It's here, our first joint post! What better way to start off than with an overview of the weekend we spent at Clexacon London this past weekend.
Sara:
I was lucky enough to attend the first ever Clexacon in Las Vegas. So when I heard that not only was the con going international, but also taking place on my 25th birthday, I knew I had to be there. Clexacon UK arrived at Novotel London West on the 3rd and 4th of November (although the unofficial opening was a 10th anniversary screening and Q&A of I Can’t Think Straight) and, well, what a weekend it was.
Clexacon, for those who are unaware, is a multi-fandom queer media convention for LBT+ women and allies. It is also a wonderfully diverse safe space for a community to come together to laugh, cry and learn about all things queer representation in the media. During Clexacon UK, I attended various panels, starting with Lexa’s Legacy. This particular panel has opened all three Clexacons to date. It focuses on the character of Lexa and how her death spurred a ground-breaking movement within our fan community that has demanded the powers-that-be show respect and understanding when they portray our community and our stories. The panel begins with a video that leaves your hairs standing on edge because it helps you realise just how powerful a community can be when they come together, and how it only takes one thing like a character death to change the course of history. I left the hour-long panel just as I had left the one in Vegas exactly one year after Thirteen aired, ready to take on the world and fight for our stories to be told in the way we deserve. Other panels that I attended were Badass Women in the Industry, Invisible Women/Butch Rep, LGBTQ Actresses, and many more; including the big name panels, my favourite of which was sensing the need for chage; the hilarity filled panel featuring and celebrating the wonderful Miss Jamie Clayton (Sense 8) who made me laugh so hard I was crying.
What I noticed above all this weekend was that, throughout each and every one of these panels, a recurring theme was at the forefront of the conversation; the notion of queer people telling our own stories, and how if we as a community are not seeing the stories we want portrayed in media then we should start making them ourselves. I for one wholeheartedly agree with this idea, so I’ll put my two cents in and say please pick up the pen, the camera, or even the phone and create something, anything. It doesn’t have to be Oscar worthy, it just has to be something you are passionate about. If you can educate yourself, learn a skill, and create something then you will be a part of the change that is definitely coming.
During my time in London, I also I met and spoke with Shamim Sarif and Hanan Kattan the writer/director and producer of both I Can’t Think Straight and The World Unseen, it has been my dream for a very long time to work with these women so we discussed future projects including The Athena Protocol which is coming in 2019 and the importance of queer narratives in media. After having a conversation with them I was made to feel like anything is possible so I’m more determined than ever to achieve that dream; side note those two are the epitome of couple goals. Meeting Shamim, Hanan and other creators such as Nicole Pacent (Anyone But Me) and Mandahla Rose (All About E) also reminded me that yes, queer representation is so important and we must fight to improve it; but at the end of the day, the thing that is so important about Clexacon is the community. This event and others like it are places where minorities can go and find their group, they make friends and learn new things, they meet there idols and most importantly they are happy and that is so beautiful to see. If the world at large were half as wonderful, accepting and diverse as it was inside that London hotel over the weekend it would be an infinitely better place and I personally hope we continue to fight for that and that Clexacon London will return next year.
Emma:
Unlike Sara, the 3rd and 4th November marked my first ever Clexacon. I have attended cons in the past, but that weekend went above and beyond my expectations. I left the con so hopeful and inspired by what I had seen and heard from the guests, panellists, and fellow fans; which has led to me typing this right now!
Starting off with the guests who I was looking forward to the most – The CARMILLA CAST! If you know me personally then you’ll know how anxious I can be, so I was definitely not ready to walk into the same room as Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs. They are three incredibly talented and lovely human beings who made me completely feel at ease, and they even complimented my eyeliner and my style - so that’s all you’ll be hearing from me for the next year. I had slightly more time speaking with Annie Briggs due to queue lengths, and she is honest to god the sweetest person. After being a gothic literature nerd for years and a big fan of both the book and web series of Carmilla, it meant so much to have this experience with them.
I attended the LGBTQ Women’s Spaces on a whim, due to recently thinking more about the lack of diversity in my own city’s Gay Village. It was quite London-centric, which I was pretty much expecting, but I did find it interesting. It started off with a fab spoken word performance from Helen Oakleigh about the importance of Pride, and I may have COMPLETELY embarrassed myself whilst buying her book afterwards… but let’s skip past that. The panellists led an interesting discussion regarding how queer spaces still largely accommodate men, and how we must show demand for our own spaces. People around me, who had travelled from all over the world, mentioned venues and events that they attend back home and, to my shame, it made me realise how I haven’t been paying much attention to alternative queer nights in Manchester. I had arrived at Clexacon thinking only of media representation, so this definitely gave me food for thought.
Roxy Bourdillon spoke for all of us in the Sugar Rush panel with Olivia Hallinan, who starred as Kim in the series, as her excited nostalgia was palpable. It was a great feeling to see the wide age range in the room, especially as it seemed that all attendees raised their hand when asked who in the room had watched Sugar Rush. The clips played at the start of the panel created a good few laughs as we all could see how dated the show is now, and Olivia Hallinan herself could not hold back her giggles whilst talking about how problematic some parts of the show actually were. However, this show was so relatable and ahead of its’ time in some ways. I’ll always have fond memories of sneakily watching it at home just to quickly turn the computer off whenever someone came near my bedroom door. Plus I think we’ll ALL remember that toothbrush.
Aside from the panels and guests, I have to highlight the wonderful people I met wondering around the hotel, who were a mix of panellists, volunteers, and attendees. Not only have I been educated on how to access a range of queer media, I have also never felt so comfortable in such a large group of people; everyone was so friendly, open, and so passionate about why we were all there. On this note, I’m going to end my summary of Clexacon London with something that Jamie Clayton told us in her panel; “find your cluster”. I arrived in London with my two best friends and left feeling part of a bigger community, so I will be keeping everything crossed in the hopes that Clexacon returns to the UK next year.
Clexacon Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmZh2L1aCjJ1onRc-YE1Fwg/videos
Clexacon website
https://www.clexacon.com
LGBT fans Deserve Better website
https://lgbtfansdb.com
Virtual Insanity’s Twitter - @VI_LGBT
Sara’s Twitter @sarac93
Emma’s Twitter @anxiouslygay