With just three days separating this year's Los Angeles Film Festival and Outfest, one might be forgiven for thinking that the July 4th holiday is nothing but a short hiatus from indie filmdom. But with both festivals garnering a bevy of new and previously celebrated work, it's an unusual bevy of riches for a city that isn't exactly known for being the biggest supporter of independent films, documentaries in particular.
The LA Fest, which wrapped this Sunday with a gala for the highly anticipated Dayton/Faris feature debut Little Miss Sunshine boasted 11 documentaries in competition (compared to 8 in the narrative competition) and the upcoming Outfest, which opens Thursday night, is stocked full of docs, some world premieres and some that have previously played Sundance as well as regional gay and lesbian fests across the country.
(Also at Sunday's gala closing night, the audience awards were announced - with Ira & Abby winning the narrative prize, which was predicted by many, with Jeff Werner and Susan Koch's Mario's Story taking the doc prize, which was somewhat unexpected - although it was an LA-set story with many of the subjects and supporters filling the theater for the premiere. The LA Times writes about Mario's Story here.)
Highlighting its commitment to nonfiction, Outfest features a Centerpiece Documentary, which this year is Oscar winner Frieda Lee Mock's Sundance 2006 feature Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner. It joins fellow Park City alum Small Town Gay Bar, Toronto 2005 "gay hip-hop" doc Pick Up the Mic and recent Silverdocs screener The Railroad All-Stars (Estrellas de la línea). Premieres include Andrew P. Crane and James Keitel's The PikMe-Up, a look back at LA's coffeehouse subculture circa mid-1980s. I'll have an interview with co-director Andrew P. Crane posted before the week is out.
Here is a round-up of some of the notable docs playing this year's Outfest (descriptions are from the Outfest website):
Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture
Directed By: Byron Hurt, USA, 2005, video, 60 min.
In this powerful documentary exploration, former college football star Byron Hurt examines the underpinnings of hip-hop culture, mapping its shadow side as a zone of hypermasculinity, misogyny and homophobia. With exceeding courage, Hurt (an avowed hip-hop “head”) plunges deep into his experience of culture and identity, detailing the cohesive voice that hip-hop music has afforded to disenfranchised urban communities, and the pained masculinity of gangsta rap, exhorting violence against women and gays and among black men themselves. From executive suites to the streets, to the beat of a brilliant soundtrack, Hurt interviews friends, music executives and rappers - including Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes and Mos Def - with a remarkable degree of intimacy, providing a fascinating and valuable look into, and then through, the looking glass of contemporary culture.
Beyond Conception: Men Having Babies
Directed By: Johnny Symons, USA, 2006, video, 75 min.
Oscar nominee Johnny Symons follows up on his memorable DADDY & PAPA (Outfest 2002) with a new documentary that delves even deeper into the fraught world of people who opt for technology when they can’t have children biologically. Through an extraordinarily intimate lens, we see the hopes and dreams that baby fever generates. Gay men on a mission, feisty lesbians with opinions, lots of money, donated eggs, sperm, multiple uteruses, surrogate contracts...and let’s not forget love and romance! Symons follows it all from start to finish - from an awkward first meeting at West Hollywood’s O-Bar to the unconventional birthing room dénouement in San Francisco - without sparing viewers the painful realities of alternative parenting.
Camp Out
Directed By: Kirk Marcolina, Larry Grimaldi, USA, 2006, video, 78 min.
This surprisingly riveting, highly polished documentary follows 10 endearing teenagers at the first overnight Bible camp for gay Christian youths. Caught in the culture war of religion, politics and the queer community, these teens refuse to turn their backs on God. The camp provides a safe haven as they struggle for truth in the unlikely marriage of their spirituality and their sexual identity. The filmmakers cleverly intercut intimate cinema-verité scenes with candid interviews. Ordinary, happy-go-lucky, music-loving kids narrate their personal journeys and bear witness – as does the audience - to a new movement of courageous young people. These quietly brave teens dare to challenge their queer brothers and sisters by holding true to what they believe. - MW..
Cruel and Unusual
Directed By: Dan Hunt, Janet Baus, Reid Williams, USA, 2006, video, 66 min.
This unflinching, award-winning documentary, challenges our notions of gender and justice by humanizing an invisible segment of our society - incarcerated transgender women (MtFs). Imagine the difficulties of a lifetime of anguish and struggle over something as fundamental as one’s gender. Imagine battling for transgender human rights and recognition inside the prison system. The brave subjects of this captivating film fight to overcome humiliation, denial of medical treatment, solitary confinement and rape, while still maintaining their dignity and courage to live as women. In prison, they are displaced from their gender identities. Their very lives are endangered - physically and mentally. This thought-provoking, essential documentary confronts the validity and hypocrisy of the prison system and transports the hearts and minds of this marginalized community into a broader human issue.
