Continental promo
|| Home > Commentary  ||
< Back Comments (0)Post a Comment Bookmark and Share   Page: 1 | 2
 

Mooning over the Miami LGBT film festival

Writer Harriette Yahr heads to SoFlo and tells us what movies are making waves on the festival circuit.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted May 8, 2007
Mooning over the Miami LGBT film festival

Sun, fun, movies, queer flamenco dancers: The Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival finished its ninth run Sunday night, May 6. Audiences were treated not only to a solid program of 29 features and a record 71 shorts, but the kind of ramped-up hospitality that’s put Miami in the top tier of the LGBT festival circuit.

Highlights on the flick front were Latin-themed pics, lesbian offerings, several premieres, and the PlanetOut Short Film Awards. Standout fiestas included the opening-night gala that lit up the Miami skyline in festival-theme orange, a "centerpiece" street fair, and plenty of after-parties to make this cinema celebration worth the ticket—and the trip. Over 120 out-of-town filmmakers attended, with lively post-screening Q&As adding a welcome dose of intellectual curiosity to the mix.

What better place than the fictional home of Nip/Tuck to premiere a film about the quest for eternal youth? Opening night brought The Picture of Dorian Gray—Oscar Wilde’s classic tale about youth and beauty obsession gone mad, updated by director Duncan Roy from the Victorian England setting of yore to 1980s New York City. David Gallagher, who plays Simon on 7th Heaven, stars as Gray in an adaptation that left the Miami audience sympathetic to its themes of vanity/aging/artifice and intrigued by its dark art-world setting, yet with nothing great to say. With any adaptation, if we’ve read the book, we're interested in whether we’re able to let all we've experienced in our imagination go and take in the story anew—will what we see on the screen be more compelling, or less? Roy’s Gray was indeed compelling, as it elicited strong love/hate reactions. And though Miami’s take was thumbs-down on the whole, Roy stood by his cinematic vision, citing the artistic risks he took and suggesting that people “read [Wilde’s] book, then they'll be able to appreciate the film.”

2 Minutes Later is that rare gay and lesbian film that’s actually gay and lesbian. Director Robert Gaston’s second feature is part mystery, part tale of unexpected friendship—a semi-closeted insurance adjuster hooks up with a no-nonsense lesbian private eye (who does her dicking-around in high heels) to solve the mysterious vanishing of his twin brother. So were boys and girls equally captivated? It's hard to say: Everyone enjoyed the pic that the Miami festival guide called "a happily queer CSI: Philadelphia," but it screened against The Gymnast—a strong lesbian draw that has nabbed several LGBT festival awards. To Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival programmer Kelly Burkhardt, who attended the Miami screening, Gaston’s low-budget caper with male and female queer leads is a festival programmer's delight: “Typically, it’s pulling teeth to get men and women into the same screenings. 2 Minutes Later is a welcomed change.”

For sex on the screen—specifically, straight porn–turned–lesbian style—there was Triple X Selects: The Best of Lezsploitation, a clip reel culled from several sexploitation films spanning the mid '60s to early '80s—think Bare Behind Bars or Daughters of Lesbos. The footage compiled by aficionado Michelle Johnson (a.k.a. DJ Triple X), featuring the likes of sinning nuns, Swedish wildcats, and sexed-up inmates, was originally created for a male audience but is now flipped for lesbian pleasure. What Lezsploitation does well is remind us that arousal is in the mind of the beholder, and that the production and consumption of erotic images is complicated subject matter. Something amazing about Lezsploitation was the contextualization by Johnson that accompanied the clips: She took the sex-versus-exploitation thread head-on, while emphasizing her love of the groovy soundtrack that inspired the clips to begin with. Also of note were—lest we forget—the women’s bodies that were once celebrated as sexy, with small breasts and pubic hair to boot. Wolfe Video will release Lezsploitation later in the year as part of its Vintage Classic Collection.

Hot Latin guys, love, sex, real estate: East Side Story, directed by Carlos Portugal, was a perfect fit for Miami. The film tells the tale of Diego, a closeted Latino working in his family’s Mexican restaurant, who falls in love with Wesley, a hunky closeted realtor. Others in the "Peliculas en Español" program included the U.S. premiere of Los Dos Lados de la Cama (T he Two Sides of the Bed)—director Emilio Martinez-Lázaro’s sequel to The Other Side of the Bed, his last romp about modern relationships. Some characters from its forebear are finally ready to commit, but…their girlfriends have other thoughts in mind. For musical fans, bursts of song and dance accompany the narrative (far too many for my liking). The upbeat Madrid vibe and bisexual “love who you love” message makes the ride worth it.

Page: 1 | 2
Yahr is a freelance writer.

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max. HTML formatting and hyperlinks are NOT permitted.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

More Exclusives
  • View From the Hill: The End of DADT?
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates revealed that lawyers are exploring ways to ease enforcement of the military's gay ban, but cautioned that the law doesn't leave much wiggle room. He need look no further than DOD history for a lesson in altering the policy.
  • Hot Sheet: Week of July 5
    When you get back from that big 4th of July barbecue, unwind with Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno and your favorite B-movie-mocking, basic cable robots.
  • Hungry Like the Wolf
    A master of viola, ukulele, piano, and harp, Patrick Wolf is a music prodigy -- one who, the night before this interview, spit on a cop and got himself arrested.
  • Soapside: Advocate's Guide to Daytime
    Forbes March talks about playing gay, Otalia fans outraged, update on One Life to Live’s Patricia Maurceri’s firing over gay plot point, Phillip Chancellor III big reveal, and Erica Kane goes to Africa.
  • The Faces of Federal Prop. 8
    With the federal challenge to Prop. 8 moving full speed ahead, Advocate.com sits down with the two couples named as plaintiffs in the suit.
  • Mommy, the Gays Are Coming
    After a year of advancements and celebration for gay and lesbian Colombians, the community takes to the streets of Bogota for the country's biggest pride ever.
  • The Pride of Antwerp
    Advocate.com hits the gay-friendly streets of Antwerp with openly gay police commissioner Serge Muyters.
  • Excerpt: Mean Little Deaf Queer
    In an excerpt from her humorous and harrowing new memoir, Mean Little Deaf Queer, Terry Galloway recalls her early childhood, describing feelings of ugliness, confusion about gender, and being one of the boys.
  • Top Political Blogs
    From Joe.My.God to The Daily Beast, Advocate.com spotlights a few of the best blogs that cover politics, inside and way outside the Beltway.
  • The Diva of French Television
    A hot young screenwriter who has made gay OK for millions of French viewers, Nicolas Mercier sips champagne, dons a feathered hat, and says he wants to see Colin Farrell and Jude Law go at it.