Queer Joy, Activism, Resilience Revealed in Scarecrow Video’s Vast Library

Sometimes, to see yourself reflected back at you can be a radical experience. 

This was how it felt at Moving History – The Queercrow Archive, Volume 3 on June 8 at Northwest Film Forum. The event was the third annual installment of a collaborative project between two Seattle nonprofits devoted to preserving history through video: Scarecrow Video and MIPoPS (Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound). 

Libby Hopfauf, Executive Director at MIPoPS, and Tyler Mesman, Development Director at Scarecrow Video, introduced the Queercrow Archive, which featured 15 videos digitized from Scarecrow’s collection of over 152,000 items of physical media. These videos, taken from all manner of formats including personal tapes, cable television shows, DIY art films, and more, span decades and subcultures in a sampling of a vast queer history that is crucial to preserve. 

“Acts of Resistance” section at Scarecrow Video

The Evergreen Echo

There was a whole lot of joy in these films, from Gay for a Day (1976), a documentary of a Chicago Pride parade, to a 1994 program on rodeos at Daly City’s Cow Palace from the network Dyke TV. Giving a more localized spin on queer history was Network Q’s Queerjocks (1993), which highlights Seattle’s Northwest Gay and Lesbian Summer Sports Festival, as well as the tenth anniversary of the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Squaredance Clubs at the University of Washington. 

A personal highlight from this film was a hilariously edited (and awkwardly flirtatious) interview with a Seattleite in Capitol Hill who mentions his favorite LGBTQ+ spots in the city, including former bookstore Beyond the Closet. The Network Q team also visited a variety of Seattle Queer bars, including Neighbours, The Wildrose, The Cuff, and now defunct spots such as the Timberline Tavern, R Place, and The Double Header, which one reporter roasted as “not worth going out of your way for.”

Many of these archival films are also fierce reminders of the courage and organizing the LGBTQ+ community has shown in the face of systemic marginalization. In a scene from Rosa von Praunheim’s documentary Positive (1990), we follow organizers from activist groups Silence = Death and ACT UP fighting for the media and lawmakers to recognize and address the AIDS epidemic in New York City. Many of the activists interviewed were HIV positive themselves, and reported having lost nearly their entire social circle to AIDS complications. The documentary, the first in a three-part series that von Praunheim made in collaboration with filmmaker/writer/activist Paul Zwickler, is a devastating but necessary watch. 

Another film that absolutely broke me was called Silent Pioneers (1985), which featured interviews with senior-aged Queer people. To see aging Queer couples having lived long and joyful lives together and telling stories of how they first met healed some deep part of my bisexual self. Tears were uncontrollably leaking out of my eyes. It was strange, and also beautiful, to see a reality I have so rarely seen on screen as a result of Queer erasure in the media. 

Snippet of the LGBTQ+ section at Scarecrow Video

The Evergreen Echo

And this is exactly why preserving and digitizing physical media is so essential—because it is in these nearly forgotten objects in crevices and corners that we find gems of Queer history. In her experimental 1993 film Nitrate Kisses, also featured in the Queercrow Archive, Volume 3, Barbara Hammer examines the inherent fragmented and patchwork nature of Queer oral and written history. The art that is given to us is rarely what feels true to our experiences, and as Queer people, we must be seekers. 

To continue the Pride Month celebrations, you can look for the current curated Queer Spotlight theme, Acts of Resistance, in the Scarecrow Video store in the University District, and for even more Queer content, browse the vast LGBT collection.