Bruce LaBruce

Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964)[1] is a Canadian

writer, lmmaker, photographer and underground adult
director based in Toronto, Ontario. His lms explore themes of sexual and interpersonal transgression
against cultural norms, frequently blending the artistic
and production techniques of independent lm with gay
pornography.[2]

it would have been refused classication. However, the

lm was subsequently able to screen at OutTakes, a New
Zealand lesbian and gay international lm festival, in May
2011.[7][8]
In March 2011, LaBruce directed a performance of
Arnold Schoenberg's opera Pierrot Lunaire at the Hebbel
am Ufer Theatre in Berlin. This iteration of the opera included gender diversity, castration scenes and dildos, as
well as a female to male transgender Pierrot.[9] He subsequently also lmed this adaptation as the 2014 theatrical
lm Pierrot Lunaire.

Life and career

Beginning with Gerontophilia in 2013, LaBruce dropped

some of the more sexually explicit aspects of his lmmaking style. He retained his traditional interest in exploring
sexual taboos, dramatizing an intergenerational relationship between a young man and a senior citizen, but opted
to do so within a lm that would be more palatable to a
He rst gained public attention with the publication of mainstream audience.[10]
the queer punk zine J.D.s, which he co-edited with G.B.
Jones.[1] He currently writes and photographs for a variety
of publications including Vice, Nerve.com and BlackBook
2 Filmography
magazine, and has also previously been a columnist for
the Canadian music magazine Exclaim! and Torontos
eye weekly, as well as a contributing editor and pho- 2.1 Short lms
tographer for New Yorks index magazine. He has also
Boy, Girl (1987)
been published in Toronto Life, the National Post and The
Guardian.
I Know What Its Like to Be Dead (1987)
His lmmaking style is marked by a blend of explicitly
pornographic depictions of sex with more conventional
Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacys Home Movies
narrative and lmmaking techniques, as well as an interest
(1988), co-directed with Candy Parker
in extreme topics which mainstream audiences might dis A Case for the Closet (1992)
miss as shocking or disturbing taboos.[5] For instance, his
lms have depicted scenes of sexual fetish and paraphilia,
The Post Queer Tour (1992)
BDSM, gang rape, racially-motivated violence, amputee
fetishism, male and female prostitution, and zombie and
Slam! (1992)
vampire sexuality.[5] He has frequently been identied
with the subversive New Queer Cinema movement that
Come As You Are (2000)
emerged in the 1990s,[5] although at the height of that
movements prominence he rejected the association on
Give Piece of Ass a Chance (2007)
the grounds that he felt more personally aligned with the
The Bad Breast, or The Case of Theda Lange (2010)
queercore movement.[5] The queercore movement was
born in the 1980s and LaBruce was one of the fathers.
Weekend in Alphaville (2010)
Noted as the avant-garde and unapologetic gay answer to
the punk movement, queercore expressed the very same
discontent with society as the punks were stating.[6]
LaBruce was born in Tiverton, Ontario.[3] He has claimed
both Justin Stewart and Bryan Bruce as his birth name
in dierent sources.[4] He studied lm at York University
in Toronto and wrote for Cineaction magazine, curated by
Robin Wood, his teacher.

2.2 Feature lms

His movie, Otto, or, Up With Dead People debuted at

the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. L.A. Zombie was
banned from the Melbourne International Film Festival
in 2010 because, in the opinion of Australian censors,

No Skin O My Ass (1993)

Super 8 (1994)
1

5
Hustler White (1996), co-directed & written with
Rick Castro
Skin Flick / Skin Gang (1999)
The Raspberry Reich (2004)
Otto; or Up with Dead People (2008)
L.A. Zombie (2010)
Gerontophilia (2013)
Pierrot Lunaire (2014)
Ulrikes Brain (TBA)

Books
The Reluctant Pornographer (1997)[1]
Ride Queer, Ride

References

[1] Arts: Bruce LaBruce on glbtq.com

[2] Punched in the Nose: An Interview with Filmmaker
Bruce LaBruce. South Coast Today, February 27, 2008.
[3] gayle macdonald (2010-07-22). Australians wont see
zombies having sex. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved
2012-01-12.
[4] Filmmakers series critiques gay sensibilities. Toronto
Star, November 1999.
[5] Bruce LaBruce: There Is a Certain Romance to It. L.A.
Record, June 26, 2009.
[6] Dave Croyle (2014).
Sexual Revolution, Bruce
LaBruce. Gay Essential. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
[7] Festival zombie porn ick banned. ABC News, July 21,
2010.
[8] Bruce LaBruce zombie lm banned in Australia. CBC
News. 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
[9] Michael Ladner. Bruce LaBruce and Item Idem at the
Opera. Butt, March 10, 2011.
[10] Marie-Hlne Thibault et Pier-Gabriel Lajoie dans
Gerontophilia, un lm de Bruce LaBruce tourn Montral. Hungton Post, December 19, 2012. (French)

External links
BruceLaBruce.com
Bruce LaBruce at the Internet Movie Database

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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