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Spankin

Country: Canada, Language: English, 14 mins

  • Director: Stephen Chen
  • Writer: Stephen Chen
  • Producer: Stephen Chen

CGiii Comment

What planet were they on when they wrote this:

Two men communicate their desires publicly yet silently when they are interrupted by a third. An anagram of *napkins*, SPANKIN transposes the gay hanky code of the 70s onto contemporary coffee culture.

While humorous in content, SPANKIN elucidates the real racial relations in LGBT communities. Inspired by the criminalisation of homosexual behaviour in Russia, India, Nigeria, and Uganda in 2013, SPANKIN revives the handkerchief code formulated during a similar period of suppression in North America to remind audiences of the never-ending struggle, the poignancy of connection and secrecy amidst repression, and semiotic slide of symbols.

What a load of bollocks.

It's a boring, rather creepy, definitely offensive look at a ridiculous out-dated method of sexual communication.


Watch...

SPANKIN from Stephen Chen on Vimeo.

The(ir) Blurb...

Two men communicate their desires at a coffee shop publicly yet silently when they are interrupted by a third.

Cast & Characters

Charles Hayter as Caucasian Man;
Ucal Shillingford