Palm Springs Welcomes a Controversial Gay Documentary

The new year is bringing an intriguing new LGBTQ film to Southern California that is stirring up controversy, even though it hasn’t even been released theatrically or on streaming.

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture is a feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the modern-day, anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946. It will celebrate its local premiere with three screenings during the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which runs today through January 16th. For the screening schedule and tickets or passes, visit the PSIFF website.

Produced and directed by Sharon “Rocky” Roggio, it chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations and cast significant doubt on any modern biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice. Featuring commentary from prominent scholars as well as opposing pastors (one of whom is Roggio’s own father), 1946 is at once challenging, enlightening and inspiring.

“The heartbeat of the film are the personal stories of its creators, including my own,” Roggio said. “In a sense, my story is not exceptional. I was raised in a loving home, the daughter of a Christian pastor who believes being gay is a sin. Realizing I was a lesbian at a young age, I carried tension, fear, and spiritual anxiety because of how my family believed.”

Of note, the Executive Producer of 1946 is Daniel Karslake. An award-winning film, theater, and television writer/director/producer, Karslake previously made For They Know Not What They Do, about four families of faith who discover they have a gay or trans child. It premiered in competition at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won seven audience awards and three jury prizes in festivals around the world. The doc was a follow up to Karslake’s first film, For the Bible Tells Me So, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was short-listed for a 2008 Academy Award. Entertainment Weekly magazine has more recently listed it as “one of five documentaries that has changed the world,” and it has been translated into more than 20 languages worldwide.

Roggio’s new documentary shows how the word homosexual did not appear in the Bible until 1946, when a group of all-male, all-white, and presumably all-straight scripture scholars mistranslated the Greek words malakoi (meaning “weak” or “soft,” and sometimes misconstrued as “effeminate”) and arsenokoitai (which referred to economic and/or sexual abuse of a younger person). Words that more accurately condemned pedophilia or other abuse of vulnerable people were nonsensically applied to mature men who lie with/have consensual sex with other mature men.

According to Roggio: “I came across the research surrounding the mistranslation of the Bible in 2018, and my life immediately changed. My mission and purpose became clear. This research needed to be brought out into the light. What started off with a few cameras at a conference with a nonexistent budget has absolutely blossomed into a movement that I could not have foreseen. Today, 1946 has an established dedicated team of volunteers who’ve contributed their time, money, and efforts to bring this film to the world.”

Perhaps predictably, some current pastors and biblical scholars have already denounced Roggio’s documentary without even seeing it. Biblical Literalism, however, noted in its review of the film: “While other documentaries have been successful in their attempt to treat the symptoms of homophobia in the church, 1946 is working to diagnose and treat the disease.”

I encourage SoCal viewers to see 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture this month during PSIFF 2023 and decide for yourself.

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

Reverend's Reviews: The Best (and Worst) of 2022

Here at the beginning of 2023, let’s review what this critic considered the greatest and least cinematic offerings of 2022.

It could be positively considered “the year of the woman,” both in front of and behind the camera. Look for many of these movies to be honored by critic groups including GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, to which I belong, plus Hollywood guilds and the Academy over the next few months:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24). An endlessly inventive, mind-bending showcase for Asian superstar Michelle Yeoh. She plays a beleaguered laundromat owner who sets out on an unexpected journey through the multiverse in order to stop her estranged lesbian daughter from destroying reality as we know it, complete with time travel-enabling butt plugs and hot dog fingers! It’s a fantastical yet moving odyssey cooked up by talented co-writers/-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (billed simply as Daniels).

2. The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures) and Empire of Light (Searchlight Pictures). Both are intimate stories told against the background of cinema, revealing the medium’s unique ability to inspire and console. They also deal with important social issues: antisemitism in the case of Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film, and racism in Sam Mendes’ similarly semi-autobiographical story.

3. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (Searchlight Pictures). Emma Thompson shines as a newly-widowed former teacher hoping to experience an orgasm for the first time ever with the help of a sexy, polyamorous escort played by the gorgeous Daryl McCormack. Challenging, amusing and touching revelations result for both of them. Beautifully acted and written (by Katy Brand).

4. The Woman King (TriStar Pictures/Sony) and Women Talking (United Artists/Orion). Women rule, literally and/or figuratively, in these films inspired by true events. Viola Davis co-produced and stars in the first as the titular African warrior who wins the respect of her male ruler and peers. It is a dramatically and visually impressive adventure with an almost-exclusively female crew. In Women Talking, actress turned writer-director Sarah Polley powerfully depicts a group of sexually-abused Amish women (embodied by a terrific cast headed by Rooney Mara) who debate whether to abandon their male-dominated community in protest.

5. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Neon/Participant). Academy Award-winning documentarian Laura Poitras turned her camera on renowned photographer Nan Goldin for this bracing, inspiring expose. In addition to her art, Goldin has been an activist in the fight against the opioid crisis and the Sacklers, the wealthy family who profited off the overdose-related deaths of thousands before their pharmaceutical company was forced to declare bankruptcy. Before that, Goldin was one of the first sympathetic chroniclers of the AIDS pandemic. She and Poitras’s eye-opening documentary both deserve praise.

6. Pearl (A24). This deliciously deranged prequel to Ti West’s horror flick X, also released in 2022, deepened the genesis of both films’ anti-heroine. Mia Goth goes all-out with her stunning performance as the title character. She smiles, cries, sings, dances, has sex with a scarecrow, and butchers people with delight. One ends up both scared to death of her and wanting to take her home. Pearl also contains many knowing, reverential tributes to classic films of the 1930’s-50’s. I’m rooting for Goth to snag an underdog Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

7. Amsterdam (20th Century Studios) and The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures). Two decidedly offbeat yet powerful portrayals of friendship tested by external and/or internal forces. Sadly, the first was a big-budget flop upon its release despite an all-star cast that includes Christian Bale and Robert De Niro, but I trust it will find more admirers over time. Martin McDonagh’s Banshees is a very Irish tragi-comedy that could win Colin Farrell his first Oscar as a heartbroken, spurned animal-lover who ends up exacting revenge against his former bestie (the also-great Brendan Gleeson).

8. Thor: Love and Thunder (Marvel Studios). Plenty of fanboys will likely take me to task for honoring what they complained was Taika Waititi’s too-comedic sequel, but I was struck by how it balances serious issues around death, loss and grief with all the enjoyably requisite superhero hi-jinks. Besides, Chris Hemsworth’s too briefly-exposed derriere, bathed in golden light, definitely deserves an award of some kind!

9. A Christmas Story Christmas (Warner Bros) and Spirited (Apple Studios). I hereby proclaim two new holiday classics! The first is the lovingly nostalgic, long-overdue sequel — featuring the original, now grownup cast — to 1983’s yuletide tale. The other is a very modern (i.e. hilariously snarky) musical update of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol starring the winning combo of Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, who both sing and dance impressively! Additionally, last month’s Santa Claus-themed, gory yet heartfelt Violent Night is bubbling just under my top 10.

10. Elvis (Warner Bros) and Tár (Focus Features). Each of these films focuses on a musically-inclined protagonist, one real and one fictional. Both run nearly 3 hours and have their over-the-top moments. However, Austin Butler and Cate Blanchett, respectively, are never less than sensational in the title roles and these movies are pretty darn unforgettable as a result.

Disclaimer: As usual, there were a few acclaimed end-of-year releases I wasn’t able to see before press time, notably Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

My picks for the worst movies of 2022, in no particular order of dishonor:

• The Batman. A ponderous, excessively dark superhero movie no one needed.
• Hellraiser. A gruesome, unnecessary remake of Clive Barker’s sadistic horror tale.
• Swallowed. Although gay-themed and original, this is another uncomfortably gruesome horror flick.
• Bones and All. A young-cannibals-in-love story no one asked for.
• Triangle of Sadness. A nauseating, over-the-top critique of the uber-rich that has inexplicably ended up on some critics’ best films lists and has even won some awards.

