My Aunt Mame (2017)


A working class, gender non-conforming woman in the 1960s leaves a legacy for her butch dyke grand niece. This is a humanizing narrative made 100% by a queer older woman, which highlights intersectional identities that complicate discourses of sex, gender, and class.

My Aunt Mame, 9 min, USA, 2017

“My Aunt Mame” is a film in which time is woven between past and present. Aunt Mame exists solely in flashbacks as a forgotten relative, ostracized from her family for being queer. Each visit marks a holiday and a different girlfriend to introduce to the family. The film’s playfulness in its composition juxtaposes its seriousness in content, mirroring my experience of caring for my mother as I was creating this work.
This short is about generations of working class women getting older, particularly aging lesbians, one is my Aunt Mame, and one is myself.
The intersectional issues raised in this animated short have been the defining features of my life; eldercare, aging, rising health costs with shrinking insurance coverage, the AIDS years, working class women’s lives.
The movie’s subtitles are built into it, because of my commitment to accessibility. I hope this short film makes people laugh, and also affords an opportunity to think about aging, and care for elderly queer people.

2022 GAZE International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland
2021 Les Mains Gauches – Queer Feminist Short Movies, Marseille, France
2021
Gilbert Baker Film Festival, online
2021 Wicked Queer: Boston’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Boston, USA
2021 She Burns Bright – Best of Bechdel, Akron, OH, USA
2021 Queers in Shorts, Cambridge, UK
2020 QFlix Philly, Philadelphia, USA
2020 Canada’s Yes! Let’s Make a Movie Film Festival, Montreal, Canada
2020 Splice Film Festival, Brooklyn, NYC, USA
2020 Montreal Feminist Film Festival | Festival de films féministes de Montréal, Canada
2019 Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest, London, UK
2019 Festival Mental – Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, Lisboa, Portugal
2019 Trans Stellar Film Festival, Detroit, MI, USA
2019 Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Glasgow, Scotland
2019 PopUp Anthology, Local LGBT+ Showcase, ArtWorks Trenton, NJ USA
2019 Splice Film Festival, Cine Noir, Brooklyn, NY (selected)
2019 Cinema Systers, Maiden Alley Cinema, Paducah, KY, USA
2019 Bechdel Film Festival, Nightlight Cinema, Akron, OH, USA
2019 Wicked Queer Film Fest, The Paramount Center, Boston, USA
2019 qFlix Philadelphia, Connelly Auditorium University of the Arts, Philadelphia, USA
2019 Pride Films, Pride Films & Plays | Pride Arts Center, Chicago, USA
2018 Woodbury International Queer Film Festival, Tiki Tiki, Woodbury, NJ, USA
2018 TransStellar Film Festival, Cinema Detroit, Detroit, MI USA
2018 All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF), South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse, Austin, TX, USA
2018 London Pride: Queer Women Over 50, London, UK
2018 New York Film and Video Club, NYC, USA
2018 An Unashamed Claim To Visibility: Shorts At The Intersection Of Queerness And Disability, London, UK
2018 Dyke Drama Film Festival, Cinema Paradiso, Perth, Australia
2018 Philadelphia Film Society Philly Filmmaker Showcase, Prince Theater, Philadelphia, USA
2018 New York Feminist Film Week, Anthology Film Archives, NYC, USA
2018 AltFF Alternative Film Festival, Toronto, Ontario (Finalist)
2017 Women Over 50 Film Festival, The Sallis Benney Theatre at the University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
2017 Leeds Queer Film Festival, Live Art Bistro, Leeds, UK
2017 Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, UK
2017 11th For Rainbow Festival of Sexual Diversity, Culture and Film, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil
2017 Queer Bee Film Festival, various London venues, UK
2017 Gender Reel, various cities, USA

Press

“My Aunt Mame’ is a short film conducted solely through Fischer-Price toys. Time is woven between various pasts and the present: the present is a woman sitting at her ailing mother’s bedside; the past experiences of growing up queer in the 1970s and 1980s. Mame exists solely in flashbacks as a forgotten lesbian aunt, ostracized from her family for being queer. Each visit marks a different holiday and a different girlfriend to introduce to the family. The film’s playfulness in its composition juxtaposes its seriousness in content, mirroring the director’s experience of caring for a family member while filming the piece.”
GUM – Glasgow University Student Magazine review, October 2017

“The shared joys and struggles of two butches through the generations in one family. Director Krissy Mahan is a working class daughter, artist, and professional handyman determined to create a world that is more fun for everyone. Mahan taught herself how to make movies in the early 1990s and hasn’t stopped amusing herself since. Over the past twenty years Mahan has developed a body of work exposing the absurdity of man-made barriers to human movement, happiness, and social access.”
Curve Magazine review, August 2017

Showcase Filmmaker Spotlight: Krissy Mahan

Festival Review

2019 Mosaic Film Festival, Georgia Piedmont Technical College
Thank you SO MUCH for submitting your wonderful film My Aunt Mame to the 2019 Mosaic Film Festival! The event was a celebration of YOU and the gift of your wonderful work that you graciously chose to share with us.
I especially enjoyed the deeply humanistic elements that you weave throughout Mame! You film has a very big heart, a keen sense of humor, and an important story and message that I am glad we got an opportunity to screen for our audience. Please keep doing great work like this, we desperately need it in a world that sometimes seems bereft of understanding, acceptance and love! You are a champion for change!
Jabbar Thomas, Co-Founder and Festival Coordinator

 

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