Frameline42: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival by Frameline

FRAMELINE42

LIGHTS. CAMERA. TAKE ACTION.

San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival June 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 24, 2018 www.frameline.org Premier

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CONTENTS FRAMELINE42

EVENTS + AWARDS

FILMS

LOGISTICS

Welcome to Frameline42. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Opening Night Film and Gala. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 TransMilitary

Showcases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Ticket Info and Order Form.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Sponsors.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 About Frameline. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

US Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Festival Venues and Info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Episodic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Centerpiece: US Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Wild Nights with Emily

Special Presentation. . . . . . 56

Centerpiece: World Cinema. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 And Breathe Normally

World Cinema. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Frameline Board and Staff. . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Documentaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . 131

Shorts Programs.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Members and Donors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Centerpiece: Documentary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 When the Beat Drops

Family Matinee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Film Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

PULL OUT

Centerpiece: Episodic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Bonding

Schedule at a Glance. . . . . P1

Closing Night Film and Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Studio 54 First Feature Award.. . . . . . . 31 Rise Up! Queer Women Filmmakers Take the Helm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Retrospectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Frameline Award: Debra Chasnoff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

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SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ FILM FESTIAL

WELCOME TO FRAMELINE42! FRAMELINE IS THRILLED TO RETURN for its 42nd year, serving as a platform for the world’s finest in LGBTQ content and a lightning rod for fresh, radical ideas and stories. Film has always been used as a vehicle of change, and our tagline this year — Lights. Camera. Take Action. — speaks directly to our mission to change the world through the power of queer media. And speaking of a call to action, Frameline42 opens with TransMilitary, a powerful documentary that shines a light on transgender people who currently serve in the U.S. military, now under very precarious conditions. Another standout set of programs this year also reflects the times we live in: “Rise Up! Queer Women Filmmakers Take the Helm,” proudly supported by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, showcases films and discussions from the unique perspectives of queer, lesbian, and transgender women. Frameline42 is ecstatic that over half of our narratives, documentaries, episodics, and shorts are directed or co-directed by women. How fitting, also, that this year’s Frameline Award will pay tribute to the late filmmaker and activist Debra Chasnoff, a pillar of the Bay Area’s documentary community. Frameline continues to work 365 days to create change— through our vital media Distribution arm; our national youth education program, Youth in Motion; our free online global platform Voices; our Completion Fund; and our free community Encore screenings. We work to redefine the boundaries of how LGBTQ people are presented in media and how we can remain at the forefront of enhancing queer social change for all. Lights. Camera. Take Action. We’ll see you at the movies!

FRAMELINE IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT has always inspired me in their world-leading approach to showcasing queer cinema, and it is a great personal joy to be their new Director of Exhibition & Programming. I’m thrilled with this year’s diverse and enriching slate that our exceptional Programming team has curated. We will be showing over 150 films, originating from more than 30 countries. This year’s program includes a rousing collection of films focused on dance and performance among QTPOC scenes. These include our outstanding Centerpiece Documentary When the Beat Drops, centered on the world of bucking; the electrifying Bixa Travesty, a portrait of transgender singer/artist Linn da Quebrada; a sensational episodic about voguing entitled My House; Frameline Completion Fund recipient Shakedown, a revelatory look at a notorious lesbian stripclub in Los Angeles; Bay Area filmmaker Brontez Purnell’s glimpse into the life of local artist and dancer Ed Mock, in Unstoppable Feat: The Dances of Ed Mock; and Narcissister Organ Player, an intimate look at famed performance art sensation Narcissister. The program is packed solid with many major film festival award winners from around the globe. From Sundance: NEXT Innovator Awardees Night Comes On and We the Animals; Best Director winner And Breathe Normally; and the Grand Jury Prize recipient, The Miseducation of Cameron Post. From the Berlinale: five Teddy Award honored films (Hard Paint, Bixa Travesty, Retablo, Close-Knit, and The Heiresses). From Venice: Queer Lion winner Reinventing Marvin. And from Cannes: Queer Palm recipient Islands. Finally, a massive thanks to all the Frameline team, volun teers, members, sponsors, and of course our dedicated, enthusiastic audiences.

Frances Wallace Executive Director

Paul Struthers Director of Exhibition & Programming

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HOSPITALITY Alter Eco · Bi-Rite Family of Businesses · Escape From New York Pizza · Heliotrope San Francisco Kabuki Springs & Spa · Kasa Indian Eatery · KIND Snacks · Little Star Pizza · Locanda New Conservatory Theatre Center · Park Gyros Castro · San Francisco LGBT Community Center

12 Frameline42

ABOUT FRAMELINE Frameline thanks the following for their generous year-round support:

FRAMELINE’S MISSION is to change the world through the power of queer cinema. As a media arts nonprofit, Frameline’s programs connect filmmakers and audiences in the Bay Area and around the world.

EXHIBITION

Anonymous

Founded in 1977, the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival is the longestrunning, largest, and most widely recognized LGBTQ film exhibition event in the world. With an annual attendance of 60,000+, the Festival is also the most prominent and wellattended LGBTQ arts program in the Bay Area. Additionally, Frameline presents yearround exhibitions and programs which include members-only sneak previews and special events featuring directors, actors, and other queer media icons. Frameline Encore is our year-round free screening series in Oakland and San Francisco that aims to increase accessibility to diverse queer stories. These films and post screening discussions emphasize underrepresented LGBTQ experiences including those from gender expansive persons and queer communities of color.

DISTRIBUTION Established in 1981, Frameline Distribution is the only nonprofit distributor that solely caters to LGBTQ film. Frameline’s collection has over 250 award-winning films that we distribute globally to universities, public libraries, film festivals, and community organizations. Our films can also be seen on direct-to-consumer providers and streaming services. In 2008, Frameline Distribution launched Youth In Motion, a program to provide free LGBTQ-themed films and curriculum resources to Gay-Straight Alliances nationwide. This year, Youth In Motion supports over 25,000 students in more than 1,300 schools in 50 states and Washington D.C. In 2011, we launched Frameline Voices, a digital showcase of diverse LGBTQ stories with an emphasis on films by and about people of color, trans and gender expansive persons, youth, and elders. This free content is available online at any time via a computer or mobile device.

FILMMAKER SUPPORT

James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen

The Hurst Family Fund

Since 1990, the Frameline Completion Fund has awarded more than $515,000 to 149 film projects by and about the LGBTQ community. Grants are awarded annually and provide much-needed support to emerging and established filmmakers for their final postproduction work. These completed films often go on to receive international exposure and accolades. Submissions are accepted for documentary, educational, narrative, animation, and experimental projects about LGBTQ people and their communities. The Fund also seeks to bring new work to under-served audiences; with this in mind, applications by women, people of color, and transgender persons are especially encouraged.

JOIN US Frameline Members are vital to our year-round work in creating change for LGBTQ people everywhere. When you join as a member, your generous gift supports emerging filmmakers, youth outreach to create safer and more accepting communities, and the exhibition of thought-provoking films documenting queer lives and experiences both online and at the Festival. By joining the most respected LGBTQ arts organization in the nation, you invest in our future and also receive an array of exciting benefits. For more information about how you can be a part of the Frameline family, please visit us online: www.frameline.org/support. www.frameline.org

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We thank all of our donors and partners for furthering our mission and supporting LGBTQ media arts.

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OPENING NIGHT

TRANSMILITARY DIRS Fiona Dawson & Gabriel Silverman 2018 USA 93 min Can you guess the largest employer of transgender people in the United States? It’s the military. But each day, more than 15,000 active transgender military personnel face uncertainty. The careers they have chosen, and the commitment to country they have made, are in peril: never protected even by the flawed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, they are now actively threatened with a transgender ban. They are, in many ways, the visible front line of America’s fight for LGBTQ rights. Filmmakers Fiona Dawson and Gabriel Silverman bring us vividly into the epicenter of the battle in this captivating, emotionally charged documentary. In TransMilitary, the inspiring stories of four transgender troops give human faces and hearts to a lightning-rod political issue. With an all-access pass to the day-to-day reality of these passionate, diverse Americans, we watch them do their jobs, bond with family and friends, and fight for their right to defend our liberty. From the rugged roads of deployment to the hallowed halls of the Pentagon, these four soldiers risk their livelihood by being public about their transgender status, in an effort to improve the lives of all soldiers. The film skillfully paints a picture of an upside-down world in which the security of our country and the rights of all Americans are measured against who can use which bathroom. The rollercoaster reality of this situation continues today: while the transgender ban was lifted in 2016, its status remains uncertain under the current regime. This timely, powerful documentary took home the Audience Award at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. — BRENDAN PETERSON

Thursday, June 14, 7:00 pm · Castro OPENING NIGHT FILM & GALA

$75 MEMBERS, $90 GENERAL OPENING NIGHT FILM ONLY

$30 MEMBERS, $35 GENERAL film & gala proudly sponsored by

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

GALA

Following TransMilitary, join us for our glittering Opening Night Gala at Terra Gallery (511 Harrison Street at First Street). Feast on the sights, sounds, and flavors of the Festival while celebrating with mediamakers, industry professionals, and filmgoers alike. gala partners: Girl Friday, Gala Event Producer / Tito’s Handmade Vodka / Kokomo Winery / Bistro Boudin / Curryous Catering / Fogo de Chao / The Front Porch / The Hugh Groman Group / Poco Dolce Confections / Corona Extra Guests must be 21 or over to enjoy beer, wine, or cocktails.

Host partner

Opening night 21

“ TAY L OR IS T HE FIR S T M A JOR NON - BIN A R Y R OL E ON A ME RIC A N SE RIE S T V ” Variety

NOW STREAMING

“Leading cable in sharing stories from communities that have remained largely invisible in popular media”

CENTERPIECE/US FEATURE

WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY DIR Madeleine Olnek 2018 USA 84 min With sly wit, the always wonderful Molly Shannon embodies poet Emily Dickinson, portraying her as a driven writer, a target of obsessive envy, an ardent lover, and a woman who suffered no fools. This tart and hilarious account of creative passion and longing, from acclaimed Frameline alum Madeleine Olnek (The Foxy Merkins, Frameline38; Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, Frameline35), tells only the truth but tells it with an ingeniously subversive slant. Unreliable narrator Mabel Todd (Amy Seimetz, The Girlfriend Experience) misrepresents Emily Dickinson as an unrequited spinster and shut-in. Meanwhile, her true vibrant nature, known best by Emily’s lifelong lover and sister-in-law Susan (Olnek regular Susan Ziegler), shines through. Throughout this gleefully anachronistic biopic, Olnek joyfully tromps on the manufactured images of Dickinson as a tragic virgin recluse with an overactive imagination. This Dickinson is intrinsically connected with her family and community but has the discipline to put her creative solitude and writing first. Yet she is never truly alone in her work. Her muse, first reader, and champion remains Susan, a no-nonsense partner-in-crime who keeps the poet safe from the overbearing critiques of male publishers. In one of her funniest and most thoughtful performances to date, Shannon captures the frustration and unfailing drive of a poet breaking convention, and a woman in firm control of her own craft. With this film, Olnek solidifies her status as one of the freshest voices in queer comedy, fashioning a deliriously absurd take on a creative genius and the many men and women who tried—and continuously failed—to bring her down. — CAROL HARADA

Wednesday, June 20, 6:30 pm · Castro $15 members, $18 general proudly sponsored by

Be sure to join us for Madeleine Olnek: In Conversation on Thursday, June 21 at 4:00 pm at the Roxie Theater, Free.

23 Centerpiece

CENTERPIECE/WORLD CINEMA

AND BREATHE NORMALLY ANDIÐ EÐLILEGA

DIR Ísold Uggadóttir 2018 Iceland, Sweden, Belgium 95 min In Icelandic, English, and Guinea-Bissau Creole with English subtitles Lara is a single mom with money troubles whose life unexpectedly collides with that of a female refugee, in this intensely moving Icelandic drama, which won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Lara is struggling to stay sober and retain custody of her young son when a new job as a border security trainee gives her a burst of badly needed optimism and some hope for financial stability. Eager to please on her first day, she’s seated alongside the passport officer she’s shadowing when she sees a yellow warning light go off as a woman’s documents pass through the computer. Lara’s actions have immediate ramifications: the woman, a refugee from Guinea-Bissau named Adja, is separated from the others she’s traveling with and put into quarantine—and later transferred to a holding center to await a decision on her status. Meanwhile, Lara, unable to forestall eviction, is forced to find shelter in her car when other alternatives prove untenable. Though facing different hardships in an unwelcoming land—wintry Iceland has rarely looked so forbidding—these two women’s stories will link up once again as their isolation leads them to cling to one another. With great compassion and bravura performances, And Breathe Normally presents a female-centered portrait of two vastly different people who find a human connection that unites them when the safety net of social and legal systems seems poised to fail them. As two vulnerable citizens of the world, Lara and Adja take it upon themselves to find a way out of their predicaments. — ROD ARMSTRONG

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Tuesday, June 19, 6:30 pm · Castro $15 members, $18 general proudly sponsored by

CENTERPIECE/DOCUMENTARY

WHEN THE BEAT DROPS DIR Jamal Sims 2018 USA 85 min Defined by dynamic and unified movements and full of bold pageantry, fierce style, and undeniable form, “bucking” is a dance subculture that is slowly entering the mainstream. More than two decades old, it was created by African American gay men in the South as a response to being excluded from participation in majorette routines, due to homophobia and societal pressure. In When the Beat Drops—a feature documentary debut by famed choreographer Jamal Sims, whose credits include RuPaul’s Drag Race, So You Think You Can Dance, and Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour—the origins and evolution of bucking are explored, as are the life stories and struggles of various Atlanta performers. Doing what Paris Is Burning (Frameline14) and Rize did for ball culture and “krumping” respectively, When the Beat Drops offers an electrifying first cinematic glimpse into the phenomenon of “bucking,” featuring ecstatic dance sequences throughout the film. Anthony, a survivor of violence that threatened his ability to perform, is the creator of one of the leading bucking groups in the city; Flash is a radio personality with a gay mom who has been in and out of jail for half of his life; and Napoleon is a teacher who also runs a non-profit music advocacy group. Many of the performers risk corporate jobs to follow their passion for dance, build up the community, and remain true to themselves. And the candid conversations with team captains about issues and stigma within the community make the film truly shine. Presenting an intimate look at the performers’ dedication to their chosen families and their craft, When the Beat Drops culminates in an edge-of-your-seat, intense competition celebrating triumph, athleticism, and artistry. — ANGELIQUE SMITH

Monday, June 18, 6:30 pm · Castro $15 members, $18 general Thursday, June 21, 9:00 pm · Piedmont $15 members, $18 general proudly sponsored by

Centerpiece 25

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CENTERPIECE/EPISODIC

BONDING DIR Rightor Doyle 2018 USA 85 min “You made my heart cum,” Pete tells his best friend Tiff on a summery New York City night. This exchange perfectly sets the tone for Bonding, a hysterical, touching, and kinky new series from creator-director Rightor Doyle about the trials and tribulations of a young gay man and his straight female best friend. For Bonding, Frameline has created its first ever Centerpiece Episodic, showcasing how television—and in particular, Doyle’s exceptional new project—has become a fresh and relevant addition to the festival conversation. Pete (Brendan Scannell, soon to be seen in the upcoming Heathers television reboot) is a shy, aspiring stand-up comedian—the only catch is that his nerves have never allowed him to perform in front of an audience. Struggling to pay the rent to his perpetually horny, anally obsessed heterosexual roommate, Pete agrees to work as a professional assistant to his best girl friend from high school, Tiff (Zoe Levin, Palo Alto). But he’s completely unaware that her line of work is disciplining men as a dominatrix at night while attending grad school during the day. Stepping way out of his comfort zone, Pete must face his own insecurities, realizing his performance anxiety extends well beyond the stage of his local comedy club. At the same time, his new working relationship with Tiff forces her to confront her own fears of opening up to others and letting go of control. In seven episodes, Bonding comically explores the age-old relationship between gay boy and straight girl—with a BDSM twist—in what is sure to be one of the most talked about episodics of 2018. Be sure to look for winning supporting turns from Matt Wilkas (Gayby, Frameline36), D’Arcy Carden (Broad City), and Matthew Risch (Looking). — JOE BOWMAN

