James MacSwain

A look at the 1950s muscle men's magazines and the representative industry which were popular supposedly as health and fitness magazines, but were in reality primarily being purchased by the still-underground homosexual community. Chief among the purveyors of this literature was Bob Mizer, who maintained a magazine and developed sexually inexplicit men's films for over 40 years. Aided by his mother, the two maintained a stable of not so innocent studs.

A fittingly eclectic and colourful ode to Halifax treasure, multi-media artist James MacSwain, Celestial Queer documents MacSwain’s journey growing up gay in the ‘50s and ‘60s in small-town Nova Scotia and finding his community and artistic practice. Co-directors and long-time-Jim-disciples Eryn Foster and Sue Johnson compiled footage for this epic documentary for close to a decade to tell the story of this quietly outspoken feminist, naturalist and gay-rights activist.

Shot within the urban and industrial landscapes of Halifax, Canada, Here Kitty Kitty! is an improvised film that showcases the beautiful and bleak life of Lucy, a late 30- something woman whose world is falling apart. A not-so-traditional Christmas movie with an off-beat, surreal and comic edge.

This video dramatizes the story of three gay men as each of them takes an individual path that completes their own destiny.

Growing up gay in small town Nova Scotia in the 50s was the perfect training for survival. Shot on Super 8, the resultant grainy image brings a home movie atmosphere to this story of escape.

A homosexual picnic

A Space Opera.

This film is animated in the rough collage style that James MacSwain has made his own. Utilizing a series of vignettes, the film traces the story of the child born to Marilyn Monroe and President Kennedy. As the satire unfolds, the story becomes a metaphor for the collapse of the American Empire due to mysticism and drugs.

A depressed archaeologist is banished to work in Nova Scotia as punishment for taking too many drugs.

Funded through the Canada Council, this new media video, formatted on a Targa computer program, was one of several works created though the New Tools for Imaging project at CFAT. This animation of an amoeba who gains art star status, results in a new world order.

In the garden the dreamer dreams about sweet smelling metaphors. Over the course of this film animation, transformations occur that dissolve human violence into peaceful tranquility.

The competition for tourist dollars is desperate! There has to be a new spin on how to entice tourists to our poverty stricken province of Nova Scotia. This film animation develops a landscape that any death wish would appreciate.

One sip from the fountain of youth and old age disappears as you gain a new youthful vigor. This film animation weaves a story of two of our aging population as, in their delirium, they search for their lost youth.

Also known as Atomic Dragons, this film animation confronts the environmental issue of atomic waste. Faced with the long life of atomic waste, where the devil shall we store it?

A glimpse into how young lives are destroyed by war.

The Medicine Show utilizes narrative storytelling, mock interviews, and staged theatrical vignettes to create a satirical portrait of a day in the life of an HIV-positive gay man named Gregory navigating his treatment options.