Queerly beloved / learning to love

Varsity’s Creative Team explore queer loving in a short film by videographers Gabriel Johnson and Rosa Prosser edited by Dominika Baerova with music by Talulah Thomas

Short film 'Queerly beloved / learning to love' by Varsity's Creative Team

by Lily Maguire & Leah Mclaine

Friday March 4 2022, 11:09am

Varsity’s Creative Team has taken on a breathtaking project seeking to explore queer love and loving. Varsity’s Creative Director Leah Mclaine and Vulture Editor Lily Maguire worked with thirty-one models, eight stylists, three photographers and two videographers to capture the innumerable ways queer identity is navigated across a trilogy of spaces. Queer models perform what it is to see, understand, mimic, fail, become frustrated at, and interpret how to love queerly, fleeting between heterosexual imitations and authentic self-expression. From the discovery of sexuality in the hidden corners of Downing’s Howard theatre, to self-conscious presentation in Emmanuel’s opulent dining hall, to unfiltered intimacy within a bedroom, a multitude of narratives are explored. Yet surveillance and performance runs through the shoot with the models presenting to the public which is always watching as videographers, undetected, filmed interactions behind the scenes.

Creative Direction: Varsity's Creative Director Leah Mclaine & Vulture Editor Lily Maguire. Music: Talulah Thomas.

Video & Film: Videographers Gabriel Johnson & Rosa Prosser. Photographers Leah Mclaine, Evie Hall, Rebecca Tyson & Victoria Somerton. Short Film edited by Dominika Baerova.

Varsity's Creative Team: Creative Assistants Sharleen Opia, Nicola Medicoff & Dominika Baerova. Head Stylist Maddy Fisher & Fashion Director Zoe Geall. Head of Set Design Caitlin Van Bommel.

Stylists and Set Design: Styling by Ella Curry, Eve Blain, Oyinkan Akinbolagbe, Beatrice Coulter, Freya Beard, Alex O'Shea & Anna Chandler de Waal. Set by Catherine Knight, Katheryn Sheaf & Scarlett Ryan.

Models: Sarah Mulgrew, Connor Phillips, Elizabeth Laurence, Charli Cowgill, Lily Silence, Edoardo Chidichimo, Hetty Opayinka, Clara Grosz, Ani Goddard, April Egan, Naphysa Awuah, Madeleine Anderson, John Palmer, Maisy Redmayne, Bella Cross, Kirsty Turnbull, Taisa Martins, Isobel Maxwell, Alexander Morgan, Matthew Cormack, Abdullah Khan, Jen Ocran, Larisha Apete, Ines Magre, Isobella Todini, Nathan Fernandes, Evie Hinchliffe, Jaden Tsui, Kailan Hanson & Jude Jones

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