| festival
archives - 2007
The Aggressives
official
website IMDb
info
(2005) Daniel Peddle, USA, 75 min, English, documentary
"The Aggressives" is a dynamic film shot in vibrant NYC on digital
video, featuring intimate interviews with six lesbians who define
themselves as "Aggressives." We show their daily lives and also
highlight their participation in the underground lesbian "ball"
scene (the female counterpart to "Paris is Burning"). The Aggressives
range in masculinity but do not aspire to be men. Nor are they "drag
kings." They have found an unexplored loophole in society's gender
tapestry and this film seeks to expose their world.
4/12 Thurs, 370
Willard, 7 PM
The Believers
official
website Transcendence
website
(2006) Todd Holland , USA, 80 min, English, documentary
Recipient of the Frameline 30 Audience Award for Best Documentary
and of a 2005 Frameline Film & Video Completion Fund grant,
The Believers is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters
assumptions about faith, gender, and religion. Built around the
world's first transgender gospel choir, the film portrays the choir's
dilemma - how to reconcile their gender identity with the widespread
belief that changing one's gender goes against the word of God.
4/12 Thurs, 370
Willard , 9 PM
Boy I Am
official
website trailer
(2005) Sam Feder, USA, 70 min, English, documentary
While female-to-male transgender visibility has recently exploded
in this country, conversations about trans issues in the lesbian
community often run into resistance from the many queer women who
view transitioning as a "trend" or as an anti-feminist act that
taps into male privilege. Boy I Am is a feature-length documentary
that begins to break down that barrier and promote dialogue about
trans issues through a look at the experiences of three young transitioning
FTMs in New York City--Nicco, Norie and Keegan--as they go through
major junctures in their transitions, as well as through the voices
of lesbians, activists and theorists who raise and address the questions
that many people have but few openly discuss.
4/5 Thurs, 367
Willard, 9 PM
The Dying Gaul
official
website trailer IMDb
info
(2005) Craig Lucas, USA, 101 min, English, drama/romance
Robert Sandrich, a fledgling screenwriter (Sarsgaard) who has been
living on the fringes, finds his life changed when he is offered
a million dollars for his latest and most personal work: The
Dying Gaul, a raw, autobiographical story of the death of his
lover. There is one catch: the studio demands that Robert change
his dead lover's character to a woman to make the story more commercially
viable.
4/12 Thurs, 367
Willard, 7 PM
The Education of Shelby Knox
official
website IMDb
info
(2005) Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt , USA, 76
min, English, documentary
Into the culture wars steps feisty teenager Shelby Knox of Lubbock,
Texas. Although her county's high schools teach abstinence as the
only safe sex, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy
and sexually transmitted diseases in the nation. Shelby, a devout
Christian who has pledged abstinence until marriage herself, becomes
an unlikely advocate for comprehensive sex education, profoundly
changing her political and spiritual views along the way. When Shelby's
interest in politics leads her to get involved in a campaign for
comprehensive sex education in her town's public schools, and then
to a fight for a gay-straight alliance, Shelby must make a choice:
Stand by and let others be hurt, or go against her parents, her
pastor, and her peers to do what she knows is right.
4/5 Thurs, 370
Willard, 9 PM
Funny Kinda Guy
official
website IMDb
(2004) Travis Reeves, UK, 83 min, English, documentary
From his first injection of testosterone to the point when his maleness
is undeniable, funny kinda guy follows Simon for eighteen months.
Engaging and articulate, Simon shares his experiences with humour
and honesty. Set against the subtle, yet ultimately radical
transformation of hormone treatment, are key events in Simon's extraordinary
journey. We meet his down-to-earth Australian partner Rowena, and
his remarkable parents Cedric and Catriona, who hoped that by their
involvement in the film they might help the parents of other trans
people.
3/29 Thurs, 370
Willard, 7 PM
Gender Trouble
official
website
(2002) Roz Mortimer, USA, 24 min, English, documentary
Vision is the key word in this juxtaposition of powerful,
individual shorts. You'll find transgressive body-fetishism (“Albrecht
Becker”), anarchistic animation to the music of “Flaming Pussy”
(“Gender Trouble”), a stunning visual diary in “A Girl Named Kai”
and the minimalistic dance of monochrome forms in “Not So Black
Or White”. A jealous, sexual drama plays itself out in “No Exist”,
while strong, beautiful township women deal with hate crime in “Rape
for Who I Am”. The beautifully dreamy “Still” from Indonesia completes
the picture. A gaily coloured bouquet of wild flowers.
