HEAD CLEANER—TORONTO QUEER FILM FESTIVAL’S 10th ANNIVERSARY PROGRAM!

Thurs., Nov. 12, 2026, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. (Doors 6:30 p.m.)
CineCycle (129 Spadina Ave., rear; see accessibility info at ticketing link or at bottom of this listing)
Mask required
This is a ticketed event: TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

“Head Cleaner” holds together three interlinked phenomena: watching YouTube videos while pregaming for a night out, channel surfing and watching music videos on Much Music, and dancing your ass off at a queer party on a Saturday night. Featuring politically-engaged music videos and music-driven work by artists from Canada, the United States, and Palestine, this programme embraces the fact that Stonewall was both a riot and a place to party.

Anthem
Marlon Riggs (USA, 1991, 8:00)

(Tell Me Why) The Epistemology of Disco
John Di Stefano (Canada, 1991, 24:00)
(Tell Me Why) The Epistemology Of Disco is an often humorous, at times sarcastic and poignant look at the role that disco music has played in the formation of gay male identity. The tape challenges the notion of disco as merely a “leisure activity” by positing disco as an important cultural space created as an expression of gay sexuality. Combining tongue-in-cheek semiotic texts (about Levi’s 501 Jeans), classic gay film clips and disco classics, (Tell Me Why)… celebrates gay desire and uses it as a thread to draw a historical lineage between gay movement politics of the late 60’s, early 70’s and the more recent gay movement politics around AIDS.

A Message
Mama Ganuush, Nasri Sayegh (Palestine, 2026, 3:00)
A short documentary film capturing queer Palestinian voices in exile.

what if we kept it between us?
Mahlet Cuff (Canada, 2026, 6:00)
what if we kept it between us? is a single-channel film that draws from archival footage of ballroom, voguing, juke, footwerk, dancehall and dance practices across the African and Black Queer diaspora. While drawing from house music godfather Frankie Knuckles, who oftentimes was asked what is house music, the question is proposed to the audience, questioning why there is a desire to explain the genre at all. Using music from electronic duo Drexciya, what if we kept it between us? is working towards recentering genres of Black music that have been appropriated, pushing against extraction and offering gatekeeping as a way to protect and preserve Black music and dance ethnographies.

Asian Boyfriend
Wayne Yung (Canada, 2026, 1:00)
Call now and get your Asian boyfriend today!

Poly Pocket
Cat C. Haines (Canada, 2026, 1:00)

The ADS Epidemic
John Greyson (Canada, 1987, 5:00)
“This is not a Death in Venice…” Aschenbach, once a “liberal fellow,” succumbs to an attack of ADS (Acquired Dread of Sex) while Tadzio learns that Safe Sex is Fun, and various other characters warn us that ADS can happen to anybody. A catchy, upbeat, musical look at the media-induced paranoia about AIDS.

One Night In Heaven
Wayne Yung (Canada, 1995, 6:00)
In this queer Asian spoof of karaoke, a new boy in town discovers the dark side of the big city. The story follows his adventures to an underground club where sex and murder are in store.

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Theo Jean Cuthand (Canada, 2016, 5:00)
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Sex Fish
E.T. BABY MANIAC
Shu Lea Cheang, Jane Castle & Ela Troyano (USA, 1993, 6:00)
Swimming upstream, the fish, heading home, warm and moist.
Squirming through the tightened passage way, fish in love.
Squealing, fish in love, fish losing head.
ET phoned home and BABY was nowhere to be found.
Maniac declares love and chases the fish, tailing upstream.
They don’t do orgy no more.
Verbal Masturbation is a required language.
On a clear day, you can see far and away.
Inside a clear fish tank, you can swim back and forth.
Negotiating space, try to turn me on.
POWER TO THE PUSSY, bell breathes at my ears and hooks me.
Wetting, the fish swims inside me.
An erotic lesbian video involving swimming upstream, female power, and fish love. Made as a collaboration under the name E.T. (Ela Troyano) Baby (Jane Castle) Maniac (Cheang).

Accessibility
For those with walkers and mobility devices, CineCycle may not be accessible from the front door, but there is an alternate back entrance. The front door is narrow and is 11 inches off the ground from the alleyway. The back door of the venue, accessible through the parking lot, could be navigated by most walkers and mobility devices with some assistance. Please reach out to admin@torontoqueerfilmfest.com with a minimum of 48 hours advance notice so that we can assist you in entering the building. There is a fully accessible washroom inside the building as well.