Artist:  Thriza Cuthand
Title:  "Helpless Maiden Makes an “I” Statement"
Year:  2000
Runtime:  6 minutes 30 seconds
Size:  25.4 MB
Summary:  By using clips of evil queens/witches this video plays off the sadomasochistic lesbo erotic subtexts commonly found in children's entertainment. A helpless maiden is tiring of her consensual s/m relationship with her lover, an "evil" queen. She wants to break up. An impassioned monologue in a dungeon with our heroine in wrist cuffs as she initiates what quickly becomes an emotionally messy ending in flames. This video was inspired by the artist's own childhood, "kiddy porn," Disney movies which turned her on to no end and kicked off many a prepubescent masturbation session.

About Thriza Cuthand

Thirza Cuthand, a Cree filmmaker and artist from Saskatchewan, has made over ten videos since she was sixteen years old dealing with issues as far-ranging as sexual stereotypes, ageism, queer identity, race, and mass-mediated representations of the family from what she terms a “wry young halfbreed dyke” perspective. Her films include Colonization: The Second Coming (1996), Working Baby Dyke Theory: The Diasporic Impact of Cross-Generational Barriers (1997), Bisexual Wannabe (1997), Untouchable (1998), Helpless Maiden Makes an “I” Statement (1999), Through the Looking Glass (1999), and Anhedonia (2001). Helpless Maiden Makes an “I” Statement was the co-winner of the Akau Best Lesbian Canadian Short in 2000 and was the youngest filmmaker featured in the Directors Series at the Inside-Out Festival in 2001. Her artwork has appeared in, among other venues, the 1999 Peoples Plastic Princess exhibit at the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff.