This Is Just to Say 1999
Back in the summer of 1999, Toronto's queer youth community found a bold voice through an experimental documentary crafted at the Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film & Video Festival.
Director: Sharon Sliwinski
Frequently Asked Questions
What is This Is Just to Say (1999) about?
This experimental short documents queer youth sharing their very first personal experiences during candid sidewalk interviews in Toronto. It explores identity and self-expression in the late-90s LGBTQ+ landscape through intimate, unfiltered conversations.
Who directed This Is Just to Say?
Director information is not available.
Who stars in This Is Just to Say?
The film features a group of young LGBTQ+ individuals whose identities and stories are central to its narrative, gathered through street interviews in downtown Toronto.
Is This Is Just to Say (1999) worth watching?
Though unrated, this 7-minute queer documentary offers a rare snapshot of youthful queer life in the late 1990s. Its raw honesty and historical value make it compelling for fans of queer cinema and personal storytelling.
How long is This Is Just to Say?
The film runs for 7 minutes.
About This Is Just to Say (1999) — A raw 1999 queer-doc on first queer moments in Toronto
Back in the summer of 1999, Toronto's queer youth community found a bold voice through an experimental documentary crafted at the Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film & Video Festival. Sharon Sliwinski's *This Is Just to Say* captures raw, first-person revelations from young LGBTQ+ individuals whose earliest queer experiences are heard for the very first time on a bustling city street. With handheld immediacy and unflinching intimacy, the film transforms sidewalk interviews into intimate confessions, weaving together personal narrative and identity politics in a post-millennial moment of self-discovery. Against the hum of urban life, Sliwinski stitches together a mosaic of voices rarely heard in mainstream cinema, forging a testament to youthful courage and the messy beauty of claiming one's truth.
Shot in just seven minutes but packed with emotional weight, the documentary belongs to the queer-doc tradition, where politics and personal life blur in candid conversation. It's less a polished narrative than a living archive—one that invites viewers to listen, reflect, and maybe even speak up themselves about what it means to be seen, to be queer, and to be young in a world still catching up.
Stream or download *This Is Just to Say* to experience a slice of late-90s queer life preserved in unfiltered honesty.