What would you do if you were told you had a dramatically life-threatening illness when you were 32 years old? Start making comic books about it of course! Well, that’s what Gordon did anyway.
Long Live My Happy Head is a film about cancer and comic books, but it’s fundamentally a love story. We journey with Gordon and Shawn through one of the most difficult times of their lives only to see them emerge from the other side even stronger than before. Through intimately captured observational footage and video diary, stylised key interviews and animations created from Gordon’s comic illustrations, this film immerses the audience in Gordon’s world, and reveals how art, love and a sense of humour can soothe our deepest fears of mortality and losing the people we care most about.
The Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that we operate on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations) this land is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. We acknowledge the traditional caregivers of this land and the importance of a commitment to continued decolonization of our work for the dignity and equity of all. We would like also recognize that Treaty 7 is about a relationship we all actively share in, as settlers and original peoples. A relationship needs to be open, honest, respectful, mutually beneficial and grounded in meaningful reconciliation.