Help WORKHORSE QUEEN make it over the finish line!
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Help WORKHORSE QUEEN make it over the finish line!
I'm Angela Washko . As a politically-engaged feminist media artist working in a variety of forms, I am committed to telling complex and unconventional stories about the media we consume from unusual perspectives. I think the impact of reality television on public opinion around gender and sexuality is an important and under-examined topic in our contemporary moment and I've been excited to explore this through Workhorse Queen, my first feature-length documentary film.
Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, I re-watched episodes of the reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race on repeat every day for a year. I was scared that the progress that had been made in terms of media representation around gender and sexuality might be erased under Trump’s regime and took comfort in watching drag queens perform on mainstream television. It was this concern that really propelled the making of Workhorse Queen, which began as an investigation into how mainstream media has impacted broader cultural understandings of gender and sexuality.
FILM SYNOPSIS:
By day, Ed Popil worked as the manager of a telemarketing center in post-industrial Rochester, New York for 18 years. By night, he transformed into drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis . Not your average aspiring pop star drag queen, Mrs. Kasha Davis is a 1960’s era housewife trying to liberate herself from domestic toil through performing at night in secret – an homage to Ed’s own mother. After seven years of auditioning to compete on reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ed Popil was finally cast onto the show and thrust into a full time entertainment career at the late age of 44.
Workhorse Queen explores the complexities of mainstream television’s impact on performance culture and its intersections with gender and sexuality. In addition to following Ed’s life and career before and after being cast onto RuPaul’s Drag Race, the film focuses on the growing divide between members of a small town drag community – those who have been on television, and those who have not. Throughout the film Ed Popil navigates the exciting highs and devastating lows of pursuing the fame promised by a reality television platform. With one foot inching toward Hollywood’s doorstep and the other cemented firmly within her beloved Rochester community, Mrs. Kasha Davis finds a surprising new audience at home as she works toward becoming the queer role model for children that Ed didn’t have and desperately wanted growing up.
WHAT WE NEED TO FINISH THE FILM:
Workhorse Queen will debut at the Slamdance Film Festival in mid February. We are so close to being ready to share the film but need just a little bit more funding to finalize the film in the way that this story deserves to be finalized. The editing and visual effects are locked! We are looking to raise funding for final sound mix, color correction, and promotion to help the film get distributed on large scale streaming platforms and get it seen by as many people as we can! We hope that you’ll help us reach the finish line and get this film completely finished and onto your screens! Unfortunately due to COVID, a number of the granting sources we thought we could rely on haven't come through. We need these funds yesterday!
THANK YOU & CREDITING:
All contributors to this gofundme at any amount will be credited in the film's on-screen credits as a token of our sincere gratitude for helping the film reach completion. If you are interested in producer credits - a $5,000 donation would earn you a producer credit and a $10,000 donation would earn you an executive producer credits. Please be in touch if you are interested in sponsoring the project at this level.
WE CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE THIS STORY WITH YOU!
It has been an incredible journey documenting Ed Popil/Mrs. Kasha Davis. Ed Popil stood out to me because it felt like there was so much more to his story and he represented a larger community of drag queens who don’t quite fit the mold of what reality television wants from its participants. Following him, I instantly fell in love with his close-knit Rochester performance community, and the international community that has popped up around him as a result of his television experience. The film includes the voices and perspectives of drag queen celebrities who have been on RuPaul’s Drag Race (like Bianca Del Rio, Darienne Lake, Tatianna, and Pandora Boxx), leaders in subversive performance communities around the world, as well as drag queens who reject or who have been rejected by the reality tv platform. I’ve been fortunate to work with an incredible team of editors, musicians, composers, animators and more in assembling this story and I can’t wait to share this story with you.
After many years of doing difficult, painful work exposing the darkest sides of the internet: the manosphere, men’s rights activists and the male pick-up art community, it’s been a dream to be able to spend the last several years focused on performers I admire who make subversive performances that complicate traditional ideas about gender, sexuality, and much more. It means the world to me to be able to share this story exploring ageism in the entertainment industry as well as resilient, prolific and subversive small town performance communities.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Angela Washko is a media artist devoted to creating new forums for discussions about feminism. A recent recipient of the Creative Capital Award, Impact Award at Indiecade and the Franklin Furnace Performance Fund, Washko’s practice has been highlighted in The New Yorker, Frieze Magazine, Time Magazine, The Guardian, ArtForum, The Los Angeles Times, Art in America, The New York Times and more. Her projects have been presented internationally at venues including Museum of the Moving Image, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Milan Design Triennale, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Angela Washko is an Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Workhorse Queen Official Website
Workhorse Queen Official Festival Trailer
Workhorse Queen Poster
I'm Angela Washko . As a politically-engaged feminist media artist working in a variety of forms, I am committed to telling complex and unconventional stories about the media we consume from unusual perspectives. I think the impact of reality television on public opinion around gender and sexuality is an important and under-examined topic in our contemporary moment and I've been excited to explore this through Workhorse Queen, my first feature-length documentary film.
Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, I re-watched episodes of the reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race on repeat every day for a year. I was scared that the progress that had been made in terms of media representation around gender and sexuality might be erased under Trump’s regime and took comfort in watching drag queens perform on mainstream television. It was this concern that really propelled the making of Workhorse Queen, which began as an investigation into how mainstream media has impacted broader cultural understandings of gender and sexuality.
FILM SYNOPSIS:
By day, Ed Popil worked as the manager of a telemarketing center in post-industrial Rochester, New York for 18 years. By night, he transformed into drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis . Not your average aspiring pop star drag queen, Mrs. Kasha Davis is a 1960’s era housewife trying to liberate herself from domestic toil through performing at night in secret – an homage to Ed’s own mother. After seven years of auditioning to compete on reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ed Popil was finally cast onto the show and thrust into a full time entertainment career at the late age of 44.
Workhorse Queen explores the complexities of mainstream television’s impact on performance culture and its intersections with gender and sexuality. In addition to following Ed’s life and career before and after being cast onto RuPaul’s Drag Race, the film focuses on the growing divide between members of a small town drag community – those who have been on television, and those who have not. Throughout the film Ed Popil navigates the exciting highs and devastating lows of pursuing the fame promised by a reality television platform. With one foot inching toward Hollywood’s doorstep and the other cemented firmly within her beloved Rochester community, Mrs. Kasha Davis finds a surprising new audience at home as she works toward becoming the queer role model for children that Ed didn’t have and desperately wanted growing up.
WHAT WE NEED TO FINISH THE FILM:
Workhorse Queen will debut at the Slamdance Film Festival in mid February. We are so close to being ready to share the film but need just a little bit more funding to finalize the film in the way that this story deserves to be finalized. The editing and visual effects are locked! We are looking to raise funding for final sound mix, color correction, and promotion to help the film get distributed on large scale streaming platforms and get it seen by as many people as we can! We hope that you’ll help us reach the finish line and get this film completely finished and onto your screens! Unfortunately due to COVID, a number of the granting sources we thought we could rely on haven't come through. We need these funds yesterday!
THANK YOU & CREDITING:
All contributors to this gofundme at any amount will be credited in the film's on-screen credits as a token of our sincere gratitude for helping the film reach completion. If you are interested in producer credits - a $5,000 donation would earn you a producer credit and a $10,000 donation would earn you an executive producer credits. Please be in touch if you are interested in sponsoring the project at this level.
WE CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE THIS STORY WITH YOU!
It has been an incredible journey documenting Ed Popil/Mrs. Kasha Davis. Ed Popil stood out to me because it felt like there was so much more to his story and he represented a larger community of drag queens who don’t quite fit the mold of what reality television wants from its participants. Following him, I instantly fell in love with his close-knit Rochester performance community, and the international community that has popped up around him as a result of his television experience. The film includes the voices and perspectives of drag queen celebrities who have been on RuPaul’s Drag Race (like Bianca Del Rio, Darienne Lake, Tatianna, and Pandora Boxx), leaders in subversive performance communities around the world, as well as drag queens who reject or who have been rejected by the reality tv platform. I’ve been fortunate to work with an incredible team of editors, musicians, composers, animators and more in assembling this story and I can’t wait to share this story with you.
After many years of doing difficult, painful work exposing the darkest sides of the internet: the manosphere, men’s rights activists and the male pick-up art community, it’s been a dream to be able to spend the last several years focused on performers I admire who make subversive performances that complicate traditional ideas about gender, sexuality, and much more. It means the world to me to be able to share this story exploring ageism in the entertainment industry as well as resilient, prolific and subversive small town performance communities.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Angela Washko is a media artist devoted to creating new forums for discussions about feminism. A recent recipient of the Creative Capital Award, Impact Award at Indiecade and the Franklin Furnace Performance Fund, Washko’s practice has been highlighted in The New Yorker, Frieze Magazine, Time Magazine, The Guardian, ArtForum, The Los Angeles Times, Art in America, The New York Times and more. Her projects have been presented internationally at venues including Museum of the Moving Image, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Milan Design Triennale, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Angela Washko is an Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Workhorse Queen Official Website
Workhorse Queen Official Festival Trailer
Workhorse Queen Poster
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Organizer
Angela Washko
Organizer
Pittsburgh, PA
