QFest
The fourth annual edition of the Stella Artois QFest was held April 14-17, 2011, at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. QFest uses the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the diversity and inherent complexities of living an alternative lifestyle in today's society. This year's event featured an eclectic slate of contemporary LGBTQ-themed feature films, documentaries, and shorts.
The Sons Of Tennessee Williams
Mardi Gras, drag balls, and politics – where else could these elements come together but in New Orleans? Interweaving archival footage and contemporary interviews in the great tradition of films such as “Paris Is Burning” and “The Cockettes,” “The Sons of Tennessee Williams” charts the evolution of the gay Mardi Gras krewe scene, illuminating the ways in which its emergence was a seminal factor in the cause of gay liberation in the South. Having come of age in New Orleans in the 1940s and ’50s, gay krewe members reminisce fondly about being inspired by the opulence of the Mardi Gras festivities. Krewe members – many of them now in their 70s and 80s – recount how the krewe scene created a safe space to gather at a time of vice crackdowns on gay clubs and how they became a powerful force in city politics through their activities. As the krewe members aged, their concerns changed, and they discuss the difficulties of dealing with the toll of AIDS and Katrina and of passing the torch to a younger generation. Throughout the decades, however, the lavish balls remain a constant – a place where, with oversized wigs and outrageous costumes, these unlikely political activists can strut their stuff in grand style.
The Sons of Tennessee Williams is the official opening night presentation of QFest St. Louis 2011. Director Tim Wolff will attend.
Queer Shorts
Bedfellows (Pierre Stefanos, U.S., 2010 15 min.):
After Bobby meets and spends the night with an attractive stranger, he dreams about what a lifetime relationship with him could be like. The dream traces a 30-year up-and-down journey through life and love, but what will happen when Bobby wakes up to reality in the morning?
Deidre (Cyra Polizzi, U.S., 2010, 5 min.):
Despite Katherine’s lack of enthusiasm, her friend drags her to a Mixed Mixer, a queer social event. Things look bleak when she is forced to socialize on her own, but then she notices Deidre.
Gaysharktank.com (Guy Shalem, U.S., 2010, 15 min.):
In early 2010, chatroulette.com, a Web site that allows people to meet strangers via Web cam, became an Internet sensation. “Gaysharktank.com” is about a gay version of the site, recording the interactions of 25 strangers on the hunt for love and lust.
Masala Mama (Michael Kam, Singapore, 2010, 8 min.):
The young son of a poor ragman aspires to draw superheroes but goes about it the wrong way by stealing a comic book from the gentle owner of a small Indian provision (“mama”) shop. When fate brings the thief and shop owner together again, they each discover the importance of not judging people by their appearances.
Never Too Late (Wendy Weinberg, U.S., 2010, 8 min.):
This clever short uses archival film and television footage to tell the story of two hotel maids who have lived together in San Francisco for 25 years. When the California courts grant same-sex couples the right to marry, Stella and Rosie decide it’s time to tie the knot. But before they can hire a florist, Prop 8 is passed. Must they head east in search of equality?
The Queen (Christina Choe, U.S., 2009, 8 min.):
Bobby, a Korean-American teenage outcast, is working at his parents drycleaners on prom weekend. When the prom queen and her boyfriend stop by with their dress and tuxedo, Bobby has his own prom to remember.
Tech Support (Erik Gernand, U.S., 2009, 9 min.):
A computer-challenged young woman, recently dumped by her girlfriend, gets extra-special attention when her tech-support call is answered by another lonely romantic in this sexy comedic short.
Who Is Candy Bernardino? (Erin Li, U.S., 2011, 9 min.):
A rich Italian grandfather fakes his own death to escape his money-grubbing family, but his plan is foiled by an ill-timed sneeze, prompting him to leave the funeral early and flee in a chase of a lifetime.
Yes Man (Grant Reed, U.S., 2010, 11 min.):
Nathan, a devout Christian and closeted homosexual, is in charge of editing commercials in favor of Proposition 8 for the church where he is employed. When he is told by his coldhearted boss that he will be starring in one of the commercials, Nathan must decide which is more important: being true to himself or keeping his job.
Director and co-star of "Deidre" Cyra Polizzi will attend.
Leading Ladies
The Camparis are a trio of strong-willed women: Sheri, a former dancing champion who has become a demanding stage mother; youngest daughter Tasi, a sometimes bratty starlet who’s Sheri’s protégé; and eldest daughter Toni, a calm family mediator. On one fateful night, Toni’s best friend (“So You Think You Can Dance” winner Benji Schwimmer) takes her to his favorite gay club, where Toni meets and unexpectedly falls for Mona. The night is cut short, however, when Tasi reveals to Toni that she’s pregnant, which has unexpected repercussions for all of the film’s “leading ladies.” Variety gives high praise to this “impressive first feature,” which “skillfully weaves disparate elements without missing a step…. Expertly shot, energetically choreographed numbers boast a lightness of touch miles away from the freneticism of Baz Luhrmann, while the tyro thesps’ unaffected performances add a note of sweetness to pic’s atmosphere of guileless simplicity.”
Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music
A trans-fabulous rockumentary, “Riot Acts” provides a firsthand perspective on transgender and gender-variant musicians, capturing their lives with the same complexity that the performers display both on and off the stage. The documentary includes interviews with more than a dozen transgender bands and musical artists and explores not just subjects related to music (songwriting, voice, audiences, and venues) but also broader issues such as body presentation, gender performance, spectacle, media representation, and notions about drag. The film also makes clear that the construction of identities and presentation of bodies are undeniably political acts. Talented, inspiring, and sexy, the individuals and bands featured in “Riot Acts” are presented in a manner that purposefully counters the vision of isolation and destitution frequently found in mainstream-media accounts of the trans experience. Featured performers include Ryka, Anderson Toone, Lipstick Conspiracy, Katastrophe, Trannysaurus Sex, Basic Fix, Ryder Richardson, Tough Tough Skin, Venus Demars, Adhamh Rolan, Jessica Xavier, the Shondes, Novice Theory, the Degenerette, Systyr Act, the Cliks, and Coyote Grace.
March On
A documentary on the National Equality March, “March On” explores the dreams of representative attendees, recounting the reasons they spent precious time and money to travel to Washington, D.C., and showing how the experience changed their lives. Weaving together their stories, “Move On” features a quintet of courageous, inspiring subjects: two moms who visited the states where there is marriage equality and started the Web site AreWeMarried.Com; a married lesbian couple from California who were one of the 18,000 allowed to marry before Prop 8; a New York gay couple who have stayed together 32 years and wrestled with religious bigotry; a man who served in the Navy for five years and was dismissed under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; and a lifelong activist who has fought for equal rights for more than 40 years. The film also includes appearances by Lady Gaga, Lt. Dan Choi, Michelle Clunie, Cleve Jones, Staceyann Chin, and Cynthia Nixon, and pays tribute to the queer youth who led the historic march on Oct. 11, 2009.
Director Laura McFerrin will attend
The Stonewall Uprising was an amazing event in New York that is usually credited with the start of Gay Liberation. But, we're not in New York; we're in Missouri -- a state well-known for its rose-colored, political conservatism.
Fishnet
Girlfriends Trixie (Rebekah Kochan) and Sulie (Jillian Easton) are two of Los Angeles’ hottest burlesque dancers. Their lives take a dark turn, however, when the girls witness a mob hit after a show. Trixie tries to be a heroine but instead ends up shooting one of the mobsters, forcing the girls to flee to Sulie’s parents’ home in Texas, where they hide their relationship by pretending to be roommates. In an effort to earn some money, the girls start a burlesque show at a local truck stop, and after a rough start, their act becomes the hottest thing to hit Texas since Charlene Tilton on “Dallas.” But the girls soon discover that performing burlesque is not the best way to stay incognito: Creating a big controversy in a little town, the show sends the mob, the police, and the media chasing after them. Further complicating the plot, Helen (Carol Lurie), Sulie's mother, catches the girls sharing an intimate moment and kicks the girls out of the house. In an intense third act, the film climaxes at the truck stop, with bullets flying as the clothes come off.
Director Brian Pelletier will attend
Different From Whom
A charming and timely Italian comedy, “Different From Whom?” stars three of Italy’s top film stars in a story about a gay man whose life is complicated when he runs for office in a right-wing town. Gay-rights activist Piero (Italian sex symbol Luca Argentero) is set up as a stalking horse to help sway votes in a mayoral pre-selection, but when the party frontrunner drops dead, he’s suddenly in the running for mayor. Whereas the incumbent conservative mayor builds walls to stop crime, Piero is more interested in building community – for gays and lesbians, in particular – and that approach makes his political party nervous. To add some balance to the ticket, they pair him with a conservative, family-focused running mate, the beautiful Adele (Claudia Gerini), with whom he has always argued. Unexpectedly, opposites begin to attract and a hysterical love triangle develops, threatening both Piero’s career ambitions and his long-term relationship with Remo (Filippo Nigro). Punctuated by bouncy R&B tunes, “Different From Whom?” is a delightful farce about modern sexuality, desire, and politics in and out of the bedroom.
