When I heard about the TIFF World Premiere of Jen Markowitz’s Summer Qamp I was immediately drawn to it like fireflies to tall grass or the sugar in a marshmallow to heat. I was a camp kid. Both my parents worked so camp was a huge part of my summers from a young age. Predominantly day camps, but from age 7 I would spend at least a week in Northern Ontario at a Girl Guide sleepaway camp. This is where I would have some of my first crushes, though I didn’t realize they were crushes at the time. Unlike these teens in the documentary, I was not aware of my sexual identity at the time, though camp crushes were apparently a right of passage for many of my other young queer contemporaries. I can’t speak for them, but I know that while don’t think I’d ever want to relive those awkward teenage years, it was such a joy to see the space that has been created for queer children to explore, express, and find community. Which is the ultimate camp experience.
The documentary opened with one of the teens talking about how they got outted, and how they missed being a child. While this was clearly setting the stage for the later parts of the documentary when we got to see them, and everyone else at Camp fYrefly embracing joy with youthful abandon, it is still a heartbreaking statement that lingers. Because it’s this weight we carry still in the queer community that once that part of ourselves is known, even just to ourselves regardless of other people, something has changed. It’s a societal thing because we acknowledge that some people might not accept us or that we are constantly going to have to be “coming out.” It’s exhausting when you just want to goof off with your friends.
The clothing exchange was a genius idea for the camp to again create community and bonding, while also providing new summer and even fall looks for the teens, but in the context of the documentary it served to set the stage for some nice conversations about gender presentation. There were so many nice nuggets in this sequence, a couple of standouts for me were the conversation about binding and many of the teens just grabbing whatever clothes made them feel comfortable, with Kingston giving a nice speech about how it’s stupid to think just because he’s transman he can’t like feminine things.
What I loved the most about the documentary were the discussions about gender and sexual identity. While some of the teens know their labels, some don’t, or their labels are more fluid, or they are still on a journey of discovery, but no one was dismissed or had their experiences diminished. These are the conversations I would’ve loved to have seen in a documentary or been a part of when I was closer to these teens’ ages, and it filled me with such warmth to see them.
I got a good chuckle from the camp announcements you’d hear while they were at the tables. Little reminders of things “not to do,” that held the implication that people got caught doing those things. We know this because the first announcement we hear is a reminder “not to dye hair,” and it is just they dyed Ghoul’s hair. Later in the documentary, there’s a reminder there are no relationships at camp (though post-camp is okay). Telling campers not to couple up is like telling film/TV crews not to, unlikely to happen as those are the only people everyone sees for very long periods, often in heightened emotional states, which leads to fast feelings.
Kingston went to camp having not told his parents that he is trans, they only know he is bi. While at camp Kingston came out to his mom via a text. This feels complicated to me because I believe Kingston was in place to come out but I can’t forget about the camera and how its presence can sometimes push people to do things they might otherwise not do. We don’t live in a perfect world, it’s why Jade (also in the documentary) felt the need to be a bully before she transitioned. So, while Kingston should just be able to be his authentic self without having to worry about coming out, that’s unfortunately not reality. And when the message went out, it was ignored with the next message from his mother just more questions about what he’s up to. It is also a thread without resolution, we are left wondering with Kingston how it will play out when he returns home from camp.
Now, Camp fYrefly is in Alberta, and the second the Tegan and Sara song “I’m Not Your Hero” started playing in the documentary I suspected there was an affiliation with their foundation, and low and behold, when the special thanks credits came there was a special thanks to Tegan and Sara and their foundation. This got me thinking while I maintain that I have no desire to relive my awkward teen years, I do know there is a market for adult camping, and I’m pretty sure other artists have done “camp” themed weekends. I think Tegan and Sara would be great artists to one, and it could serve two-fold, as a long weekend to give the older queers the camp experience they didn’t get when they were teens and as a means to raise funds for more scholarships for LGBTQ+ teens right now to go camp.
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