A powerful new documentary by Manx filmmaker John Craine, titled No Man is An Island, explores the turbulent fight to decriminalise homosexuality on the Isle of Man in the 1990s.
The film combines archival recordings with dramatic reconstructions to tell this previously overlooked story.
Ahead of it going live, we spoke to John about his excellent film and the research that went into it.
“I was born and raised on the island, and as a gay man, I knew fragments of this history,” John told Manx.News. “But the deeper I researched, the more shocking it became. This wasn’t just political – it destroyed real people’s lives.”
Real Lives
The film recreates the famous Tynwald Day protest by Alan Shea where he wore an outfit designed like ones worn by prisoners in Nazi death camps.
John said: “Alan is definitely the lightning rod for people objecting and I think it’s easy to underestimate the bravery required to be that person.”
However, while Alan’s campaign presents a grounding point for the film and shows his role as a lightning rod for some of the opposition, it places this very much in the context of the wider community.
Some particularly harrowing scenes focus on men who had sex with men who were then very publicly outed and the impact this had on their lives.
“These weren’t abstract debates,” John stressed. “People lost homes, families, everything – just for being who they were.”
Tynwald
The documentary draws on audio from Manx Radio and newspaper archives that survive from the early ‘90s.
One of the highlights of this is a brief section of a debate from then-MHK Hazel Hannan’s stand against homophobic rhetoric in Tynwald.
John noted: “She’s one of the few people who who really, I don’t think you can fault anything she said at the time.”
However, despite the language used then, which would shock most even now, he said the filmmakers made a deliberate choice not to name the most vitriolic politicians.
“It’s a film about public shaming – we’d undermine ourselves by doing the same,” he said.
John added: “I would like to think that people have the capacity to change, that everybody shouldn’t necessarily be judged by what they thought 30 years ago.”
Pride
The film contrasts the dark persecution of the 1990s with footage from the island’s first Pride celebration.
John said that being able to document the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality, through to the massive wider public backing Pride got, allowed to show how far the island had come, even if the passionate political opposition in the ‘90s wasn’t truly reflective of the wider public mood.
Screenings
With the film now released on the Guardian website, John said he is open to it being screened on the island and has received interest from different people and groups about hosting it.
You can watch the film below:
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