in Italian with English subtitles
Violet Tendencies
Four-time QFest veteran Casper Andreas (“The Big Gay Musical,” “Between Love & Goodbye,” “A Four Letter Word”) directs a delightful comic tale of a fag hag looking for love in all the wrong places. Forty-year-old Violet (Mindy Cohn, “Facts of Life”) is gay royalty – one of Manhattan’s oldest and most popular fruit flies. Violet is the racy, raunchy, and fun-loving belle of the ball, but when the party ends, she always winds up at home alone. While handsome co-worker Riley struggles with a baby-crazy boyfriend and her roommate Luke considers this new thing called monogamy, Violet’s romantic life consists of a series of late-night telephone dating calls followed by ill-fated real-life encounters. Various friends give her well-meaning but conflicting advice that ultimately leads her to abandon her lively posse of gay boys to seek love in the “straight” world. Violet strikes out on a hilarious quest to change the woman she is in order to have a man of her own and no longer be the single gal of a certain age. Chasing love and lust at all costs takes its toll on her until she at last discovers happiness in the most unlikely of places.
The Owls
With a sly nod to the acronym for “older, wiser lesbians,” Cheryl (“Watermelon Woman”) Dunye’s neo-noir head-twister brings together two fortysomething lesbian couples who share a convoluted incident in their past, an unexpected predicament in their present lives, and a seriously uncertain future as couples. The situation that has caused them to arrive at this crossroads involves a night of drunken debauchery in which alcohol-fueled anger led to unanticipated consequences and a collective decision that will haunt them as time goes by. This shared experience keeps the couples perversely connected to one another, until the arrival of a mysterious stranger causes their long-kept, dark secret to surface. Terrific performances by a who’s who of contemporary lesbian filmmaking and a revolutionary storytelling technique that marries a fractured narrative structure with cinema verité techniques mark “The Owls” as a bold new departure in GLBT storytelling, a film that will leave tongues wagging long after the lights have gone up.
Out For The Long Run
Being openly gay in high school or college can be a very tough road to travel, as evidenced by the frequent news items about bullying and suicide in the young gay community. Being an openly gay athlete in high school or college is that much more difficult. Gay activist/filmmaker Scott Bloom (director of “Call Me Troy,” the inspiring tale of Rev. Troy Perry, the first openly gay member of the clergy to perform a same-sex wedding) takes his camera into the campus locker room to record the stories of a new generation of courageous young people as they battle the stereotypes and homophobia that are still part of daily life for so many. Supplementing his own footage with video diaries kept by some of his subjects, Bloom mixes the intimate and personal with the bigger picture. Although long strides are still needed, this much-needed document shows that things are beginning to change for the better, thanks to young people with the fortitude and strength to speak out.
Director Scott Bloom and producer Larry Diamond will attend.
Loose Cannons
An outrageous comedy about family, love, and liberty, “Loose Cannons” is set in Lecce, the beautiful Baroque town the Italians call the Florence of the South. Tommaso (emerging Italian star Riccardo Scamarcio) is the youngest son of the Cantones, a large, traditional Southern Italian family that has operated a pasta-making business since the 1960s. Studying in Rome, Tommaso pursues a degree in literature – not business, as his parents think – and lives with his boyfriend. Returning home for a ceremonial dinner at which his father plans to turn over the company to his two sons, Tommaso decides to tell his parents the truth and free himself forever from the pasta business. But just as he is about to come out in front of the entire family, older brother Antonio unexpectedly comes out first and ruins his plans. Trapped as the new head of the factory, Tommaso is fearful that his own secret would cause his father to have another heart attack so he reluctantly and miserably plays along. Finally, however, a surprising alliance in the family and a riotous dinner party attended by his gay Roman friends help to set everything straight (so to speak).
in Italian with English subtitles
BearCity
It’s summer in New York City, and the gay-borhood bears are coming out of hibernation. A group of friends is getting ready for the annual week-long celebration of all things bear, but plans keep getting turned upside-down. Closet cub Tyler fantasizes about finding a daddy bear to do more than cuddle, but as he dives into the bear community, he finds that it can be hard for a hairless guy to get some fuzzy loving. Scene-stealing Brent and Fred are the maybe-not-so-monogamous couple who invite him to move in as they figure out how to spice things up. Southern bear-belle Michael struggles to juggle his lover, his job search, and his body-image issues, but an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction might solve all three. And rakish Roger is the stud-about-town, and he’ll pretty much bang anyone with facial hair until an awesomely awkward encounter at the local bowling alley challenges both his bowling prowess and his bear-loving mojo. “Queer As Folk” meets “Sex in the City” in “BearCity” – only with more hair and tons of hot bear-on-bear action.
BearCity is the official closing night feature presentation of QFest St. Louis 2011. Co-star Blake Evan Sherman (Melvin) will attend. Get up close and bear-sonal with Blake at the official QFest closing night party at JJ's starting at 11 p.m. See special event listing for details.