Thursday, June 21, 9:15 pm · Castro $15 members, $18 general

Centerpiece 27

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CLOSING NIGHT

STUDIO 54 DIR Matt Tyrnauer 2018 USA 98 min Strap on your dancing shoes and prepare to get down with this electrifying documentary —a critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser at this year’s Sundance Film Festival—about the most famous disco of all time. Opened in midtown Manhattan in 1977, Studio 54 was the place to be, defining an entire era. And then, barely three years later, the party came to an abrupt and scandal-clouded end. Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor; Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, pg. 70) takes us deep inside the club experience with neverbefore-seen images, rare home movie footage featuring Liza Minnelli and Michael Jackson, and magnificent, booming music at every turn. Studio 54 focuses on the club’s owners, Steve Rubell (who died in 1989 of complications from AIDS) and Ian Schrager, college friends who transformed the cultural landscape in New York City. Fueled by interviews with Schrager, who has until now kept silent about his time at Studio 54, the film paints a colorful portrait of a magical place. Gay and straight disco lovers danced alongside celebrities like Cher, Grace Jones, and Elton John to name a few. Capturing the glitzy glamour and lurid dramas inside this marvelous mecca of decadence, Tyrnauer provides fascinating details of how the club became a haven for minorities and the ostracized; we learn first-hand what the strict, ever-changing rules were to get inside, as well as how the IRS barged in and took down an amazing—and often amazingly illegal—party. A cautionary tale about the dysfunction of decadence and an inspirational account of a dynamic, diverse community, Studio 54 pulsates with the energy and anxiety of the postVietnam, post-Watergate era, when people found love, connection, and their groove thing beneath the sparkle of a spinning disco ball. — BRENDAN PETERSON

Sunday, June 24, 7:00 pm · Castro FILM & PARTY

$50 MEMBERS, $60 GENERAL FILM ONLY

$30 MEMBERS, $35 GENERAL film & Party proudly sponsored by

PARTY

After the film, head to Frameline42’s Closing Night Party at Oasis (298 11th Street at Folsom Street) to indulge in tasty creations and smooth cocktails as we announce winners of the AT&T Audience Awards and the First Feature Award, proudly underwritten by Wells Fargo. Then enjoy a live performance by legendary SF drag impresario Heklina. event partners: Girl Friday, Event Producer / Heklina / Curryous Catering / Tito’s Handmade Vodka Guests must be 21 or over to enjoy beer, wine, or cocktails.

Host partner

closing night 29

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The ultimate cinematic experience

For avid moviegoers, a film festival is a momentous event. For filmmakers, it is a venue for captivating viewers with their creative vision. We applaud Frameline and the films that capture our imagination.

Frameline42

FIRST FEATURE AWARD Proudly underwritten by Wells Fargo THIS YEAR’S ELIGIBLE FIRST FEATURES And Breathe Normally / Andið eðlilega Ísold Uggadóttir Chedeng & Apple / Si Chedeng at si Apple Rae Red & Fatrick Tabada Everything Is Free Brian Jordan Alvarez Fish Bones Joanne Mony Park The Heiresses / Las herederas Marcelo Martinessi Just Friends/ Gewoon Vrienden Ellen Smit

While we all love seeing the latest film by our favorite wellknown director, there’s nothing quite like catching debut work from an emerging voice whose first feature—whether sharply comic, emotionally gripping, visually audacious, or completely unclassifiable—brings with it the promise of a prolific career as one of our generation’s next vital storytellers. Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, prides itself on introducing audiences to remarkable new talent and filmmaking artists. Previous groundbreaking winners include: Something Must Break (dir Ester Martin Bergsmark), Head On (dir Ana Kokkinos), Facing Mirrors (dir Negar Azarbayjani), Undertow (dir Javier Fuentes-León), and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (dir John Cameron Mitchell). The recipient of this year’s First Feature Award will be announced at the Closing Night Party on June 24. Regardless of which director takes home the Award, all of the Festival’s debut feature filmmakers are winners simply for sharing their extraordinary visions and voices with us.

Kill the Monsters Ryan Lonergan Lez Bomb Jenna Laurenzo Mapplethorpe Ondi Timoner The Marriage / Martesa Blerta Zeqiri A Moment in the Reeds/ Tämä hetki kaislikossa Mikko Makela My Best Friend / Mi mejor amigo Martín Deus Nina Olga Chajdas Retablo Alvaro Delgado Aparicio L. Skate Kitchen Crystal Moselle

FRAMELINE41 FIRST FEATURE AWARD RECIPIENT: The Wound, directed by John Trengove

Proudly underwritten by Wells Fargo, this $7,500 juried award is presented to the outstanding first narrative feature at Frameline42.

first feature award 31

RISE UP! QUEER WOMEN FILMMAKERS TAKE THE HELM Even as the #MeToo and #TimesUp groundswells have revealed the obstacles

facing women in gaining access and opportunities in the world of film and media, there has been a quiet and powerful revolution happening among lesbian,

queer, and transgender women as they create new pathways toward authentic representation on the screen and behind the camera. This is a movement

Frameline is proud both to reflect and support: this year, more than 50% of our

feature-length narratives, documentaries, shorts, and episodic series are directed or co-directed by women, a trend that has only gotten stronger in the last several years. (Compare this to the industry as a whole: a recent study of top-grossing films determined that only 11% were directed by women.)

As part of a special initiative supported by the Academy of Motion Picture

Arts and Sciences, Frameline42 shines a spotlight on the historic achievements and current state of queer women in filmmaking, through a robust selection

of new films by women directors, a panel discussion, an onstage conversation with Madeleine Olnek, and a special tribute program to late Oscar-winning documentary director and activist Debra Chasnoff, recipient of the 2018

Frameline Award (see pg. 35). The scope and diversity of the stories and lives represented by these remarkable trailblazers are truly inspiring.

The Last Goldfish (P.66)

32 Frameline42

And Breathe Normally (P.24)

Nina (P.62)

LIGHTS. CAMERA. TAKE ACTION. Queer Women Documentarians in the Spotlight

Expected participants:

Tuesday June 19 · approx. 5:00 pm · Castro Theatre · FREE While much of the focus on the representation and visibility of queer women in cinema inevitably falls upon narrative feature films—with their fictional characters, invented storylines, and cultural currency—a lot of the progress in the media field has happened in the documentary space, especially with queer women behind the camera. Do women documentarians face the same kinds of barriers to access, limitations to budget, and content as feature filmmakers? Are the lives and experiences of lesbian, queer, and transgender women finding more authentic representation in nonfiction media? And who is telling their stories? Join an all-star group of documentary makers and thinkers for a sharp look at the present and future of the queer women’s documentary. The discussion will take place immediately following the screening of DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION!— entry to the discussion is free to the public, though the preceding documentary itself is a ticketed screening (see pg. 65).

Caroline Berler Director, Dykes, Camera, Action! Kimberly Reed Director, Dark Money, Prodigal Sons B. Ruby Rich Professor of Film & Digital Media and Social Documentation at UC Santa Cruz; Author, New Queer Cinema; Subject, Dykes, Camera, Action! Yvonne Welbon Producer, Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100, The New Black; Senior Creative Consultant, Chicken & Egg Pictures; Subject, Dykes, Camera, Action!

MADELEINE OLNEK: IN CONVERSATION Thursday June 21 · 4:00 pm · Roxie Theater · FREE Lesbian filmmaker extraordinaire, Madeleine Olnek, is finally becoming a household name. After years of acclaimed plays and Sundance-worthy independent films—most notably her hysterical absurdist works The Foxy Merkins (Frameline38) and Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Frameline35)—her most recent project, Wild Nights with Emily (this year’s U.S. Centerpiece, pg. 23), is taking the independent film world by storm. The film, which stars Molly Shannon as a defiantly gay Emily Dickinson, premiered to ecstatic reviews at SXSW this year—IndieWire called it “the best lesbian comedy in years”—and rightfully solidified Olnek’s status as a gifted comedic auteur who knows better than anyone how to playfully subvert mainstream, male-centric modes of storytelling. At this particularly seismic, #TimesUp era shift in Hollywood, queer voices like Olnek’s are as vital as ever. Frameline is thrilled to offer a free, open-to-the-public conversation with Madeleine Olnek. Please join us for this fascinating look at Olnek’s career, accompanied by a curated selection of scenes from her films, followed by an extended Q&A and public dialogue.

Dykes, Camera, Action! (P.65)

The Rest I Make Up (P.69)

featuring:

Madeleine Olnek Director, Wild Nights with Emily, The Foxy Merkins, Codependent Lesbian Alien Seeks Same

Madeleine Olnek

Nothing to Lose (P.68)

Rise Up! Queer Women Filmmakers Take the Helm 33

RETROSPECTIVES BUDDIES

DIR Arthur J. Bressan Jr. 1985 USA 81 min

Thursday, June 21, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

Buddies is provided by

Arthur J. Bressan Jr. (Gay USA) created this gay indie masterpiece in 1985, after more than a decade of making gay adult films. When 25-year-old yuppie David (David Schachter) volunteers to be a “buddy” to an AIDS patient, the community center assigns him to Robert (Geoff Edholm), a 32-year-old gay activist from California who has been abandoned by his friends and lovers. This devastating two-hander (the rest of the cast is heard only off-screen) unfolds within Robert’s Manhattan hospital room; as David gazes out at the piers and rooftops of Manhattan, we hear his deftly scripted diary entries in voiceover. And as David is changed by knowing Robert, so, too, are we. In the simplicity of the story and the elegance of its unfolding, Bressan and Buddies achieve a rare perfection. It’s a timeless portrayal of an entire era in gay history. The first feature-length drama about AIDS, Buddies has long been unavailable. Frameline is proud to present the world premiere of this new 2K digital restoration created by Vinegar Syndrome, as well as handle the distribution of this important film. Frameline and the Shanti Project copresented the film’s original world premiere on September 12, 1985, at the Castro Theatre, with Bressan and his cast in attendance. Five days later, on September 17, President Ronald Reagan finally uttered the word “AIDS” in public for the first time. Sadly, Bressan and Edholm both died of AIDS, in 1986 and 1989, respectively. David Schachter is alive and well in New York City. — JENNI OLSON

IT’S ELEMENTARY: TALKING ABOUT GAY ISSUES IN SCHOOL DIR Debra Chasnoff 1996 USA 80 min

Wednesday, June 20, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

Visionary filmmaker Debra Chasnoff’s It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School boldly turned the minefield of teaching about LGBTQ issues in elementary schools into a navigable playing field. Chasnoff (1957–2017), an Academy Award-winning director and recipient of this year’s Frameline Award, was instrumental in bringing queer issues into the country’s curriculum through this groundbreaking film, advancing the idea that teaching about LGBTQ topics was no longer only a gay and lesbian issue, but a health and safety issue for all children. Winner of Frameline20’s Best Documentary Award, It’s Elementary is a heartwarming look at six elementary and middle schools (including San Francisco’s Luther Burbank Middle School) teaching about LGBTQ issues. The kids’ enthusiastic participation in class exercises is intercut with interviews of courageous teachers and principals on the frontlines of teaching acceptance. What is most striking is the facility with which the kids in this film understand the idea of a family made up of two moms or two dads, even when the adults around them are struggling with the repercussions of teaching about reality. Chasnoff’s clear-eyed, entertaining filmmaking focuses on the black-and-white world of right and wrong that the kids inhabit, while addressing the grayer issues that parents and teachers struggle with: the conflict between different parents’ values; the relationship between unchecked homophobia, gay-bashing, and teen suicide; and the complex question of how we teach our children about difference. — NANCY FISHMAN

The film will be preceded by a tribute to Debra Chasnoff, including the presentation of the Frameline Award and an excerpt from her final film, Prognosis, which she was working on up until her death last November.

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Frameline Award

DEBRA CHASNOFF (1957–2017) Debra Chasnoff was a documentary filmmaker

and social justice activist—to her the two were synonymous. Quite simply, she changed the world.

Chasnoff (Chas to her friends) indelibly transformed the landscape in the fight for the rights of LGBTQ folks to be parents. She altered the country’s understanding of LGBTQ families and was a leader in creating safe schools by teaching children about difference and diversity—not just LGBTQ diversity, but racial, family structure, and gender diversity. She was funny, a brilliant strategist, and an inspiring filmmaker whose work championed respect for people and the environment. Want to know what a revolutionary and a force of nature looks like? Cue up Debra Chasnoff’s acceptance speech from the 1992 Academy Awards ceremony. Her documentary short Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment won her an Oscar, and her acceptance speech landed a staccato onetwo punch: Chas strode up to the podium and became the first woman to thank her same-sex partner on the nationally broadcast Oscars and she encouraged people to boycott General Electric because they manufactured nuclear weapon components. That’s chutzpah! Chas grew up in Maryland with liberal, Jewish parents who modeled advocacy for social justice. She graduated Join Frameline, Nancy Otto, and from Wellesley College and was an activist before she was a filmmaker, working to shut down a nuclear power plant Kate Kendell (National Center for in New Hampshire and then later as an editor of Outlook Magazine. The filmmaking bug bit her hard when she—with Lesbian Rights) for the 2018 Frameline her former partner Mimi (Kim) Klausner—made her first film, Choosing Children (1984), about six lesbian-headed families Award presentation on June 20, 4 pm, who decide to become parents. Through that film, Chas at the Castro Theatre, including a recognized the power of using documentary storytelling to change people’s minds and to launch a movement. tribute to Debra Chasnoff and the And launch a movement she did. Chas’ 1996 film It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in screening of It’s Elementary. School—which boldly turned the minefield of teaching about LGBTQ issues in elementary schools into a navigable playing field—was instrumental in bringing queer issues into elementary school curricula. According to Nancy Otto, Chas’ wife of 17 years, “She had an uncanny talent at taking very complicated or controversial concepts and distilling them in ways that were easily understood. Chas and her films opened people’s hearts.” Chas’ work, much of which screened at Frameline, went national. Her San Francisco-based non-profit production company Groundspark created the Respect for All project—films and teacher training resources designed to help prevent prejudice among young people, including That’s a Family, Straightlaced, and Let’s Get Real. That’s a Family brilliantly juxtaposed issues faced by queer kids with those faced by children of divorced, single, or mixed-race parents, provoking a nationwide backlash from conservatives. Undaunted, Chas—inspired by her sons Noah and Oscar—kept making films so that teachers and students had the tools to talk about tough topics. Chas died of breast cancer at the age of 60 on November 7, 2017. At the time of her diagnosis, she fearlessly picked up a camera and turned it on herself, starting a new film titled Prognosis. Chas hoped that her experience would help other people facing serious medical conditions. The film—an intimate portrait of the poignant, humorous, and unpredictable nature of hanging on while letting go—is being finished by her wife Nancy Otto and a team of local filmmakers, Kate Stilley Steiner, Carrie Lozano, Lidia Szajko, and Joan Lefkowitz, who were some of her best friends (and who will show a short clip at the June 20 Frameline Award presentation). It is no surprise that Chas was, until the very end, a filmmaker and an activist. For our 42nd anniversary Festival, we are honored to present the Frameline Award posthumously to Debra Chasnoff, an exceptional queer filmmaker, visionary activist, and life-long champion of social justice. — Nancy Fishman

frameline award: Debra Chasnoff 35

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SHOWCASE

1985 DIR Yen Tan 2018 USA 85 min 1985 was the year of Nintendo, New Coke, Wrestlemania, and “We Are the World.” It was also the year that Rock Hudson died of AIDS and when the first commercial AIDS blood test became available. It is this year which serves as both the title and setting for Yen Tan’s nostalgic and gorgeously realized new film. Coming home for Christmas after a three-year absence, Adrian (Cory Michael Smith, Gotham, Carol) struggles to reconcile his current life in New York City with that of his religious, conservative family back in small town Texas. His father (Michael Chiklis, The Shield) is cold and distant, while his mother (Virginia Madsen, Sideways) presses him about meeting up with his childhood girlfriend (Jamie Chung, Once Upon a Time). As Adrian starts reconnecting with his younger brother, sneaking him into Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and buying him R.E.M. tapes, he begins to feel the full weight of the choice before him: to finally be honest with his family about who he is and face the consequences, or to return to New York without revealing his truth. Featuring standout performances from Smith, Madsen, and Chung and shot on exquisitelyrendered black-and-white 16mm film, writer-director Yen Tan (Pit Stop, Frameline37; Ciao, Frameline34) based this visually striking, moving feature on his 2016 short of the same name, which won a Special Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival and screened at Frameline40. — ELLIOTT BREEDEN

