The long recovery from gay conversion therapy in Fair Haven and I Am Michael

When it comes to queer cinema, films about conversion therapy are a genre unto themselves. A number of conventions have been produced through these works, one of the most evident being narrative structures that offer brief denouements following the departure from conversion therapy camps and facilities. Interrogating these conventions, this article ultimately examines two exceptions in the form of Fair Haven and I Am Michael , both of which address the complicated, difficult, even traumatic aftermath of conversion therapy experiences. These films not only break from common conversion therapy film conventions, but – in doing so – they also deconstruct dichotomies between sexuality and religion through new and nuanced perspectives. Lastly, both films emphasize a continued need to reject ongoing conversion therapy practices.