{ "id": "eppd0xrtry", "slug": "go-fish-1994-film", "title": "Go Fish (1994 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994", "label": "Comedies of 1990 to 1994", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j", "label": "Titles symbols to J", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Titles symbols to J", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994", "label": "Comedies of 1990 to 1994", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j", "label": "Titles symbols to J", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Go Fish (1994) is Rose Troche's black-and-white lesbian romantic comedy, co-written with star Guinevere Turner, about Max and Ely in Chicago; a Sundance hit, Teddy Award winner, and New Queer Cinema landmark.", "snippet": "Go Fish (1994) is Rose Troche's black-and-white lesbian romantic comedy, co-written with star Guinevere Turner, about Max and Ely in Chicago; a Sundance hit, Teddy Award winner, and New Queer Cinema landmark.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-symbols-to-j", "markdown": "# Go Fish (1994 film)\n\n**Go Fish** is a 1994 American black-and-white romantic comedy directed by Rose Troche, following a group of young lesbians in Chicago as Max ([Guinevere Turner](https://www.edgepedia.org/guinevere-turner)), tired of a long dry spell, is set up by her roommate with Ely (V.S. Brodie), a shy older woman whose long-distance relationship complicates the attraction. Written and produced by Troche and Turner, it was made on a shoestring budget, became a hit at the 1994 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival), and won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin Film Festival.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/go_fish) • [2](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/go-fish)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / writers | Directed by Rose Troche; written and produced by Troche and Guinevere Turner[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/go_fish) |\n| Cast | Guinevere Turner (Max), V.S. Brodie (Ely), T. Wendy McMillan (Kia), Migdalia Melendez (Evy), Anastasia Sharp (Daria)[3](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/go-fish) |\n| Format | Black-and-white 16mm, shot guerrilla-style on weekends and evenings by an unpaid or minimally paid cast and crew[4](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/go-fish/1635947) |\n| Release | US theatrical release June 10, 1994; distributor Samuel Goldwyn Company; US gross $2.4 million[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/go_fish) |\n| Awards | Teddy Award, Best Feature Film, Berlin; Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee; Independent Spirit Award nomination for V.S. Brodie[2](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/go-fish) |\n| Critical standing | 76% Tomatometer from 70 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; ranked #33 in the site's best films of 1994[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/go_fish) • [5](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-1994-movies/) |\n| Restoration | 4K restoration by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive with the Sundance Institute, screened at festivals and repertory theaters from 2024[3](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/go-fish) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and characters\n\nMax (Guinevere Turner) is a hip college student in 1990s Chicago who has not had a date in a year and complains to her roommate Kia (T. Wendy McMillan) that she needs help finding someone. Kia steers her toward Ely (V.S. Brodie), a shy, long-haired, slightly older lesbian; Max initially rejects her, but after a movie date the two share a kiss that is interrupted when Ely's long-distance lover's voice sounds on the answering machine.[6](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline28/go-fish) Around this central courtship, the ensemble follows Kia's relationship with Evy (Migdalia Melendez), a semi-closeted divorcee living with her mother, and Daria (Anastasia Sharp), the group's unapologetic playgirl.[3](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/go-fish) • [7](https://www.belcourt.org/films/go-fish/)\n\nThe film begins, in its own framing, where coming-out films used to end: all of its women are already gay, and the drama lies in dating, friendship, and community rather than in discovering an identity.[7](https://www.belcourt.org/films/go-fish/) A stylized classroom sequence near the opening has a teacher ask students to list women they believe are lesbians, and then reflect on how barely lesbian lives exist on paper, framing the film as an act of making lesbian history visible.[8](https://midbrow.org/go-fish-yale-film-archive/)\n\n## Production\n\n**Origins.** The film began as a script called *Max & Ely*, written in Chicago in 1991 by Troche and Turner, then a couple in their twenties. By 1992 they had run out of money and their all-volunteer crew was losing faith; they sent a letter with 20 minutes of footage and the script to producer Christine Vachon in New York, who signed on and got the project back in business.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2022/02/09/go-fish/)\n\n**Budget and shooting.** Sources give different figures for the budget: the Eye Filmmuseum describes a $15,000 film, while the Los Angeles Times reported an extremely low budget of $250,000, of which Troche financed 65% from her full-time job at the University of Illinois library, with Turner contributing from a typing job.[4](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/go-fish/1635947) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-10-ca-14045-story.html) Cast and crew were unpaid or minimally paid, and shooting took place on weekends and evenings after work.[4](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/go-fish/1635947) An early documentary section, in which a wide range of lesbians answered questions on camera, was dropped about two years before release; Troche and Turner concluded the material needed to be a fiction film.[11](https://archive.wislgbthistory.com/media/print/wis-light/issues-v06-10/WisLt-v07-14.pdf)\n\n## Release and reception\n\n[Go Fish](https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish) premiered to a strong reception on the 1994 festival circuit. It was one of the two opening-night films at Frameline18, the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival, where the Samuel Goldwyn Company picked it up early in the festival and signed a distribution contract on opening weekend.[3](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/go-fish) • [9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2022/02/09/go-fish/) • [12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-31-ca-17445-story.html) It won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance; V.S. Brodie received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female.[2](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/go-fish)\n\nCritics responded to its casual, talky texture. Roger Ebert, longtime film critic of the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) and winner of the 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism, called it casual, unsensational, and warm, comparing it to 1960s underground films that memorialize a circle of friends, while noting that its matter-of-factness was both its strength and its weakness.