“What’s not to love about a film book with Divine in a red dress on the cover?” says The Advocate about Matthew Hays’ book The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers. True, but it’s what’s behind the dress that’s getting the good reviews. Hays has collected his 32 interviews with queer directors and arranged them alphabetically (very handy), from Pedro Almodóvar to John Waters. The filmmakers range from mainstream (Bill Condon) to avant-garde (Bruce La Bruce), from camp (Don Mancini) to porn (Wakefield Poole). Studded with cool facts, the book’s “a worthy reference book for queer cinephiles,” says Glenn Sumi in Toronto’s Now magazine (Hays is a Canuck).

In 1986, when Hays was 21, he scored an interview with Divine for the student paper at the University of Alberta. It was his first interview and it’s included in the book. Fab magazine reprints it here.