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

Reverend's Interview: Spoiler Alert! Death and The Holidays Go Hand in Hand

Ah, the sights and sounds of the holiday season are upon us: Christmas trees, eggnog, traditional carols, Santa Claus, terminal illness. Wait, terminal illness? Yes, it strikes me that many of the most beloved Yuletide tales, both in print and on movie screens, involve the potential or actual death of a beloved character. Think of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol; the matriarchs played by Diane Keaton and Catherine Deneuve in The Family Stone and A Christmas Tale, respectively; suicidal George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) in It’s a Wonderful Life; or Queen Latifah’s misdiagnosed department store clerk in Last Holiday. And don’t forget The Little Drummer Boy’s pet lamb!

Continuing this tear-jerking tradition is the new dramedy Spoiler Alert, opening in theaters on December 2nd. Based on Michael Ausiello’s best-selling memoir, the film follows the 14-year love affair between the author, a Smurfs-loving entertainment journalist (played by Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory fame), and Christopher “Kit” Cowan (British actor Ben Aldridge). It was essentially love at first sight for the men when they met at a gay nightclub in 2001. Through Kit, Michael discovers the family he was robbed of as a child, from Kit’s small town parents (Oscar winner Sally Field and Tony winner Bill Irwin) to their circle of Manhattan friends.

Sadly, tragedy struck after 13 years of dating and marriage. Doctors diagnosed Kit with rare, stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer and he died in 2015 at the age of 43. Michael and his parents were at his side through it all. To process the final months of Kit’s life, Michael took to social media to share regular updates with friends and family. Little did he know that his posts would lead him to explore their bond in a whole new way. It would also allow him to share that bond with millions of people.

“A couple of months after Kit died, I was actually approached from an editor at Simon & Schuster who had followed some of the story on social media,” Michael Ausiello said more recently of the genesis of his memoir, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies. “I had been documenting Kit's cancer journey on Facebook among a close-knit group of friends. One of them, Rakesh Satyal, was an acquaintance at Simon & Schuster, and he was really moved by the story. He said, ‘Would you ever give any thought to turning this into a book?”

He was understandably hesitant. “I'd never written a book before,” Ausiello continued. “I was still grieving when I was writing it, so emotionally it was sort of a traumatizing experience reliving the details of, not only the year Kit was sick and his death, but the 13 years that came before. It was hard. But it got me thinking about what an extraordinary opportunity it would be to introduce Kit to thousands, potentially millions of people.” His memoir was published in 2017 and quickly optioned to be made into a film by the Emmy Award-winning Parsons and his producer husband, Todd Spiewak.

The book has been smartly yet sensitively adapted for the screen by gay actor-turned-writer David Marshall Grant and gay columnist-turned-screenwriter Dan Savage. Multiple scenes take place during Christmas festivities. Spoiler Alert, the movie, feels more authentic than many other movies I’ve seen that deal with a terminal disease prognosis. (Full disclosure: I work “by day” as a hospice chaplain so am aware of many similar, real-life situations.) Also significant are the tender lead performances by Jim Parsons, who co-produced the film, and Ben Aldridge.

“I’d known Michael Ausiello for many years,” Parsons recalls. “At some point, right before the book was released, he asked if I would conduct a Los Angeles Q&A about it. I said yes, and they sent me a copy. What’s funny is that it became such an important part of my life. I remember where it sat on this one bench in my apartment for a very long time until I was taking a vacation with my husband Todd [Spiewak] and picked it up. I thought it was a good time to read it. It was so traumatic, reading it. From that moment, Todd was the one, having watched me react to it, that asked if we should consider optioning it. He felt strongly that it would make a good movie. I was so moved and attracted to the material I couldn’t disagree.”

