Artist Tristan Meecham had a vision, an event that would celebrate older members of his local LGBTI community and provide pathways to tackle the social isolation that many older people experience.
His idea was a giant ball for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who are in their latter years, to make his dream come true he just had to navigate the big personalities and generational gap between his team and the very people he wanted to help. The success of Melbourne’s Coming Back Out Ball is captured in a brilliant new observational documentary.
Over the course of the documentary we meet nine key characters who open their hearts with raw honesty, generously sharing their painful and secretive pasts, looking back fifty years or more to a world far less accepting of LGBTI+ people.
Meecham’s plan is to stage a massive ball in Melbourne’s Town Hall to pay respects to the elders of his community, to connect the target audience, and get everyone learning some dance steps he hosts a series of month dance clubs, but get to get the older generation in the door he soon learns that the timing, music and food options have to be just right.
At each step of his journey Meecham discovers that to build a bridge between the young and the old he’s going to have to hear some blunt statements from people who have been through it all.
At one of their first meetings 73 year-old Ardy Tibby, who represents the L in the alphabet community, lays down the rules for older people, declaring the plan for a ball to be a bit “iffy”. “Older people need to go to bed early” she declares, so any event needs to be on early in the evening, and she warns organisers that they need to be very clear about what their doing, why their doing it and who they’re doing it for.
The documentary raises interesting questions about how the first out-and-proud generation will approach their final years. Will they disappear back into the closet or be demanding nursing homes play more disco tunes?
The film introduces us to a diverse range of amazing people, each with their intriguing personalities, who have lead varied lives. Some have been out for decades, others came out only after husbands and wives passed away. They’ve had wildly different careers, hobbies and interests.
Meecham is relentless in his quest to create an extravaganza that will honour the older members of the community, most of the older members of the community seem to think he’s nuts, so the suspense is will the event be a success?
Most importantly, The Coming Back Out Ball Movie forces us to think about what we’ll be like when we are in our seventies and eighties, how we will work today to ensure a bright future for tomorrow.
The film is screening at Luna Leederville from 6 December.
Graeme Watson
