Reverend's Preview: QFilms 2020 - International Spirit

Long Beach was long ago crowned "the international city" thanks to its well-utilized port and other commercial and cultural elements. It is most appropriate than that this year's Long Beach QFilm Festival is going worldwide for the first time virtually! The 27th annual celebration of the rich diversity and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people will run September 10th through 13th online.

LGBTQ cinema lovers can use a streaming device or smart TV to view more than 40 new narrative, documentary, and short films not yet seen in theaters or on major streaming platforms. Tickets are now available at the official QFilms website. An all-access festival pass that allows buyers to watch all the films may be purchased for $50. QFilms' net proceeds will support the many important programs offered by the LGBTQ Center Long Beach, known locally as simply "The Center."

“We made lemonade out of lemons this year,” said Andrew Dorado, interim executive director of The Center. “COVID-19 was not going to stop The Center from presenting unique queer stories and storytellers while raising funds to serve the community.” The Center supports more than 25,000 people a year through its outreach programs, which include youth services, senior services, counseling, legal services, domestic violence support, trans health programs, HIV and STI testing and more than 20 weekly support groups. Many of these services are currently being offered online during the pandemic.

“We are excited that this year, QFilms has the potential to not only reach our local community but also the LGBTQ community and our allies all around the world,” said the festival's founder, Robert Cano. As it does each year, the festival will award Jury and Audience awards to films in several feature and short film categories.

I know, having lived in Long Beach myself for 12 years, that it is also a uniquely diverse city from a spiritual-religious perspective. Some of the best movies to be screened during QFilms 2020 seem reflective of this diversity. My favorite among these that I have previewed is Breaking Fast. It centers on Mohammed (aka "Mo"), a medical specialist and practicing Muslim living in West Hollywood, who is still learning to navigate life one year after his conflicted boyfriend broke up with him.

Enter Kal, an all-American guy and struggling actor Mo meets at his best friend's birthday party. Kal surprises Mo soon after by offering to break fast with him each night during the holy month of Ramadan. Their attraction to each other grows but Mo is dedicated to making it through Ramadan without succumbing to "lustful" thoughts or actions. While Kal strives to be respectful of this, troubling aspects of his personal history begin to intrude on the men's blossoming relationship.

Written and directed by the talented Mike Mosallam, Breaking Fast is significant as the first gay Muslim rom-com. While the film's first half is rather light and fluffy, it's second half becomes more serious. Much of the welcome comic relief throughout is provided by Mo's flamboyant best friend as well as Mo's histrionic mother. The movie provides a respectful, intimate glimpse into Muslim family life and traditions even as it doesn't shy from addressing tensions between faith and sexuality. It also boasts supporting performances by veteran actress Veronica Cartwright (Alien, The Witches of Eastwick) and Patrick Sabongui (TV's The Flash), plus fabulous homages to both Superman: The Movie and The Sound of Music!

Tahara, directed by Olivia Peace, is another QFilms entry dealing with the time-honored conflict between sexuality and faith. Best friends Carrie Lowstein and Hannah Rosen, both Jewish, have been inseparable for as long as they can remember. When their former Hebrew school classmate commits suicide, the two girls go to her funeral as well as the "Teen Talk-back" session designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through their faith. But, after an innocent kissing exercise turns Carrie's world inside out, the girls find themselves understandably distracted by the teenage complications of lust, social status and wavering faith.

Also scheduled to screen is Welcome to Chechnya from award-winning director David France. His latest searing documentary shadows a group of activists who risk unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ pogrom raging in the repressive Russian republic. Much of it is driven by Orthodox and evangelical Christian fundamentalism. Also, the recently departed LGBTQ activist, author and playwright Larry Kramer will be honored with a showing of France's Academy Award-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague, about the early years of the AIDS pandemic and the efforts of activist groups ACT UP (co-founded by Kramer) and TAG. It also details in part the Roman Catholic Church's historic oppression of LGBTQ people.

