About Queer Connections

3 locations in Toronto

12 youth filmmakers

21 short videos

Queer Connections is a video dialogue where three groups of LGBTQ youth create weekly videos in response to their peers across the city. All videos are collectively created by the groups, through guerilla filmmaking; videos go from pre-production to the internet in 4 short hours. 


Check out the three video streams in the tabs above. Each group had the opportunity to create an original video around the theme of identity. The groups have then all had a chance to respond with their own thoughts and opinions. The streams, ideas, and art are continuing to evolve with each video response. 


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Queer Connections is an original initiative put forward jointly by Charles Street Video (CSV) and The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The project proposes to bring together diverse individuals in a conversation about identity. Three groups of youth from across the City of Toronto will have the opportunity to create issue-driven videos, and to engage in a video dialogue. Using video through the internet as a primary means of communication, groups will be able to view and creatively respond to the media and ideas presented by their peers. This dialogue will continue in a cyclic manner, thereby creating art in the space between the groups' responses. By joining groups of young people who might not otherwise engage with each other, we hope to create a safe space for youth to challenge and explore views on identity. With the safety of distance (both figuratively and physically) we hope to have youth engage each other honestly and creatively. The project will culminate in a series of short videos, hosted together and viewed together as one collective piece of art. Queer Connections is a pilot project that asserts an innovative project model. CSV and the AGO hope to implement future projects using this model, which may move beyond the boundaries of Toronto to bring together diverse populations across Canada and abroad. These potentially will provide opportunities to creatively engage in cross-national and cross-continental artistic dialogues on relevant and important issues.

The youth will be learning the ins and outs of video-making and producing one short video per week. The first few workshops will focus on the technical and artistic skills of video making, combined with discussions of issues faced by queer youth. In each of the following weeks the first workshop will involve watching a video produced by one of the other groups, debriefing the video and planning a response. During the second workshop of each week the youth will be shooting a short video to be viewed by one of the other groups. The goal is to use all artistic forms to allow an honest and organic conversation, for example the youth might create a music video about something and the next group could respond with a dance, or a poem, or a narrative drama, or a documentary.

The project will result in a screening of each dialogue thread and a panel discussion at the AGO where the youth will come together for the first time. We will be utilising the internet and social media through out the project and encouraging the youth to engage in these mediums.