[13](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/go-fish-1994) The Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas highlighted Troche's visual touches and her handling of non-professional actors, and predicted possible crossover appeal to straight as well as gay audiences.[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-01-ca-10574-story.html) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 76% Tomatometer from 70 reviews, with a critics consensus praising Troche's sensitive direction and Turner's work, and it ranks #33 on the site's list of the best films of 1994.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/go_fish) • [5](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-1994-movies/)\n\n## Place in queer cinema\n\nThe film emerged at the height of the New Queer Cinema movement, the wave of queer independent film that critic B. Ruby Rich named in 1992, alongside contemporaries such as [Gregg Araki](https://www.edgepedia.org/gregg-araki) and [Todd Haynes](https://www.edgepedia.org/todd-haynes).[4](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/go-fish/1635947) • [15](https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/go-fish-018f0825-a140-c504-f14e-7bf4500b8706) It was one of the first films made after Rich's 1992 article, and scholars note it filled a gap in that movement, which had been dominated by male filmmakers, by centering lesbian lives; one account calls it the first lesbian feature film screened at Sundance to gain a distributor there.[15](https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/go-fish-018f0825-a140-c504-f14e-7bf4500b8706) • [16](https://asset.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/75GBPVLJJMOIS9E/R/file-a8628.pdf) • [17](https://sgiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SIFF-2002-1.pdf) Troche described the film, developed amid the AIDS crisis, as an \"antidote to despair,\" celebrating love and solidarity in response to societal exclusion.[18](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10350)\n\nTroche and Turner deliberately avoided glamorizing their cast. In a 1994 interview, Troche said the tendency of some lesbian filmmakers was to present women who were \"passable,\" whereas Go Fish presented women who look like women you might know.[11](https://archive.wislgbthistory.com/media/print/wis-light/issues-v06-10/WisLt-v07-14.pdf) The film's tagline, \"the girl is out there,\" and Max's closing observation that the girl you're going to meet doesn't look like any girl you know, became part of its identity.[6](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline28/go-fish) • [14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-01-ca-10574-story.html)\n\n## Legacy and restoration\n\nThe film's reputation has grown with time; the Siskel Film Center describes it as a Chicago-made gem that has solidified its place in the queer cinema canon, and it is frequently cited as an influence on later lesbian filmmaking, including by Tricia Cooke, who named it among the 1990s movies that inspired her 2024 film *[Drive-Away Dolls](https://www.edgepedia.org/drive-away-dolls)* with [Ethan Coen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ethan-coen).[2](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/go-fish) • [19](https://apnews.com/article/68858ecd870e8cec17f36d2eb7b892b1)\n\nFor its 30th anniversary in 2024, Go Fish was restored in 4K by the Academy Film Archive and the UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with the Sundance Institute, from the original 16mm A/B camera negatives and 35mm magnetic soundtrack, with funding from the [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences), Amazon MGM Studios, Frameline, Sundance Institute, and UCLA. The restoration screened at Frameline (for the fourth time), MoMA, the Sundance festival's 40th-anniversary celebrations, and repertory theaters including the Brattle, Belcourt, and Philadelphia Film Society.[3](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/go-fish) • [18](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10350) • [20](https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/sundance-institute-collection-ucla/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Go Fish, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/go_fish)\n2. [GO FISH, Siskel Film Center](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/go-fish)\n3. [Go Fish, Frameline48 (2024)](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline48/go-fish)\n4. [Go Fish, Eye Filmmuseum](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/go-fish/1635947)\n5. [The 100 Best Movies of 1994, Ranked by Tomatometer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-1994-movies/)\n6. [Go Fish, Frameline28 (2004)](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline28/go-fish)\n7. [GO FISH, Belcourt Theatre](https://www.belcourt.org/films/go-fish/)\n8. [Go Fish, Yale Film Archive, Midbrow](https://midbrow.org/go-fish-yale-film-archive/)\n9. [Go Fish, BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2022/02/09/go-fish/)\n10. [Crossover Hopes: Can 'Fish' and 'Priscilla' Find the Mainstream?, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-10-ca-14045-story.html)\n11. [Wisconsin Light interview with Rose Troche and Guinevere Turner, July 1994](https://archive.wislgbthistory.com/media/print/wis-light/issues-v06-10/WisLt-v07-14.pdf)\n12. [Commerce, Not Art, the Game at Sundance, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-31-ca-17445-story.html)\n13. [Go Fish movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/go-fish-1994)\n14. [Movie Review: 'Fish' Sensitively Catches Human Nature, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-01-ca-10574-story.html)\n15. [Go Fish in 4K, Academy Museum](https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/go-fish-018f0825-a140-c504-f14e-7bf4500b8706)\n16. [Riding the Gay New Wave into New Queer Cinema, University of Wisconsin](https://asset.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/75GBPVLJJMOIS9E/R/file-a8628.pdf)\n17. [World Cinema, Singapore International Film Festival 2002 program](https://sgiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SIFF-2002-1.pdf)\n18. [Go Fish, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/10350)\n19. [Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke give sexploitation cinema a queer spin in 'Drive-Away Dolls', AP News](https://apnews.com/article/68858ecd870e8cec17f36d2eb7b892b1)\n20. [Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/sundance-institute-collection-ucla/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 1990 to 1994 › Titles symbols to J*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Go Fish (1994 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Go Fish (1994 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Go Fish (1994 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/go-fish-1994-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Go Fish is Rose Troche's black-and-white lesbian romantic comedy, co-written with star Guinevere Turner, about Max and Ely in Chicago; a Sundance hit, Teddy Award winner, and New Queer Cinema landmark." }