The producers next had to select a director and one name stood out for them: Michael Showalter. Showalter started out as an actor-comedian but has since become a prolific, Emmy-nominated director, writer, and producer. He directed the two-time Oscar-winning film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, an intimate look behind the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. Jessica Chastain played Bakker and won the 2022 Academy Award for her portrayal. Showalter previously directed The Big Sick, which received an Oscar nomination for its screenplay written by Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, and Hello, My Name Is Doris starring Sally Field. On the television side, Showalter recently directed and produced Hulu’s The Dropout starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, and Showalter was nominated for Outstanding Directing. Finally, but perhaps most importantly to its many fans, he is the co-creator of the Wet Hot American Summer movie and subsequent series.

This writer recently had the privilege of speaking with Showalter via Zoom in advance of his new movie’s release.

Michael Showalter

CC: Congratulations on your success last year with The Eyes of Tammy Faye and now with Spoiler Alert! I’m really interested in your journey from comedian and actor to producer-director of Oscar-winning movies today. Tell me a little bit about your journey.
MS: Let’s see, I started in comedy and am very much influenced by an absurdist kind of comedy, whether it’s the Zucker Brothers in their Airplane movies or Steve Martin’s early comedies, or Monty Python and what have you. I did sketch comedy in college and started a sketch group out of college. That was really my focus. I was doing a lot of writing of things to perform in and then wrote a movie, Wet Hot American Summer. I became interested after that in really learning how to write a well-made screenplay and, as a corollary to this, I originally when I went to college thought that I may be a Cinema Studies major. So, before I got into comedy I thought of becoming a Cinema Studies major because I had taken a class one summer about Alfred Hitchcock movies and was really interested in how he made movies. I thought: “Well, that would be really cool; I could write about movies and that would be my career.” I had always had an interest in not just comedies but all kinds of movies, all kinds of stories, and looking at film as a serious pursuit beyond just being comedic. And then there was kind of a period where I decided I didn’t want to be an actor any more, and I was in New York and I was predominantly teaching screenwriting at NYU Film School, the graduate school. I really enjoyed teaching and I found myself encouraging my students to pursue a certain kind of process that I knew I wasn’t doing myself, and so what ended up happening was I co-wrote a screenplay and really decided to put into action some of the things that I had been talking about and thinking about. That movie, Hello, My Name is Doris, was the first time that I actually put comedy and drama in the same thing without any quotation marks around it. It’s just a story about a person who is quite strange and has a lot going on, and it’s a very funny movie but it’s also a very dramatic movie and I realized “Oh wow, those two things can co-exist and I’m actually able to do that.” That was the beginning of the next phase of my career, so to speak.

CC: What drew you to Michael and Kit’s story in particular? I know you had read the memoir but what really grabbed you and made you say “I want this to be my next movie”?
MS: To me, it’s this incredibly sad story, this incredibly heartbreaking story that uses this sort of brutal, relatable honesty and authenticity about who these people really were and their deepest insecurities and their deepest foibles, and finding humor in that and wanting the world to know these things about us that we’re afraid to tell or show each other. All of the kind of secrets that we have, the things we have done that we’re embarrassed or ashamed about or aren’t sure about. That was all on display in this book that was ultimately about this group of people trying to cope with something that was so difficult, and that really made me feel just so connected to it and I fell in love with it.

CC: It seems to me that many holiday- or Christmas-themed films, including Spoiler Alert, often involve the terminal illness of a character or the death of a significant character. Do you have any thoughts about that trend or tradition?
MS: Yeah, I think that the holidays are a time for family, they’re a time for groups coming together, a time of reflection about what’s really important, about what really matters. There’s a kind of way in which the holidays remind us to be the best versions of ourselves, and to kind of come together and put our disagreements aside or what have you. I feel like there’s a lot happening underneath the holiday season that I think makes people think about togetherness and forgiveness and love, so that could be part of it.

CC: That’s great. You know, I had the pleasure recently of seeing Jim Parsons perform in A Man of No Importance in New York City.
MS: I’m dying to see it!

