''Waxie Moon'' is a documentary directed by Wes Hurley and centered on the gender-bending Juilliard-trained

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

performer, Waxie Moon. The film captures the burgeoning and mostly-queer neo-burlesque community in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in the 2000s. It features interviews with dozens of performers and artists, including the burlesque icons Miss Dirty Martini and Tigger!, author and performer Marya Sea Kaminski, drag superstar BenDeLaCreme, and many others. The film also includes the original song, titled "Waxie Moon", which was inspired by

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

scores. The song was composed by Eric Lane Barnes of the Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Women's Chorus, and performed by Sarah Rudinoff and Paul Rosenberg. ''Waxie Moon'' premiered in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, and went on to screen at the

Anthology Film Archives Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema.Echo Park Film Center Established in 2002, the Echo Park Film Center is a nonprofit media arts organization. The Echo Park Film Center provides equal and affordable access to film/video education and resources via a community microcinema The term "microcinema" can hav ...

, and at many festivals around the world, including a dozen screenings in Seattle. The film won Best Local Film at the

Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Seattle Queer Film Festival (formerly known as the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Seattle. The 25th Annual Seattle Queer Film Festival will take place October 14–24, 2021. It is the largest LGBTQ film festival ...

, Jury Award for Best Film at Queer Fruits Film Festival in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Soundtrack at Love Unlimited Film Festival. It is available on video from TLAvideo.

References

American LGBT-related films Burlesque Films set in Seattle LGBT in Washington (state) Documentary films about LGBT topics 2015 LGBT-related films Documentary films about Seattle {{LGBT-documentary-film-stub