by Dov Kornits
“I didn’t experience any harassment personally during this time, but I do think there was an inescapable feeling of danger that comes from everyone discussing whether you have the same rights as everyone else. Due simply to how much we were being discussed, I am sure people who were against us would have felt more empowered to spew hate more freely.”
That’s actress Cassie Hamilton, who stars in Jace Pickard’s snappy slicey short film Q Club.
“It threw the LGBTQ+ community into the spotlight for something that really didn’t even need to be a thing and it caused a lot of hurt,” adds Pickard. “There was a rise in psychological distress and a negative impact on mental health during the plebiscite. There was a lot of love from the community but there was also a lot of hate.
“I got the idea for Q Club when I was walking home from work one night and I saw a man spray painting NO on a Marriage Equality poster. I just remember feeling so angry about the whole thing. Then there was a NO written in the sky one morning and don’t even get me started on the ridiculous NO commercials, where people were discussing things that had nothing to do with Marriage Equality because they clearly didn’t know how to approach the idea of the NO campaign except to smear hate speech. At the end of the day, we got the YES but it was still crazy that around 40 percent still voted NO.
“I put Q Club in the back of my mind because at the time, I was working on Fragmentary but I knew it was going to be one of my ideas that I would revisit and eventually shoot because I do love a What If story. I mean, What If during the 2017 Marriage Equality plebiscite, there was a killer running around murdering LGBTQ+ members unless they voted NO?”
Pickard has written a feature version of Q Club and is also considering adapting it into a 6-episode series. We’d vote YES to that.
Cassie, can you tell us about your journey as an actress and are there any projects on the horizon?
“I’ve been acting since I was about 5 years old so I would say performance is just in my DNA at this point. Over the years, I’ve completed a diploma of Musical Theatre and then the ensemble course at the Hub Studio. I think MJ Rodriguez [tick, tick… BOOM!, Pose] is a huge inspiration to me, being a trans woman who moved seamlessly between stage and screen and delivers breathtaking performances every time. And on a more personal note, I think some of my actor friends are an inspiration to me in that whenever I’m struggling to figure out how to get into a scene, I imagine what they would do and then I’ve found it!
“At this point, my main goal as an actor is to give a voice to the trans community and assist with the crisis of representation there is for us in media.
“I’m performing in a production called Our Blood Runs in the Street in Brisbane this July and then there could be something big in the musical theatre realm on the horizon but nothing I can talk about just yet!”
How did you find and cast Cassie in the Q Club role?
“I was living in Newcastle at the time of casting, and I decided to search locally for the role of Heather. I came across an LGBTQ+ theatre company titled Bearfoot Theatre and Cassie happened to be the Co-Founder. I knew I had found my Heather as soon as I saw her. I decided to find Cassie on Facebook and send her a message on the project and what was going to be required of her. We met up and read the script together and I was so happy and thankful when she said yes to jumping on board. Nicholas Price, who is my Producer and Cinematographer leant us his house on the Central Coast to shoot and we shot over two nights. Cassie was such a trooper throughout and added so much to the character, including her sense of fashion. She brought with her earrings that were different coloured beads that resembled the transgender flag and I thought that was such a great addition.”
What does the monster in the film represent?
Jace: “The monster or who is under the mask represents every person that has attacked or bullied a LGBTQ+ person for just being themselves. I had a lot of fun designing the killer’s outfit because even though they were committing an awful hate crime, I still wanted to make it camp and I thought what could be more camp than a monster/killer running around in an 18th century Victorian gown.”
Cassie: “For me, the monster in the film was indicative of homophobia and transphobia in a way that transcends the referendum. In recent years, the number of names read out on Trans Day or Remembrance has grown with every subsequent year. Queer people are being killed by people with internalised prejudices all over the world, and I think our monster represents those murders in a lot of ways.”
Yes
Voting yes to QClub