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

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Sunday, June 17, 6:45 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

SHOWCASE

ALONE IN THE GAME DIRS Natalie Metzger & Michael Rohrbaugh 2018 USA 95 min A FILM BY DAVID MCFARLAND Given America’s recent lovefest following that adorable kiss between freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy and his boyfriend, actor Matt Wilkas (Bonding, pg. 27), on the slopes of Pyeongchang, it seems we may have turned a corner in the acceptance of gay athletes at the highest levels of sport. Yet as this stirring documentary shows, it can still be very difficult for professional athletes (and those with an eye on going pro) to decide to come out. The risk of losing their place in the game can weigh so heavily that life outside the sport is frequently a life lived inside the closet. Alone in the Game follows a handful of athletes of varying levels, sports, and identities as they decide how to be true to themselves. Vanderbilt lineman Riley Tindol weighs the crushing isolation of being closeted against the fear of destroying his opportunity to play. Layana White and Haley Videckis contend with homophobic backlash that has succeeded in pushing them off their WNBA-tracked college team. High schooler Trevor Betts navigates gender affirmation through wrestling, while skier Kenworthy battles himself in a world where reputation and marketability are weighed equally with skill. Featuring notable sports experts and athletes, including NBA center Jason Collins, Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe, MLS cup champion Robbie Rogers, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Alone in the Game is a rallying cry for LGBTQ athletes to come out, play out, and be supported by the industry and fans alike. — SOPHIA LANZA-WEIL

Saturday, June 23, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

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SHOWCASE

BELIEVER DIR Don Argott 2018 USA 101 min Born and raised in the Mormon faith, Dan Reynolds doesn’t quite fit the mold of the rowdy, rebellious rock star. The young father of three and lead singer of the platinum record–selling, Grammy Award–winning alt-rock band Imagine Dragons is also not the most likely of activists for same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. But when the youth suicide rates in Utah start to spike dramatically, and lesbian friends of his wife, Aja Volkman (the lead singer of the indie rock group Nico Vega), are denied the right to marry, Dan begins to question the anti-LGBTQ tenets of the Church—tenets he had long accepted as gospel and had been trained to proselytize as a young missionary. What starts as a journey of discovery becomes something of a crisis of faith as Dan comes to recognize the harm and pain the Church is causing for thousands of LGBTQ Mormons. Determined to change hearts and minds within the Mormon community and to hopefully force the hand of Mormon leadership, Dan teams up with Tyler Glenn—the lead singer of the band Neon Trees and a rare out gay Mormon—to produce LOVELOUD: a major pro-LGBTQ concert that takes place in the heart of Utah. In front of an audience of more than 17,000, Dan shares the stage with not just the music festival’s cofounder and his wife, but also a number of Utah residents, who, between songs, recite their own beautiful and inspiring tales of resilience in the face of homophobic oppression. Are Dan’s heartfelt intentions and “Love Is Love” message enough to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ and Mormon communities? An audience hit at Sundance, Believer is the latest feature from acclaimed documentarian Don Argott (Last Days Here, The Art of the Steal). — JOANNE PARSONT

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Sunday, June 17, 4:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

SHOWCASE

CALL HER GANDA DIR PJ Raval 2018 USA, Philippines 93 min In English and Tagalog with English subtitles Her mother called her ganda, “beautiful” in Tagalog. Her family and friends called her Jennifer. The U.S. Marine who killed her called her “it.” This film calls for justice—for Jennifer Laude and for her country. Director PJ Raval (Before You Know It, Trouble the Water) unreels a piercing, kaleidoscopic indictment of U.S. colonial power in the Philippines, set against the aftermath of the brutal murder of a transgender woman. The evidence is clear: 19-year-old Private Joseph Scott Pemberton is guilty. But the geopolitical situation is murkier: by dictate of a controversial 1999 agreement, the U.S. government retains jurisdiction over military personnel accused of committing crimes in the Philippines. And so we are led, by crusading trans journalist Meredith Talusan, the family’s tenacious attorneys, and Laude’s anguished, grieving mother, in and out of byzantine legal maneuvers, through the dark streets of Olongapo City to interview other transgender sex workers, and back to a kitchen filled with the sizzling of comfort food. Interwoven with Raval’s poetic vérité imagery—marvelously shot by cinematographer Mike Simpson—are cell phone videos of a radiant Jennifer Laude in a red dress, twirling before the camera, that play a haunting refrain. As legal chaos swirls, as the media feasts, as activists march, and as the populist demagoguery of Duterte threatens, we are always brought back to the exquisite humanity and promise of an individual woman. — LUCY LAIRD

Sunday, June 17, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

This film contains descriptions of transphobic violence. This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

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SHOWCASE

FREELANCERS ANONYMOUS DIR Sonia Sebastián 2018 USA 81 min Launching an app that matches freelancers with potential employers is an answered prayer for desperate bride Billie (Lisa Cordileone, Easy Abby: How to Make Love More Difficult, Frameline37). But making her startup happen means lying to both her business partners and her fiancée, Gayle (Natasha Negovanlis, Carmilla), in this screwball romp that blends romantic comedy and workplace politics. With Gayle expecting a fairytale wedding in the coming months, the timing couldn’t be worse for Billie to quit her job, but when her hours are cut at the same time that she is expected to take on more responsibility, she snaps. Wandering into Freelancers Anonymous, a motley assortment of contract workers lacking confidence and direction, Billie sees what they can’t: with their diverse skill sets, the group could form the nucleus of a successful company. But her potential partners are suspicious of her motives, and she doesn’t dare come clean with Gayle about their precarious finances, so Billie gets creative (and sneaky) in order to make all her dreams—work, life, and wedding—come true. Cordileone is an affable screen presence as Billie, a sad sack with a talent for the devious, transforming that bad behavior into something appealing, and she’s exceptionally well matched with Negovanlis and Jennifer Bartels, in the role of Billie’s sardonic foil, Gillian. The latest comedic romp from director Sonia Sebastián (Girl Gets Girl, Frameline40), Freelancers Anonymous also features winning performances from Amy Shiels (Twin Peaks: The Return), Megan Cavanagh (A League of Their Own), and trans actress Alexandra Billings (Transparent) as Billie’s hysterical robot-ball-obsessed boss. — PAM GRADY This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

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Friday, June 15, 6:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general Saturday, June 23, 7:30 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

SHOWCASE

THE GOSPEL OF EUREKA DIRS Donal Mosher & Michael Palmieri 2018 USA 75 min A 66-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ stands with his arms outstretched. Nearby, The Great Passion Play is performed in a 4,000-seat amphitheater (making it the largest outdoor Passion Play performance in the country). But this amphitheater isn’t the only space in the quaint town of Eureka Springs that throws a massively kitschy religious party. Gospel-inspired drag numbers at the local gay bar have become a staple in this eclectic Arkansas community of bikers, Evangelicals, and queers, who all seem to exist in relative harmony. The Gospel of Eureka focuses on this peculiar cultural melting pot just as the town prepares for a historic vote on an anti-discrimination ordinance. Despite a profound chasm in political and religious viewpoints, the townspeople of Eureka Springs are alike in their warmth, charm, and sometimes, their blissful lack of self-awareness, making the film by turns hilarious and deeply touching. Expanding their short film Peace in the Valley, filmmaking team Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri directed, wrote, edited, shot, and scored The Gospel of Eureka together. (They had previously collaborated on Off Label and Film Independent Spirit Award nominee October Country.) As the cherry on top of this delightful confection, the enchanting Mx Justin Vivian Bond, of the legendary cabaret duo Kiki and Herb, serves as narrator. — ELLIOTT BREEDEN

Sunday, June 17, 9:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

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SHOWCASE

HARD PAINT TINTA BRUTA

DIRs Filipe Matzembacher & Marcio Reolon 2018 Brazil 118 min In Portuguese with English subtitles For Sale signs dot the buildings surrounding Pedro’s apartment. “Everyone leaves this town,” he notes as his sister Luiza grabs her last bag and heads to the airport. Left alone in Porto Alegre, Pedro has only the belongings Luiza left behind, a fine from the landlord, and a looming court date that could land him in jail. His connection to the outside world comes mostly in the form of his computer where, under the alias NeonBoy, he performs webcam shows for money. His signature is the glow-in-the-dark paint he smears all over his exposed body as he dances sensuously to thumping music. When a mysterious copycat performer begins to corner his webcam market, Pedro arranges a meeting with his rival to set him straight. The warm and charming Leo is not what Pedro expects, and the two quickly connect and begin to do shows together. But opening up to Leo may have unexpected consequences. In Hard Paint, recipient of the prestigious Teddy Award at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon have crafted a love letter to community, exploring the connections of young queers in an environment that is at times hostile and isolating. In the moody pixelation of the webcam, Pedro and Leo’s paint-smattered embrace becomes an act of seeing each other, rather than just being watched. Actor Shico Menegat’s nuanced performance makes Pedro instantly relatable, tapping into a common vulnerability shared by outsiders. Menegat and Bruno Fernandes (as Leo) have a natural chemistry that anchors the film. Gritty Porto Alegre, Brazil, is also the hometown of both Matzembacher and Reolon, whose previous collaboration Seashore was a Frameline39 selection. With Hard Paint, they have shown they are a duo of remarkable vision. — ELLIOTT BREEDEN This film contains sexually explicit material.

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Tuesday, June 19, 9:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

with support from

SHOWCASE

LEITIS IN WAITING DIRS Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, & Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu 2018 Tonga, USA 72 min In English and Tongan with English subtitles The last remaining kingdom in the South Pacific, the island nation of Tonga has long been home to a vibrant and creative community of transgender women known as leitis, who have a proud history of dedicated service to the royal family. But while Tonga may be the only South Pacific island never to have been colonized, it has hardly escaped the influence of Western ideologies and bigotry, which now threaten the leitis’ role in Tongan culture and society—as well as their livelihoods and very lives. In this poignant, character-driven documentary (created by the same team who collaborated on Kumu Hina, Frameline38), our leading leiti is the confident and dignified Joey Joeleen Mataele, an outspoken activist and mentor with deep familial ties to the monarchy. Mataele elegantly guides us through the many abuses and challenges that she and her fellow leitis now face from a newly emboldened faction of U.S.-led Christian fundamentalists who are determined to make it illegal to be openly gay or transgender, despite deeply rooted support for the leitis from the royal family itself. From her role as mistress of ceremonies for the glorious Miss Galaxy pageant to her work with the grassroots Tonga Leitis Association, Joey fiercely defends the rights of the leitis and all LGBTQ Tongans by encouraging direct dialogue with their vituperative opposition. It is a true portrait of pride and poise in an island paradise tainted by prejudice. — JOANNE PARSONT

Saturday, June 23, 4:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

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SHOWCASE

MAPPLETHORPE DIR Ondi Timoner 2018 USA 94 min With his provocative photographs, Robert Mapplethorpe left a legacy that still stands nearly three decades after his death from complications of AIDS in 1989. His first commercial success came in 1977 with twin shows in New York: one featured safe portraits of subjects like David Hockney, and one featured work from his X Portfolio: photographs of fisting, watersports, and other provocative images, including a self-portrait of Mapplethorpe with a bullwhip inserted in his ass. Ondi Timoner’s Mapplethorpe dramatizes the artist’s meteoric journey, from the beginning of his friendship with punk poet laureate Patti Smith to his success as a provocateur and then to his ultimate struggle with AIDS. The biopic does not shy away from the photographer’s less-than-seemly side—particularly his fetishization of black bodies, as is bluntly depicted via his affair with model Milton Moore, the subject of Mapplethorpe’s infamous Man in Polyester Suit. The film also explores the complicated relationship between Mapplethorpe and his lesser-known younger brother, the photographer Edward Mapplethorpe (also known as Edward Maxey). When the two were invited to exhibit at the same show, Mapplethorpe insisted that Edward use their mother’s maiden name because there could only be one Mapplethorpe. Charismatic English actor Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) tackles the title role in a performance that is both physically and emotionally naked. Mapplethorpe features the photographer’s original art and was made with the support of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, which granted director Timoner full access to archival material and early works. Timoner is a two-time recipient of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for documentaries (DiG!, We Live in Public), and she brings the nuance and vitality of her nonfiction work into her narrative debut. — CINDY LOU PEEPLES

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Thursday, June 21, 6:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general proudly sponsored by

SHOWCASE

NIGHT COMES ON DIR Jordana Spiro 2018 USA 86 min Eighteen-year-old Angel (Dominique Fishback of HBO’s The Deuce) leaves her stint in juvenile detention with nothing but a few bucks and a dead cell phone. After serving time for unlawful possession of a weapon, she’s thrown back onto the streets and into a world populated by the demons of her past. After unsuccessfully trying to connect with her ex-girlfriend, as well as old friends and acquaintances, Angel realizes how fast the world has changed during her absence and how completely alone she now is. Her little sister, Abby (gifted newcomer Tatum Marilyn Hall), is stuck in foster care, while her dad, responsible for the murder of their mother, roams free in some undisclosed suburb. But Angel, strong-willed and resourceful, has a quick-fix plan: find Abby, get a gun, hunt down her father, and hit the reset button on her and her sister’s lives. First-time filmmaker Jordana Spiro and co-writer Angelica Nwandu paint a tough but intimate portrait of sisterhood in a hostile landscape where kids and young adults, desperate for guidance, are instead forced to fend for themselves. Naturalistic dialogue and restrained but deeply felt dynamics between the two sisters breathe humor and warmth into scenes otherwise loaded with tension and inner turmoil. Winner of a NEXT Innovator Award at 2018’s Sundance Film Festival, Night Comes On is a raw and lyrical coming-of-age tale and a testament to Spiro’s gifts as a nuanced and empathetic storyteller on the rise. — HARRY VAUGHN

Friday, June 22, 6:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

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FACING THE FUTURE.

