Sometimes I do things that make me so much more than happy,that I struggle to find a way to adequately express it in words. That was the case in talking with Allison Tate (pictured right) for her fiendishly clever short film, CAROL SUPPORT GROUP. It’s a finely wrought five-minute tribute to Todd Haynes’ film, CAROL, a tale of forbidden lesbian love in the 1950s, realized with exquisite understatement and palpable longing by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Tate’s film is also an insightful consideration of the effect that the film had on so many people, gay, straight, or whatever.
When I spoke with Tate on June 18, 2017, it was the day after its world-premiere at the 41st Annual Frameline Film Festival, where the support group obsessed with the film, and playing characters from it, was part of the ever-popular Fun in Girl’s Shorts program. Wearing suitably tasteful pearls, Tate waxed ebullient over the proper choice of gloves, which are almost another character and loom large in Tate’s Cate Blanchett Pilgrimage; the synchronicity of so many elements coming together at just the right moment; and why it’s the perfect holiday romance. For more information about where to see CAROL SUPPORT GROUP, click here.