CC: It’s so good, and it’s great to see him doing more dramatic work, and in a musical! What was your experience like directing him and working with him as one of the producers?
MS: Oh, he and I (I hope he agrees) felt like we had a really deep connection in every sense in creating this character and telling this story. He and I were constantly in contact about every tiny little detail of it, and I think there was a lot of mutual respect between the two of us. We’re both people that have a lot of background in comedy but are also really interested in telling stories that have dramatic weight to them as well. I think we had a really, really great collaboration and I would love to work with him again.

CC: That’s awesome. Last question: You earlier mentioned Wet Hot American Summer and I’m a fan. Is there going to be a next entry in the franchise?
MS: Nothing planned but never say never. I mean, those characters definitely live on in my brain and I could easily imagine us revisiting them, you know, when we’re like 60 or something and then we’ll be playing like they’re in their mid-20’s or something like that, yeah.

CC: That’s cool. Thank you so much for your time and continued success to you!
MS: Thank you, I really appreciate it. Take care!

Spoiler Alert opens in theaters this Friday, December 2nd.

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

Reverend's Preview: Powerful LGBTQ Lives Celebrated at October Film Fests

If you’ve visited Chicago any time during the last 40 years, you may have put in an appearance at the city’s premiere gay bar, Sidetrack. I stopped by each summer between 1999 and 2003 while attending an annual conference. Until recently, however, I had no knowledge about the significant history behind Sidetrack and its two longtime owners/husbands.

Art Johnston and Pepe Peña, known locally as Art and Pep, are civil rights leaders whose life and love has fueled LGBTQ+ equality in the heart of the country. As founders and owners of the iconic Sidetrack, they have helped foster movements and create community for four decades in Chicago's queer enclave. Behind their business and historic activism exists a love unlike any other.

The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) will be screening Art and Pep – Mercedes Kane’s terrific, enlightening and inspiring documentary about this dynamic duo – the afternoon of Wednesday, October 19th at the Big Newport 6 theater. Art and Pep themselves, who met 50 years ago and got married in 2011, are expected to attend. Advance tickets may be purchased here.

Founded in 1999, NBFF has emerged as the largest international cinema event in coastal Southern California. It annually attracts over 56,000 attendees to Orange County. This year’s fest will run October 13th-20th. Several new and acclaimed movies will be featured including Weird: The Al Yankovic Story starring Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, and Glass Onion, a sequel to the hit murder-mystery Knives Out. Gay-themed films to be shown include My Policeman, with pop music sensation Harry Styles as the closeted title character; the great doc All Man: The International Male Story; and Make Me Famous, about radical painter Edward Brezinski. A number of LGBTQ short films will also be screened.

I recently had the privilege of speaking with Art and Pep director Mercedes Kane in advance of NBFF. The longtime Chicago resident relocated one year ago to Atlanta, from where she Zoomed this writer.

CC: Thanks for your time! How or when did you first hear about Art and Pep?
MK: So, (Executive Producer) Kevin Hauswirth and I worked together sometimes. He owns a marketing agency and they do a lot of non-profit advocacy stuff. One day, we were having a meeting and he started talking about them because he’s known them for a really long time. He met Art because Kevin has five gay uncles, I think it is, and one of his uncles knew Art. Kevin started his early activism days in college recruiting fraternity brothers for some LGBTQ event, so his uncle was like “You really need to meet Art Johnston, you know he’s like the activist in Chicago.” So Kevin has been connected to him for 20-plus years. He was just telling me some stuff and I was like “This needs to be a film.” For one thing, the story of the LGBTQ movement is mostly told on the coasts and I didn’t really realize the rich history that Chicago has. I lived in Chicago almost my whole life but you sort of take it for granted a little that it is such a progressive state and city and all of the rights that are there, and not realizing the people who championed for them. And then it’s their love story too. As a filmmaker, I’ve never seen a story about a 50-year romance between two men. When I met them, I was just blown away by their love. They take such good care of each other and the way they look at each other still is something to aspire to. I fell in love with them in that moment. I fell in love with their love.