US FEATURES

EVERYTHING IS FREE

FISH BONES

In the years after art school, gay American painter Ivan (writer-director Brian Jordan Alvarez, The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, Frameline41) has relocated to a coastal town in Colombia to focus on his craft. After some time apart, his straight best friend and former roommate, Christian (Peter Vack, Mozart in the Jungle), comes to visit, bringing his younger brother, Cole (Morgan Krantz), along. The initial pleasantries of beachside camping and late-night partying fade more quickly than expected, after Ivan and Cole (who generally identifies as straight) start secretly sleeping together. When Christian finds out, the otherwise idyllic summer affair brings out difficult and surprising emotions in not just the three men but also their diverse circle of fellow American expats and tourists—among them perpetually scene-stealing genderqueer actor Jason Greene (perhaps better known as Aunt Freckle), Danièle Watts (Weeds), and Bruce Bundy (The Hunger Games). Frank and playful, Everything Is Free marks the first feature film from the multitalented Alvarez (you’ll recognize him from the season finale of the Will & Grace reboot or his extremely popular YouTube channel). Utilizing exceptional cinematography and a memorable soundtrack (featuring an original score by Alvarez, as well as songs from Kate Bush and Madonna), the film exhibits a bold independent spirit as it astutely navigates gay cinema tropes with self-awareness, humor, gravity, and a very modern sensibility.

College student Hana is beautiful, brainy, and conflicted. A Korean immigrant on winter break in New York City, she’s drawn to music producer Nico but finds herself torn between her family’s expectations and her own dreams and desires. Should she pursue a modeling career (despite her mother’s belief that modeling equals sex work), or continue her studies while moonlighting as a waitress? Her growing attraction to Nico only adds to her guilt and confusion. Unlike Nico, who is accepted by her family and comfortable in her skin, Hana must live a double life, keeping both her modeling aspirations and her budding relationship a tightly held secret. Director Joanne Mony Park’s first feature is a kaleidoscope of non-linear moments that reflect Hana’s inner mindscape, weaving color-drenched images with an equally evocative soundtrack, which features Hercules & Love Affair and Nicolas Jaar. Real-life fashion model Joony Kim plays Hana with self-absorbed cool, losing herself in dancing to K-Pop or gazing at her own reflection. In contrast, Cris Gris as Nico projects honesty and warmth, disarming Hana’s natural reserve. Although the two women are polar opposites, their natural chemistry heats up the wintry landscape. Will their attraction be strong enough to break down their cultural and social differences? Will Hana be able to work through her fears and find happiness with Nico? Or will she continue living for others, even though, as Nico puts it, “no one’s gonna win like that?”

DIR Brian Jordan Alvarez 2017 USA 92 min In English and Spanish with English subtitles

— JOE BOWMAN

This film contains sexually explicit material and scenes of homophobic violence.

DIR Joanne Mony Park 2018 USA 82 min In English and Korean with English subtitles

— VICTORIA JASCHOB

Monday, June 18, 9:30 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general

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Monday, June 18, 9:15 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Thursday, June 21, 9:30 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

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FOR IZZY

DIR Alex Chu 2018 USA 84 min In English and Cantonese with English subtitles

As if the loss of both a career and a fiancée weren’t enough, lesbian photojournalist and opioid addict Dede gets a rude awakening from her no-nonsense mother, Anna. Acting as a one-woman interventionist, Anna barges into Dede’s toxic space and forces her into a new home to recover, next door to a spunky but reclusive father-daughter duo. Despite Dede’s finest attempts to scare off her new neighbors, the two families become inextricably linked to each other in deep, funny, and unexpected ways. The daughter-next-door, Laura, an adult on the autism spectrum, lives a sheltered life with her anxiously protective father, Peter, but she sees in Dede a fellow trapped soul and gravitates immediately to her. Slowly, the feelings between the two Asian American women become mutual, and as each breaks open the other’s insular life, Peter begins to fall for Dede’s mother. Torn between his desire to protect his daughter and his burgeoning flirtation with Anna, Peter—like the rest of the motley crew—tries to shake off old habits and try new things. But just as he and Anna take their romance to a new level, an unforeseen crisis strikes, and all four are thrown back into chaos. Utilizing documentary-style footage, still photography, poetry, and beautiful animation, first-time filmmaker Alex Chu has crafted a stirring exploration of addiction, romance, and immigrant life. For Izzy is a deeply compassionate and sweet-natured tale of resilience, told with a pitch-perfect blend of poignancy, humor, and grace. — SOPHIA LANZA-WEIL

Saturday, June 23, 11:30 am · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

IDEAL HOME

KILL THE MONSTERS

Silver fox Erasmus (Steve Coogan, Philomena) and cutie Paul (Paul Rudd, Clueless) are leading what appears to be a perfect pseudo-cowboy life in Santa Fe, replete with swanky parties at their ginormous ranch home. But although they are the hosts and producers of their own cooking series, their biggest talents as an offscreen couple are bickering and drinking. Enter Bill, Erasmus’ secret 10-year-old grandson (a byproduct of his “experimental phase”), who shows up late one night demanding Taco Bell and a place to crash. Now it’s up to the bewildered Erasmus and Paul to figure out how to keep their new guest happy. Have these lifestyle-obsessed foodies really become parents to an uncouth child overnight? As the trio bonds over epic birthday parties and late-night gorditas, the couple are drawn into Bill’s world, and their divergent dad personalities begin to emerge: Erasmus is the carefree, fun parent, while Paul is the responsible, anxious one. When Erasmus’ grown son threatens to take Bill back as soon as he’s out of prison, the couple are despondent and question everything they thought they knew about themselves and their relationship. Filled with snappy dialogue and laughout-loud comedic moments, set against a stunning Southwestern landscape, and directed by longtime out gay writerdirector Andrew Fleming (Threesome, The Craft), Ideal Home is an endearing and hilarious celebration of same-sex parenting. Coogan and Rudd are pitch-perfect as the squabbling and adorable couple.

Dynamic triad Frankie, Patrick, and Sutton put their relationship to the test in Kill the Monsters, a comedic American allegory that will appeal to U.S. history buffs and to fans of hunky guys in three-way relationships. When young, pretty, and charmingly aloof Frankie (Jack Ball, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, Frameline39) falls mysteriously ill, his older and wiser partners—overthinking, practical Patrick (Ryan Lonergan) and impulsive, fiery Sutton (Garrett McKechnie)— agree that it’s time to head west, begin new adventures, and seek holistic treatment. From here, the highs and lows of the triad’s journey mirror key points in United States history, from hot sex in their luxurious New York City apartment (Chapter 1, 1776) to a road trip that results in a civil war and possible breakup (Chapter 3, 1861) to an all-out (poker) war involving scheming, sophisticated, and calculating German and Russian lesbians (Chapter 8, 1945). Director, writer, and star Ryan Lonergan’s ambitious concept works beautifully here, with a script that deftly utilizes the woes of debt, condo boards, and trust issues to hilariously and poignantly examine both modern-day relationships and well-known historical turning points. With a bold score that ties it all together and gorgeous blackand-white cinematography that highlights urban, rural, and body landscapes, Kill the Monsters is a truly striking and promising feature film debut and the perfect date-night film for any and all potential partners.

Saturday, June 23, 6:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 9:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

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DIR Andrew Fleming 2017 USA 91 min

DIR Ryan Lonergan 2018 USA 80 min

— J. SWEMBA

— NATALIE MULFORD

US Features 51

LEZ BOMB

DIR Jenna Laurenzo 2017 USA 90 min

A New Jersey family Thanksgiving is the setting for this modern comedy of misunderstandings. Lauren Anderson is intent on coming out to her distracted parents before her girlfriend, Hailey—and the extended Anderson family—arrives at her childhood home, but Lauren’s plans are thrown off course when her male roommate, Austin, shows up unexpectedly. When Lauren’s mom and dad start making assumptions, the day spirals comically out of control, in this multi-generational crowd pleaser. While Lauren agonizes over her thwarted plan, her loving mother, Rose, is frazzled by the stresses of the holiday, her deadbeat brother (Steve Guttenberg in an endearingly bumbling role), and the recent loss of her own father. Lauren’s overprotective, sweet-toothed dad (a scene-stealing Kevin Pollak) has a lot on his hands with his own side of the family, especially his feisty, randy parents (Cloris Leachman and Bruce Dern, both hilarious). And then there’s Austin and Hailey’s historically contentious relationship, Lauren’s not-too-bright brother, and her precocious cousin. The ensemble cast delivers wall-towall funny and heartfelt performances, highlighting writer, director, and star Jenna Laurenzo’s fast-paced and witty dialogue. Laurenzo’s Girl Night Stand, a short film precursor to Lez Bomb, has logged nearly two million views since its debut on After Ellen, and the feature has the distinction of being the first project supported by film and media incubator Big Vision Empty Wallet’s Kickstart Diversity initiative.

THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST

DIR Desiree Akhavan 2018 USA 91 min

Recipient of a Grand Jury Prize at 2018’s Sundance Film Festival, Desiree Akhavan’s exquisite follow-up to Appropriate Behavior (Frameline38) brings us back to the early 1990s, as we explore the life of teenage orphan Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz, Kick-Ass). When her “boyfriend” busts Cameron making out with the prom queen after a school formal, her guardians send her to God’s Promise, a Christian “gay conversion” camp, to cure her of her SSA (same-sex attraction). As Cameron acclimates to her new surroundings, she’s drawn to the two misfits of the group: a girl named Jane Fonda (the luminous Sasha Lane of American Honey), who hides marijuana in her wooden leg, and Adam (Forrest Goodluck, The Revenant), a two-spirit Native American whose father sent him away after converting to Christianity. While it certainly sounds like a dramatic version of But I’m a Cheerleader (Frameline24), Akhavan uses deft humor— and rousing karaoke numbers to 4 Non Blondes and Céline Dion—alongside the gravity of her subject in adapting Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel of the same name. With a uniformly magnificent cast, which also includes Jennifer Ehle (Wilde) as the ice queen director of God’s Promise (whom one character describes as “your own personal Disney villain”), The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a profound and timely meditation on how far we’ve come—and how far we still need to go. — JOE BOWMAN

— LAURA HENNEMAN

SKATE KITCHEN

DIR Crystal Moselle 2018 USA 106 min

After making a splash in 2015 with the documentary The Wolfpack, winner of a Grand Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival, director Crystal Moselle breaks into narrative cinema with the sensational Skate Kitchen. Moselle uses a mostly non-professional cast—outside of musical phenom Jaden Smith—to populate this coming-of-age tale, which she based on the lives of real-life Skate Kitchen girls she met on a train (many of whom she featured in her 2016 short That One Day). In Skate Kitchen, we’re offered a beautiful, queerinclusive glimpse into the subculture of female skateboarding, a subculture whose popularity never seems to die out with new generations. The loosely structured plot revolves around Long Island teen Camille, who is a fish out of water in the boys’ club world of skateboarding. But toxic bro mentalities, along with her conservative mom’s daily screed against the horrors of skateboarding, make no difference to her at all. After a war of words with her mom leads Camille to take off from the suburbs and head solo to the Lower East Side, she finds kinship in a feisty and subversive group of young female skaters. After vetting Camille properly, they take her on a “skate date” and introduce her to the world of urban skateboarding, which opens the door to friendship, rivals, and—most unexpectedly—love. Shot with a deep awareness of youth culture and the balmy vibes of a New York City summer, Skate Kitchen unearths an exhilarating sense of freedom and improvisation that rings true on every level. — EBEN J. BENSON

Friday, June 15, 9:30 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Monday, June 18, 9:15 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 6:45 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Thursday, June 21, 7:00 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general

Tuesday, June 19, 9:30 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general

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52 Frameline42

SNAPSHOTS

DIR Melanie Mayron 2018 USA 94 min

Three generations of women come together for a weekend at the family’s lakeside home outside St. Louis, and while fishing and Scrabble are intentionally on the menu, secrets both new and long-held turn out to be the main course. On the surface, Allison is a modern young woman making strides in her career. Her mother Patty is mourning her husband and self-medicating with chardonnay. But the heart of the story is grandmother Rose, who has called the cabin home since the late 1950s. A long-forgotten, newly developed roll of film from that time revives Rose’s memories of Louise, a bold, poetry-quoting beauty who opened Rose’s eyes to another way of life when both were young married women. Rose’s memories unfold in lush period flashbacks, as her friendship with the intoxicating Louise blossoms into a sweet and sultry love affair. Piper Laurie (Carrie, Twin Peaks) as present-day Rose is the calm center of the storm, an open-minded voice of reason mediating Allison and Patty’s motherdaughter squabbles while keeping her past to herself. The ensemble delivers authentic, emotional performances, supported by lovely scenery and a beautiful score. Snapshots is a story about family and secrets, love and taboos, choices and legacy. Director Melanie Mayron, a film and television veteran whose credits include Grace and Frankie and Jane the Virgin, applies her considerable talent to this intimate film about strong women, of different eras and sensibilities, who share a family tree.

THEY

WE THE ANIMALS

Fourteen-year-old non-binary teenager J lives in the suburbs of Chicago. Unsure of their gender identity, J uses the pronoun “they” and has been taking hormone blockers to postpone the onset of puberty. Unfortunately, after a visit to their doctor, J learns that the hormones are starting to have concerning effects on their health. After two years of therapy and treatment, J has reached a turning point: they must decide whether or not to continue on their hormone treatment and what path to take with their gender identity. As they face these decisions, J’s sister Lauren (Nicole Coffineau) and Lauren’s boyfriend, Azaz (Koohyar Hosseini), arrive to look after J while their parents are out of town for a long weekend. With They, her first feature which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Iranian-born filmmaker Anahita Ghazvinizadeh crafts a beguiling, thoughtful drama that sensitively explores a unique turning point in a teenager’s selfrealization. Straying from the melodrama and heartache that often accompany coming-of-age films, Ghazvinizadeh uses a dreamlike visual style to highlight the rich, naturalistic performances of her cast. In a truly remarkable film debut, actor Rhys Fehrenbacher delivers a memorable and hypnotic performance as J, commanding the screen while navigating their life, identity, and future. With a quiet, simple beauty, They takes a refreshingly nonjudgmental look at family and growing up.

Amidst the wild woods of upstate New York, a quiet boy named Jonah bounces around town with his badly behaved brothers, causing mischief and, in calmer moments, sketching vivid imaginary worlds with a pen and a pad of paper. Things appear idyllic at home until his parents’ bickering becomes physical and a particularly bruising fight turns Jonah’s world a few shades darker than before. From this point on, We the Animals becomes a lyrical and deeply felt journey into a child’s development from observant boy to brooding pre-teen. Beyond his parents’ issues, Jonah senses in his neighbor’s teenage son a budding queer identity that might match his own: one that he knows is at odds with the rough, heteronormative mindset of his father (a terrific Raúl Castillo, Looking, Frameline40) and his struggling working-class town. Directed with aplomb by acclaimed filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar (Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart) in his first foray into narrative cinema, We the Animals, adapted from Justin Torres’ acclaimed book of the same name, won the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT Innovator Award (shared with Night Comes On, which is also screening at Frameline42, pg. 47) and has been likened by top critics as this year’s answer to Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning Moonlight. Complex and teeming with insight and empathy, Zagar’s film adds new dimension to the coming-of-age genre and ranks easily as one of the most exciting and hotly anticipated American independent films of 2018.

