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Elevation
Title:
Elevation
NFSA ID
813846
Year
1989
Courtesy
Estate of Stephen Cummins
Warnings
WARNING: This clip contains nudity
This clip is a short excerpt from the Stephen Cummins film Elevation (1989).
Where Cummins' earlier films both reflected and critiqued ‘traditional’ coded homoeroticism in cinema, 1989’s Elevation more directly examined the limitations placed on gay male sexuality in the public eye.
Two men meet and kiss passionately in an elevator, enduring the disdain of a disapproving public, and then imagining a utopia where their sexuality could be celebrated Elevation reflected Cummins' shift towards a more overt narrative form.
While the appearance of AIDS created a climate of public fear in the 1980s, it also energised the LGBTQI+ community and LGBTQI+ artists to demand and promote visibility and recognition.
Summary by Simon Hunt
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.