Lethbridge‘s drag community is making waves with their short film/ music video Moniques on 4th.
“It’s one third short film and two third music video,” summarized producer and Hatchap productions general manager Nick Bohle who co-directed the film with first time director Erica J Barr.
“It’s really Erica’s baby. I just helped make her vision come alive on screen. She did a great job,” Bohle said.
“ Mama Didi can’t find a dress to wear to her music video launch, so she goes shopping in town until Alberta’s crazy weather whisks her away to a magical land where all her fashion dreams come true,” Bohle summarized.
The short film features a who’s who of Lethbridge’s drag and theatre scene including New West Theatre’s Katie Fellger and Erica Hunt, Francheska Dynamites and Jay Whitehead and Kathy Zaborsky’s popular drag characters Didi D’Edada and her brother Castrati. Richie Wilcox and Aaron Collier play prominent roles on the film while Charlie Christensen, Danielle Wintrip, Katt Panic, Jamie Johnson and Deonie Hudson make invaluable contributions behind the scenes.
Aaron Collier produced the Jay Whitehead penned song.
“It a disco/ dance song that has a lot of ’80s and ’90 influence,” Bohle described.
“ And we’re waiting for more announcements. So that’s exciting,” he said.“ It was a lot of fun to shoot. Everybody was laughing. And they did a lot of extra work on the choreography that Jay designed, .” Bohle said, noting they filmed the video over three days last August,. 23-26. They were taking proper health safety precautions, wearing masks and socially distancing as it was just as the Covid pandemic was starting to take off.
“We’re excited to support the LGBQT community. We have a lot of projects we’re working on with them,” he said.
In Calgary festival, April 23-May 2, their film will be opening for another drag themed move called “Workhorse Queen.”
“We’re excited to bring this film to Calgary where there is a lot of Conservative mindset,” he said, adding there will also be a drive-in screening in Calgary, June 3-5 in Calgary.