There are many gay-related films at the Chicago International Film Festival. See www.chicagofilmfestival.com for details:
Blue Spring: 10.13 - 9:45 PM @ Music Box / 10.14 - 4:45 PM @ Landmark Century / 10.15 - 9:15 @ Landmark Century
Cool and Crazy: 10.10 - 9:15 PM @ Music Box / 10.11 - 8:45 PM @ Landmark Century / 10.13 - 2:00 @ Music Box
The Human Comedy: 10.11 - 9:00 PM @ Music Box / 10.14 - 2:15 PM @ Music Box / 10.17 - 7:15 @ Music Box
The Iron Ladies: 10.17 - 9:00 PM @ Landmark Century
Kissing Jessica Stein: 10.06 - 9:00 @ Landmark Century / 10.07 - 2:30 @ Landmark Century / 10.08 - 9:00 @ Landmark Century
Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India: 10.13 - 2:00 PM @ Landmark Century / 10.14 - 4:00 @ Music Box
Mulholland Drive: 10.06 - 9:15 PM @ Landmark Century
Night Shift: 10.09 - 7:00 PM @ Music Box / 10.10 - 4:30 PM @ Landmark Century /
10.11 - 7:00 PM @ Landmark Century
Our Lady of The Assassins: 10.13 - 7:00 PM @ Music Box
Smokers Only: 10.12 - 9:15 PM @ Music Box / 10.13 - 9:30 PM @ Landmark Century / 10.14 - 9:00 PM @ Landmark Century
Trembling Before G-d: 10.14 - 8:30 PM @ Music Box
Truly Human: 10.16 - 6:30 PM @ Landmark Century / 10.17 - 7:00 PM @ Landmark Century
Waterboys: 10.09 - 9:15 PM @ Music Box / 10.11 - 7:00 PM @ Landmark Century
Kissing Jessica Stein ( Fox Searchlight ) : If Woody Allen was a bisexual woman, and several years younger, he might have made the movie Kissing Jessica Stein, the first queer-themed film that deserves to be compared to Annie Hall. Authentically funny, exceptionally well-acted and with dialogue written the way that people actually talk to each other, this good-natured comedy successfully covers a multitude of bases without overextending its reach. Jessica Stein ( screenplay co-writer Jennifer Westfeldt ) and Helen Cooper ( screenplay co-writer Heather Juergensen ) are two single women under 30 looking for love and companionship in Manhattan. Disappointed by the prospects available in the opposite sex, they meet via a "women seeking women" personal ad and set "out" on a journey of self-discovery. As the female leads, Westfeldt ( Jessica ) and Juergensen ( Helen ) turn in star-making performances of the highest caliber. The supporting cast, including the wonderful Tovah Feldshuh as Jessica's mother Judy, Scott Cohen as Jessica's boss and former lover Josh, and Jackie Hoffman as Jessica's co-worker Joan, are also worth mentioning. If you never thought that you'd see a first-rate lesbian comedy, you were wrong. Prepare to fall in love with Jessica Stein. On a scale of 1 to 10: 9.5
Trembling Before G-d ( New Yorker Films ) : Sandi Simcha BuBowski's documentary about the inner conflict of being gay or lesbian and trying to maintain one's faith as an Orthodox or Hasidic Jew is especially compelling at this time in history with our heightened awareness about religious fanaticism. Many of the interviews in the documentary, filmed in Brooklyn, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, and Jerusalem, are done in silhouette or with the faces of the subjects obscured. Among those who speak openly to the camera are an HIV+ man named Mark from London; a once-married lesbian from Brooklyn named Michelle; Brooklynite Israel, who has been with his lover Carl for 25 years; and Steve Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi. The documentary opens with the forbidding quotes from Leviticus and the Shulchan Aruch ( 16th century authoritative code of Jewish law ) , but it closes with words of hope from a modern day rabbi who said that "being gay is an assignment from God," and admonished the religious community not to demonize gay and lesbian Jews, but to love and help them. That, he said, is what Judaism is all about. On a scale of 1 to 10: 7.5
On TV ( Sundance Channel -
www.sundancechannel.com ) :