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Directed By: Lisa Ades, Lesli Klainberg, USA, 2005, video, 82 min.
Award-winning flmmakers Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg chart the phenomenal evolution of American gay and lesbian cinema from the 1940s to the present, enlivened by entertaining film clips and insightful interviews with openly gay filmmakers who have shaped the cinematic genre of our community. Bookended by Kenneth Anger’s FIREWORKS (1947) and Oscar-winner Ang Lee’s BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005) and structured around a timeline of important historical events for the LGBT community, FABULOUS! THE STORY OF QUEER CINEMA takes us on a journey of the development of American gay and lesbian cinema. In their informative and entertaining documentary, filmmakers Ades and Klainberg talk with John Waters, Gus Van Sant, Rose Troche, Christine Vachon, Todd Haynes, Guinevere Turner and many other artists as well as with film critics and historians who put the films and their influences into perspective. FABULOUS! celebrates the landmark achievements of out filmmakers proud of depicting queer life on the silver screen.
Filthy Gorgeous: The Trannyshack Story
Directed By: Sean Mullens, USA, 2005, video, 84 min.
Wet, sleazy and weird, the “gender delusionists” of San Francisco’s infamous club Trannyshack are a force to be reckoned with. Since 1996, Trannyshack hostess and founder Heklina has made Tuesdays at midnight a celebration of poor choices and poor taste on a grand and glamorous scale - with sometimes literally flaming queens. Director Sean Mullens brings it all to glorious life in FILTHY GORGEOUS, his tribute to some of the most offensive, blasphemous, borderline psychotic and hilarious works of living art ever seen, boasting such events as “Cracked Out Diva Night” and a wacky, boozy bus ride to Reno complete with a runway fashion show in the aisle. Not since THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW have midnights brought out such a colorful and queer cast of outré characters.
Laughing Matters...More!
Directed By: Andrea Meyerson, USA, 2006, video, 73 min.
LAUGHING MATTERS… MORE follows on the heels of the wildly successful LAUGHING MATTERS, winner of Outfest’s 2003 Audience Award for Best Documentary. This outrageous docu-comedy features four of the hottest lesbian comedians on the circuit: Elvira Kurt (Canadian female comic of the year), Sabrina Matthews (the darling of Comedy Central), Rene Hicks (the first African-American woman nominated for Best Female Stand-up at the American Comedy Awards) and Vickie Shaw (Southern Baptist lesbian mom turned crossover comic). The film weaves together live standup routines performed by these four very different, very funny women alongside behind-the-scenes footage and lively, insightful interviews. The comedians speak candidly about their childhoods, families, girlfriends, politics, religion and how it is they got to be so darn funny. With a keen eye and a sharp ear, director Andrea Meyerson has captured unique moments with enormously talented women who not only entertain - they enlighten!
Lover Other: The Story of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore
Directed By: Barbara Hammer, USA, 2006, video, 55 min.
Godmother of lesbian film Barbara Hammer continues expanding her legacy with LOVER OTHER, the captivating story of 1920s surrealist artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore - Nazi war resisters, lesbian lovers, half-sisters and gender-bending artists. Weaving together photographs, archival film footage and interviews with Jersey Isle residents who knew the women, Hammer has crafted a striking, innovative film of great historical significance.
Meth
Directed By: Todd Ahlberg, USA, 2005, 79 min.
Weaving together reflections from a dozen diverse gay men – all current or past crystal methamphetamine users - Todd Ahlberg’s powerful, timely and compelling documentary explores the rising wave of crystal use in the gay community. With its promise of sexual confidence and endurance, the drug possesses an allure and soaring popularity that the men discuss candidly. METH’s interviews expose lives buffeted by the constant influence of “Tina.” From the early thrills of mind-blowing ecstasy and feelings of superhuman power, crystal packs a punch that eventually overtakes the user, leading to a crushing descent into darkness, paranoia and self-destructive behavior. Current users share their experiences while former users who have managed to shake its grip express glimmers of hope. It is a hope tempered by the reality that “Tina’s World” is a realm that fewer than 6 percent of users ever successfully escape. The courageous subjects of this documentary share their personal journeys with striking candor and disarming humor.
Outlaugh!
Directed By: Gene Merker, USA, 2006, video, 90 min.
This hilarious, historic concert film showcases the funniest queer stand-up comics and queer sketch groups working in America today. The First Queer Comedy Festival in America, Outlaugh! 2005, hosted by The Gay Mafia comedy troupe, was sidesplittingly funny. OUTLAUGH! takes you onstage and backstage with fiery headliner Lea DeLaria, as well as Bob Smith, Page Hurwitz, Karen Ripley, Jason Stuart, Mark Davis, Sabrina Matthews, Andre Kelley, Jerry Calumn, Stephanie Howard, Jen Slusser, Jason Dudey, Roy Cruz, Charlie Vaughn, Bobaloo, Ariana, Bill Cruz, The Gay Mafia, The Nellie Olesons, Outlaugh Creator - Mike Player, and Reichen, the openly gay winner of Amazing Race 4. OUTLAUGH! is a rib-tickiling ride that captures some of the funniest queers who have ever dared to strut their stuff.
