film in the Queer/Art/Film series that speaks to you, and why?
Blue by Derek Jarman was one of the most profound products of the AIDS epidemic committed to film.  I actually could not come see it during this festival because it makes me sob sob sob....

The use of the term Queer seems wide reaching nowadays, not restricted to “gay” individuals. For instance, we have heard it used by heterosexual people who identify as Queer, which implies definitions aside from sexual. Do you agree? What does “Queer” mean to you?
Queer to me means outside the norm of society.  It also, rather broadly, seems to me to be any output from Queer identified peoples and well as content that for whatever reason has an appeal to Queer identified peoples.

[Queer/Art/Film]

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