Award winning poet Eileen Myles (they/them) talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about their work and appearing in the new documentary “Queer Genius” distributed by Frameline. Directed by award winning filmmaker Chet Pancake “Queer Genius” chronicles five visionary queer artists including the late iconic lesbian filmmaker and producer Barbara Hammer, performance artist and actor Jibz Cameron, Black Quantum Futurism (Rasheedah Phillips and Camae Ayewa A.K.A. Moor Mother, literary and artistic creatives) and Myles who unapologetically break down barriers in their creative fields outside of mainstream culture. These intimate portraits resonate across generations as critically acclaimed and notoriously radical queer artists who have overcome personal and political obstacles to find new ways to live and share their visionary creative practices. In the lens of queer women and our LGBTQ culture the film confronts fame, failure, censorship, family, gender and sexuality. The documentary explores each artist’s “Genius” sharing their thought process, creativity and experiences as expressed through their art and embraces communal possibilities of “Genius” from a queer and generational perspective. “Queer Genius” won the Boundary Breaker Award at Buffalo International Film Festival (2020) and the Audience Award-Best Picture at Q-Fest Houston (2020). “Queer Genius” is currently available virtually at San Francisco’s Roxie Theatre nationwide. We talked to Eileen about their involvement with “Queer Genius” and spin on our LGBTQ issues. 

Eileen Myles came to NYC from Boston in 1974 to be a poet. Their books include “I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems” and “Chelsea Girls”. Myles is the recipient of four Lambda Literary Awards and was honored with Lambda’s Pioneer Award in 2016. Recently Eileen edited “Pathetic Literature” an anthology which includes the work of over 100 writers that will be released from Grove Press in November 2022. Eileen has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2021 was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters. They live in New York and Marfa, TX. (Photo credit: Peggy O'Brien)

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