An additional feature film highlight during QFilms will be Gossamer Folds. Produced by and featuring actress Yeardley Smith of The Simpsons, It spins a tender tale of friendship between a lonely boy and his grown-up transgender neighbor, Gossamer, as well as her retired college professor father during the 1980's.

A number of great feature documentaries to be screened include:

• Ahead of the Curve, about Franco Stevens, the extraordinary woman who started the renowned Curve magazine and the women who carry on her fight for lesbian visibility today.
• The Archivettes, an inspiring documentary that profiles the scrappy and determined cross-generational team of women who literally rescued history from the trash to form the Lesbian Herstory Archives.
• Double Income, Kids, which explores the Israeli gay baby boom by following Motty and Alon, a gay couple on their year-long journey to have biological twins through their American gestational surrogate.
• Changing the Game, Michael Barnett’s dynamic documentary that takes us into the lives of three high school athletes who are all at different stages of their athletic seasons, personal lives, and their unique paths as transgender teens.

QFilms' short film programs are some of the best-regarded on the film festival circuit, and this year is no exception. In addition to traditional men's, women's and queer/trans shorts lineups, two new short film categories are being introduced this year. Queer Activist shorts will inspire the LGBTQ community and its allies in our ongoing fight for equal rights, to live our truth, love whom we want, or serve in the military. "Dance like Everyone is Watching," meanwhile, will encourage viewers to channel one’s inner Beyoncé with a collection of narrative and documentary style shorts celebrating the beauty and many movements of dance.

For the complete list of films, visit the QFilms website.

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Dearest Review: Big Trouble in Disney China

Even fans of Disney's 1998 animated favorite Mulan will admit that it is not perfect; it forgets it's a musical about halfway through and that ending is embarrassing. But the good parts – its equally big doses of humor, heart and '90s "girl power" energy – outweigh its short-comings. Sadly, the new live action version of Mulan (now streaming – for an additional fee – on Disney+) chose to ditch most of what made the original so charming and entertaining; no man-making musical numbers or wisecracking dragon sidekicks here. Instead what we get is a stunning-looking but shallow adventure that fatally strips our beloved heroine of what made her so inspiring in the original.

Mulan then was a normal young woman who bravely takes her elderly father's place in the Emperor's Army and, through raw determination and enduring honor, goes and saves all of China. Mulan now is some kind of budding Jedi, able to tap into her qi and perform amazing feats of agility with Crouching Tiger-esque ease. Not exactly relatable (and bizarrely reminiscent of what the recent biopic Harriet did with its titular legend); the bland lead performance by Yifei Liu doesn't help much either. And to further "The Force" of it all is a screwy subplot involving a shape-shifting witch (Gong Li, wasted) who tries to lure Mulan to the "Dark Side". They traded Mushu for this?

Disney obviously spent a lot on this Mulan, and the money was well spent in regards to its technical and design aspects, which don't suffer much from home viewing. But you needn't spend extra to watch it now, just wait till December when it will be available to all Disney+ subscribers, and just stream the superior original instead. 

Dearest Rating: 5/10

Review by Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.

Dearest Review: The Music Man

Although largely known for only four works (the cult musical Little Shop of Horrors and the modern Disney classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin), the legacy of Academy Award-winning songwriter Howard Ashman still looms large almost 30 years after his death. Through stage adaptations, live action remakes and endless theme park iterations, his toon tunes (mini-musical masterpieces filled with deliciously intricate wordplay set to the magical melodies of co-composer Alan Menken) have all become permanent additions to the soundtracks of life of anyone who has ever heard and loved them.

Directed by Beauty producer Don Hahn, the documentary Howard (now streaming on Disney+) takes an informative and intimate look into the life and career of Ashman, from his early successes (the record-setting Off-Broadway run of Little Shop) and failures (the Broadway bomb Smile) to his triumphant reinvention of the animated movie musical with Little Mermaid. Ashman's life was tragically cut short by AIDS at the age of 40 in 1991. The thought of all he could have done had he lived longer adds the bitter to the sweet that is this celebration of his life and music.

