As many of you know, the Philadelphia LGBTQ+ film festival has been on a long hiatus. But there’s good news for film lovers — a chance to catch powerful queer cinema in a beautiful setting. The Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival (JTIFF), happening this weekend, boasts a lineup that celebrates bold, underrepresented voices — including raw, genre-bending stories from across the LGBTQ+ community. “Remnants of Nova” is an urgent portrait of queer love, mental health and the fragile chords that hold us together. “In Love, Simply,” based on a poem by Nova Krasner, is a tender meditation on queer intimacy. Also featured is “Whatever,” a provocative music video challenging political correctness and beauty norms. Other highlights include “Fucktoys,” a gritty feminist dark comedy shot on 16mm and set in the deranged alternate universe of Trashtown, USA.
This year’s theme, “Jim Thorpe Loves Philly,” celebrates Philadelphia talent alongside films of national significance, plus live music, immersive art, parties, special events, and surprise appearances. I had a chance to speak to one of the talented directors from the area, Colleen Brady. Brady directed the short film, “Amish Country Queer,” which explores LGBTQ+ nightlife within Pennsylvania’s Amish communities. Following Brady Pappas, a queer photographer on a journey of reclaiming religion, identity and community, the documentary reveals a compelling intersection of tradition and self-expression.
Where do you hail from?
I grew up outside of Philadelphia, in Morrisville, Bucks County, which is not too far from Philly so I always was popping in and out of the city for the art museums. And when I got older, I would go and just hang out with friends. I feel like that was very influential for me as a kid, and in high school, I actually took a documentary filmmaking class at the University of the Arts, where I made a short documentary about a graffiti artist down there. I feel like that awakened something in me, like, “Oh, I like making documentaries.”
I love docs. Tell me a little bit more about Morrisville.
I feel like I can look back and say, it’s a place that’s very picturesque. It’s very cute and it’s very green, with playgrounds in all the backyards. But when I was younger, I always had an instinct to leave and explore other places. I just had this, I don’t know, this energy when I was a kid…I want to see what New Jersey is about. I want to see New York. I want to see Philadelphia. I want to see all these big cities. But now I have a better appreciation for quiet towns.
I’m kind of the opposite. I came from Passaic, N.J. which is an urban city in northern New Jersey. The family moved to Radnor, Pennsylvania, which to me as a kid was like, “Oh, my God, we’re in the middle of Amish country or something.” I learned Radnor was not exactly Amish country. But there weren’t sidewalks on our block. The lawns came up to the street, and I thought, “Where are the cows?”
I live in Passaic County now. One of the culture shocks for me moving to New Jersey was that things were open past 9 p.m.! A very big part of my childhood was when I had sleepovers with friends, we would go bike riding and had to make sure we got to the place by 7 or 8 p.m. to get our food, because everything was closed after that. So it was a kind of freedom to move here for college and find that we could go to a 7-Eleven at 11 p.m. or even midnight. We could get food whenever! It was fun.
Tell me a little bit about the family.
I have an older sister. She’s seven years older so we grew up in very different life stages. She was going to college and I was just entering middle school. It’s only now as adults, that we’re connecting a lot better, now that we have more life experiences to bond on. But when we were younger, she was very cool, and I was just kind of like the nerdy kid that lived in the house.
That’s funny. What did the folks do?
My dad was a salesman. He worked in tech, and my mom was an accountant, so they’re very business-oriented, and they always joke that they don’t know where the creativity in me came from. But I think that what they did — packaging and selling things, or reading and interpreting law in terms of taxes just required a different type of creativity. But I think I actually enjoyed the fact that my parents weren’t creative in the way that I was, because I feel like what they instilled in me was a high level of dedication to whatever you work on. And there was a very big emphasis on education from them. If you want something, you have to work very hard for it. And I feel like that was important for me to learn, so I appreciate that.
That makes sense. I was brought up with a very artsy mother who taught us no responsibility whatsoever. To this day, I still joke, “I don’t know how we lived through childhood, because it was often, “No, you can go play with that rusty piece of metal, it should be fine.”
But I think there’s a blessing with that. You probably had confidence in your self-expression from a very early age, while I feel like I had to do a lot of that experimenting and that kind of cultivation of creativity in college. It wasn’t until I left the area that I felt, “Now I can do anything!”
Though you expressed creativity in just choosing a school. I read that you applied to several different colleges and put down a different major for each one.
Oh my gosh, yeah, I do have that story floating around. Well, I’ve always been interested in a lot of different things, I had no idea where I was going, but I felt trapped in that area, that a lot of the dreams that I had weren’t really possible there. It was hard for me to imagine. What do I want to do in five or 10 years? So I thought, let’s just leave it up to fate. I’m just going to apply to these colleges with everything — creative writing, design. I applied somewhere for culinary arts because I’d gotten into baking at the time. I even threw in biology, just in case I felt like doing that. I’ve always loved science. I also applied to Fairleigh Dickinson for film, and they accepted me. I got accepted by other ones, but they gave me a good scholarship. Also, the campus was very full of greenery — a lot of trees and flowers — so it kind of reminded me of home. And I thought, maybe I won’t be homesick if I go there. Going there was such a magical thing for me, the people I ended up meeting in college really changed the trajectory of my life. I gained so many wonderful friends that I’m still friends with today. I’m so glad I left that up to chance. I don’t think it could have worked out better any other way. [Laughing] I don’t know if I would encourage other people to do that, but it worked out for me.
