You’ve heard about him in the news, you’ve read about him for weeks now, but who exactly is John Greyson?
We all know him as the York film professor being detained in Egypt, but many of us don’t know much else about him. So, who is John Greyson?While many of us have had the pleasure of knowing him, there also many at York with whom he has never crossed paths and who aren’t familiar with his importance to our school, community and our culture.
Greyson is a York professor and notable Canadian filmmaker; he is especially known for his work in queer film. On his way to the Gaza strip where he was planning on filming a documentary, Greyson and his friend Tarek Loubani, a doctor who was on the trip for medical relief work, were arrested in Cairo, Egypt. They were accused of “participating with members of the Muslim Brotherhood.” There has been significant outrage concerning the imprisonment of these two men; both are respected in their fields, and the arrest of Greyson hits especially close to home for York students and Greyson and Loubani’s families, who have had to suffer from afar.
Both men appear to be in good health despite the harsh conditions of the Egyptian prison. They have been visited on three occasions by Canadian Consulate staff and have been given items like food and underwear. Greyson is an activist on topics likes AIDS, gay rights, and censorship, and he has expressed his views on these openly in his films. His first film, Urinal focused on the policing and ethics of washroom sex in Toronto and won the Teddy award in 1989.
He has gone on to make such features including Zero Patience, Lilies, and The Law of Enclosures. Lilies, which won the Genie Award for Best Film in 1996, is an adaptation of Michel Marc Bouchard’s play, which is a prison drama that deals with themes of homosexuality.
His film, Law of Enclosures, based on the novel by Dale Peck, won lead actor Brendan Fletcher Best Actor at the Genie Awards in the year 2000.
Greyson has also worked in television, directing episodes of such series including Queer as Folk, Made in Canada, and Drop the Beat.
Greyson has proven himself to be an important voice in queer cinema, as his films all take on controversial topics that otherwise may not be documented in the same way.
He is also the author of a book titled Urinal and Other Stories. He is also the co-editor of Queer Looks: Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video.
In addition to teaching at York, Greyson has also taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and at the OCADU.
He was the winner of the Toronto Arts Award for Media in the year 2000. A daring filmmaker, Greyson has made great progress for Canadian film and he continues to do so in different ways as a professor at York. As a person who has contributed significantly to both queer activist and Canadian cinema over the last 40 years, it is not wrong to say that it is because of people like John Greyson that the queer film movement has reached a level of prominence and become more accessible.
This is extremely apparent especially this year; the winner of the Palm D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival is a lesbian love story,
Blue is the Warmest Colour. Activists and people who fight for the rights of the LGBT community have clearly paved the way for these transitions in film as well.
Film is a vital medium to expressing human stories, and for so long queer cinema has been either non-existent, ignored, or simply under the radar. Today we have films that deal with topics such as homophobia, homosexuality, trans-sexuality, and other similar themes because of people who have paved the way, John Greyson being one of them. Despite his imprisonment, Greyson continues to make waves for the film community and as a professor at York.
Adriana Floridia
Contributor