A Union In Wait: Susan Parker and Wendy Scott are a lesbian couple who had been together in a loving relationship for 16 years when they decided to have a holy union ceremony at the Baptist church in North Carolina to which they belonged. This personal and revealing documentary, directed by Ryan Butler, about the controversy that erupted over their plans for a commitment ceremony is a fascinating look into the explosive debate over same-sex unions. Interviews with both women, members of the clergy, and such high-profile community activists as Barney Frank, Candace Gingrich, and Andrew Sullivan are compelling and empowering. The poisonous rhetoric of hate-mongering Christian activist Fred Phelps continues to make him look the carcinogenic cartoon character that he is. The documentary ends with Susan and Wendy's long-awaited ceremony at the Wake Forest Baptist Church and will delight anyone who loves to cry at weddings. On a scale of 1 to 10: 7 ( Showing 10.11.01 on Sundance )
Chuck & Buck ( Artisan ) : Two boyhood friends, Buck ( Mike White, who co-wrote the screenplay ) and Chuck ( Chris Weitz, co-writer of The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and co-director of the Chris Rock flick Down To Earth ) , are reunited as adults at the funeral of Buck's mother. The boys shared many things in their youth, including a sexual history on which Buck, who is a bit slow on the uptake, has fixated. In the meantime, Chuck has moved on, becoming Charles, a record industry executive who lives in Los Angeles with his fiancee Carolyn ( Beth Colt ) . Buck innocently wants to pick up where he and Chuck left off and, with his inheritance, relocates to L.A. to be closer to Chuck.
Once Chuck figures out what Buck wants, he pulls away. In an attempt to reach out to Chuck, Buck writes a play and enlists Beverly ( scene-stealer Lupe Ontiveros, who was cheated out of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination ) , the house manager of a theater across the street of Charlie's office, to direct. The confluence of stories and memories indicates that everyone's version of reality and perception of events can be as different as one snowflake from another. Director Miguel Arteta ( Star Maps ) gives Chuck & Buck both a home movie and a homo movie quality that is accentuated by the unparalleled performances of the lead actors. On a scale of 1 to 10: 8.5 ( on Sundance )
Conversations In World Cinema: Christine Vachon, the creative producer responsible for bringing the politics of sexuality to movies in the early-to-mid-1990s, is the subject of the October segment of this biographical interview series on Sundance Channel. Born in 1962, Vachon grew up in New York City and attended Brown University in Rhode Island. Shortly after working on her first film ( Parting Glances ) , she co-founded Apparatus Productions, a funding collective for short films. She subsequently produced friend and creative partner Todd Haines' first film Poison, and also worked with him on Safe, Velvet Goldmine and his forthcoming Far From Heaven. In fact, the impressive list of films with which Vachon was involved ( including Boys Don't Cry, Happiness, Kiss Me Guido, Go Fish, Stonewall, I Shot Andy Warhol, and Postcards From America, among many others ) reads like a who's who of contemporary queer cinema. The biographical and historical aspects of this short piece are far more interesting than the question and answer segment.
On DVD:
The First Annual PlanetOut.com Short Movie Awards Highlights ( Picture This ) : Ranging in length from one minute ( the hilarious black-and-white, nipple-ring-driven Devil Doll ) to 15 minutes ( Stephen Patrick Foery's Grand Prize Winning documentary about coming out called Family ) , the 14 shorts presented here all have their merits.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to keep in mind about the brief features ( which include live-action comedies, dramas, documentaries and animated subjects ) on this DVD is that full-length films have developed out of short films in the past. Openly gay actor Guillermo Diaz ( Stonewall ) , who stars in the club-kids short Over Easy, also starred in the short film Just One Time, from a few years ago. When Lane Janger expanded on Just One Time, Diaz reprised his role in the feature-length version of the movie. On a scale of 1 to 10: 6.5