Dearest Rating: 8/10

Review by Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.

Reverend's Preview: Outfest 2020 Goes Hybrid

 

There are hybrid plants, hybrid animals, even hybrid cars. But a hybrid LGBTQ film festival? That's how Outfest Los Angeles is billing itself this year in light of our present, socially-distanced circumstances. LA's largest and oldest film fest, also considered the preeminent LGBTQ fest in the world, is scheduled to take place August 20th-30th.

Presented by Warner Media, Outfest 2020 will feature ten days of LGBTQ movies, panel discussions with filmmakers and celebrities, and numerous special events. It will take advantage of the latest "hybrid" opportunities in streaming/digital, at-home, and in-person (as allowed) events that will make the fest accessible to a global audience for the first time in its history. Each previous summer, Outfest has screened more than 200 feature and short films from around the world to an audience of more than 50,000 people in venues throughout Los Angeles. This year's program is being promoted as "Out Where You Are" in recognition of the current difficulty of having so many people gather together in person.

"The Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival was born out of an era of advocacy, understanding that the only way we would ever see ourselves reflected three-dimensionally in entertainment was if we found a way for storytellers to find visibility," according to organizers. "As the channels, audiences, and the marginalization and acceptance of our community shifts, so shall we."

Readers can visit the Outfest website for up-to-date information, as well as to purchase a full-festival online viewing pass at the low price of $59. Each film or program will be available to watch for 72 hours after its premiere. I was able to preview several features to be screened including Cured, which will be making its world premiere on August 24th. This eye-opening documentary is directed by Bennett Singer (Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin) and Patrick Sammon (Codebreaker), and was co-produced by Outfest's former Executive Director, Christopher Racster. It illuminates a pivotal yet largely unknown chapter in the struggle for LGBTQ equality: the years-long campaign that led the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to finally remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in 1973.

Homosexuality was listed in the APA's first edition of "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) in 1952, based on limited studies of people institutionalized in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. This was subsequently used to enforce laws against LGBTQ relations, and generations of US school children were taught that being LGBTQ was "a sickness." Most psychiatrists turned a blind eye to important studies by Sigmund Freud and Alfred Kinsey arguing that homosexuality was not a mental illness.

As depicted in Cured via vintage film footage as well as more recent interviews with participants and witnesses, several pioneers in the gay rights movement saw it as essential to take on the APA. This was especially true in the wake of the Stonewall riots. As lesbian activist Barbara Gittings recognized, "Nothing would ever change as long as we were burdened with the 'sickness' label." Gittings was joined by Mattachine Society head Frank Kameny, GLAAD co-founder Ron Gold and others in storming the APA's annual meetings and demanding dialogue on the subject of homosexuality.

Despite the vociferous opposition of Dr. Charles Socarides, who remained anti-gay even after his own son came out to him, this dialogue led within a few years to the removal of homosexuality from the DSM. Ironically, Cured reveals that the current head of the APA, Dr. Saul Levin, is openly gay. The documentary serves as a strong, timely testament to the power of persistence and righteous anger to affect change.

A delightfully different, narrative movie that will also be an official selection at the fest is Dramarama. This semi-autobiographical dramedy by Jonathan Wysocki is set in Escondido at the end of summer, 1994. Five longtime friends and recent high school grads gather for an overnight Victorian murder-mystery party before heading their separate ways to college. The fact that all of them were involved in theatre together adds a hilariously over-the-top element to the proceedings.

Among this group of three girls and two boys is the closeted Gene, who is questioning not only his sexuality but his faith. He is attracted to his best friend, Oscar, as well as a local pizza delivery guy. Tensions, sexual and otherwise, bubble up throughout the friends' final night together. Dramarama is well worth seeing for Wysocki's smart script, abundant references to early-90's pop culture, a fun Danny Elfman-esque music score by Chanda Dancy, and the terrific performances given by its talented, fresh-faced cast.

