Canadian queer rock icon Carole Pope — lead singer of Rough Trade — tells her story in Antidiva, a refreshingly inglorious rock doc from filmmaker Michelle Mama, who will be joining us for a Q&A, July 24. Rough Trade (with Pope singing and penning the lyrics, Kevan Staples writing the licks) began in Yorkville in 1973 and caused a stir with their upfront kinks and candidly queer songs like High School Confidential and Crimes of Passion. They were punk avant la lettre, anticipating the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and, even, in some respects, Madonna. They had a good ride for a decade, more or less, but as the film shows, it didn’t last and Pope hasn’t had an easy time of it — but she’s still in there fighting her corner with no apologies.
Q&A with filmmaker
Michelle Mama
Carole Pope, k.d. lang, Peaches, Jann Arden, Rufus Wainwright, George Stroumboulopoulos
Canada
2026
English
Book Tickets
Friday July 24
Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits
Producer
Bill Taylor
Cinematography
Stephen Chung
Editor
Sarah Bachinski
Original Music
Ames Bessada
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