DRAGGED UP
DIRECTED BY LAURA JAYNE TUNBRIDGE
UNITED KINGDOM // 2021
19 MINS
Sarah's family want her to be crowned Queen of Sheppey but she's far from a natural. In secret Sarah explores male drag and finds the confidence to finally show her family she wasn't meant to be Pageant Queen, she was born to be a King.
Reflective Encounters
“There’s something comical about the Queen of Sheppey pageant (taking place on the eponymous Kent island) that speaks to the broader problems of parochial culture. In Laura Jayne Tunbridge’s Dragged Up, Sarah’s mum expresses fear about what others will think - of what is and isn’t normal. She forces her daughters to follow in her beauty contest footsteps, while Sarah would rather be a drag king.
The comedic insignificance of the pressures Sarah’s mum puts on her daughters makes light mockery of the broader social pressures queer people face. By putting the stakes of difference on a small community like the Isle of Sheppey it shows how non-threatening Sarah’s love of drag and sexuality truly are. It’s notable that Sarah’s interests and idols, like Freddie Mercury and Elton John, connect her to a bigger canvas, something her mother never tries to see.
Dragged Up highlights the challenges queer people face in rural areas, especially with regards to finding their community. Often films show queerness as something that can only be celebrated after moving to a city, whereas Sarah finds a partner and an outlet of expression close to home that gives her self-confidence. It’s a moving and funny story about not only finding yourself, but also finding your people.”
— Lillian Crawford
Filmmaker Q&A
A Q&A with filmmakers from the This Is Me programme at Encounters Film Festival 2021.
Filmmakers - Ruicheng Liang (Man Up In Lockdown), Lissi Simpson (Mexed), Eilidh Nicoll (Silvering), Arlo O'Callaghan - director and Camy Jaimes - cinematographer (Owen), Laura Jayne Tunbridge (Dragged Up) and Jack Pulford (Silver and Gold).
Hosted by Ren Scateni, Encounters Head of Programme.
Director’s Statement
The Isle of a Sheppey is a small island just off the coast of Kent that is, without a doubt, rich in history; it was invaded by the Dutch in the 1600s, visited by Henry VIII and (casually) has a WWII ship full of bombs sunk just off of Sheerness Beach.
However, for me, growing up on the Island felt like living in a forgotten place with nothing to do, nowhere to go and where everyone was the same. Except, I felt, for me. I knew I wasn’t the kind of girly girl I saw all around me and I knew I wasn’t interested in boys in the way that a lot of my friends were.
But, with a lack of visible diversity on the Island and with no LGBTQ+ role models to look up to, I spent my teenage years deep in the closet terrified that I wasn’t normal. Dragged Up is a work of fiction inspired by some very real feelings.
It’s a story about being an outsider in a community and knowing that being different can make you a target. Its themes of family expectation, queer identity and self-acceptance are all inspired by my own childhood but this film is a rewriting of my story.
I wish I had the bravery, sense of self and queer community that both Sarah and Scout share in the film. It’s something I have now but needed so desperately then. Dragged Up is a celebration.
It’s a film that doesn’t shy away from the truth that feeling like an outsider is incredibly hard, but it’s a film that attempts to remind us that there is space for us all to belong; even if we must make that space for ourselves.
I made the film that my sixteen year old self so desperately needed to see to feel affirmed but my hope is that Dragged Up will be someone else’s affirmation. Someone else’s confirmation that their existence is brilliant. That they belong.
Filmmaker Bio
Laura is a writer and director from the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. As a queer woman from a small town, Laura is inspired by stories of women living at the edges of their communities.
Laura was a student at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) where she was a Creative Scotland Scholar. At the NFTS Laura wrote numerous shorts that will be released onto the festival circuit in 2021.
They include animations Night of the Living Dread, which was a finalist in the 2021 GSA BAFTA Student Awards, and Other Half, which was selected for competition as part of la Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival 2021.
Laura also wrote the fiction shorts Requiem, starring Bella Ramsey, and Dragged Up, which Laura also directed. Laura is represented by Jennie Miller at Independent Talent.