DIR Anahita Ghazvinizadeh 2017 USA, Qatar 80 min In English and Farsi with English subtitles

— JOE BOWMAN

— LAURA HENNEMAN

DIR Jeremiah Zagar 2018 USA 94 min

— HARRY VAUGHN

Wednesday, June 20, 9:30 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general Thursday, June 21, 6:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Thursday, June 21, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 22, 6:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

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US Features 53

DIR Daryl Wein 2018 USA 71 min

Being an artist doesn’t necessarily pay the bills, particularly not for Sophia, a quirky Korean American performance artist in LA. When she’s not biking around the city doing humiliating Task Rabbit jobs for the upper crust, Sophia doggedly pursues her offbeat—and unprofitable—public art: yelling about race into a microphone while decked out in a white wig and onesie, or filming herself face down in mounds of food for her rarely watched YouTube videos. Using a speaker to amplify her Valley Girl voice (even if it’s in a ridiculously faked Korean accent), Sophia is trying hard to be “heard,” but LA doesn’t seem to be listening. In a city where it’s sometimes easier to silently scream into the void, no wonder she seems desperate for a real connection. After late-night stalking of her ex on Instagram doesn’t pan out, Sophia falls for Victoria, a glam Ghanaian American photographer, and they bond over surprising cultural similarities. But will Sophia’s intensity and lack of tact ruin a good thing? In Sophia, Vivian Bang (a performance artist who is the film’s producer and a cowriter of its delightful script) offers a funny, flawed, and likeably open character with a self-indulgent courage that’s somehow both endearing and cringe-worthy. A crowd pleaser at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, White Rabbit is a refreshing dramatic comedy that not only shows the struggle of being a young artist, but also touches on issues of privilege and the truths that can arise from marginalized identities.

EPISODIC

WHITE RABBIT

FOLLOW ME

DIR Jasper Rischen 2018 USA 60 min

— ANGELIQUE SMITH

Frameline42 is proud to present the first two episodes of World of Wonder’s groundbreaking new series, an in-depth, no-holds-barred portrait of some of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s most beloved—and most controversial—contestants. First up is Japanese American transgender wunderkind Gia Gunn. Known for her memorable oneliners (“Gag me with a Delorean!”), Gia remained in the spotlight after the series when she came out as transgender and advocated for trans inclusion within the drag community. Featuring plenty of her salty trademark asides—as well as a playful cameo from transgender supermodel Isis King—this episode also includes a remarkable scene between Gia and an Uber driver that poignantly encapsulates both the ignorance many still harbor towards trans individuals and Gia’s poise as she gently educates the driver about the truths of her community. Next up is the singular Aja, All Stars’ youngest contestant and one who is rapidly ascending to queen superstardom, thanks in no small part to a certain gravity-defying death drop from atop a box that had everyone watching veritably shook. Offstage, the Brooklyn-based, self-described “slutty anime girl” pounds the pavement and works her ass off (after rolling out of bed at noon, naturally). We get an intimate look into her life on the go in sunny Los Angeles where her supportive, no-nonsense boyfriend keeps her in check and drag friends shadow (and shade) the queen as she prepares for shows and downs four-shot iced lattes.

Tuesday, June 19, 9:15 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 1:15 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

— HARRY VAUGHN

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54 Frameline42

FUCKING ADELAIDE

DIR Sophie Hyde 2017 Australia 98 min

From award-winning filmmaker Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays, Frameline38) comes an engrossing new comedy series about three adult siblings summoned back to their South Australian hometown, Adelaide, by their mother, Maude, who intends to sell their childhood home. Over six surprising and laugh-out-loud-funny episodes—each focused on a different family member— we discover the rich personalities and troublesome secrets of this spectacularly idiosyncratic clan. Think Transparent: Down Under. Queer, spandex-clad Eli has always found strength in his singing abilities, but his professional career in Sydney is something close to a catastrophe. The baby of the family, Kitty, still lives at home with her mother but leads a scandalous double life. Successful elder sister Emma has her own family in tow but finds it difficult to keep her career moving forward while she’s stuck reminiscing about her past in Adelaide. Cleo, Emma’s young daughter, is puzzled by being frequently mistaken for a boy, but her magic tricks are improving greatly with Grandma Maude’s coaching. And Maude just wants the family to be together, without drama, for once in their collective lives. The characters and setups are quirky, but the story and performances are grounded in pathos and believability, making this oddball family completely relatable and easy to root for. Produced in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, this series will have you itching for a second season by the time episode six comes to its shocking—and heart-tugging—conclusion.

GIVING ME LIFE (IN THE LAND OF THE DEADASS)

DIR Dafina Roberts 2017 USA 85 min

Insecure meets Brown Girls (Frameline41) in this fresh episodic series about a tight crew of twenty-somethings navigating the ups and downs of dating, friendship, and careers in New York City. Following a different character in each of the six vignettes, this sweet and salty series explores life across the queer (and even straight) spectrum, from gay Christians considering orgies to a bisexual woman who detests the bar scene. Chapter 1 kicks off with idealistic Nala, fired from her community center after gentrification strikes her neighborhood and now considering working for the man. Next, bisexual Leah meets a fellow eligible bisexual but forgets to catch his name. In Chapter 3, Travis and his boyfriend, Clarence, are headed to church but consider a detour when dreamy Michael and Mitchell invite them to a swingers party. In Chapter 4, Cam’s life feels like a telenovela when he struggles to keep a big secret from his new girlfriend. Chapter 5 follows masculine-of-center Jess, who sees her work drama intersect with her weekend life when she runs into her boss while buying weed. Finally, indecisive Gil has to reconcile his old relationship with his new crush when something unexpected catches him off guard. With each episode moving both through the six characters, as well as chronologically along all stories, the viewer is able to jump into all the drama at once, ultimately becoming a part of this somewhat lost but totally lovable posse.

MY HOUSE 2018 USA 80 min

“Ballroom is where your wildest dreams can come true, but to receive validation, status and recognition: you must walk.” With firsthand access to some of the most breathless and energized ballroom vogueing this side of Kiki (Frameline40) and Paris Is Burning (Frameline14), Viceland’s series My House promises to throw one hell of a party. Direct, blunt, and bedazzled in stunning costumes and window-shattering beats, this fierce new show from creator Elegance Bratton (Walk for Me, Frameline41) —along with a host of gifted collaborative filmmakers including Sean David Johnson, Giselle Bailey, and Nneka Onuorah (The Same Difference, Frameline39)—gives audiences a no-holds-barred insider look into New York’s queer ballroom scene. Fresh insight and gorgeous moves from prominent members and all-around superstars— including Precious Ebony, Tati 007, Alex Mugler, Jelani Mizrahi, Lolita Balenciaga, and Relish Milan—make this series a one-of-akind event that you will not want to miss. Frameline42 is excited to host a special screening at the Victoria Theatre this year, where we will revisit previously aired episodes of the half-hour docu-series, which premiered April 25, as well as show the world premiere of the hotly anticipated final two episodes! So come decked out and ready to go hard alongside six of the most prominent houses in all of the Big Apple and some of the most gifted ballroom icons currently slaying in the United States. — HARRY VAUGHN

— LAURA HENNEMAN

— J. SWEMBA

Tuesday, June 19, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 17, 1:45 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 9:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

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Episodic 55

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

PAPER BOYS

DIR Curtis Casella 2015/2018 USA 92 min

Filled with ex drama, hunky new friends, and even a bit of mysterious magic, Paper Boys is the playful San Francisco episodic we have been waiting for. The first three episodes blew up online and inspired a cult following in 2015. And now, three years later, the first season is finally complete, and Frameline42 is excited to showcase Paper Boys in its entirety, including the final three brand new episodes. Sexy and bookish Cole is theoretically in town for the weekend to celebrate the engagement of his best friend, Daren. But when he arrives with heaps of luggage and heads to a job interview at an animation studio, the cat is out of the bag: he’s dropped everything in New York City and is settling down in San Francisco. Now, Cole is couch-surfing (well, blow-up-mattresssurfing) with his straight bro Daren and Daren’s finicky fiancée, Rebecca, as they frantically prepare for their engagement party—a party for a marriage that Daren isn’t even sure he’s ready for. Meanwhile, Cole runs into his ex, Max, a constant flirt with a wry, knowing smile, and sparks immediately fly once more. As both men struggle to figure out their love and career paths, something strange begins to happen with the sketches Cole is making in a long-lost notebook. Can he somehow push their futures in the right direction with just the touch of a pen? With familiar San Francisco haunts around every corner, this hometown series strikes the perfect balance between a down-to-earth story about friends and a supernatural phenomenon. — J. SWEMBA

Saturday, June 16, 1:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

56 Frameline42

TRANSBLACK & UNBOXED Transblack: DIR Charmaine Ingram 2018 Australia 40 min Unboxed: DIR Sam Matthews 2018 Australia 41 min

Two fantastic new Australian trans and gender-diverse episodics have made their way to Frameline42. With no shortage of humor and insight, these top-notch docuseries explore fascinating and touching stories that reveal what it’s like to be trans and gender-diverse. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island transgender men and women are at the center of the universe in the gripping Transblack. Jeremy, Sammy, Natasia and Max—each featured in their own episode—make a big impact in a short amount of time. They reflect on the stress of their childhoods and explore what it means to be indigenous and openly trans, all while navigating careers, romantic relationships, transitions, and religious identities. Boisterous, tender, and at times challenging, Transblack offers a portrait of a group of people who have the unconditional love of their family and friends, and deep unwavering love for themselves. Exploring the space where gender meets art, Unboxed dives into the personal and professional lives of six gender-diverse artists who create vital works across varied media. Each artist reveals incredibly personal stories that are then reflected in artworks that speak directly to their journeys. The subjects reveal how creative outlets validate and protect their voices and perspectives in episodes that paint a rich and complex tapestry of gender diversity and its essential role in the creation of art.

THE DRAG ROAST OF HEKLINA

DIR Cheyenne Picardo 2018 USA 102 min

Check your political correctness at the door and bring your finest, biggest wig for a raucous, no-holds-barred roast of one of San Francisco’s favorite larger-thanlife drag personalities, the one and only Heklina—aka Stefan Grygelko, founder of the city’s longest-running drag show, Mother (formerly known as Trannyshack). Filmed live at the Castro Theatre earlier this year, The Drag Roast of Heklina offers you a front row seat and a chance to relive the madness, as Jackie Beat introduces a host of hysterical queens reading the beloved Heklina to filth. Gracing the stage with their ferocious claws out are comedian Julie Brown (Clueless), San Francisco faves Peaches Christ and Sister Roma, and RuPaul’s Drag Race royalty Alaska Thunderfuck and Jinkx Monsoon—with a special appearance by Bob the Drag Queen (to break up all the white queens representing on stage, she said). With no topic off-limits, these queens lovingly and savagely take on everything from Heklina’s downloadable ringtones, her renowned preferred sexual proclivity, and her “unmistakable voice” (likened to a rather colorful image involving Oscar the Grouch and Bea Arthur). After every queen has her turn at Heklina, the local legend (perhaps channeling the Icelandic volcano Hekla, for whom she is named) has the last booming laugh, reminding everyone who’s in charge as she cackles, “I made more money tonight than all you bitches!” — DIANE DE MONX

— TAYLOR J. HODGES

This film contains sexually explicit language and humor that would be considered offensive outside of a comedy roast.

Saturday, June 16, 11:00 am · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Tuesday, June 19, 9:00 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

WORLD CINEMA

ANCHOR AND HOPE

CHEDENG AND APPLE

TIERRA FIRME

SI CHEDENG AT SI APPLE

DIR Carlos Marques-Marcet 2017 Spain 111 min In English and Spanish with English subtitles

Kat and her girlfriend Eva live in bohemian bliss on their London barge, floating to a new mooring every couple of weeks. Kat (Game of Thrones’ Natalia Tena, here divinely channeling Shane from The L Word) is content with the status quo, but Eva (fellow Game of Thrones star Oona Chaplin) wants a baby. The fortuitous arrival of Kat’s straight pal Roger, in addition to too much tequila, conquers Kat’s doubts—at least momentarily. Anchor and Hope starts as a raucous, ribald comedy of manners and becomes more thoughtful without ever losing its deft touch. The writing is sharp—we’ve all heard Eva’s drunken argument that lesbians have a duty to procreate to combat the hordes of right-wing Christian babies—and the performances are stellar. David Verdaguer, who starred alongside Tena in the director’s previous feature 10.000 Km, is hilarious as horny sperm-donor Roger, who “shoots his wad” with a hookup, leaving nothing to fill the turkey baster. Chaplin gives a layered performance as a woman working hard to ignore the rifts in her relationship, and Chaplin’s real-life mother, Geraldine, is an added bonus as Eva’s ex-hippie mom, Germaine. Award-winning director Carlos MarquesMarcet makes fine use of London’s canals in this not-for-tourists view of the city. The gritty but romantic setting is the final touch on an ideal romcom: funny, sweet, and sad, with a trio of characters like real people—only cuter, hipper, and having more sex.

DIRs Rae Red & Fatrick Tabada 2017 Philippines 87 min In Tagalog and English with English subtitles

Two veteran Filipina beauty queen/actresses reunite to star in this black comedy about wacky women on the run. Chedeng (Gloria Diaz) searches for a closeted first love she left behind, while Apple (Elizabeth Oropesa) tags along to avoid arrest for a gruesome crime. In their youth during the 1970s, La Oropesa and Miss Gloria Diaz—who hold the titles of Miss Luzon 1972 and Miss Universe 1969, respectively—helped launch the “wet look” in Philippines cinema and played fierce rivals with beautiful bodies. Now in their sixties, they play longtime friends who are heading into the provinces, having dispatched their men—with the catch that Apple has brought along the head of her abusive partner in a Louis Vuitton bag. As a devotee of the death deity Santa Muerte, Apple believes that doing so will cast the victim into limbo and make him unable to reincarnate forever. The less flamboyant Chedeng seeks Lydia, the woman she loved but abandoned for a safer heterosexual life in the city. Get ready for a bawdy Thelma and Louise–style road movie that incorporates gross-out comedy with real aching regret for roads not taken—all brightened by a friendship that goes way beyond the bounds of proper behavior. — FRAKO LODEN

— MONICA NOLAN

Thursday, June 21, 9:30 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general Saturday, June 23, 6:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 1:45 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

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World Cinema 57

CLOSE-KNIT

GOING WEST

THE HEIRESSES

KARERA GA HONKI DE AMU TOKI WA

RETT VEST

LAS HEREDERAS

Tomo is an 11-year-old girl whose mother is woefully incapable of caring for her. When the child awakes one morning to find her mother gone—apparently off on a bender— Tomo seeks refuge with her bookstore-clerk uncle, Makio. Before bringing her home to his apartment, Makio cautiously informs Tomo that he’s got a new girlfriend, Rinko, and that there’s something different about her. Rinko is a transgender woman, whose maternal instincts kick in immediately upon Tomo’s arrival—she offers the child a warm meal, a spot on the couch to play Wii, and a bed to sleep in. While Tomo is at first hesitant to accept Rinko’s gestures of affection, she is quickly won over by the tenderness that this new mother figure in her life offers, not to mention the exquisite delicacy with which Rinko does everything from packing lunch to knitting—a craft she teaches Tomo as a way to channel the girl’s anger and sadness. Woven closer every day as a family unit, the three characters are confronted with a wrenching decision when Tomo’s wayward mother returns, looking to be reunited with her daughter. Playing Rinko with deep empathy and subtlety is the male Japanese superstar singer and actor Toma Ikuta. The young Rin Kakihara, who is present in nearly every scene of the film, is exceptional in the role of Tomo. The film, which won a Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, breaks new ground in Japanese queer filmmaking, telling a poignant and affirming story about family, affection, and acceptance.

