Excerpt /// Mainstay \\\ 15 minutes

/ Mainstay \

50 minutes, color video, 2008

Mainstay approaches questions of the transgender body and loss through representation of family dynamics – between siblings, parents/children – as well as through the context of rural landscape and culture. It examines how these intersecting characters deal with loss and change – in terms of both physical and imagined bodies – in private and public realms. Through its natural and psychological landscape and specific filmic strategies – such as the long duration of a single shot or the exchange and intimacy between two figures – Mainstay creates scapes that allow for and produce dynamic queer bodies and intimacies.

/ Synopsis \

In the wintry landscape of rural Maine, Fischer has just returned home upon hearing of his ex-lover Hannah’s sudden death. After a two-year absence from his family, Fischer is well into his transition from female to male – an experience that he shared only with Hannah. With the loss of this source of validation, Fischer begins to rebuild his fragile relationship with his brother and mother. In the public realm of the small town, Fischer must engage with the people of his past, thus forcing him to negotiate the tenuous boundaries between his queer identity and his perceived “straight” male body. Ultimately, it is his younger brother who attempts to bridge the disconnection and misunderstanding between Fischer and his mother. In different ways, each character admits a need for recognition and a longing for surrender.