THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

—Shelter, which was the opening night selection at last fall's Reeling Gay Film Fest, is now getting a commercial run. The debut feature from out writer-director Jonah Markowitz ( complete with an interview with him in this issue ) will open Fri., April 4, at the Music Box, 3733 N. Southport. The film follows the coming-out of Zach ( the brunette, buff cutie pie Trevor Wright ) , a talented art student from a poor family who has been forced to give up school in order to help support his dysfunctional family. Enter Shaun ( Brad Rowe, the blonde, blue-eyed heartthrob Sean Hayes yearned for in Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss ) , the older brother of Zach's best friend who, like Zach, is a dedicated surfer. Their shared enthusiasm for sun and surf leads to a close friendship, a heated romance and, then ( gulp! ) , love—all amidst a slew of complications for Zach, who must decide between responsibilities; his art-school dreams; his new, hottie boyfriend, etc.

—The Music Box is also the location for a week of terrific films celebrating the glorious legacy of United Artists, with several movies of particular interest to gay audiences. The United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival plays Fri.-Thurs., April 4-10, with Raging Bull ( a new print ) and Bananas kicking off the celebration. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly screens Sat., April 5, and West Side Story ( based on the iconic musical entirely created by gay men ) will run Sun., April 6.

The showings are part of an 18-month global celebration that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced March 11.

Two Billy Wilder films are next and will screen Mon., April 7. The first is the Wilder curio Kiss Me Deadly while the second is Wilder's acknowledged masterpiece, the 1959 roaring '20s drag classic Some Like It Hot. Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and the exquisite Marilyn Monroe star in the story of two musicians hiding out ( in drag ) in an all-female band in sunny Florida after witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Monroe, as the forlorn Sugar Kane, talks about always getting the 'fuzzy end of the lollipop' while Tony Curtis does double drag—as both the saxophone-wielding Josephine ( whose pursed lips, as Curtis recalls in The Celluloid Closet, were inspired by Eve Arden ) and as a phony millionaire playboy ( complete with Cary Grant imitation ) romancing Monroe. But it is Lemmon who steals the show as Daphne, who literally shakes his maracas after a night tangoing with rear-end-pinching Osgood ( Joe E. Brown ) , who answers Curtis' query, 'But why would a guy want to marry a guy?' with a heartfelt, 'Security!' A new print will be shown.

Stanley Kubrick's The Killing and the chilling political thriller The Manchurian Candidate ( with bisexual star Laurence Harvey in his best role and Angela Lansbury as his vicious mother in one of hers ) will run Tues., April 8. Gay actor Charles Laughton's only film as a director, the masterful Night of the Hunter, will be shown Wed., April 9, while 1969 Best Picture Oscar winner Midnight Cowboy ( which got its initial 'X' rating because of the scene in which a teenaged Bob Balaban tries to pick up Jon Voight in a movie theater men's room ) is set to screen Thurs., April 10. Also, Peter Finch and a pre-Mommie Dearest Faye Dunaway are showcased in the black comedy Network, which won them both Oscars. www.musicboxtheatre.com

—A free screening of Freeheld—Cynthia Wade's powerful and moving Oscar-winning documentary that follows Lt. Laurel Hester's struggle to make her pension benefits available to her partner, Stacie Andree, before her impending death from lung cancer—will be held Tues., April 8, in the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted. A pre-screening reception begins at 6:30 p.m. with the screening at 7 p.m. and a Q&A with DePaul University professor Beth Kelly to follow. Kelly, a member of the City of Chicago's Advisory Council on LGBT Issues ( ACLGBTI ) , was a college friend of Hester's and acted as a consultant on the film. The screening kicks off a push for civil unions in Illinois that will continue April 9 with a lobby day in Springfield. Individuals from across Illinois will travel to the state capital to urge passage of H.B. 1826, which would legalize civil unions here. ACLGBTI, Center on Halsted and Equality Illinois are sponsoring the film event. More information about H.B. 1826 and civil unions in Illinois can be found at www.civilunionsillinois.org and further information on Freeheld is available at www.freeheld.com .

—The 24th Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival runs Fri.-Wed., April 4-16, and this year will showcase more than 100 feature films and shorts from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States. Several of the movies ( which are being screened at various venues around the city ) in the fest will be of particular interest to LGBT audiences, including Las Dos Caras de Jano ( The Two Faces of Janus ) , the story of a private detective ( played by Puerto Rican star Modesto Lacen ) trying to track down a serial killer dubbed 'The Angel of Bachelors' who preys on closeted gay male socialites in Puerto Rico. The film screens Sat., April 5, at 4 p.m. and Sun., April 6, at 8:30 p.m. at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark. Tal Como Somos ( Just As We Are ) , a documentary that follows the lives of six Latino gay and bisexual men ( including a Chicago couple ) and a transgender woman, is also part of the fest and will screen Fri., April 11, at 8:30 p.m. at Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio. Jesus Ramirez-Valles, the executive producer of the film and Judith McCray, the director-producer, are both Chicago residents. An interview with Ramirez-Valles will appear in next week's Windy City Times. Find further information on both films, tickets and festival particulars at www.LatinoCulturalCenter.org or call 312-409-1757.

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter Web site, where there is also ordering information on my new book of collected film reviews, Knight at the Movies 2004-2006.