“For Those Needing A Refresher Course in the Long Struggle for Queer Rights and Visability As the Trump Administration Cracks Down on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion All-too-timely. The veteran canadian playwright and filmmaker with his Latest feature has combined Drag Queens and Musical Song and Dance to”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
The Veteran Canadian Playwright and Filmmaker with his Latest Feature Has Combined Drag Queens and Musical Song and Dance to Produce A Rally for Continuing Pride. “We Can’T let the Darkness Envelop US. We Need to Continue to Have Joy In Our Rebellion,“ Payette Told The Hollywood Reporter Ahead of a World Premiere for Starwalker at the Inside Out Toronto 2slgbtq+ Film Festival.
The Musical Drama Has Dillan Chiblow Playing Eddie Starwalker, A Young Man Estranged from His Family and Indigenous Culture and Looking To Survive on the Strets of East Vancouver. Eventulyly, Star, As He Is Known to His Friends, Finds A Welcome Home in the House of Borealis, A Drag House, As a Two Spirit Indigenous Drag Side.
Payette’s Unique Narrative Structure for Starwalker HAS HIM COMBINING A CAMP AND AT Times Dark Drag Queen Aesthetic with Uplifting Songs and Dance Typical of Popular Musicals. “WHEN YOU’RE FEELING OPPRAPRAPRAPRAPRAPRAPRESSED, THE MOST REBELLIUS THING YOU CAN DO IS EXPRESS JOY. Because with Everything Is Holding You Down, Holding You Back, You Can Con. Picture, ”He Explans.
Payette, An Artist of OJI-CREE HERITAGE, SPENT AROUND 15 Years Working to Master Indigenous Storytelling Throughing The Lens of Contemporary Musicals. The Result Was Children of God, A Musical Drama Set around An Oji-Creee Family That Has Their Children Taken Away to An Infamous Residential School in Northern Ontario, and and Les filles du roiA feature musical co-written with julie mcisaac and centered on young women Sent to New France (Now Montreal) As Brides for Setters in 1665.
With StarwalkerPayette has exchanged Historical Stories for Contemporary East Vancouver and Gone Beyond the Heartbeat of the Indigenous Drum and the Song of Indigenous ACEESTORS ADRACCSKCACCS. Payette’s Latest Musical Feature Film That He Wrote and Directed Was Originally Developed As a TV Musical Series for Ten WarnerMedia Via Its Canadian Access Writers FRIM. Communities.
But The 2023 Merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery and A Change in Leadership Was Followed by the Studio Passing on the TV Project. SO Payette Bootstraped His Way to Directing Starwalker As a Low Budget Feature Film Shot on A Vancouver Set Field Field with Racks of Costumes and Makeup Tables So Characters Could Achiev Glittering Runway Looks on the Club Stage Or.
“IT’s Shiny, But The Filmning Is Scrappy in the Same Way Drag Artists Are Scrappy, Pulling Together Outfits and Sewing Them, Trying To Make Something Therifuling of the OROTHING OFFUL. As Starwalker and Other Drag Queens Strut About the Club or Dance on Stage, There’s The Contrast of Their Songs with Lyrics Penned by Payette Speaking of Loss And Losa Complex Gender Identities.
Payette Had Dillan Chiblow in Mind Since 2019 to Play Starwalker and Wrote His Musical Songs Angund His Main Lead’s Voice. The Result on the Big Screen Has The Drag Queen Persona Starwalker, WHEN GROUNDED IN STAR’S INDIGENUS CULTURE, ALLOWING HIM to DISCOVER The COURGE AND SELF-FORE HOME.
“He’s on a journey to understanding WHY He (Starwalker) Never Shows Up for People. He’s Struggling So Much, Going Back and Forte, Nota Being ABLE TO SHOW Up. Payette Explands. Jeffrey Follis, Who Plays Levi Borealis, and Stewart Adam McKensy, Who Plays Mother Borealis, Are Both Seasoned Drag Performers Very Much at Home on a Club Stage.
At the Same Time, Payette, Besides Showing Polished Drag Queen Performances in Starwalkerwith his steadicam Camera Follows Characters Offstage and Especialy in Dressing Room Scenes As each Speaks of Trauma and Possibly Finding Love, Joy, Family and A Home.
“For ME, IS NOT ABOUT MAKING THEM Perfect, Universal Characters. I’M Looking for Their Flaws Too, The Little Parts That Make Them Unique. That’s Where Audiences Can Sea. People in your life that aren’t part of drag culture, but have have Qualities of People You Feel Familiar with, ”The Director Argues.
Payette’s Goal in Revealing Drag Queens Field with The Same Heps, Dreams and Disappinthments As POPLE EVERYRERE, As They Spill Their Guts and Hearts to One Anthher Represented in the Chaos and Despair of Our Political Age.
Here the Musical Film Hinges on Song and Dance, Including A Final Show-Stopping Number Star Where, Returning to a Park at Night From Where The Movie-Opening Scene. About Forgiveness and Healing.
“It Really Is a Circle. You Can’t Tell A Song Without That Song Having A Dance, and Withouse Dance Telling A Story and that Story It Makes Perfect Sense that would wound come out in dance, in song, in story, because that’s what musicals have Access to, ”Payette Says.
Much As Starwalker like most indie movies have been many years in the works, Payette sees his tale of rebellious Queer Joy Possibly CApturing the Zeitgeist as Transgender People Face. Out of the Trump White House and Anti-Lgbtq+ Legislation from US State Politicians.
“We Are All Just People and We Are So Much More Alike What We Are Are Different. WHEN WE CAN SEACH Other That Way, And See Each Other Not as Different People’s Rights Differently and We Will Be Able to Advocate for Other in a More Fulsome Way, ”Payette Inysts.