Frank’s Cock

Frank's Cock

Frank’s Cock is a 1993 Canadian short film written and directed by Mike Hoolboom. The eight-minute production stars Callum Keith Rennie as an unnamed narrator who discusses his relationship with his partner, Frank. Frank has since been diagnosed with AIDS, and the narrator fears his death. The film won several awards, including the NFB–John Spotton Award for best Canadianshort film at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival.

About Frank’s Cock in brief

Summary Frank's CockFrank’s Cock is a 1993 Canadian short film written and directed by Mike Hoolboom. The eight-minute production stars Callum Keith Rennie as an unnamed narrator who discusses his relationship with his partner, Frank. Frank has since been diagnosed with AIDS, and the narrator fears his death. Shot on a low budget, the work is shown in a split-screen format with interspersed scenes from popular culture, gay pornography, and human embryo formation. This format is meant to symbolise the “fragmentation of the body” experienced by AIDS sufferers. The film won several awards, including the NFB–John Spotton Award for best Canadianshort film at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival. The script has been republished several times and has inspired a short on LGBT issues in Canada’s native community. The majority of the technical work, including direction,atography, and editing, was handled by Cineworks, working for the National Film Board of Canada; Alex Mackenzie produced the film for Part of the omnibus Breaking Up. The story was based on the experience of one of Hool boom’s friends at People With AIDS, which he adapted after receiving a commission to create a short film about breaking up.

The director was diagnosed with HIV in 1988 or 1989, after going to donate blood. In a 1993 interview, he stated that he felt himself working harder after the diagnosis, finishing films at a more rapid rate because he was uncertain how long he would live. He also became fascinated with a body of parts spliced and spliced again, experimenting with interruptive rhythms as a way to reexamine simple acts. The film was his first venture directly addressing the AIDS issue; it was also the first time he had dealt with the subject of HIVAIDS in a film. The short has inspired several other short films, including Breaking Up, a film about the LGBT community in Canada, and a documentary on the history of gay marriage in the province of British Columbia, Canada, which was released in 2010. The documentary was produced by the Vancouver-based cooperative Cinworks, working with the director’s friend Alex Mack McKenzie, who also produced the short.