CC: You definitely see that in the film, especially in their wedding footage. It’s great that you can reveal that about them, it’s very touching. So what was the process, once you decided you were going to make this documentary? There’s so much vintage footage in the film. How much time did it take and how did you go about doing it?
MK: The first step was getting them to sign on. They trusted Kevin because they knew him and I think we connected when we first met, but they have never been the type of people to really like let their private life be public. Art’s very public when it comes to activism and everything he’s done and Pep is kind of the face at the bar, as you see in the film. But their relationship, their personal life, that was sort of like “uhhhh.” So I think it was just a matter of building their trust, that was the first step, and then we just kind of jumped into filming. 

We started shooting in November of 2019 and then COVID hit, and it was like “all right, we’ll just pack away our cameras and take a breath.” No one knew how long it would last. And then we realized very quickly that Sidetrack was this gay small business that was going through COVID and shutting down for the first time in their history, and they have 65 people on staff and people who come to the bar every single week. This shuttering of this community space that holds a lot of importance for a lot of people, so we started covering that. And then we started to see these parallels between the AIDS crisis and the COVID pandemic from this group of people who had gone through it, you know the similarities and the dissimilarities, and so we started exploring that as well. And then (as shown in the film), Art got really sick and that was totally unexpected and really scary. All of that was sort of a roller coaster that we didn’t really expect.

In terms of the archival footage, it was surprising that – for a video bar – Sidetrack didn’t have that much video of themselves and I think part of that is that back in the 80’s nobody was shooting photos or videos at gay bars. They had some stuff but then we started reaching out to a network and we got lucky because there’s a man, Rick Delaup, who made a film about Danny Sotomayor, who is the ACT UP activist who you see in the film. He had hundreds of hours of footage still from that, which was amazing. It was kind of like word of mouth, going through people’s personal archives and digging through what we could of Sidetrack. We also went through libraries and museum collections. It was quite intense but we got a lot.

CC: Oh my gosh, that is dedication on your part. So how long was the process in all? It sounds like a couple of years.
MK: It was a few years, and through a pandemic! But you know the interesting thing about the COVID thing was that it really brought us closer together with Art and Pep, because we basically bubbled up with them. And even going through that with Pep when Art was ill was a horrible experience but such a bonding experience. We would bring food over to Pep’s house or he would come over and eat dinner and just be emotional. It kind of forced us into that space in a really beautiful way. I consider them like family now, and I have two kids who consider them a third set of grandparents.

CC: Ah nice, that’s awesome! I assume Art and Pep have seen the finished film. What’s been their reaction? Were they happy with it?
MK: Yeah, they loved it. It’s always such a nerve-wracking moment but I think, especially because we got close, I really felt this responsibility to making a film that honored them and their story and was accurate. I think they were surprised at how far-reaching the story ended up going. They were so happy that other activists that they worked with are in it and that Danny was included. I think they were really pleasantly surprised about that. It’s funny because they were really hesitant to let us like in bed with them and I kept saying the importance of that. I was like “You know, if this was a film about a man and woman we would have these intimate moments with them. If we don’t have them in this film, that’s going to look purposeful in its own way and I don’t want to make that (potentially negative) statement. I want this to show who you really are as a couple and these moments are important to that.” And so they finally let us in, and then Art said “The best thing we ever did was let you in bed with us!” (laugh)

CC: That’s great! Now, is the Newport Beach screening going to be its premiere, or West Coast premiere?
MK: No, it actually premiered at Outfest in July, in LA. We were all there and it was pretty amazing. It got a really good response and we had actually two reviews. One gave it 3 ½ stars and the other listed Art and Pep as #2 among the 21 best films at Outfest. That was great.