Two other noteworthy films that will be screened during Outfest are Dry Wind and No Hard Feelings. "Hybrid" is a good term to describe the storytelling and/or characters in these features. Dry Wind incorporates hardcore pornography in its narrative at times, while the lead character in No Hard Feelings is often conflicted between his Iranian ethnicity but German citizenship.

Dry Wind, from Brazil, weaves a sensual tale from its Speedo-filled opening minutes to a climactic three-way. Sandro (a bold performance by Leandro Faria Lelo) is a middle-aged gay man drawn to two younger co-workers at the fertilizer plant where he works. He is also drawn to numerous fetishes including leather, motorcycles, piercings, sportswear and tattoos. Talented writer-director Daniel Nolasco references both Tom of Finland and Alfred Hitchcock in this vibrant, voyeuristic drama that features abundant full-frontal nudity and explicit gay sex.

No Hard Feelings focuses on Parvis (played by the charismatic Benny Radjaipour), a young gay man born to Iranian refugees in Hanover, Germany. After getting in some legal trouble, Parvis is assigned to complete community service hours at a local center for migrants. There he meets handsome, closeted Amon and his sister, who are both from Iran. Parvis and Amon slowly grow close to each other and embark on a genuinely sexy, ultimately tender relationship despite the threat of deportation that hangs over Amon and his sister. Faraz Shariat's admirably complex film is also a colorful, music-filled celebration of Iranian culture.

There will be many more can't-miss LGBTQ films shown during Outfest 2020, so be sure to participate from wherever you are!

If you're in the mood for some non-LGBTQ but creepy and thought-provoking sci-fi, Sputnik is newly available on demand from IFC Midnight. This Russian riff on Alien and its cinematic ilk is set in 1983 Kazakhstan while the Cold War between the USSR and US was still raging. After something goes wrong during their flight, a space capsule returns to Earth with only one survivor: the handsome commanding officer, Konstantin (Pyotr Fyodorov). Unfortunately, Konstantin claims to have amnesia and can't remember what happened.

Dr. Tatiana Klimova, a disgraced but perceptive psychiatrist well-played by Oksana Akinshina, is brought in to assess the survivor. She diagnosis Konstantin with PTSD but also discovers he has been infected by an alien parasite or symbiote that emerges from his body at night. It falls to Tatiana and the increasingly aware Konstantin to outwit their military captors, who naturally want to weaponize the creature.

Sputnik's director, Egor Abramenko, imbues the film with both a heart and conscience in addition to its accurate evocation of Soviet-era politics, science and military. While it is a creature feature on the surface, Sputnik serves as a potent allegory for the experience of being abandoned and/or adopted. It also offers a memorable twist on what might constitute a body-invading alien's main diet. The movie is gory in spots, which will please some horror/sci-fi fans, but there's more going on here.

Returning to new gay-themed films brings me to Simon Amstell's Benjamin, which will be released August 25th on DVD and VOD by Artsploitation Films. The title character, known as "Benji" to his limited friends, is a British filmmaker with a philosophical bent. He is also gay, depressed, insecure and romantically drawn to "thin boys on stage."

It is this latter trait that initially connects Benjamin and Noah, a young French singer he meets at a party. Soon after, though, Benji is confronted with the flop of his latest movie as well as his seductive (and very attractive) co-star, Harry. Will he finally grow up and become "a real boy" not unlike Pinocchio, or will Benjamin succumb to his insecurities?

Some of these plot points have been previously covered in other, better gay films but Benjamin benefits from a self-effacing sense of humor as well as good performances. Colin Morgan, perhaps best known as star of the 2008-2012 TV series Merlin, is plenty likable and at times deeply touching in Benjamin's title role. Amstell's screenplay also provides some reflective commentary on personhood and the self. Streaming the film is nothing to feel insecure about.

Reverend's Ratings:
Cured: A-
Dramarama: B+
Dry Wind: B
No Hard Feelings: B+
Sputnik: B
Benjamin: B-

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.