Unceremoniously fired from his job, elementary school music teacher Kaspar Jensen (Benjamin Helstad, King of Devil’s Island) goes to visit his father Georg (Ingar Helge Gimle), who just might be more down on his luck than Kaspar is. In an effort to repair their strained relationship, father and son decide to make a trek to a quilting contest on the west coast of Norway, in tribute to their late wife and mother. The only catch? Georg has taken to wearing women’s clothes in public for the first time. Traveling along like a queerer and quirkier Easy Rider, with Kaspar riding in the sidecar of his father’s old motorcycle, the two meet past lovers and new friends, while also encountering all the pathos and absurdity life has to offer. At the same time, Kaspar still struggles to recover from both his mother’s death and his recent unemployment, while Georg is gaining confidence in his gender expression. When the trip goes way, way off the rails, Georg and Kaspar finally find the strength that’s been missing in their relationship. Norway’s landscape provides a striking backdrop for this beautifully shot film, and longtime character actor Gimle gives Georg a unique and endearing dignity. The ensemble cast keeps up the pace, jumping effortlessly from comedy to tragedy and back again. Going West captures what it’s like to run on a different wavelength from everyone else and finally learning to be okay with that.

DIR Naoko Ogigami 2017 Japan 127 min In Japanese with English subtitles

DIR Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken 2017 Norway 80 min In Norwegian with English subtitles

— MORDECAI STAYTON

DIR Marcelo Martinessi 2018 Paraguay, Germany, Uruguay 95 min In Spanish with English subtitles

Chela and Chiquita have lived together for decades in fading elegance, sharing Chela’s childhood home in Asunción, Paraguay. Forceful Chiquita manages practical matters, while reclusive Chela stays in and paints. When mounting money troubles force Chiquita to start selling off family treasures, Chela clings to her tattered dignity and proudly refuses financial help from friends. But this carefully observed tale about social status takes a dramatic turn when Chiquita is sent to prison for covering up their debts. Chela is forced to reconsider her notions of class by going to work—at first hesitantly, offering rides to her elderly (and judgmental) wealthy friends despite her discomfort behind the wheel, and then more confidently, starting a kind of private taxi service. It is a journey that will take her down exciting new avenues of independence, and into thrilling contact with young and beautiful Angy, who encourages her freedom—and a lot more. First-time feature director Marcelo Martinessi has assembled a marvelous cast, including many non-professionals who lend soulful, lived-in authenticity to these women’s lives—especially Chiquita’s fellow prisoners, whose scenes crackle with the energy of their struggles. In the central role of Chela, Ana Brun, in her first film, is a revelation, winning the Berlin International Film Festival award for Best Actress. Together, Brun and director Martinessi delicately depict the shifting ways that class and desire shape one woman’s world. — CAROL HARADA

— MICHAEL LOPRESTI

Sunday, June 17, 7:00 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general Sunday, June 17, 4:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 6:30 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Monday, June 18, 6:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

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58 Frameline42

HIGH FANTASY

DIR Jenna Cato Bass 2017 South Africa 71 min

Smartphone video captures a camping trip deep in the South African wilderness. But what starts off as a lark among four friends— three black, one white; three women, one man—takes a sudden sharp turn toward the weird when they wake up to discover that they have switched bodies with one another. Far from being played for laughs, this Freaky Friday scenario becomes a lens through which director Jenna Cato Bass and her actors—all credited as writers and camera operators—view identity, gender, racism, sexism, and South Africa’s history and politics. Seeing the world through one another’s eyes turns out to be not only revelatory but also discombobulating; in gaining new perspectives, the quartet is forced to face hard truths about themselves, their friendship, and their country. Bass treads lightly with the fantasy elements of her story, treating the body swap more as a matter of fact than as a fancy. Similarly, the cell phone images are not simply a gimmick; their home movie quality anchors the film in reality. Interspersed throughout is interview footage of the characters—several of them queer—trying to describe what happened to them out in the desert, adding a documentaryesque dimension to the story while further exploring the ramifications of the event. The young, attractive cast is game, with Qondiswa James particularly effective as an activist enraged to find herself in the body of not just a white woman but a white woman who is a direct beneficiary of South Africa’s legacy of oppression. — PAM GRADY

JUST FRIENDS

KISS ME!

GEWOON VRIENDEN

EMBRASSE-MOI !

DIR Ellen Smit 2018 Netherlands 80 min In Dutch with English subtitles

Two young men from different cultural backgrounds seem perfectly matched for love, but the idiosyncrasies of their parents may keep them apart, in this winning romantic tale set in the Netherlands. When we first meet handsome medical student Yad (Majd Mardo), he has quit his hard-partying life in Amsterdam and moved home to a smaller Dutch city to live with his Middle Eastern mother and father. To their dismay, he settles for a temporary job in domestic care, working for a bubbly elderly woman named Ans (the marvelous Jenny Arean). Like a mischievous Cupid, Ans slyly introduces Yad to her dashing and sexy grandson Joris (Josha Stradowski, Caged, Frameline39), and their connection is immediate. But Joris is dealing with his own set of family problems, including an overbearing mother who is addicted to plastic surgery and who has never fully dealt with the messy end of her marriage to Joris’ late father. While Yad and Joris momentarily escape their family drama in each other’s arms, they will ultimately be forced to confront more than just their feelings and to decide if what they have is something more than a summer fling. Refreshingly, the family conflict in Ellen Smit’s romantic comedy is not that Joris and Yad are gay, but that they are defying family expectations in other ways and must make a new set of choices about how to be themselves. It’s a truly modern tale of queer love.

DIRs Océanerosemarie & Cyprien Vial 2017 France 86 min In French and Italian with English subtitles

Serial-romantic Océanerosemarie has finally met the girl of her dreams, a photographer named Cécile. Unfortunately, no one around her will 1) believe her, or 2) leave her alone long enough to make this relationship work. Fantine, the most recent in a long line of exes, repeatedly tries to throw a wrench in the budding romance and finds a willing ally in Océane’s mom, who complains that her daughter’s breakups are hard on her, too. Meanwhile, the reserved Cécile can’t decide how to respond to her determined pursuer, who follows Cécile to an out-of-town workshop on modern dance and uncovers an embarrassing secret. Will these two wacky lovebirds ever find their happy ending? As in the best romcoms, the outcome is never in serious doubt, and getting there is half the fun. Océane buzzes around town on her red scooter to the beat of a retro dance-party soundtrack; in one scene she even channels Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, in a hilarious attempt to impress Cécile. Kiss Me! is studded with laugh-out-loud moments, from a goofy closet case to a wedding speech gone wrong. An assured comedian who also wrote and co-directed, Océanerosemarie is the appealing softbutch center of this film, backed by a diverse cast of friends, lovers, and family. As an added perk, this romantic ride gives us a glimpse of not-for-tourists Paris. — MONICA NOLAN

— CINDY LOU PEEPLES

Wednesday, June 20, 9:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general Sunday, June 17, 9:15 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 24, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 4:00 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

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World Cinema 59

L’ANIMALE

DIR Katharina Mückstein 2018 Austria 97 min In German with English subtitles

Early in this deeply rewarding comingof-age drama, protagonist Mati tries on a pink graduation dress and mutters, “It looks shitty.” Mati would rather be in her motocross gear, racing with her gang: three boys who treat Mati as an equal. But the future is approaching, and change is in the air. Best pal Sebi suddenly wants more than friendship, while Mati finds herself attracted to Carla, a client at her mother’s veterinary clinic. And it’s not just the adolescents who are in flux; seismic shifts are taking place in Mati’s parents’ seemingly placid lives as well. Mati wants things to stay the same, but in the words of the titular song, “the animal which is inside me won’t let me live in happiness again.” Mati is discovering her own inner animal. L’animale unfolds in leisurely scenes played out in green-toned, light-filled rural Austria. The camerawork is masterful, creating harmonious compositions of pastoral peace that play off the characters’ emotional turmoil. Cruelty and violence erupt with frightening suddenness as Mati struggles with conflicting loyalties. She’s a chameleon: the dutiful daughter who helps her mother in the clinic, as well as the tough girl who backs up her crew during a brawl at the local club. Will Mati keep spinning in circles on her motorcycle or choose her own path? This complex film offers no easy answers; rather, it is a rich portrait of a teenager at a crossroads. — MONICA NOLAN

MALILA: THE FAREWELL FLOWER

DIR Anucha Boonyawatana 2018 Thailand 96 min In Thai with English subtitles

A lyrical meditation on love, loss, and the fragility of life, Malila: The Farewell Flower is also the story of a passionate romance and a visually sumptuous exploration of Buddhist philosophy. Former lovers Shane (Sukollawat Kanarot) and Pitch (Anuchit Sapanpong) reunite in their home village after years apart and a series of personal tragedies. Having come to terms with a terminal illness, Pitch devotes his days to painstakingly creating exquisite bai sri ornaments, delicate flower sculptures used in Thai religious ceremonies. Pitch’s calmness deeply affects Shane, who is struggling to deal with the death of his daughter and the subsequent disintegration of his marriage. As the two lovers reconnect, they start to release themselves of the burdens of the past, in tenderly filmed encounters that touch on deep questions of love and mortality. Their reunion, and Shane’s need to find a way to cope with Pitch’s impending death, inspires Shane to recommit to something he had long been considering: pursuing a path as a Buddhist monk. It is Shane’s challenging journey of acceptance that propels the film to its cathartic conclusion, delivered with memorable imagery by visionary director Anucha Boonyawatana (The Blue Hour). With sensitive performances and immersive, at times almost hallucinatory, cinematography, Malila is rich in detail, beauty, and symbolism—much like Pitch’s lovingly crafted bai sri ornaments, which start to wilt even before the artist can complete them. — CHARLES PURDY

This film contains disturbing images.

MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT DIR Michael Samuels 2017 UK 120 min

Two connected love stories, set sixty years apart, bring to life both the thrill and heartbreak of gay love in post-World War II England, in this sophisticated BBC drama making its U.S. premiere at the festival, and boasting star turns from Vanessa Redgrave and Julian Morris (Pretty Little Liars, Little Women). Michael and Thomas are British officers who return home together at the end of the war. Bonded by their experience and their attraction to each other, they retreat to the country cottage of Michael’s family for a blissful week of unimpeded intimacy. But before long, Michael feels the pull of his obligation to a woman back home, Flora, who’s expecting to marry him. Thomas, feeling frustrated and abandoned, turns elsewhere for intimacy and soon runs afoul of Britain’s draconian morality laws. In the present day, Adam, a veterinary technician in London, relies on hook-up apps to quench his own desires. While Britain is now appreciably more tolerant of gay life, Adam has yet to fully accept himself. He keeps his identity largely hidden from his grandmother, Flora. When she hands him possession of the family’s cottage in the country, Adam solicits the help of an architect, Steve, to redesign and refurbish the home and begins to feel an inkling of the kind of companionship he’d never imagined for himself. The two linked chapters of this engaging multigenerational love story are anchored by strong performances—including Redgrave as the older Flora, Morris as Adam, and Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael—and share the high-caliber production values of the best in British drama. — MICHAEL LOPRESTI

Sunday, June 17, 4:00 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 17, 9:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 15, 9:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

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60 Frameline42

MARIO

DIR Marcel Gisler 2018 Switzerland 119 min In Swiss German with English subtitles

When Leon, a talented striker newly arrived from a soccer team in Germany, shows up in the locker room of his new Swiss club, he attracts both suspicion and admiration from his teammates, who marvel at his on-field play even if they resent his sudden status as the star forward. But he attracts something more in his assigned roommate Mario, and the pair develop an intense bond—not only as the team’s top prospects for advancing to an elite professional league, but also as clandestine lovers. For career-minded Mario, the secret affair stands to threaten everything that’s at stake in the tradition-bound and image-conscious world of professional sports: sponsorship deals, a long pro career, the approval of his nearby parents and manager, and his friendship with Jenny, the childhood pal who, up to now, has consented to play the part of his girlfriend in public. As the pressure builds for Mario to conform or to surrender to what he worries is an impossible love, he and those around him will have to decide by whose rules they will lead their lives. Performed with natural charisma and chemistry by its attractive cast (particularly Max Hubacher as Mario, Aaron Altaras as Leon, and Jessy Moravec as Jenny), Mario is a compelling reminder of the emotional toll of the closet among athletes even today (see also this year’s documentary Alone in the Game, pg. 39), and the price that we are often asked to pay to be true to ourselves. — PETER L. STEIN

THE MARRIAGE

A MOMENT IN THE REEDS

MARTESA

TÄMÄ HETKI KAISLIKOSSA

In this powerful and sexy drama, a powder keg from the past impacts the present for three Kosovans. Though love and buried desire are at the center of the film, the story begins with history. Anita’s parents have been missing since the Kosovo War, which ended in 1999, and she and her fiancé, Bekim, are traveling to the Serbian border to look at a group of exhumed bones. But in war zones, as in love, closure rarely comes easily, and they return without further information about her missing mom and dad—but with a strengthened commitment to their impending marriage. Awaiting them in Priština is Nol, Bekim’s best friend and secret lover from those wartime years, who has since left the country to live in France but has returned to celebrate his friend’s nuptials. Carefully moving between the presentday story and past details of Bekim’s relationships with Nol and Anita, The Marriage charts the emotional predicament of this man who has strong feelings for both. All three actors are extremely compelling, with Alban Ukaj’s deeply conflicted Bekim a standout. There is great pressure to marry and only mild support for LGBTQ rights in Kosovan society, so Zeqiri’s film, which unashamedly puts same-sex and heterosexual passion on the same plane, is a forceful step in the right direction, as well as a dynamic portrait of romance and deception in the shadow of war.

Leevi (Janne Puustinen) is a handsome blond Finn who is studying literature in Paris and completing his comparative thesis on gender performativity in the works of Rimbaud and Sarkia. Glad to be away from his conservative father and unhappy childhood, he compulsively pursues gay hook-up apps. Tareq (Boodi Kabbani) is a soft-spoken, gentle architect and refugee from Syria who is relieved to have escaped his gay-unfriendly family and intent on building a new life in Finland, where he can be himself despite difficult circumstances. When Leevi returns to Finland during a school break to help his father (Mika Melender) renovate the family lake house, Tareq is the immigrant handyman hired to do the work. With Leevi’s father called away on business, the two young men explore a relationship—a moment in the reeds that will enrich, inform, and change their lives forever. This debut feature from director Mikko Makela is elegantly and sensually photographed in a rustic setting using a simple, direct, slow-building style. The naturalistic dialogue springs from improvised lines by the young stars during filming. With excellent performances from both young leads and from Melender as Leevi’s father, along with steamy sex scenes, thoughtful writing, and poetic metaphors, A Moment in the Reeds is an eloquent, poignant commentary on pain, loneliness, prejudice, intimacy, and the pursuit of love— at once understated and powerfully told.

DIR Blerta Zeqiri 2017 Kosovo, Albania 97 min In Albanian with English subtitles

— ROD ARMSTRONG

This film contains a depiction of homophobic violence.

