WePresent, the arts platform of WeTransfer, is dipping into the feature documentary space with its first full-length film Life is Excellent helmed by The Good Liar star Russell Tovey. In the film, Tovey goes on a personal journey exploring the life and art of David Robilliard, one of his personal idols and an Lgbtqia+ artist who died of AIDS in 1988 at the age of 36.
The documentary is just one of three projects Tovey has in store for the Academy Award-winning platform as WePresent also announced Tovey would be a guest curator with three projects releasing in the summer highlighting LGBTQIA+ artists who were active before and during the AIDS crisis.
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LIFE IS EXCELLENT
weTransfer x Russell Tovey
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Two of the artist’s most famous creations – a “Stop AIDS” T-shirt and a “Silence = Fear”’ T-shirt – feature within the exhibition alongside a series of pieces bearing Act Up’s arresting Pink triangle.
Focused on uncovering the unique histories behind second-hand items, PAST’s motto – “to reclaim the stories people throw away” – aligns well with Tovey’s broader ambitions to reappraise a generation of artists lost to AIDS. For even the most ambivalent of attendees, these T-shirts should reaffirm the connection between the queer past and queer present, between the battles already overcome and the battles still being fought. “Because it could happen again,” Tovey concludes. “Because history repeats itself. And because it would not surprise me if a clause came back into education that stopped people from expressing their gender identities. I’m enraged by the potential of that and I feel a responsibility to do as much as I can to make people aware.” If you wait long enough, the world moves in circles.
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weTransfer x Russell Tovey
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