What was your favorite class in school?
I had two favorite courses in college. I think they were with the same teacher, and essentially, every Saturday in the semester, she would take us on a field trip into New York City. One was about New York museums, and the other one was to see Public Art in New York City. She was amazing. She opened up my mind a lot. She’d say, “This is how you read the little placard, or what do you think?” And she opened me up to public art and why it was so important. “How does it honor history, the accessibility of it, that anybody can value it, and that it is cohesive to the environment that it belongs to the communities?” and stuff like that. It was deeply influential for me.
And as a filmmaker, it’s so important to think about the subjects that you’re approaching in a different way.
Yeah, I think it was always floating under the surface for me to want to uplift communities and to want my art to be accessible. It’s about connecting with people, and that became more apparent to me with my previous project “Firebird: Built to Burn” and the film I have in the festival, “Amish Country Queer.”
Yes, let’s talk about that. How did you end up connecting with Brady who is featured in your film?
I discovered Brady scrolling through TikTok. I was feeling very sentimental at the time and their video said, “I’m learning to love my hometown.” I still really love Pennsylvania, it’s so diverse and interesting in all the different areas. When I discovered that video, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this artist is from Pennsylvania. Oh my gosh, they’re a photographer. Oh my gosh, they’re queer.” There were so many connections. It was really resonating. Not to mention, we share a name.
I was so moved by Brady’s work, because it was queer photography that was about queer joy. It was so dreamy and ethereal, and that’s my style. That’s right up my alley. So I wrote Brady [and they] answered in under 40 minutes. Working with Brady has been magical. We always joke about the Brady-Brady connection, because I feel like we’ve aligned a lot in many different ways, especially wanting to tell stories about queer joy. That you can find your people and your community, and it’s actually pretty good.
There are so many queer stories in the media that are quite sad and painful, and those experiences are valid, but I just don’t think we have a proportionate amount showing how beautiful it can be too. We filmed this time last year, and started submitting into festivals, and our first acceptance was from Jim Thorpe International Film Festival and I’m very excited. It’s only a couple of days before my birthday, and it just feels like such a sweet present to me.
So you’re a fellow Taurus! I knew I liked you for a reason.
Yes, I actually got into astrology not long ago. One of my favorite things to do is look up my friend’s birth charts and be like, “OK, what is going on here in your cycles and your transits?”
Nice! What was something about “Amish Country Queer” that really surprised you?
I think the whole film upends the expectations and assumptions we have about these areas. As my producer Maryam so eloquently put it, a lot of queer stories are positioned around escape and about leaving your home. So this is about who stays, why they stay, and how they claim things like their identity, their joy, and community in a rural area. I think the juxtaposition of what we think about this very conservative rural area — and we don’t usually think that queer communities can be there — was interesting for me to highlight how they can actually thrive there with the power of community. I think that’s what drew me to it. And also those big blue skies, the puffy clouds. Oh, it’s gorgeous. I just wanted to spend some time out there and enjoy nature.
Tell me a little bit about your coming-out journey.
So I’m not really out, well, I’m not out to family. I’m out to the people who are important to me. I had some weird coming-out experiences, so I don’t think I really need to do a public coming out.
Well, this might change things!
It’s OK. I mean if I were worried about this, I wouldn’t have taken on the interview. I think it’s one of those things where it’s been a long time coming, so if they come across this, then I’ll sit down and have a difficult conversation. But yeah, I’ve come out to my closest friends, the people who are important to me. I actually adjunct at a university, and the amount of young people who are proudly queer is so inspiring. It’s so wonderful to see how many young people are empowered to be themselves at such a young age and that they feel safe that they can do that. I’m happy I’ve gotten to a really great place of acceptance, and I have a lot of really supportive people around me.
OK, let’s do some off-the-cuff questions. The best concert experience?
I’m gonna out myself as an EDM lover. I’ve seen Flume in concert twice, and I don’t think anything has ever topped that. There’s something about hearing his music in person that really changes you. I know some people will be like, “That’s not real music!” I don’t care, I love it.
Brava. How about two scents that make you nostalgic?
I think apple pie, because my grandma would always make that. And wet sand, like on towels or clothing. My family would go on vacation, and after a day on the beach, you’re always kind of stinky and sweaty and everything. But there’s something about the wet sand after a long, good day at the beach that I love.
Did you have any pets as a kid?
I had two guinea pigs that I loved so, so, so, so, so much. They were my little fur balls, Gimli, like from “The Lord of the Rings” and Mo, he was cute.
Something interesting about a family member?
My grandfather was a pilot and hot air balloonist and he was always so smart. He was so good with science and math. I look at him for inspiration a lot, because what I learned after he passed was that he actually had a really big fear of heights. But he did it anyway, because he loved flying. And I think about that all the time when I make art, or I go into an interview or I start a big film shoot. I can get quite nervous, but I don’t want my fear to get in the way of the things that I love.
Final question: Do you have a favorite line from a movie or a motto or quote that you like?
I tell this one to my students, but I think it’s good for anybody, really, and I hold it very closely to me. It’s from F. Scott Fitzgerald, “I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
The Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival takes place May 1-4 at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, 14 W Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA. For more information or to purchase tickets visit jimthorpeindiefilmfest.com.