Saturday, June 16, 6:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

DIR Mikko Makela 2017 Finland, UK 108 min In Finnish and English with English subtitles

— TOM SIKA

Thursday, June 14, 10:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 3:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Monday, June 18, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Wednesday, June 20, 6:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

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World Cinema 61

MY BEST FRIEND MI MEJOR AMIGO

DIR Martín Deus 2018 Argentina 90 min In Spanish with English subtitles

Shy Lorenzo leads a simple life with his wellmeaning parents and younger brother in a small town in Argentine Patagonia. He reads, plays soccer with the local jocks (though he’s always picked last), and studies classical guitar. When a dramatic event leaves a family friend out in the cold, Caíto, a year older than Lorenzo, comes to stay in their small home—perhaps indefinitely. Covered in fresh bruises, tattooed, and handsome, Caíto is both a disturbing and fascinating new presence in bookish Lorenzo’s life. Though the two boys are only a year apart, they live in different worlds: one sheltered and safe, attending school and following the rules of his earnest parents, the other working in construction and fighting his demons the only way he knows how—by drinking too much and staying out late. As Lorenzo encourages Caíto to open up to him, he too takes on the burden of Caíto’s secrets. But he also takes Caíto under his wing, letting him share his room, and beginning to create a space for him in the tight-knit family. As their friendship grows, Lorenzo finds his feelings for Caíto growing as well. With beautiful cinematography and outstanding lead performances, this comingof-age story, the first feature from director Martín Deus (Raw Love, Frameline33), is reminiscent of Call Me by Your Name and The Way He Looks (Frameline38), perfectly capturing the space between a first crush and a first love. — J. SWEMBA

Tuesday, June 19, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

62 Frameline42

NINA

POSTCARDS FROM LONDON

Nina (Julia Kijowska, United States of Love), a married French teacher in her thirties, is trying desperately to save her marriage and to realize her dream of having children with the aid of a pregnancy surrogate. Multiple failed attempts have left her disillusioned and at a breaking point, when a traffic accident brings Magda (Eliza Rycembel, The Innocents) into her life. Magda, a young, out lesbian with a penchant for both straight women and no-strings-attached sexual conquests, catches the eye of Nina’s husband, Wojtek, as a possible solution to their pregnancy problem. While Wojtek fails in catching Magda’s eye, his attempts to engage her as a surrogate create an unanticipated result—Nina also becomes ensnared by thoughts of Magda. As her thoughts shift from surrogacy to a more intimate curiosity, Nina’s intensifying focus on Magda embroils all three in an increasingly fraught tangle of self-discovery and desire. When their situation comes to a head, each must decide who they will be in the future and what they will leave behind—and at what cost. Imbued with a dark intensity, Nina is a riveting and bold first feature from director Olga Chajdas. Depictions of Warsaw’s lesbian community are shown alongside broader themes of societal acceptance and religious conservatism, adding complexity to the story’s focus on the kindling and killing of love and desire.

On his first night out in London after escaping his provincial hometown, Jim is robbed and left with nothing, alone on the neon-lit streets of Soho. Fortunately, he is just what the Raconteurs have been looking for. A coterie of dapper young hustlers, the Raconteurs are immediately taken with Jim’s ethereal beauty and charming naïveté, and they adopt him as one of their own. The merry band of escorts is soon schooling Jim in the sexy delights of their specialty: using their encyclopedic knowledge of art history to bring to life the homoerotic paintings of Caravaggio, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. As Jim becomes more comfortable in his skin under the tutelage of the Raconteurs, he finds himself submerged in the world of art, becoming a muse to his patrons and customers, even while discovering that he suffers from an overwhelming sensitivity to beauty—the legendary Stendhal syndrome. Theatrical, stylish, and visually playful, Postcards from London is a love letter to the vibrant Soho of the past, paying homage to the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, James Bidgood, and Derek Jarman with its hyper-stylized, dreamy aesthetic. As Jim, the captivating Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats, Frameline41) has a face that’s a joy to watch, transporting the viewer to the hypnotic underworld of this imaginary Soho. Postcards from London is Steve McLean’s long-awaited follow-up to his seminal 1994 film, Postcards from America, which was based on the work of David Wojnarowicz.

DIR Olga Chajdas 2018 Poland 130 min In Polish and French with English subtitles

— SOPHIA LANZA-WEIL

DIR Steve McLean 2018 UK 88 min

— ELLIOTT BREEDEN

This film contains a depiction of sexual violence.

Sunday, June 17, 6:45 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

saturday, June 16, 9:30 pm · castro $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 22, 7:00 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 17, 9:30 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

REINVENTING MARVIN MARVIN OU LA BELLE ÉDUCATION

DIR Anne Fontaine 2017 France 115 min In French and English with English subtitles

Anne Fontaine’s powerful new film, winner of the Queer Lion award at the Venice International Film Festival, explores the painful relationship a young gay man has with his past. Marvin grows up amid a gruff and boorish family in a French village. Artistically inclined, with a nascent attraction to other boys in his class, he’s the victim of aggressive bullying at school and home. When he gets into a Parisian drama school and meets a more welcoming peer group, he has the opportunity to craft a completely new identity. He changes his name and meets a wealthy older man who introduces him to Oscar-nominated actress Isabelle Huppert, whimsically playing herself. But his childhood experiences still haunt and call to him, leading him to write a theater piece that brings him into the public eye but causes recriminations back home. Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel, The Innocents) creates a scenario that fluidly drifts between Marvin’s past and his present, revealing the frequently fraught moments from adolescence that make the man. In the title role, Finnegan Oldfield— whose performance garnered him a César nomination—and newcomer Jules Porier give indelible performances as the older and younger incarnations of Marvin, respectively. Charles Berling (The Man of My Life, Frameline31), Catherine Mouchet, Vincent Macaigne, and Her Highness Huppert memorably play mentors who nurture Marvin at pivotal times. With grace and vivid storytelling, Reinventing Marvin suggests that the ties of family that bind and chafe can eventually loosen and perhaps set us free. — ROD ARMSTRONG

RETABLO

RIOT

Known throughout his Peruvian mountain village as a maestro, Noé (Amiel Cayo) is an esteemed artisan of retablos—unique, handcrafted clay altarpieces that feature exquisitely detailed miniatures of extended families and communities, encased in brightly painted boxes. His dutiful, wide-eyed teenage son Segundo (a heartbreakingly gentle Junior Béjar Roca) admires and adores his father, working proudly and painstakingly by his side to learn the family craft and carry on its tradition. But their tender father-son bond is abruptly fractured—and Segundo’s provincial worldview is shattered—when he discovers that Noé has been engaging in clandestine homosexual encounters outside their family home. In their tight-knit, highly conservative, religious rural village, where alleged crimes and sins are met with brutal violence and public shaming, Segundo’s anger and confusion are both internalized and inflamed by the hyper-masculine mores of their patriarchal culture. In his feature film debut, Peruvian writer-director Alvaro Delgado Aparicio L. —whose exquisite short The Companion (El acompañante) screened at Frameline37— fully immerses us in the rich colors and traditions of the Quechuan culture, which is rarely captured with such authenticity onscreen. Winner of both a Teddy Newcomer Award and a Crystal Bear Special Jury Mention at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Retablo is a poignant comingof-age story about an aspiring young artist coming to terms with the meaning of masculinity and the power of paternal love.

The Stonewall riots of 1969—when LGBTQ people fought back against an early morning police raid in Greenwich Village—are considered to be among the most important events in the struggle for gay rights in the U.S. But a similarly dramatic and pivotal activist movement took place in 1970s Australia, where homosexuality was still criminalized and persecution was commonplace. Riot—an eye-opening and thrilling dramatization of historic events—is based largely on the true-life experiences of political provocateur Lance Gowland (Damon Herriman, Justified). The film vividly recounts his efforts, alongside Marg McMann (Kate Box, also seen in Fucking Adelaide, pg. 55), to bring together the diverse views of competing gay activist groups in Sydney: those who wished to combat the system at all costs, and those who preferred mainstream dialogue. Their fractious collaboration culminated in the first Sydney Mardi Gras street celebration in 1978, which, despite police brutality and arrests, planted the seeds of lasting civil rights change and equality. With sharp, witty dialogue and sensitive direction by Jeffrey Walker (Modern Family, Difficult People), Riot gleefully re-creates the look (and hair and clothes) of its ’70s Aussie activist ensemble, with a cast including Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) and Jessica De Gouw (Arrow). Released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original Mardi Gras and the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia, Riot is an epic, uplifting film experience that highlights a historic event in the LGBTQ liberation movement.

DIR Alvaro Delgado Aparicio L. 2018 Peru, Germany, Norway 95 min In Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles

— JOANNE PARSONT

DIR Jeffrey Walker 2018 Australia 105 min

— TIM SIKA

This film includes a depiction of sexual violence.

Friday, June 15, 7:00 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 22, 9:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Wednesday, June 20, 1:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Monday, June 18, 9:15 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

sponsored by

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This film includes depictions of graphic violence.

World Cinema 63

DOCUMENTARIES

50 YEARS OF FABULOUS DIR Jethro Patalinghug 2018 USA 80 min

Brimming with stunning San Francisco energy and the enlightened effervescence of determined drag queens, this fascinating documentary captures what makes the City a unique, powerful, and heartwarming home for the LGBTQ community. Filmmaker Jethro Patalinghug documents the vibrant history of the Imperial Council, the oldest LGBTQ charity organization in the world. Founded in San Francisco by activist and drag queen José Sarria, the first openly gay man to run for political office in the United States, in 1961, the Council has helped shape LGBTQ life and history in San Francisco. Each year, the colorful Council crowns an Emperor and Empress who become the fabulous faces of the non-profit group. Celebrating unity, pride, and an unadulterated dedication to helping others, the Imperial Council advocates for human rights, hosts rousing events, and generates tons of cash for Bay Area charitable organizations. Combining captivating historical footage and photos with contemporary interviews and delightful performances, 50 Years of Fabulous is an exhilarating chronicle of the City’s gay culture that conveys the group’s epic impact, as well as some of the challenges it currently faces. You’ll leave the theater smiling, crying, and feeling proud to live in a place where people take care of each other, know how to have fun, and—most importantly—are able to be themselves. — BRENDAN PETERSON

BIXA TRAVESTY

DIRS Kiko Goifman & Claudia Priscilla 2018 Brazil 75 min In Portuguese with English subtitles

Winner of the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, Bixa Travesty dazzlingly showcases the life and political artistry of Linn da Quebrada, an electrifying performer from the outskirts of São Paulo, whose daring and powerful performance style matches her social message of resistance and inclusion. A black transwoman (who refers to herself as a bixa travesty—“tranny fag”—by way of reclaiming those words), da Quebrada uses singing, rap, dance, spoken word, and other media to give a voice to queer people of color from Brazil’s favelas. Accompanied by her childhood friend and performance collaborator, singer Jup do Bairro, who is also trans, she creates provocative, highenergy performance pieces that celebrate and explore gender and sexuality while confronting the oppressive machismo of the country’s music scene. Interspersed with performance footage are private moments—though with a protagonist so innately theatrical, the line between performance and documentary is intentionally, often hilariously, blurred. Whether she is cooking with her mother or showering with friends, the conversation frequently turns to love, racism, poverty, and the challenges and triumphs she has faced. Linn da Quebrada is a powerful voice, both as a performer and as an activist. As she explains in the documentary, she was unable to find a place where she belonged, so she created that place. But, she says, she won’t be there forever—she is forever exploring, forever in flux. — CHARLES PURDY

Friday, June 15, 9:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general Sunday, June 17, 11:00 am · Castro $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

64 Frameline42

Tuesday, June 19, 7:00 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general

CONVERSATIONS WITH GAY ELDERS: KERBY LAUDERDALE DIR David Weissman 2018 USA 69 min

With rich detail, keen insight, and astonishing poignancy, Kerby Lauderdale, a man in his late 70s, recounts the major events that shaped his life and identity as a gay man, in this intimate filmed conversation with David Weissman, the acclaimed director of We Were Here (Frameline34) and The Cockettes (Frameline25). Lauderdale—eloquent, emotional, and honest—is an ideal subject for Weissman’s exploration of the generation of men who came of age before Stonewall. From his vivid recollection of his sexual awakening at summer camp, and through his first college romance, a lengthy marriage to a woman—not to mention his life as a pastor in rural Indiana—and his eventual 14-year partnership with a man through the height of the AIDS epidemic, the subject’s personal history encapsulates many of the touchstones of American gay male life in the mid-20th century. The conversation is interspersed with clips of Lauderdale and his supportive ex-wife, Linda, appearing on talk shows in the early 1990s in frank discussions about his coming out during their marriage. In examining his life experiences, Lauderdale exudes impressive depth of feeling, particularly while describing profoundly personal aspects of his emotional and sexual journey. The film is an installment in Weissman’s ongoing intergenerational oral history documentary series in which he collaborates with young gay editors; a compilation of excerpts of other Conversations with Gay Elders screened at Frameline40. With Kerby Lauderdale, Weissman demonstrates the staying power and relevance of his unique filmmaking endeavor. — MICHAEL LOPRESTI

DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION!

EVERY ACT OF LIFE

Lovers of lesbian film unite! Dykes, Camera, Action! examines queer women’s cinema from the mid-twentieth century through today, including Frameline Award winner Barbara Hammer’s Superdyke, Rose Troche’s Go Fish (Frameline18), and Desiree Akhavan’s Appropriate Behavior (Frameline38). Dykes, Camera, Action! is also a joyous trip down memory lane for any film lover. Academics like B. Ruby Rich and Sarah Schulman contextualize the history of queer women’s films, from the 1960s through the 1990s’ New Queer Cinema, and all the way to the lesbian pop froth of the 21st century. The historical intersection of experimental film and queer film is examined, as well as the role of activism in lesbian artist circles, and the neverending battle against the male gaze and the patriarchy. But just as importantly, filmmakers from Su Friedrich (Damned If You Don’t, Frameline15), Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman, Frameline20), Jenni Olson (The Joy of Life, Frameline29), to Yoruba Richen (The New Black, Frameline37) talk about their own personal experiences of queer women’s cinema. Featuring the ultimate array of filmmakers and thinkers from the past century, this documentary functions as an updated—but much more modern and far less bleak—The Celluloid Closet. It’s a ton of fun to spend time with the dozens of women who helped to create the cinema that has shaped so many lives, and, in the process, learn about how we all got here. —J. SWEMBA

Playwright Terrence McNally has imbued the American theater with soul and wit for half a century, with hits including The Lisbon Traviata; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Master Class; and Love! Valour! Compassion! The poet laureate of fierce vulnerability, McNally movingly brought gay (and straight) characters to life on and off Broadway, through an unflinching blend of comedy and pathos—declaring and asserting his own identity with every step. Jeff Kaufman’s affectionate profile—featuring a who’s who of admirers including Nathan Lane, Angela Lansbury, Christine Baranski, and Edie Falco—invites us backstage and onstage with the top tier of New York theater. On the wings of a pen and a precocious self-confidence, McNally high-tailed it out of gay-unfriendly Corpus Christi, Texas, as soon as he finished high school. Buoyed by the teacher who encouraged his writing talent, the future Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, and Emmy winner enrolled at Columbia and, eventually and fortuitously, gravitated to playwriting. McNally relates his story with a hard-earned mix of rueful candor and elder-statesman sagacity, revisiting pivotal relationships with fellow playwrights Edward Albee and Wendy Wasserstein and actor Robert Drivas, as well as the stings and triumphs of a life in the theater. McNally was a pioneer in openly acknowledging his homosexuality and, more importantly, celebrating the gamut of gay life—aspirations, satisfactions, struggles, and losses—through hyper-articulate characters in widely seen and talked-about plays. Few writers are as gifted as Terrence McNally, let alone as insistent and persistent.

DIR Caroline Berler 2018 USA 58 min

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant. Followed by a free panel discussion, “Lights. Camera. Take Action.: Queer Women Documentarians in the Spotlight” (see pages 32-33).

