I just spent the last week presenting my work at the Flaherty Seminar. They have this whole thing about no preconceptions, so the featured artists have to keep it quiet until after their films screen. BUT ALSO I guess I didn’t really do much research into a typical Flaherty Seminar because afterwards I found out it has a mega reputation for being kind of antagonistic to filmmakers in discussions. I think if I had known that I would have been more apprehensive but lucky me I was totally ignorant of the Flaherty Seminar’s history. BUT ALSO I actually had a really good time at the Flaherty. People responded positively to my work, and there were a ton of interesting conversations happening and also really strong films. So it was a good experience for me. It is pretty gruelling though, there’s three screenings a day and three discussions and a happy hour and you all go to the Skidmore cafeteria for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I was SO EXHAUSTED by the end of it, I didn’t even really have time to jack off which is hilarious for me because I’m so used to working from home and having orgasms multiple times a day. And there were cuties at the seminar and also a lot of them were queer because it was the Queer World-Mending seminar. So tons of queer artists. But I honestly couldn’t even get off by myself, never mind bringing someone else into bed with me. Which was also fine honestly because I was sleeping in a little dorm bed.

I feel like I should do a more exhaustive review of the Flaherty Seminar so that anyone coming by here would be impressed by my intellectual exercises about it, but honestly I am still trying to catch up on rest and finally relax.

After the Seminar, I went to the Hessel Museum at Bard College for the Indian Theater exhibition which I am screening four videos in. It seemed to go well. I did kind of miss the Seminar tho, just because no one deadnamed me or called me by the wrong pronouns there, and at Indian Theater people kept messing it up or not registering that I am a dude. Which just gets further exhausting because I’m still not used to asserting my gender and also because cis people get really offended when people assert their gender. I mean not always, but it kinda pisses some people off and it’s just annoying for me to deal with that. But also I met this sweet elder there who is kind of a big deal so she gets a pass for not always getting it because she was genuinely trying.

I had a good time though at all the events. I got to see some old friends and meet new friends and think about a lot of stuff. And see a lot of art. And now I am trying to get my name changed so my ID is gonna take a while to get sorted out, so this is probably my last international trip for a little while. I really hope I can get the name change form in soon because I’m stuck in Canada until it’s all done.

There were some other things that happened on my trip, but I’m not gonna tell you all of it. It was a special time for me though, something I am definitely going to remember.