SYNOPSIS

Director｜AP Pobjoy

Screenwriter｜AP Pobjoy

Cast｜Phyllis Papps, Francesca Curtis

Producer｜Bonny Scott

Cinematographer｜Felicia Smith

Genre｜Documentary

Length｜27min

Year｜2021

Dialogue｜English

Subtitles｜English

Region｜Victoria

Production Company｜Australia

Synopsis

Francesca Curtis and Phyllis Papps are many things. Researchers. Writers. Ultra-Feminists. Partners. They are also the first lesbian couple to come out on national television almost fifty years ago. Putting everything on the line, Phyllis and Francesca appeared on ABCTV ‘This Day Tonight’s interview about lesbianism in October 1970. Since that appearance, the couple unpredictably became the public face of change, becoming members of Australia’s first gay political rights group, the Daughters of Bilitis, now known as the Australasian Lesbian Movement. The Australasian Lesbian Movement was the first forum for lesbian women to open up and speak about their sexualities. Now in the last years of their lives and with health problems looming, Phyllis and Francesca shine light on the barriers that still stop them from being seen as who they are before it is too late. With their story spanning decades and a new LGBTQIA+ generation emerging, the couple uncover their contribution to one of the biggest shifts in Australian history, and also open up about the importance of acceptance in their lives. Refusing to become invisible, Phyllis and Francesca come out for the final time whilst the country secures marriage equality and a hopeful future.

Director Biography

AP Pobjoy (they/them) is a trans masculine non-binary writer, director and documentary-maker. Growing up between Melbourne and Far North Queensland, AP’s work focuses on outnumbered perspectives with a passion for Australian storytelling. Their work has been recognised by The Age, Stronger Than Fiction, RUUSH Magazine and Global Citizen and was recently nominated for BBFF’s ‘Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year’.

Director’s Statement

This documentary started with a friendship. Almost three years ago, I had dived into the world of Australia’s Gay Liberation and my life revolved around uncovering where my queer identity came from. One day amongst all this, Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis flew into my email inbox hearing I was researching about their experiences. As the first lesbian couple to come out on Australian television publicly, their bravery stunned me from the moment I heard their story. Phyllis and I spoke on the phone and never looked back.

A year and a half later I was sitting in the lounge room of Australian lesbian feminist Barb Creed, searching through archive that would be used in a documentary we had started, following Phyllis and Francesca’s coming out, their relationship and life stories. As we moved through photographs, books and footage of the early days of the first Australian lesbian movement, Barb apologised for all the missing dates. She said, remembering coming out herself:

“We all thought, who are we to have a history?”

At that moment, I realised that our film was not just Phyllis and Francesca’s story, but a prominent re-telling of many women battling with their sexualities in 1970s Australia, and who came out the other end fighting today. 

At the end of 2019, after countless trips, interviews and phone calls with Phyllis and Francesca, we had come up to almost three years of friendship and a completed film, telling their story for the very first time.