New film highlights resort's LGBTQ+ scene

A former Blackpool woman has co-produced a documentary film which charts the rise of the resort's drag and LGBTQ+ scene.

The film Queering Blackpool has taken university lecturer Helen Eadon-Sinkinson years to research and more than a year to film.

The 47-year-old said it was "a celebration of the scene, the people who were bold enough and dared to start things, and how the torch had been passed to the new generation".

The 90-minute film, co-produced with Alexander Blackburn at the University of Chester, will be shown at Blackpool's Backlot Cinema on 6 June to coincide with the start of the town's Pride Festival weekend.

Ms Eadon-Sinkinson interviewed famous faces from the resort's scene, including businessman Basil Newby, who established the original Funny Girls and other venues, drag star DJ Zoe, Indiana Aphrodite Isherwood and Shirley Knot.

The film had its genesis in a short she made for her university course when she was a student, prompting her to make the more in-depth documentary.

She said it was "also a celebration of Blackpool's history and its working class culture - all the things that have made Blackpool a totally unique place, as well as a queer sanctuary".

"It is such a vibrant scene, and their stories are incredible - funny and at times very moving," she said.

Ms Eadon-Sinkinson was not from the LGBTQ+ community herself but was a big supporter of it, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

She said she had often gone to the old Flamingo Club and the Flying Handbag when she was younger.

"Those clubs felt like safe spaces for young women, they had a totally different atmosphere," she said.

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