October 9, 2020

In this episode, I speak with director, creative producer, writer Jaime Starboisky about the Queer Media Film Festival and his virtual reality project, Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two-Spirits. In 1991, the two protagonists of the project, Therese & Peta, did a road trip back to Peta’s home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Because in conversations with Jaime, Peta described that time as a moment they felt free, this week’s song is Belinda Carlisle’s “Live Your Life Be Free.”

E1054CED-6F1D-4765-BE7F-BC78EB112E3B(1).jpeg — Photo Credit: Jamie Starboisky [Image Description: Jaime stands against a red brick wall. He has a beard and wears a black sleeveless sweater with white heats, spades, diamonds and a red button shirt.]

Jaime’s Bio

Jamie Starboisky (Director/Creative Producer, Co-writer) received his degree in Broadcast Journalism fro the University of Salford, which awakened his passion to fight against the the inequality that left so many stories stories untold. He has dedicated his multimedia career to signal boost marginalized stories, through founding the Queer Media Festival in Manchester and the MobDoc LGBTQ+ Mobile Filmmaking Workshop. Following Crossover Labs’ VR Pitching Workshop, he developed the idea for Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two-Spirits virtual reality experience, during an artist residency in January 2018 at the National Theatre’s Immersive Story-telling Studio with the guidance of Toby Coffey, Head of Digital Development. In 2019, the project was awarded Creative XR funding from Digital Catapult to develop into a working virtual reality prototype. Previously, Jamie toured his MobDoc LGBTQ+ Mobile Filmmaking workshop to Dublin and Cardiff where he and Deirdre Mulcahy of BBC Academy taught how to make a film on mobile phones to festival delegates, funded by the British Council Ireland and Iris Prize. As a producer of LGBTQ+ digital projects, Jamie was mentored by Manchester International Festival as part of their Creative 50 scheme (2017) which had 50 local emerging artists produce two digital responses to the work in their festival.

F7C74170-F658-4C67-960C-E58B6DA0FA5A(1).png — [Image Description: Queer Media Logo.]

Queer Media Film Festival Mission Statement

Evolving queer storytelling in digital.

About Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two-Spirits

The world is an increasingly divided place, fueled by fake news, xenophobia, and social inequalities. The AIDS epidemic in the 1990s sparked similar fear, homophobia and division.

In 1990s Columbus, Ohio, unlikely best friends Peta Church a biracial, Oglala Lakota, transgender, caregiver at an AIDS hospice and Therese Frare, a hospice volunteer, photojournalist, and New Yorker, were from different worlds. Little did they know that their friendship would enable Therese’s iconic photo of activist David Kirby on his deathbed, credited with “humanizing the face of AIDS,” and subsequently used by Benetton in a controversial marketing campaign. In the award-winning photograph, a pair of hands holds David’s. They belong to Peta, David’s caregiver and Therese’s friend, who invited Therese into David’s room, where, with the Kirbys’ permission, Therese was allowed to photograph the family’s private moments. David’s terms were that Therese could not profit from the photograph; and to this day, she hasn’t, and donates all proceeds to charity.

Therese’s award-winning photograph of David in his final moments, surrounded by his once-estranged family, reappears annually to commemorate World AIDS Day and is one of TIME magazine’s “Top 100 Images of the 20th Century‚” Therese continues to be contacted today with correspondence from strangers, expressing their gratitude for the photograph, with the image taking on a new powerful relevance during the current COVID-19 crisis. TIME Magazine estimates Therese’s award-winning photograph has been seen by over one billion people.

Queer Media CIC’s virtual reality project, Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two Spirits, expands the frame of the iconic photograph to capture the full picture: one of friendship, family, the circle of care and humanity in crisis. It offers a powerful tale of hope, healing and humanity in a world that is polarized, politically divided and dealing with isolation. As a project consultant, Therese has granted the team access to her personal history with Peta, her never-before-seen photojournalistic archive of their time together. The project will also bring an intimate focus to the challenges embodying multiple identities and acceptance Peta faced a subject which is highly relevant today. Therese & Peta demonstrate how friendship, the circle of care and our capability for resilience, love and healing can transcend fear and division in times of crisis.
Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two-Spirits welcomes participants to Pater Noster in a virtual reality installation as a volunteer at the AIDS hospice, mapped to a physical set, where Therese’s original photographs enhance the VR environment. Visitors to the exhibition will meet Therese, Pet , hospice owner Barb, played by a live actor, and the Kirbys. Witness the full story of humanity, friendship, love, and Peta’s own journey from caregiver to patient,