Bear Nation is not about grizzlies. It is, however, about “a bunch of guys who are kind of woofy,” as one person in the engaging documentary says. If you don’t know what a bear is, you’re probably not alone; bears are hairy, masculine gay men who aren’t necessarily mainstream America’s notion of what a gay man looks like (at one point in the film, several Chicago women who happened to be eating at the hotel where the annual bear pride convention takes place say that they thought the bear pride convention was “a truckers’ union” convention).

Malcolm Ingram, the film’s director, is a proud bear who knew he never fit into the traditional notions of how gay men look and act, and in Bear Nation, he devotedly explores what it means to be a bear. Also the director of Small Town Gay Bar, Ingram is a close friend of director Kevin Smith, who encouraged Ingram to make Bear Nation and who showed up on the Late Show with David Letterman in part to tout his and Ingram’s appearance on the cover of Bear magazine. Ingram recently answered a few of our questions about how he made the documentary.

SXSW: Where did the idea for the movie come from?

Ingram: I’m a bear and this subculture has given me a lot; it helped me figure out my own place and it got me laid. I came out in my 30s and I didn’t know where I fit in. I looked at gay culture, shit like Will and Grace and I certainly didn’t fit into it. It made no sense to me. It was like, “Hey man, I like to suck dick but the rest of it you can keep.”

When I lived in Los Angeles, I discovered a gay bar called the Faultline – I saw people like me. It was like The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy lands in Oz and everything goes from black and white to color. Pardon the obligatory gay Oz reference, but in this case it was apt. A whole new world opened up to me where I felt I belonged.
I had made two horrible movies before Small Town Gay Bar and one thing I figured out was you must have something to say before you pick up a camera. The bear thing I was back and forth about because I didn’t know if I wanted to shit where I eat. My good friend and Exec-Producer Kevin Smith was instrumental in making me realize this was a movie I had to make.

SXSW: How did you choose the subjects?

Ingram: There were ex-boyfriends, there were friends. I wanted to start off telling a very personal story – the movie travels from the personal to the mainstream, not unlike my personal journey, and I started by talking to people who were very close to me. It’s good to have an intimate connection for an interview.

SXSW: Do you feel like you made the film more for gay men or for a straight audience? Or did that question ever occur to you?

Ingram: I make movies for people – I don’t make movies for class or gender or sexuality. Hopefully we speak to the zeitgeist. That’s why things like a soundtrack are very important to me; it is an element that may interest people who otherwise wouldn't pay attention to a documentary about fat hairy dudes. The music label Arts and Crafts (Broken Social Scene, Hidden Cameras, Zeus) was incredibly supportive with Small Town Gay Bar and they decided to sign up for this one as well.

As well, it is one of the great privileges having someone like Kevin Smith involved – it opens up a world. I’ve spoken to some ... let’s say ... very rural folk who because of knowing Kevin’s work, saw Small Town Gay Bar, and understand a different viewpoint to the gay struggle. They’re introduced to this whole new world.

SXSW: What do you think about the fact that a straight guy was the person who brought consciousness of bear culture to America at large?

Ingram: That was directly through me, so it is kinda cool. Kevin made sure to share that cover with me; Kevin made sure there was a gay man represented with him. How generous is that? The first time he’s on Letterman, he talks about Bear magazine? I think Kevin is a remarkable guy. Just before Clerks II came out, he was supporting Small Town Gay Bar. He has his intelligent followers but he also has the stoner crowd, who maybe aren’t always for the plight of the small town gay. He is truly an equal minded thinker, it’s just understood. I’m one of Kevin’s good friends and I’m a total fag and it’s never been uncomfortable in that way, like a white person who’s friends with a black man might try to hip-ify himself by “relating.”

SXSW: Has your mom seen the film? What does she think of it?

Ingram: My mom is the worst audience in the world for my stuff. Some moms will throw your shit up on the fridge and be proud of it and some will accidentally spill coffee on it. My mother is the latter. I love my mom and I wasn’t the easiest kid in the world to raise. Her first comment was a kind of back-handed compliment but now that she’s seen the film’s dedicated to her, she’s a big fan.

SXSW: What’s next for you?

Ingram: There’s this awesome story about Phantom of the Paradise, this awesome musical that Brian de Palma did. It was a studio movie that came out before The Rocky Horror Picture Show and it was a failure everywhere in the world except in Winnipeg, Canada. I’m constantly drawn to the concept of unlikely community and this again is a tale of an unlikely community, how a bunch of people in Winnipeg turned this movie into their own special thing.

Interview by Claiborne Smith