It's taken out filmmaker Ron Pajak more than 10 years to assemble the final cut of Quearborn & Perversion, his anecdotal overview of Chicago's gay history. But the tinkering has paid off and Pajakwho makes his feature debut with this compelling labor of lovehas assembled a deeply emotional, captivating portrait of our local queer forebears. Pajak's documentary will have its world premiere Sunday, Oct. 18, at 3:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Like last year's WTTW documentary, Out & Proud, I think it should be required viewing for not just those interested in Chicago's queer history, but Chicago's history, period.
Chicago's blue-collar, macho image was at odds with the first attempts at gay libto say the leastback in 1924, when Henry Gerber started the city's first gay-rights group ( the Society for Human Rights ) . But, ironically, Illinois was also the only state in the country where homosexual activity wasn't illegal. Pajakutilizing archival footage, photographs, memorabilia and computer graphicstakes us on an overview of some of the city's gay firsts. Our tour guides are a host of vibrant gay and lesbian pioneers and their kinactivists, authors, artists, performers, just plain folkswho share their bittersweet and often hilarious reminisces without hesitation.
Several of the city's social gay history hallmarks are affectionately rememberedChicago's first drag club ( back in the '30s ) , the first rough trade bar Benny the Bum's ( 1947 ) , Big Lou's, the first lesbian bar ( from the early '50sbefore that, lesbians often met at ballgames ) , the popular drag bar the Chesterfield from the mid-'60s. Often, it's the private parties held behind closed doorsaccompanied by amazing home-movie footagethat elicit the most vivid memories. Then Pajak moves into darker territory when human-rights indignities and shameful incidents Our People suffered are recounted that resultedslowlyin the rise of gay activism with the Mattachine Society and other activist groups coming together.
Pajak also includes an overview of the Black gay and lesbian community, and the film doesn't pull any punches when noting the "segregation within the segregation" that occurred within the gay community. Quearborn & Perversion ends as Chicago queer history entered a new eraon June 28, 1970the date of Chicago's first pride parade, which kicked off from Bug House Square ( the once infamous gay hustler cruising park at Dearborn and Division whose nickname is the film's title ) .
The participants, who numbered less than 150, then bravely marched down Michigan Avenue ( at one point, they're ironically seen walking past a theatre showing the campy film Myra Breckenridge ) and into the Loop toward Daley Plaza demanding gay rightssetting us up perfectly for a sequel. Here's hoping Pajak finds the funding and a shorter time frame to make it happen. The Aluminum Group provides music.
Pajak will appear in person at both screenings, which will partially benefit the Chicago History Museum. See www.musicboxtheatre.com .
The Chicago International Film Festival ( CIFF ) is into its second week with a packed line-up that includes several LGBT-themed titles in the fest's OUTrageous category still remaining. Those include The Thank You Girls, a story of big-city drag queens loose in the rural provinces in the Philippines ( screens Oct. 17-18 ) ; Eyes Wide Open, a gay love story set in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community ( Oct. 17-19 ) ; and A Woman's Way, a Greek melodrama that features a love affair between an ex-con and a transsexual hooker ( Oct. 17-18 ) .
Mississippi Damned, which screens Oct. 15-17, isn't officially part of the OUTrageous category. But with its prominent lesbian character and certainly as the impressive feature debut of its Black lesbian writer-director Tina Mabry and her co-producer/life partner Morgan Stiff, it should have been. No matter: Categories aside, this don't-miss filmwhich has won awards at OUTfest and other LGBT festivalsis here.
The movieset in 1986 and 1998 in the Southis a searing, emotionally packed portrait of a lively but dysfunctional Black family worn down by all manner of familiar demons ( physical and sexual abuse, drug addiction, homophobia over a lesbian daughter's crush on a best friend, dashed hopes and dreams, etc. ) . Only young Kari, with her talent for music, has a chance of getting out. But can she overcome the onslaught of tribulations thrown in her path? The film is melodramatic, but emotionally gripping performances from its little known African-American cast help balance the clichés. Mabry will attend the screenings along with Stiff and cast member Chastity Hammette, a Chicago native, who plays Leigh, the film's lesbian character.
All CIFF screenings are at AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois. See www.chicagofilmfestival.com .
Film notes:
LOGO kicks off its third annual fall film festival Sunday, Oct. 18 ( new offerings each Sunday night ) , with the television debut of An Englishman in New York, the sequel to the acclaimed The Naked Civil Servant. John Hurt again portrays the late contrarian queer activist-writer-performer Quentin Crisp, and traces the latter half of his life as a gay celebrity living in Manhattan. Out actors Cynthia Nixon and Denis O'Hare co-star. See www.logoonline.com .
The world premiere of Raising the Barre: The Homer Bryant Story, a 30-minute documentary, will run at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, on Wed., Oct. 21, as part of a benefit for the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center. Bryant is the founder and artistic director of the group. The evening kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a buffet dinner before the 7:30 p.m. screening. See www.cmdcschool.com .
Pioneering Canadian experimental feminist filmmaker Joyce Wieland is the subject of Artist on Fire: The Films of Joyce Wieland, a retrospective of her varied career on Oct. 16-17 at 7 p.m. at the University of Chicago Film Studies Center, 5811 S. Ellis Ave., Cobb Hall 306. The two-day program includes a trio of shorts and Wieland's 1969 feature La Raison Avant La Passion. The Experimental Film Club hosts; see www.filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu .
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter Web site.