Pick Up The Mic
Directed By: Alex Hinton, USA, 2005, video, 95 min.
Queer hip-hop is no longer an oxymoron; it’s a burgeoning cultural phenomenon as seen in this passionate, enthralling film. Welcome to the evolution of homohop, a living, breathing contradiction through which beats a thriving, passionate underground. Filmmaker Alex Hinton embarks on a three-year odyssey into queer hip-hop culture to uncover whether there is room for diversity in an industry plagued with rampant misogyny and institutionalized homophobia. Through candidly honest interviews, and melodic yet often disturbing stage performances, these truly gifted queer rappers (who fully represent the diversity of the LGBT community) reveal raw, intimate experiences of antigay violence, gender variance, even suicide. PICK UP THE MIC challenges the notions of what mainstream hip-hop music and culture claim to represent, and embodies what it should be representing - unconditional acceptance through music. - MK
The PikMe-Up
Directed By: Andrew P. Crane, James Keitel, USA, 2006, video, 71 min.
During the late 1980s, the Pikme-up café opened its doors on 6th off La Brea, starting in the process an underground “bohemian revolution.” The Pikme-up was no Starbucks, but a place where a “happening of ideas, poetry and performance” was the order of the day. Featuring music by Roddy Bottum, this eclectic look at a fertile moment in L.A. cultural history recalls the recent past with readings, concerts and a few undefinable events from the storefront-window stage by Viggo Mortensen, Vaginal Crème Davis, Sean deLear, Exene Cervenka, Possum Dixon, John Fleck, Phranc, Luis Alfaro and Summer Caprice. Take a funky ride to a wild time in L.A. history where “a motley group of outcasts formed a unique community” in a small coffeehouse where “the buzz wasn’t from the coffee.”
The Power of Harmony
Directed By: Ginny Martin, USA, 2005, video, 68 min.
A poignant and rousing documentary, THE POWER OF HARMONY celebrates the power of reaching out through music. Refusing to be marginalized or hidden in shadows, Dallas’s Turtle Creek Chorale takes to the stage proudly, even in the heart of America’s “Bible Belt.” Crafting a mosaic of personal stories and glorious music, director Ginny Martin tackles such issues as coming out, gay marriage, AIDS, gay adoption and family acceptance. THE POWER OF HARMONY reveals chorus members’ joys and sorrows, orchestrating a brilliant symphony of inspiration. This captivating work challenges audiences to regard the journey of this men’s chorus as a metaphor for the paths we all travel in life. - MK
The Railroad All-Stars (Estrellas de la línea)
Directed By: Chema Rodriguez, Spain, 2005, 35mm, subtitled, 90 min.
This provocative, heartwarming story follows a group of soccer-playing prostitutes rising to national fame from the poorest neighborhood of Guatemala City. Vilma, her girlfriend Lima, Valeria and Mercy are hookers who dream of escaping the discrimination and violence of their impoverished neighborhood. They hatch a plan to form an all-girl soccer team and engage Kimberly, a transsexual fashion designer, as their coach and costumer. After weeks of intense training, the women register for a local championship but are barred after one game because of their profession. The local media pick up the story and turn the women into heroes, inspiring them to take their game on the road. Their stories may not all be happy, but these women, with their courage and strength, shoot and score.
Saint of 9/11
Directed By: Glenn Holsten, USA, 2006, 85 min.
Father Mychal Judge, the beloved, openly gay chaplain of the Fire Department of New York, lost his life on September 11, 2001. The news photograph of his body being carried from the World Trade Center became an iconic image of heroism and sacrifice. Narrated by Sir Ian McKellen speaking Father Mychal’s own words, SAINT OF 9/11, Glenn Holsten’s inspiring new documentary, tells the story of Father Mychal’s life in the words and impressions of those who were deeply touched by his ministry. Through interviews with friends and colleagues, and utilizing harrowing archival footage from the tragic events of that infamous day, this luminous and haunting documentary reveals Father Mychal as a multifaceted, intense, humble and deeply loved servant to humanity.
Small Town Gay Bar
Directed By: Malcolm Ingram, USA, 2005, video, 81 min.
