LESBIANA – A PARALLEL REVOLUTION (Miriam Fougere). 63 minutes. Some subtitles. Screens Wednesday (May 29), 5:30 pm, TIFF 3.

INSIDE OUT: TORONTO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL at TIFF Bell Lightbox from today (Thursday, May 23) to June 2. $6-$13, galas $17-$30. See Indie & Rep Film. insideout.ca. Rating: NNN

As Quebec filmmaker Miriam Fougere’s study makes very clear, the North American lesbian movement of the 70s and 80s could not have been spawned at any other time. It was part hippie in its back-to-the-land character, influenced by black power in its quest for women-only space and, like the old left, occasionally doctrinaire.

Fougere interviews women from Quebec, Connecticut, California and the American South and digs up archival photos to investigate how a rising lesbian nation found inspiration in music (Alix Dobkin appears), words, via publications like Sinister Wisdom, and community organizing.

It’s a bit all over the place but finds some cohesion in its last quarter, when the pic’s subjects express their passion for their history. Lit icon Nicole Brossard and performance artist Suzanne Boisvert are especially impressive.

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