THE QUEEN OF MIDNIGHT - SHORT FILM

The Queen of Midnight is a TMU Thesis short horror film written and directed by local drag artist; Midas.

Haunted by her losing streak, Zara struggles to stand against rival "IT girl" Blaze. As the clock ticks down, they will do anything to be crowned The Queen of Midnight... no matter who gets hurt.

The Queen of Midnight is a horrific take on the competitive nature of drag. Being a drag artist in the Toronto scene there is always a sense of competition. This short film is inspired by the struggle of finding true friendship as a drag performer. Even though you may be sisters, you'll always be competitors.

Through this film, drag artists will be able to relate to Zara's internal struggles and even take an outside look at the pressure they may apply to themselves.

OUR CAST

This film is a nightmare-ish take on the experience of being a drag artist in Toronto. While writing this film, there were always two specific artists in mind for the lead roles. The Queen of Midnight stars Aurora Matrix as Zara Ignite (runner-up from Canada's Drag Race Season 4) and Makayla Couture as Blaze (runner-up from Canada's Drag Race Season 5).

OUR TEAM

Our Writer & Director;

MIDAS

Midas is a Toronto drag queen and filmmaker. After her short time in drag, she has solidified her name in the drag community. As a filmmaker, she has received multiple awards for her past work as a director. Most notably in her most recent viral short film "Product Replacement" (2022). After getting her drag name through film, she has always had a passion for filmmaking and is excited to blend the worlds of drag and cinema.

Director of Photography;

CHLOË GORDON

Chloë Gordon is a Torontonian filmmaker and multimedia artist specializing in cinematography. Her cinematographic style ranges from intimate and naturalistic to bright, colourful, and contrast-y. She has worked with Midas on several productions, most recently on a collaboration that won Audience Choice Award at ALTFF 2024. Her cinematography work was also screened at Inside Out 2024. Having worked on psychological thriller, comedy, and camp genres before, Chloë is excited to tackle this high-performance, visually exciting project with dynamic lighting and dramatic camera movement. Having a body of work that focuses on the queer experience and innovating the queer cinematic genre, Chloë looks forward to working with Midas to bring The Queen of Midnight to life.

FUNDING

Our film has already wrapped production. With this crowd funding campaign we hope to retroactively raise to cover our production costs. All funds will be going towards our production costs; including our technical department & equipment, catering/craft service, and our art department who will play a huge role in making Midas' love letter to her queer and drag community come to life.

WHY HORROR?

Horror is an extremely popular genre within the queer community. For a long while, I was not a part of this phenomenon but over time I’ve come to realize where the admiration comes from. Interestingly, horror became a safe escape for many queer people. Being able to identify with the monsters in horror as they may have been treated like one themselves. I have found that a lot of queer representation focuses on queer tragedy, stories that focus on characters as only queer and nothing further. With this, I’ve found the representation of drag specifically can come across as quite two-dimensional at times. Through this film, I wanted to create dynamic queer characters who aren’t afraid to be unlikable or in a sense evil. Media today has made many strides in representing all kinds of people, and I want to represent my favorite kind: fierce, evil drag queens.