Today we’re excited to be connecting with Jonathan Andre Culliton again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.
Jonathan Andre, we are so thrilled to be connecting again and can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things you have been up to. Before we jump into all of that, some of our readers might have missed our prior interview, so can you take a moment to reintroduce yourself?
My name is Jonathan Andre Culliton, I am a trans comedy and camp writer/director. My films “Spookable” and “Willa Justice: Drag Queen Private Eye” were released onto the festival circuit in 2024. Both are queer-centric, trans-focused movies that offer a comedy avenue for our stories among the sea of trauma porn. I’m definitely a filmmaker who has stopped caring what the industry has to offer me and started focusing on how I can disrupt that very system.
Great, so let’s jump into an update on what you have been up to since we last spoke. What can you share with us?
I’ve had an amazing time going to a ton of film festivals this year, in cities I had never been to. Quite honestly, I haven’t really been to that many fests, so it was such a high to be there presenting my work. Out on Film had given “Willa” their Filmmaker Fund Grant and they were so gracious and welcoming to us when we went to Atlanta in September. They really got the camp of our film on another level. I also was able to go to Baltimore to premiere “Spookable” with Maryland Film Festival. As the home fest of John Waters, I was honored to have our film hand-picked by Lilly Wachowski and Mickey R. Mahoney for their Trans Under the Stars program at MdFF. Obviously Lilly is a hero to many a trans filmmaker and I am no exception, so this was beyond thrilling.
My husband and I also curated the first-ever 29 Queer Film Festival in Twentynine Palms, CA, where we currently live. To put on an event of that scope in a small military town in desperate need of queer representation… I was just so happy that we could give that to our community.
We also want to give folks a chance to get to know you a bit better so we’ve prepared a fun lightning round of questions. Ready?
- Favorite Movie: Jurassic Park
- Favorite TV Show: Gilmore Girls
- Mountains or Beach: Beach
- Favorite Sport (to watch): Basketball
What are you most excited about in the coming year?
Well, I just got married to the love of my life! So being married, in general, for the first year and continuing to create our life together. My husband Graham Kolbeins is a non-binary writer and director who has their first narrative short, “Outage,” premiering in 2025 (which I produced!). We also have a documentary, “We Got Gay Married by Chucky in Vegas” (the long form of which is already available on YouTube) that chronicles our marriage and move to Canada this coming year. We will be releasing a short version of this documentary in festivals in the hopes of sharing our story about what it’s like to be queer under a second Trump regime and why we are leaving the country. I’m excited to bring that story to people and dip my toes in documentary work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://heathandhenshaw.com
- Instagram: @heathandhenshaw
