What’s the history of Kubla Khan Productions?
Kalima Young: Kubla Khan started in early 2003. Aj actually was one of the actors in a play that I was helping to direct with my friend called Moving Truth. After that project, Aj and I decided that we really liked making movies and we liked horror movies, so we started Kubla Khan Productions. Our first movie was Grace Haven, which we shot in 2004 and released in 2006. That one was definitely a horror flick. It was a teen pleasure horror, an homage to Friday the Thirteenth. It was about a group of queer friends who were vacationing at a bed and breakfast on the weekend and, unfortunately, it was the same weekend as the axe murderer who used to live there. A lot of gay and lesbian film deals with tragedy, issues, comedy, camp. Audiences don’t see the population reflected back at them. We make gay and lesbian movies without the exaggerated themes…. There’s really a gap in the video store. Where did the first movie screen? Young: At venues throughout Baltimore and DC. With Lessons Learned
