A Deliciously Non-Binary Video Valentine From Betty Wetter, Stephan Anunson and de Fontaine

February 14, 2018• byMichael Strangeways

Delicious puppet work/design from Javier Ortega in the video FIRST KISS AT THE SKATING RINK by Stephen Anunson featuring the music of de Fontaine

Sooooooo, local film maker Stephen Anunson poked me a couple weeks back about helping promote a little video project he was working on and since I lurve promoting video/film projects, I agreed and the result is today’s world premiere of FIRST KISS AT THE SKATING RINK, a sweet little valentine about a budding romance between two adorable characters of the non-binary persuasion tentatively exploring love (on roller skates) and featuring a lovely song by an electro pop band from North Carolina and all set on a very fantastical version of Seattle.

My reactions and thoughts to the video:

It’s dreamy and delicious.
I love the song itself, a very fun poppy, kinda reminiscent of Beth Ditto/Gossip-y romantic dreamscape by the group “de Fontaine”.
I j’adore Stephen’s sweet video which charmingly features the best parts of Seattle in its moony loony landscape.
And, the star of the piece, local emerging drag diva Betty Wetter is a winning charmer with a great look/fashion sense all aided by delicious design work by Michael Notestine (costumes) and Javier Ortega (scenic/props/puppets) and the lovely photography work by Alex Lenzi.

Betty Wetter in FIRST KISS AT THE SKATING RINK

Stephen sent over the video this morning with this info attached:

Seattle’s Queen of Wet Dreams, Betty Wetter skates for you heart through a delusional landscape set to the haunting new song, First Kiss at the Skating Rink by North Carolina’s electro pop mystery band, de Fontaine. Directed by local filmmaker Stephen Anunson.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y742hSMtcjU&feature=youtu.be

please link to: Betty Wetter, de Fontaine and Stephen Anunson on Facebook

The kissy climax of FIRST KISS AT THE SKATING RINK

So, I had some questions:

Who is de Fontaine ?
How did this all come together? The mash up of de Fontaine, Betty Wetter and Stephen Anunson?
This is a very non-binary piece of video…whose idea was that? Who came up with the story of the video?

And, Stephan responded:

Oh right!

de Fontaine is a band /a duo from North Carolina where Betty Wetter grew up. They are close friends. The band is releasing a mix tape and a video for each song. The band is an offshoot of another group called Henbrain.

I’ve been a fan of Betty Wetter for a while and became friends with Betty while he was a barista at Fuel. He had seen some of my work and approached me about doing a video / collaboration.

A lot came together organically. Erin (the love interest) in the film is one of Betty’s best friends and they’ve played the “love of betty” in his other work as well. In Betty’s one woman show “It Gets Wetter” they fall in love on stage. The idea to include them was an extension of that relationship.

The story was developed by Betty and I meeting and talking about ideas of love/ obsession / and fan interaction. It started with the concept of skating around Seattle and then we just added more layers of fantasy and obsession from there.

Check out the lusciousness of First Kiss at the Skating Rink by de Fontaine, Stephan Anunson and Betty Wetter

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.