Beyond the Closet is the newest work created by Christine Engel.  It documents coming out stories in an innovative way.  The film resists traditional documentary narratives by exploring stories through a series of vignettes, each animated in a unique style.  Whether that be 2 dimensional paper dolls in a 3 dimensional space, or clay figures animated to reflect the personality and stories of each character, each story is treated with a sense of playfulness, and sometimes humor, that sheds a new light on stories that have previously been conveyed as a source of trauma and sadness.  It was through a series of interviews with gay and lesbian friends in a seemingly conservative environment that Christine came to realize that, although trauma can be present in these people and their life histories, it can be laughable because tolerance and acceptance has emerged as the norm in Canada so those that remain homophobic are made to be villains by their own merit.  The new animated documentary provides a platform with which these stories can be visually represented while remaining true to the truth behind documenting personal narratives.

Beyond the Closet will be screening:
    
    Sneak Peek - June 10th at Diva's Night Club at 9pm as part of Saskatoon Pride
    
    June 23rd at the NFB John Spotton Theatre in Toronto for the Documentary Now festival