On late ‘80s Edmonton nights, all that mattered was getting past the velvet rope and into the city’s most electric queer club. People came dressed to be seen — leather, sequins, shoulder pads, heels. The dance floor pulsed with bodies and bass bled through the walls. Aramis hung in the air. For many, this wasn’t just a night out. It was a sanctuary.
That’s a scene from FLASHBACK, a documentary looking back at Edmonton’s iconic queer downtown club of the same name, detailing its 1974 origins as a safe haven for the queer community until its 1992 closure.
FLASHBACK is one of 12 feature films shown at the annual Rainbow Visions Film Festival — Edmonton’s showcase of international queer cinema. Organized by the Global Visions Festival Society, a non-profit that also hosts two other annual Edmonton based-festivals: NorthwestFilmFest (May 8 to 15 this year) and NorthwestFEARFest (held in October), promotes global awareness, diversity and community engagement through the arts.
“I was interested in learning about people who didn’t have power, rather than people who had power,” says Peter Hays, director of FLASHBACK, who spent two years making the project with his brother, producer Matthew Hays.
“In a general sense that there is injustice in the world, and this has led me to want to tell stories about people who come from disadvantaged, marginalized communities and to want to show their point of view.”
With the club now closed and existing only in memory, the film draws on archival footage of past drag performances to revive its once-vibrant atmosphere. Enhanced with immersive 3D animation, the film takes viewers inside a virtual reconstruction of the club and onto its hollow wooden dance floor. And when all else failed to recreate the magic of the club, the filmmakers had a blast shooting reenactments at Evolution Wonderlounge with young club-goers in vintage wigs and shoulder pads.
“And for these reenactments, all the people who did the hair, makeup and wardrobe for us went to Flashback when they were in their 20s, so that connection was really cool.”
The film had its world premiere at Edmonton’s Metro Cinema in June 2024, drawing crowds that wrapped around the block during its two-day run. It later made its film festival debut at both the Calgary Underground Film Festival and the Montreal Film Festival in November 2024.
While film festivals typically avoid screening movies that have already been distributed in theatres, the demand for FLASHBACK was undeniable. “It’s probably our best-selling [Rainbow Visions] film so far,” Guy Lavallee, director of Global Visions Festival Society, says.
The festival also added a retrospective of John Waters’ Hairspray, a film often celebrated in the queer community due to its subversive themes and embrace of non-conformity. It’s the second time Rainbow Visions, now in its 10th year, has programmed a classic film — screening Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader in 2024. The decision to screen it was inspired by the success of the organization’s third program, NorthwestFEARFest, showcasing a diverse lineup of horror, thriller, sci-fi and cult films each October since 2022. Lavellee hopes to make retrospectives an annual tradition of Rainbow Vision because, he says they offer something nostalgic and comforting to older audiences, while introducing younger viewers to iconic queer films.
Altogether, this year’s programming is a broad spectrum of stories, from the heart-wrenching Heightened Scrutiny, about the battle against anti-gender affirming legislation, to the lighthearted to the lighthearted Griffin in Summer, a coming-of-age comedy about a teen playwright falling for a summer handyman.
“There’s a real juxtaposition there,” Lavallee says. The lineup aims to showcase queer stories that blend seriousness with lightheartedness, balancing the depth of marginalization with the joy of celebration. Lavallee wants to ensure that pass-holders don’t feel like they’re “just seeing the same movie over and over again.”
Tickets for The Rainbow Visions Festival, which spans May 16 to 18 are $10 – $16 for individual screenings, and $84.40 for an all-access pass.
