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Special Events
Something special is in store!
From live music to high tea, from documentary films to performance art, every year Fantasia Fair offers
special events that are fun and exciting.
Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps
A 2010 Special Event
Unraveling Michelle
A 2010 Special Event
We explored the Homo Bonobo Project with
globe-trotting Belgian primatologist Dr. Ghislaine Pussait, as played by Shelly Mars. Inspired by the classic performance works of Jane Goodall, Al Gore, and the Pink Panther's
Inspector Clouseau, the show weaved themes of sexuality, love, and violence into a genuinely educational evening about our
gentle jungle cousins, the bonobo apes.
Namoli Brennet was a special treat. This Tucson-based
songwriter honed her craft through hundreds of performances and thousands of
miles on the road and she gave us an evening to remember. She is 3-time Outmusic award nominee who has been featured in Performing
Songwriter Magazine, The Advocate and the Chicago Free Press. If you have heard Namoli Brennet's work, you know just how intense,
passionate, and gifted of a performer she is. If you haven't heard of this transwoman, you can experience a bit of her effect by
visiting her website, namolibrennet.com.
Another musical event was a highlight of Fantasia Fair when internationally-renowned classical pianist Sara Davis Buechner performed. Ms. Buechner is a master pianist, having performed with many different orchestras including philharmonic orchestras in New York,
Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco. You can listen to some of Ms. Buechner here.
Having writer, director, and producer Susan Stryker give a special showing of her film Screaming Queens
was another evening extraordinaire. The film tells an important story in our transgender history. Three years before the famous rioting at
New York's Stonewall Inn, there was a riot in San Francisco at Gene Compton's Cafeteria. On a hot Summer's night in 1966, in the
city's Tenderloin district, a group of transgender women and gay street-hustlers fought back for the first time in history against
everyday police harassment. This act of resistance was a dramatic turning point for the transgender community, and the beginning of
a new human rights struggle that continues to this very day.
The movie Southern Comfort
 , directed by Kate Davis,
was the focus another year. This breakout hit and winner at nearly 20 major film
festivals had us mesmerized with its rare blend of humor, tragedy, and romance. The story chronicles the final year in the life of
Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual. Eads, diagnosed with ovarian cancer, was turned down for treatment by two dozen doctors
out of fear that such a patient as Eads would hurt their practice. By the time Eads received treatment, the cancer was too advanced
to save his life. The film begins Robert falling in love with Lola, a male-to-female transsexual and progresses through Eads and Lola
make their way to the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, before finally succumbing to his illness.
Fantasia Fair has been the venue for the first time ever North American showing of Georgie Girl, the story of Australia's first
transsexual member of parliament. Also, we have hosted book launches, such as with the award-winning
The Gender Frontier by Mariette Pathy Allen, held art exhibits, high teas, and even the ocassional game show.
For the 36th Fantasia Fair, not one but two special events have been arranged.
The first being the world premier showing of "Unraveling Michelle" by
Michelle Ann Farrell. "Unraveling Michelle" is a
courageous documentary presents a year and a half in the life of a well-respected East Coast filmmaker - formerly known as Joe O' Ferrell
- as he begins to make the transition into the woman he has always wanted to become - Michelle Ann Farrell.
The documentary has been recognized with numerous awards,
including BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY, First Glance Film Festival Philadelphia, 2008; BEST LOCAL FILM, Artsfest Film Festival,
2008; BEST ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE DOCUMENTARY, New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, 2008; BRONZE AWARD,
TIVA-DC Peer Awards, 2008. Although this work has been presented as screenings in various film festival, Ms. Farrell has decided
to make Fantasia Fair the official premier showing of this award-winning work and she will be on hand to discuss her production.
The second special event of 2010 Fantasia Fair is a special showing of Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps.
Presented by Scott Turner Schofield, named a "Young Trans Hero of 2006" by The
Advocate magazine, gives a performance that challenges fundamental assumptions about gender, sex and identity.
Scott Turner Schofield puts his personal journey from female-bodied boy to butch girl to unrecognizable woman to man on display.
Schofield employs multimedia storytelling, silk fabric acrobatics, and audience participation to reveal the life of a man who just
happens to have been born a girl.
The "127 Steps" of the title refers to Schofield's "decoder wheel," with numbers that correspond to words like "man," "woman,"
"gay," "lesbian" and "body." The audience calls out the numbers for the words they want to hear about and Schofield has a story
to go with each of the 127 permutations of numbers. Each performance is a different lineup and in a different order, making the
performance unlike any other.
No matter what, the next Fantasia Fair is sure to entertain!
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