Queer & Italian in Montreal 

July 21 event to celebrate the contributions of 

LGBTQ Italian-Canadians on the city’s cultural life and history
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – Join us for a festive celebration of queer Italian-Canadian culture in Montreal on Thursday, July 21, 2022, as Violet Hour, in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Montreal, Fierté Montréal Pride and Accenti Magazine, present the event, “Queer and Italian in Montreal.”

The event, which is an official part of this year’s Fierté Montréal Pride celebrations, will take the form of a screening of the recent documentary short, “Creative Spaces: Queer and Italian Canadian” (2021), followed by a panel discussion about the past, present and future of queer Italian-Canadian culture in the city. Speakers on the panel include Gaspare Borsellino (Gruppo Italiano Gay e Lesbico di Montreal), Vee DG (CIAO – Canadian Italians Against Oppression), and Steve Galluccio. The event will be hosted by author and literary events producer Christopher DiRaddo.

ABOUT THE FILM

“Creative Spaces: Queer and Italian Canadian” (2021)

What does it mean to be queer and Italian Canadian? And what experiences do queer Italian Canadians have when their sexual orientation and gender identity come in contact with their cultural heritage and traditions? Director Licia Canton explores this topic with three Montreal writers—Liana Cusmano, Christopher DiRaddo and Steve Galluccio—and comparative literature professor Domenico A. Beneventi. (Running time: 28 minutes)

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Gaspare Borsellino is the former President of the Gruppo Italiano Gay e Lesbico di Montreal, a one-time social club for LGBTQ folks of Italian origin that played a significant role in queer cultural life in Montreal from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s.

Vee DG is a nonbinary multimedia artist & writer based on the unceded territory of Tiohtià:ke. Their work focuses on transnationalism, historical revisionism and the personal, and the inconsistencies of memory. They hold a degree in photography as well as a BFA in Film Production from Concordia University and currently work in documentary filmmaking. They are a founding member of CIAO (Canadian Italians Against Oppression).

Steve Galluccio is a playwright and screenwriter. His first major stage play, Mambo Italiano, was turned into a movie which sold in more than fifty-three countries. He is also known for the Gemini award-winning TV series Ciao Bella and the movies Funkytown (2011) and Little Italy (2018). His new play “At The Beginning of Time” will be premiere in February 2023 at The Centaur Theatre.

Christopher DiRaddo is the author of two novels: The Geography of Pluto (2014), and The Family Way (2021), which was recently nominated for the F.G. Bressani Literary Award. Since 2014, he has worked to create a space for LGBTQ literature in Montreal—producing and hosting the Violet Hour reading series and book club, which has to date featured more than 200 writers. He has also curated literary events for Never Apart, and programmed Violet Metropolis, the LGBTQ leg of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival (2018-2020). In 2018, he co-founded with Blue Metropolis the Violet Prize, Canada’s first LGBTQ literary prize to be awarded to a Canadian writer for their body of work. He is also past president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation (2018-2021).

DETAILS

“Queer & Italian in Montreal” will take place on Thursday, July 21, 2022, at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Montreal, located at 1200 ave du Docteur-Penfield (Peel Metro).

The event will be in English and will run from 7 PM to 9 PM. Entrance is free, but participants are asked to RSVP at:
https://iicmontreal.esteri.it/iic_montreal/en/gli_eventi/calendario/2022/07/queer-e-italian-montreal.html

For more information about the film, as well as the Queer & Italian Canadian project, please visit www.queeritaliancanadian.com.