The Lollipop Generation (2008) Presented by Cactus+ and QZAP w/ shorts curated by SEEN

Starring Jena von Brücker, Mark Ewert, Jane Danger, K.C. Klass

Special Guests Vaginal Davis, Joel Gibb, Calvin Johnson, Jen Smith

With Johnny Noxzema, Mitchell Watkins, Rachel Pepper, Torry Colichio, Becky Palov and Andrew Cecil

Returning to Milwaukee for the first time in 18 years! Screened in its first year at the Milwaukee LGBT Film and Video Festival of 2008. Milwaukee’s Queer Zine Archive Project was the community partner then and bringing it back to Milwaukee, this time with short films curated by Milwaukee originated queer film coalition SEEN.

Filmed piece-by-piece for over a decade and a half, The Lollipop Generation is a loose narrative that pays homage to the grungy, life-on-the street subculture of writer-director G.B. Jones. Shot on grainy Super 8 with spurts of jarring video, the fast cuts and simplistic dialogue belie the subject matter of social deviants, hustlers and smut peddlers who revel in defying society’s norms of decency.

QUEER ZINE ARCHIVE PROJECT

The Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) was first launched in November 2003 in an effort to preserve queer zines and make them available to other queers, researchers, historians, punks, and anyone else who has an interest DIY publishing and underground queer communities.

Our mission statement has been consistent over the past nine years:
“The mission of the Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is to establish a “living history” archive of past and present queer zines and to encourage current and emerging zine publishers to continue to create. In curating such a unique aspect of culture, we value a collectivist approach that respects the diversity of experiences that fall under the heading “queer.”

For more information please visit our main site at QZAP.ORG

SEEN

SEEN is a queer coalition of moving image makers, researchers, and curators who aim to disrupt the system of pay to show festivals and censored queer spaces. Through collaboration with other community driven and alternative art spaces, SEEN highlights self defined and nonconformist works to build a foundation for the rise of the Cinematic Gaze/Gayz. Our approach tries to make moving image art accessible to all, while making it sustainable work for ourselves as working class artists and programmers. More information at our website.

CACTUS+

Our mission is to create an artist-centered model for multimedia arts education and community building that champions accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability. Founded in 2022, Cactus+ is our effort to formalize and broaden the reach of our arts education and community building programs including workshops, youth internships, and accessibility initiatives.

Cactus+ Moving Image’s vision is to create an environment conducive to critical engagement by showing work that takes risks, challenges norms, and opens conversations by showcasing a wide range of artist-driven independent media. As a series, we hope to offer a space for inter-generational attendees to engage with film, expanded cinema, and integrated moving image arts practices made by artists from a variety of backgrounds.

To keep a flow of new perspectives, the monthly programs are curated by Cactus+ as well as visionary guest programmers. We have hosted installations, video jockeys, workshops in stop motion, teen film-making, hosting screenings, and cinema studies.

For more information or to submit a guest curation form visit our MI page.