CC: What led you to become a filmmaker or documentarian? What’s your story?
MK: What a great question. I got my undergrad in broadcast journalism and then played around in a few different communication fields, and then I ended up going back to get my MFA in independent filmmaking a decade ago now. I really love telling stories. I love real people’s stories, and not necessarily famous people but people who are doing their actual work in communities that matters and makes far-reaching change but don’t always get the spotlight for it. I have a passion for that and I really enjoy it. I’m actually getting another MFA right now in narrative non-fiction writing, so I’m also playing around with writing but it’s a really similar method of storytelling. The hope is to either have a publishable manuscript at the end of it or some long-form stories that will be published with articles.

CC: Wow, that’s cool. Is there anything else you want people to know?
MK: People ask me often what I want people to take away from (Art and Pep) and I think it’s a couple things, one of which is just to learn about the history of the fight (for equality) and who was leading the charge, and that the work is still not done. It will never be done, and I think that’s such an important part. And then also the importance and power of love, because it’s really Art and Pep’s love story that to me is the backbone that gave them the strength to do all the work that they did and build this community around them.

Another inspiring LGBTQ true life story will be celebrated during this month’s San Diego International Film Festival (SDIFF), to be held October 19th-23rd. The Inspection is based on writer-director Elegance Bratton’s experience as a young gay man who enlisted in the Marines during the tense “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era. It stars out actor Jeremy Pope (Netflix’s Hollywood) in the lead role opposite Gabrielle Union as his homophobic mother Inez, with Bokeem Woodbine and Raúl Castillo (who played Richie on HBO’s Looking) as his drill sergeants.

Bratton made a splash a few years ago with his award-winning documentary Pier Kids. He said of The Inspection, his narrative feature debut: “This movie is completely authentic when it comes to the desires, fears and, ultimately, the primary goal of the main character.” The surrounding narratives are inspired by circumstances he witnessed while in training almost 20 years ago.

Bratton continued: “I made this movie first and foremost to heal myself from things I had been through. And I think the one thing that was most damaging to me is the idea that somehow by being gay and Black, I was basically a social pariah. The world had nothing to gain from me so, therefore, I didn't matter; I didn't exist. Then I joined the Marines and learned that I'm important because of my ability to protect the person to my left and right. And I felt like that lesson – that you're only as important as your ability to protect others – was really restorative for me. It gave me a purpose in life.”

The Inspection will have its gala West Coast premiere on Friday, October 21st. The acclaimed Belgian film Close, about two teenaged boys who have their friendship questioned, is another LGBTQ-interest feature that will be screened during the fest.

A number of LGBTQIA+ shorts films will also be shown during SDIFF. These include:

• DIVR (USA, San Diego Premiere) The three founders of an exclusive lesbian sex app may be shattering the start-up world’s glass ceilings, but the pressures of success have begun to threaten the integrity of their friendship – and worse, their brand. A very funny short but with a serious edge.
  

• Gender Outlaw, a bodysurfing story (USA, San Diego Premiere) A beautifully-shot documentary that navigates the tumultuous waters that Tyler Wilde, a transgender bodysurfer and teacher, has had to move through in his search for big surf, his true self, and his chosen family.

• Queer Parivaar (UK, San Diego Premiere) Directed by Shiva Raichandani – a multidisciplinary, non-binary artist – this is a big, queer, colorful Bollywood mini-musical centered around a not-so-traditional wedding. A lovely and lovable short.

• Roads Not Taken (Austria, World Premiere) Longtime friends Liz and Rachel run into each other in their hometown coffee shop. Having been out of touch for years, their unexpected meeting catches them both off guard and soon turns emotional as old wounds are ripped open and buried desires re-surface.

• SWIM (UK, West Coast Premiere) A chance encounter at a swimming pool offers the possibility of a beautiful relationship between sexy guys Sid and Luke. But could it all be shattered when Sid decides to just be himself? This short should resonate with virtually all gay, bi or queer viewers.

• Requiem (UK, North American Premiere) Set in 1605, against the backdrop of the witch trials. It's a coming of age story that follows Evelyn as she engages in a game of cat and mouse against her father, Minister Gilbert, in order to be with Mary, the woman she loves. Requiem will screen as part of the festival’s Student Showcase.

For tickets and full SDIFF information, visit their website.

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