We have it good in the city. Sure, we can complain about the cost of living, but we don’t generally worry about the American Family Association taking down our license plate numbers as we enter the parking lots of our neighborhood gay bars. That is exactly what happens in small towns in northeastern Mississippi, as you’ll witness in this insightful, courageous examination of small-town gay life. In these towns, bars serve as the glue holding together groups of LGBT people who simply have no other place to be together. Going out for a drink can risk life and limb when a bar is surrounded by a hostile majority actively opposed to a non-“normal” lifestyle. SMALL TOWN GAY BAR gives the brave, creative and passionate owners and patrons of these bars the opportunity to inspire and relate to us - no matter the size of our town.
Songbirds
Directed By: Brian Hill, UK, 2005, video, 62 min.
Ever wonder why caged birds sing? Outrageous, entertaining and brashly innovative, SONGBIRDS is a documentary that’s also a musical. Whether fierce, meek, or frightful, the hard-luck sirens of Britain’s Downview Prison - some of the most dangerous and notorious female inmates anywhere - sing haunting tales befitting their personalities. Revealed in frank interviews combined with individually crafted musical interludes, the inmates’ stories recount incest, domestic violence and rape, graduate to drug abuse, smuggling, thievery and retaliatory violence, then end - where else? - behind bars doing hard time. But don’t let the enchanting British accents and chipper colloquialisms fool you. Some of these women were just born bad, incorrigibly drawn to smoking crack, boozing it up, fighting and stealing. In SONGBIRDS, deviant behavior has rarely been so lyrically woven and artfully expressed.
Trantasia
Directed By: Jeremy Stanford, USA, 2006, video, 92 min.
Set in the glittering fantasy world of Las Vegas, TRANTASIA is a delightfully entertaining, no-holds-barred backstage look at the first-ever “World’s Most Beautiful Transsexual” beauty pageant. This fascinating documentary explores the intensely private and moving stories of six of its extraordinary contestants. All possess beauty, confidence, glamour and a determination to take home the crown. Through hometown visits with supportive family members and dressing room interviews, director Jeremy Stanford reveals the often-painful pasts of these women, while embracing their common histories of hardship and persecution. Pushing the gender-bending envelope with humor, honesty and elegance, TRANTASIA presents the ultimate triumph of “sisterhood” as a moving celebration of the human spirit.
Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela
Directed By: Thomas Allen Harris, South Africa, USA, 2005, video, 73 min.
In this deeply personal story, openly gay filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris journeys to South Africa to revisit the legacy of his late father, Pule Benjamin Leinaeng, one of twelve expatriates who fled their homeland in 1960 to keep the anti-Apartheid movement alive from East Africa, Europe, America and Cuba. From the far reaches of the globe, this band of heroes and the thousands of young South African freedom fighters that would follow them inspired a worldwide movement that ultimately contributed to toppling apartheid. THE TWELVE DISCIPLES OF NELSON MANDELA is a searingly powerful film about family and displacement – a son’s relationship to his father and a father’s relationship to a fatherland.
Documentary Centerpiece: Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner
Directed By: Freida Lee Mock, USA, 2006, 35mm, 102 min.
One of our greatest living playwrights, Pulitzer and Tony Award-winner Tony Kushner (Angels in America) is a consummate artist and indomitable political activist committed to equality and social justice. A Jewish homosexual raised in the heart of the Deep South, Kushner has become a compassionate voice for outsiders in a climate of repression and censorship. WRESTLING WITH ANGELS covers three years of Kushner’s life from 9/11 to the 2004 presidential election, capturing the fierce moral responsibility that pervades this passionate artist’s work.
Perhaps the greatest assessment of Oscar winner Freida Lee Mock’s film is that she does justice to her brilliant subject, entwining interviews with leading theatre artists and personal moments from Kushner’s life with scenes from his plays. Watching Marcia Gay Harden as Laura Bush in a scene from one of Kushner’s lesser known plays is itself worth the price of admission. Hearing Meryl Streep read a prayer that Kushner wrote asking – no, demanding - that God cure AIDS will tear your heart out. Fiercely political, deeply personal, incredibly intelligent, funny, poignant, hopeful and immensely spiritual, Kushner’s work is a bright shining light. Like Tony Kushner himself, Mock’s film about him is a multifaceted gem that sparkles as it enlightens on so many levels.
Zero Degrees of Separation
Directed By: Elle Flanders, USA, 2005, video, 90 min.
In ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is reflected in two same-sex couples confronting personal and political obstacles to their relationships. Elle Flanders’ documentary follows a gay couple, Selim, a 27-year-old Palestinian, and Ezra, an outspoken 50-something Israeli plumber, who are unable to legally live together in Jerusalem, and an activist lesbian couple, Edit, an Israeli, and Samira, a Palestinian. In the already complicated realm of relationships, dividing national conflicts challenge these couples’ bonds. Flanders’ weaves in her personal ties to this region through the beautiful home movie footage of her Zionist grandparents, documenting their involvement in the creation of Israel as a nation-state, while providing a personal and historical context for the struggles of the two couples and Palestinians and Israelis striving for peace and hope.
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