Sundays at Café Tabac is a documentary project about a weekly queer salon in 1993 New York City. The salon re-defined lesbian style, even inspiring the media term "lesbian chic." Executive produced by the salon's creator, Wanda Acosta, and directed by Karen Song, the documentary explores the large impact Café Tabac had upon this seminal period in queer history.
Café Tabac was hosted every Sunday, and the salon became a hub of interaction among "artists, intellectuals, fashionistas and activists," all prominent members of the East Village queer community. Acosta and Song have initiated a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the film's production. The documentary aims to shed light on a "golden era of lesbian culture and history," a time following ACT UP and the outbreak of HIV/AIDS. Women were creating their own liberation, and femininity was in the process of being re-defined.
Sundays at Café Tabac will include interviews with former salon patrons alongside archival images, stylized re-creations and animated illustrations of Sundays at the salon. Meshell Ndegeocello also composed an original score for the film. The documentary celebrates Café Trabac's role as a place where lesbians and gay men could find comfort and support, a place of bonding for people who felt marginalized by the rest of society.
The funding period ends Sunday, December 8, 2013. Click here to donate to the Kickstarter campaign. Watch the Sundays at Café Trabac trailer below and see why it is so necessary that the project be realized:
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