Pissoir (film)

Pissoir
Directed byJohn Greyson
Written byJohn Greyson
Produced byJohn Greyson
Starring
  • Paul Bettis
  • Pauline Carey
  • Keltie Creed
  • Lance Eng
Cinematography
  • John Greyson
  • Adam Swica
Edited by
  • John Greyson
  • David McIntosh
Music byGlenn Schellenberg
Release date
  • 1988 (1988)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Pissoir, retitled Urinal in some countries, was the first feature film directed and released by John Greyson.[1] Released in 1988, the film's central character is an unnamed man who conjures a circle of dead literary and artistic figures, including Sergei Eisenstein, Dorian Gray, Yukio Mishima, Frida Kahlo, and Langston Hughes, to help him formulate a response to police crackdowns on gay sex venues in Toronto,[2] blending fiction with documentary as Greyson also includes quotes from real Canadian journalistic and political figures, including Barbara Amiel and Svend Robinson, about civil liberties and public morality.[3]

The film's cast includes Paul Bettis, Pauline Carey, Lance Eng, and Olivia Rojas.[4]

The film premiered at the 1988 Toronto International Film Festival.[3] It was subsequently screened at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival in 1989,[5] where it won a Teddy Award for Best Essay Film.[6]

  1. ^ Paul Irish, "Filmmaker combines life with art". Toronto Star, June 18, 2009.
  2. ^ M, P (10 September 2012). "Urinal". TimeOut.com. Time Out Group Plc. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  3. ^ a b Jay Scott, "From the strange to the sensational and back". The Globe and Mail, September 14, 1988.
  4. ^ Urinal - Mubi, retrieved 2022-10-13
  5. ^ David Overbey, "Canadian movies and makers the shakers of Berlin festival". Toronto Star, February 21, 1989.
  6. ^ Aschenneller, Mabel (February 2009). "Queer Film Award at the International Film Festival Berlin" (PDF) (Press release) (Digital ed.). Teddy Award. Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2019.