''Workhorse Queen'' is a 2021

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Angela Washko Angela Washko is an American new media artist and facilitator based in New York. She is currently Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Washko mobilizes communities and creates new forums for discussions of feminism where th ...

. After a surprise casting onto reality television show

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

, 47-year old suburban telemarketing manager Ed Popil leaves his job to pursue a full-time entertainment industry career as his

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

alter ego, 1960s-era housewife

Mrs. Kasha Davis Mrs. Kasha Davis is the stage name of Edward P. Popil, Jr., an American drag queen, actor and television personality from Scranton, Pennsylvania. She is best known for competing on the seventh season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. After appearing o ...

. The film premiered at the 2021

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

. Workhorse Queen will be released on

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

and DVD through the film's distributor Breaking Glass Pictures on May 3, 2022 and on TV broadcast and streaming in June, 2022 on

STARZ Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

Plot

The documentary follows Ed Popil as he escapes from his day job at DialAmerica to perform as drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis at night. After seven years of sending audition tapes to RuPaul's Drag Race casting calls, Ed Popil was finally cast onto

Season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show in 2015. Workhorse Queen explores how mainstream television has affected queer performance culture. In addition to following Ed's life before and after being cast onto Drag Race, the film focuses on the growing divide between members of the

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

drag community – those who have been on TV, and those who have not. Throughout the film, audiences watch as Ed navigates the highs and lows of pursuing the fame promised by a reality television platform, including his struggles with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

, declining bookings, and

ageism Ageism, also spelled agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler defi ...

within the industry. The film culminates in Ed returning to his home in Rochester and creating Imagination Station (a new variety show for children), which allows him to become the queer role model for kids that he never had growing up. In addition to highlighting Mrs. Kasha Davis' journey through drag communities and the entertainment industry, the film also features performances, interviews and vérité footage of his husband Steven Levins (aka Mr. Davis) and drag queens Darienne Lake,

Pandora Boxx Michael R. Steck (born May 2, 1972), better known by the stage name Pandora Boxx, is an American drag queen, comedian, and reality television personality from Rochester, New York. Boxx competed in the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', pl ...

Bianca Del Rio Roy R. Haylock (born June 27, 1975), better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Since her time on ''Drag R ...

Tatianna Joey Santolini (born Joseph Michael Santolini; December 1, 1987), better known by his stage name Tatianna, is an American drag queen, musician, and reality television personality from Washington, D.C. He is best known for competing on the second ...

Tempest DuJour Tempest DuJour is the stage name of Patrick Lee Holt, an American drag performer most known for competing on season 7 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Holt is also an associate professor at the University of Arizona. Career Tempest DuJour has performe ...

, Aggy Dune, Wednesday Westwood, Bebe Gunn (Australia), Jemima Handful (Australia), and many others.

Featured interviews

Appearances via archival footage

Reception

''Workhorse Queen'' premiered at the 2021

. The film holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Josiah Teal of

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

said, “Workhorse Queen is as incredibly catty, stylish, and entertaining as you could hope.” Bears Rebecca Fonté of Hammer to Nail said, “…Workhorse Queen is the first film I’ve seen about a drag queen that even starts to deal with the difficulty and monolithic placement of RuPaul.” Malika Harris of Irish Film Critic gave the film 4 and a half out of 5 stars and said, “This documentary takes you through the ups and downs of what really happens post-reality TV fame…” Raquel Stetcher of Quelle Movies calls the film “a must see for fans of RPDR.”

Accolades

Official selection of: * 2021

* 2021

American Film Festival American Film Festival is a film festival held annually in October in Wrocław, Poland. The first festival was held from 20 to 24 October 2010. The festival is organized by Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty and co-funded by the Wroclaw Municipality a ...

(Wroclaw, Poland) *2021

Bentonville Film Festival The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) is an American film festival held annually in Bentonville, Arkansas that focuses on diversity. Foundation Bentonville Film Festival was founded by actress Geena Davis and ARC Entertainment executive Trevor Dr ...

* 2021

Florida Film Festival The Florida Film Festival, produced by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, is an annual international film festival. Overview The Festival includes narrative and documentary features and shorts, animation, midnight movies, and educational forum ...

* 2021 Documentary Edge Festival New Zealand * 2021 Calgary Underground Film Festival * 2021

Milwaukee Film Festival The Milwaukee Film Festival is a public film festival held each spring from April 20th through May 4th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The festival is organized by Milwaukee Film, a cultural arts organization that operates Milwaukee's historic movie pal ...

* 2021

Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is a movie screening event that takes place each October in Tampa, Florida. The primary venue is the Tampa Theatre, but several other cinemas in or near the downtown area and in St. Petersburg si ...

* 2021

Buffalo International Film Festival The Buffalo International Film Festival was founded in 2006, and takes place in October of each year in Buffalo, New York. It is also known as the Buffalo Film Festival. History The film festival became a 501c3 not-for-profit charity in January 2 ...

* 2021

Vancouver Queer Film Festival Out On Screen (formally the Vancouver Out On Screen Film & Video Society) is an LGBT-oriented arts organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It began as a small, community-based film festival in 1988 and was registered as a BC soc ...

* 2021

New Haven Documentary Film Festival New Haven Documentary Film Festival (also known as NHdocs) is an annual documentary film festival held in New Haven, Connecticut, in early June. Screenings take place at Yale University’s Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, the New Haven Free Pu ...

Awards

* Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature,

*Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature,

(Wroclaw, Poland)

References

External links

* * {{Official website, https://workhorsequeen.com/ *
Workhorse Queen
' at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

*
Workhorse Queen
' at

Letterboxd Letterboxd is an online social networking service co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. It was launched as a social app focused on sharing opinions about, and love of film, and is maintained by a small team in Auckland, New ...

2021 documentary films Drag (clothing)-related films RuPaul's Drag Race Documentaries about LGBT topics 2021 LGBT-related films 2020s English-language films