4/5 Thurs, 367
Willard , 7 PM
The Gymnast
official
website trailer IMDb
(2006) Ned Farr, USA, 96 min, English, documentary
Jane Hawkins was once one of America's top gymnasts, but events
and injury prevented her from fullling her Olympic destiny. Almost
twenty years have passed in obscurity, working hand to mouth as
a massage therapist while slowly disappearing in a passionless marriage.
In an attempt to give meaning to her life, she has been secretly
trying to get pregnant, against her husband David's wishes. Though
still in peak condition, her doctor informs her that she may have
waited too long to have children. And without David's money, she
can't afford the fertility drugs that might make the difference.
A chance meeting with Denise, a former gymnastic teammate, provokes
Jane to reexamine her life and past. While visiting a gymnasium,
she is recognized by a coach, who recruits Jane for a completely
different kind of venture: being part of a Cirque Du Soleil type
of aerial act.
4/5 Thurs, 370
Willard, 7 PM
4/19 Thurs, 370
Willard, 7 PM
Gypo
trailer IMDb
(2005) Jan Dunn, UK, 98 min, English, documentary
The setting is England in contemporary times, the film
is divided into three sections each of which tells the same story
but from three different character's vantage: HELEN, PAUL, and TASHA.
Although the film is apparently unscripted (the writer sets the
scene story and the actors spontaneously come up with the dialogue),
the story by Jan Dunn is phenomenally powerful in its apparent simplicity.
The power of this film is the method in which the problem of immigration
issues bring into focus prejudicial abuse and cruelly labeling people
as types from strange places rather than accepting them as individuals
with human souls. The film leaves the viewer breathless: it is just
that powerful.
3/29 Thurs, 367
Willard, 9 PM
4/19 Thurs, 370
Willard, 9 PM
Keep Not Silent
official
website trailer
(2004) Ilil Alexandar, USA, 52 min, Israel, documentary
Winner of the Israeli Oscar for Best Documentary, as well
as eight international awards, Ilil Alexander's stunning debut film
boldly documents the clandestine struggle of three women fighting
for their right to love within their beloved Orthodox communities
in Jerusalem. All three are pious, religiously committed women.
All three are lesbians, and members of a secret support group called
the “Ortho-Dykes.” Though their life choices exact a devastating
price, these women are committed to confronting their duality, and
accept the toll with a profound compassion toward their society.
Miriam-Ester fights her aversion to a man's touch for the sake of
her family and ten children, while Ruth's husband shockingly permits
his wife to see her female lover twice a week. Yudith, a Rabbi's
daughter, declares her sexuality openly as she believes “lies are
the worst sin on earth.”
3/29 Thurs, 370
Willard, 9 PM
Unveiled
official
website trailer IMDb
(2005) Sam Feder, Germany, 97 min, English/German/Persian,
documentary
Fariba, prosecuted in Iran because of her love for a woman, flees
to Germany. But her application for asylum is turned down. Her desperate
prospects are improved by the suicide of her fellow-inmate, a man
named Siamak, who has received a temporary permit of sojourn just
before his death. Assuming his identity, she is sent to a refugee
camp near a small German village. At first her survival
seems to be assured, but the strain of upholding her male disguise
in the cramped refugee quarters reveals the threat that a single
mistake could blow her cover. In order to pay for forged documents,
Fariba takes an illegal job in a sauerkraut factory, where she meets
Anne. The two grow close - indeed dangerously close for Farbia as
Anne begins to suspect her true identity.
3/29 Thurs, 367
Willard, 7PM
4/12 Thurs, 367
Willard, 9 PM
With You!
official
website trailer IMDb
(2006) Yaniv Dabach , USA, 68 min, English, documentary
This really enjoyable documentary charts the fall and
fall of New York's only gay rugby team, The Gotham Knights. As the
cold season begins (shiver), it's very clear that some of these
fellas have never touched an oblong ball in their lives. But bless
'em, with each resounding defeat they dust themselves off and scrum
down tightly for more. Along the way we meet the young and short
NYU scrum half who wants to play rugby, not GAY rugby (is there
a difference?), an ex-marine with three kids at home, and best of
all, the post-match beer fest in New York's leather-man Eagle bar
where even their straight opponents seem up for anything as long
as it's wet.
4/5 Thurs, 367
Willard, 7 PM |
