#CityOfLove (2XX, Canberra)

By Yen Eriksen, Adelaide Rief and Farz Edraki

In the spirit of the second decade of the twenty-first century,
we’ve named our documentary using a ubiquitous marker of our times:
the hashtag.

#CityOfLove was trending on Twitter as the ACT government made
moves towards making laws to create marriage equality in 2013. As
the conversation around marriage equality grew in the media, we
wanted to ask: why marriage?

How did marriage become the focal point for queer rights in the
Territory (and wider Australia)? Is marriage even a good thing to
be fighting for, anyway? Those questions — and many, many more —
became both the hardest and most enjoyable part of making this
feature.

In an attempt to find some answers, a big part of our documentary
became our own conversations around marriage equality. In many
ways, the conversations came out of the informal chats (and
occasional arguments) we would inevitably fall into during our
meet-ups — helped along by cups of tea.

Our late-night discussions over marriage, the politics behind it,
the ways that the law shapes us and our interactions with the world
invariably led us to talking about love: finding it, having it,
recovering from it. And it's those conversations that ended up
bringing us each to some revelatory moments: family recognition as
a crucial reason as to why marriage is held dear to some; the
effect of the law and social structures on how we value
relationships; the obvious need for reform.

We wouldn't have made this feature without the insights and erudite
conversation of our guests. Or without the amazing mentoring and
support from Kevin Klehr, Martin Walters and Giordana Caputo, who
guided us through our hiccups and (many) false starts.

And it certainly wouldn't sound as lush without the music of
(mostly) local Canberra artists, Pocket Fox,Fossil Rabbit, Oxen,
Reuben Ingall and The General Assembly. Oh and John Paul Young for
"Love is in the Air".

We hope the interviews and conversations you hear spark discussions
in your own life about marriage and movements for change. How has
the the law has shaped you in ways you wouldn’t necessarily expect?
Perhaps, like us, you’ll be left with more questions than answers.
While the status of marriage equality in Australia still hangs in
the balance, let us take you on a trip to where it all started: the
#CityOfLove.

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