Seminar: Young Soul Rebels

Shawn Cotter will discuss the Queer political and racial intersections of Young Soul Rebels, a film made in 1991 in post Thatcher England but sets itself in a pre-Thatcher year of 1977 during the Queen’s Jubilee.

What did it mean then and what can we learn from it today. Young Soul Rebels is a thriller but it should also be considered a statement of the Queer realities in early 90’s England.

About the Instructor

Shawn Cotter has been part of the film festival experience for over three decades as both an experimental filmmaker and as part of a festival team. He graduated in 1993 from the University of Massachusetts with a BA in Comparative Literature/Film Studies and was among the first class of graduates to receive a certificate in Film Studies from the university’s Amherst campus. It was during his freshman year that he picked up a Super 8 mm camera at the urging of a trusted professor and his love of filmmaking took off.

Shawn joined the merry band of Queer propagandists and storytellers at Wicked Queer: Boston’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival in 2011, where he has held many roles and worn lots of hats. He has served as Operations Manger for his first 6 years. He took on the role as Director of Programming for 4 years before taking over the Executive Directorship in 2018. He also currently serves as Festival Director at the FMLGBTFF in North Dakota. His belief that film festivals are platforms to celebrate underrepresented stories and communities has lead him to lend his operational and programming skill set to colleague festivals such as Boston Women’s Film Festival, Melanin Pride FF, FMLGBTFF, NDHRFF, Global Tourism FF, NGIAFF, AFI and the Shenandoah Film Collaborative. 

Shawn currently lives in Malden, MA and is a proud cat dad. He counts among his favorite filmmakers: Doris Wishman, Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage, R.W. Fassbinder, Douglas Sirk, Kenneth Anger, Wong Kar-Wai, Jess Franco and Dario Argento. His favorite film is In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-Wai.