DIR Jeff Kaufman 2018 USA 93 min

— MICHAEL FOX

Thursday, June 21, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Tuesday, June 19, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 3:45 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

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Documentaries 65

THE ICE KING

THE LAST GOLDFISH

LIFE IN THE DOGHOUSE

Figure skating is currently the only sport where out gay men regularly compete at the highest international levels. But today’s Olympians like Adam Rippon and Johnny Weir owe their acceptance to a pioneer who singlehandedly changed the sport: British Olympic figure skater and choreographer John Curry, who in the 1970s broke the mold for how men could perform as artists—and gay athletes—on the ice. The Ice King is the captivating story of Curry’s struggles and triumphs. The product of a difficult home environment, Curry became convinced early on that figure skating—rather than merely showing off jumps and spins— should exhibit the artistic and emotional power of his other great love, classical ballet. When his coaches instructed him to tone down his expressiveness, he stubbornly ratcheted up his routines’ technical difficulty so that his scores could not be denied. Curry’s competitiveness led him to vie for a gold medal at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games, during which he was also outed by an American journalist and defiantly refused to deny the report. James Erskine’s exquisite documentary skillfully weaves Curry’s warts-and-all life into the tapestry of 20th-century gay history, following him to the 1980s in New York and London, and into the AIDS crisis. With rich archival film of his skating and choreography and remarkable use of audio interviews, The Ice King brings to life a unique, complex figure who etched an indelible mark on a beloved sport.

Australian filmmaker Su Goldfish turns her camera on herself, in this deeply affecting documentary about her own decades-long search for identity, a sense of belonging, and the truth about her father’s traumatic past. Born in Trinidad, Goldfish spent an idyllic childhood on the Caribbean island with her English mother and German father. It was just the three of them—though letters for her father, written in German (which she never learned because her father refused to speak it at home), occasionally arrived from France. Then, as a young teenager, Goldfish made some surprising discoveries about her enigmatic but charming father—first, that he had an ex-wife and children living in Canada and, second, that he was Jewish, and that he had just barely escaped the Holocaust, landing in Trinidad as a refugee in 1939. As Goldfish finds and establishes her own identity as a young queer woman and artist in Australia in the 1970s and ’80s, she sets about uncovering her father’s extraordinary and heartbreaking story. It’s a journey that will take her around the world: back to Germany and on to the far corners of the European Jewish diaspora, as she seeks to know not only the ghosts of the past but also newly discovered living relatives. Beautifully augmented by a personal archive of photos that stretches across a century, this powerful documentary also reveals the repercussions of forced migration across generations.

Attention dog lovers! Are you an admirer of absorbing, inspirational documentaries? Do you crave a positive story in a world turned upside down? If you answered yes to any of these questions then Life in the Doghouse is the flick for you. Danny Robertshaw and Ron Danta, a loving couple for 30 years, are the compassionate, committed owners of Danny & Ron’s Rescue. With huge hearts and magical Dr. Doolittle energy, these kindhearted men take care of anywhere from 50-70 dogs at once in their South Carolina home. In 2005, the couple rescued 600 dogs after Hurricane Katrina, and have since saved more than 9,000 abandoned dogs from being euthanized, and instead found them new forever homes. This fascinating film takes us behind the scenes of this well-oiled doggy domicile. Filmmaker Ron Davis (Pageant, Frameline32) does an expert job of capturing the day-today life of these everyday heroes as they run never-ending laundry cycles, prep custom food for hungry hounds, and provide personalized love for each and every animal. We also learn about two men who have faced intense life challenges and found strength in their commitment to each other—and the animals that have changed their lives. You’ll come for the cute canines and stay for the intriguing insights into a vibrant relationship built on love, caring, and purpose. This doc will warm your heart and have you running home to hug your dog.

DIR James Erskine 2018 UK 89 min

DIR Su Goldfish 2017 Australia 81 min

— CHARLES PURDY

DIR Ron Davis 2018 USA 80 min

— BRENDAN PETERSON

— PETER L. STEIN

Monday, June 18, 7:00 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general Friday, June 15, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

66 Frameline42

Wednesday, June 20, 9:15 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 11:00 am · Castro $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

MAN MADE

MCQUEEN

Four men strive for victory in this intimate documentary about men’s relationships to body and self as they prepare for the Trans FitCon Bodybuilding Competition— the only all-transgender bodybuilding competition in the world. Forty-year-old lightweight Mason, with his perfectly sculpted legs, is the most accomplished and established of the competitors. Middleweight 23-year-old Rese is struggling to balance his housing insecurity and raising a child with an unaccepting family. At age 34, Kennie is just starting to come out as trans in his Arkansas hometown and finds that his physical transition is impacting his relationship with his lesbian girlfriend DJ. And 26-year-old Dominic Chilko is in a whirlwind of a year following last year’s third place finish: getting his top surgery, struggling in his relationship, and seeking out his birth mother. As the men meet each other at the big event and action ramps up, a former winner describes what it takes to win: definition, symmetry, and mass are all vital to victory. But so is stage presence—confidence. This is the element that director T Cooper truly captures. The cameras are there for all of the moments that truly define a person: Rese picking up his son at school, the day Dominic meets his birth mother for the first time, and the little moments between Kennie and DJ that so aptly demonstrate how partnership can change when we change. This is the heart of victory and the heart of the film.

When legendary British designer and couturier Alexander McQueen died by suicide at the age of 40, he left a void that stretched beyond the fashion world, which he had effusively decorated with armadillo heels, dresses spray-painted by robots, and scandalously low-cut “bumster” trousers. In his new documentary, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui explore the tender yet savage world of McQueen: his obsessions, his passions, his fears. Starting with his debut show, McQueen was labeled an enfant terrible, the bad boy of the fashion scene, refusing to adhere to the tradition of couture and instead reveling in the grotesque and taboo. Iconic style muse Isabella Blow bought out his entire first collection and then took McQueen under her wing, becoming a lifelong friend and mentor and helping propel his vision into the elite fashion world. As McQueen’s star began to rise and he was made Givenchy’s chief designer, the dark side of fame began to take its toll, and drugs and depression came creeping in. Featuring personal archives of the designer extending back to the earliest days of his career, McQueen chronicles the designer’s journey through footage of his increasingly mesmerizing, radical shows, stitching them together with intimate interviews with close family and friends. The film channels the late designer’s energy with his use of provocative imagery and the rich music of composer Michael Nyman (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; The Piano), whom McQueen used frequently as inspiration in his work. The resulting film is a passionate, moving look at a complicated genius.

DIR T Cooper 2018 USA 93 min

— J. SWEMBA

DIRs Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui 2018 UK 111 min

— ELLIOTT BREEDEN

MORONI FOR PRESIDENT DIRS Saila Huusko & Jasper Rischen 2017 USA 76 min In English and Diné with English subtitles

Moroni Benally, a young, gay, Mormon university professor, returns home to make a quixotic run for president of Navajo Nation. His scrappy but passionate campaign offers a rare glimpse into Navajo politics, while his idealistic vision for radical change challenges the status quo and, in many ways, reflects the volatile and unpredictable political climate affecting so much of the Western world. Moroni aims to put theory into practice to improve the daily lives of his people. Despite being the largest semiautonomous territory within the U.S., Navajo Nation struggles with intense poverty, a lack of basic resources, and limited sovereignty. Moroni’s success depends on the support of his large family, disenfranchised youth, and others longing for real change on urgent issues. While he is highly educated and fluent in public policy, he cannot convey his political message with subtlety in Diné, the preferred language of many voters. His youth, lack of political experience, and unseasoned approach to traditional Navajo culture make him a risky but intriguing dark horse candidate. Seamlessly interwoven with Moroni’s story are those of two savvy politicos who also happen to be gay. An experienced campaign manager for an establishment politician, Alray Nelson holds his gay identity secondary to being Navajo. Zachariah George, the out young assistant to the sitting president, was raised traditionally to know gay people as sacred blessings. All navigate the constant tension between belonging and being different, between the traditional and the modern, while working to define a new Navajo dream. — CAROL HARADA

Saturday, June 16, 1:15 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Tuesday, June 19, 6:30 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

thursday, June 21, 7:00 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 5:00 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general

Wednesday, June 20, 9:15 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

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Documentaries 67

NARCISSISTER ORGAN PLAYER

DIR Narcissister 2018 USA 91 min In English and French with English subtitles

From crotch-baring TMZ appearances with Marilyn Manson to an Absolutely Fabulous shout-out to museum exhibitions, performance artist Narcissister is quite the provocateur. In her first feature, Narcissister directs this fascinating documentary and performance art hybrid about her life, revealing the vulnerable, multifaceted artist behind the spectacle. Often topless and wearing a mask and a merkin, Narcissister combines dance, acrobatics, striptease, and vaudevillian humor in her art, which tackles issues of gender, racial identity, consumption, and sexuality. Being biracial and growing up in California, where the dominant beauty aesthetic was white blondes with straight hair, Narcissister created characters that addressed her burgeoning dissatisfaction with not fitting in. With a Moroccan Jewish mother who had crippling health issues and an African American father whose many life achievements never fully shielded him or his family from racism, she honors her upbringing and family history with her work. The film uses animation, performances, videos, and narration—punctuated by her mother’s poems—to show how her childhood experiences shaped her artistic persona. While Narcissister insists that her character is separate from herself—and indeed, we never see her unmasked and even photos are partially obscured— Narcissister Organ Player still manages to be fully intimate, moving, and beautiful. — ANGELIQUE SMITH

This program contains sexually explicit material.

NOTHING TO LOSE

DIR Kelli Jean Drinkwater 2018 Australia 65 min

A troupe of queer dancers of size makes a big splash at Sydney Festival 2015 with the unexpected hit Nothing to Lose from director Kelli Jean Drinkwater (Aquaporko!, Frameline37). This intimate portrait follows the performers reclaiming abundant bodies for pleasure, grandeur, and power. At Australian dance company Force Majeure, artistic director Kate Champion keenly felt the absence of queer people with bigger bodies on stage. Wanting to discover movement arising out of people with more flesh, she enlisted filmmaker, artist, and fat activist Drinkwater to help the troupe build pieces out of their lived experiences of body politics. The performers, some with no formal dance training, draw from lives consumed by having to redefine beauty and dismantle cultural projections, especially around sexuality. Standouts are Adonis, who embraces their identity as a masculine Greek woman; Latai, a Tongan woman who moves like water and whose native culture naturally embraces bigger bodies; and Michael, who speaks to what gets in the way of other gay men seeing him just as he is. The dancers create new, unapologetic forms of movement out of being fat. The troupe’s deep bonding and the dances emerging from that connection remind us that under the right circumstances art and healing are one. — CAROL HARADA PRECEDED BY:

MONSTA GRAS DIR KELLI JEAN DRINKWATER 2018 AUSTRALIA 7 MIN

One of Sydney’s most iconic art parties, Monsta Gras is a political playground that redefines what it means to be queer.

OF LOVE & LAW

DIR Hikaru Toda 2017 Japan, UK, France 94 min In Japanese with English subtitles

Within Japan’s strictly conformist society, openly gay life partners Fumi and Kazu chart bold new paths—both in their lives and with their Osaka law firm. To be a minority of any kind in Japan is to live with an ingrained sense of alienation and judgment. But Fumi and Kazu seek to change such stigmas by taking on a myriad of cases involving marginalized voices. Whether it’s a person protesting the national anthem, a feminist performance artist, or any of their other LGBTQ clients, these two remarkable men use a potent combination of charisma and rigorous legal prowess to strengthen individual rights within a society that prioritizes group harmony. Fumi and Kazu demand a sense of true belonging and reject repressive expectations to withdraw and fit in. Even though their marriage is not sanctioned by the government, the partners wish to raise a child. By chance, Fumi becomes a legal guardian to his orphaned teen client Kazuma. Anchored by mutual acceptance of one another, Fumi, Kazu, and Kazuma’s easy alliance inspires them to want to expand their family even further. Filmed with restrained, fly-on-the-wall intimacy, Of Love & Law—a prize winner at both the Tokyo and Hong Kong Film Festivals—continues gifted documentarian Hikaru Toda’s (Love Hotel) observations of a side of Japan seldom discussed or even acknowledged by many of its own citizens. In weaving together Fumi and Kazu’s personal stories with their work on highstakes legal cases, Toda gives us a fully dimensional and poignantly human portrait of grassroots activism. — CAROL HARADA

Friday, June 22, 9:15 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general Saturday, June 23, 9:30 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

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Saturday, June 16, 9:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 6:30 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general sponsored by

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FRAMELINE42 FILM SCHEDULE /frameline /framelinefest @ framelinefest #FL42 #LightsCameraTakeAction Premier

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SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE THURSDAY 6.14 Castro

FRIDAY 6.15

Castro

Roxie

SATURDAY 6.16

Victoria

1:30 pm Dare p.73 S

6:30 pm Freelancers Anonymous p.42

10:00 pm A Moment in the Reeds p.61 W

9:30 pm Opening Night Gala at Terra Gallery p.21

WEDNESDAY 6.20

Castro

Roxie

9:15 pm Man in an Orange Shirt p.60 W

Victoria

7:00 pm Realness & Revelations p.74 S

7:00 pm Retablo p.63 W

9:30 pm The Miseducation of Cameron Post p.52 U

9:30 pm Bixa Travesty p.64 D

Elmwood

11:00 am Fun in Boys Shorts p.73 S

11:00 am Transblack & Unboxed p.56 E

6:30 pm Mario p.61 W

9:30 pm Postcards from London p.62 W

THURSDAY 6.21

Castro

Roxie

1:15 pm Man Made p.67 D

4:00 pm The Silk and the Flame p.70 D

6:30 pm Going West p.58 W

9:00 pm Nothing to Lose p.68 D

Victoria

SUNDAY 6.17 Castro

Roxie

11:00 am The Rest I Make Up p.69 D

11:00 am 50 Years of Fabulous p.64 D

11:00 am Coco p.76 F

1:30 pm Paper Boys p.56 E

1:30 pm Call Her Ganda p.41

4:00 pm Kiss Me! p.59 W

4:15 pm Believer p.40

6:45 pm Lez Bomb p.52 U

6:45 pm 1985 p.38

9:30 pm My House p.55 E

9:15 pm The Gospel of Eureka p.43

Elmwood

Piedmont

1:30 pm Buddies p.34 s

4:00 pm It’s Elementary / Frameline Award Debra Chasnoff p.34-35 s

9:15 pm Just Friends p.59 W

Victoria

3:45 pm Every Act of Life p.65 D

1:15 pm Retablo p.63 W

6:30 pm Wild Nights with Emily p.23 C U

Roxie

1:30 pm Fun in Girls Shorts p.74 S

4:00 pm The Ice King p.66 D

7:00 pm TransMilitary p.21

Castro

9:15 pm Moroni for President p.67 D

P2 Frameline42

6:30 pm A Moment in the Reeds p.61 W

9:15 pm The Last Goldfish p.66 D

7:00 pm Realness & Revelations p.74 S

9:30 pm Snapshots p.53 U

6:30 pm Mapplethorpe p.46

9:15 pm Bonding p.27 C

4:00 pm Close-Knit p.58 W

7:00 pm Room for a Man p.69 D

9:15 pm High Fantasy p.59 W

FRIDAY 6. Castro

1:30 pm Up Close & Personal p.75 S

4:00 pm Conversations with Gay Elders p.65 D

7:00 pm Bi Candy p.72 S

1:45 pm Giving Me Life p.55 E

4:00 pm Madeleine Olnek: In Conversation p.33 

7:00 pm They p.53 U

9:30 pm Fish Bones p.50 U

4:00 pm Worldly Affairs p.75 S

6:30 pm Snapshots p.53 U

9:15 pm Homegrown p.74 S

7:00 pm Man Made p.67 D

9:30 pm Anchor and Hope p.57 W

7:00 pm The Miseducation of Cameron Post p.52 U 9:00 pm When the Beat Drops p.25 C D

6:30 pm Night Comes On p.47

9:00 pm Reinventing Marvin p.63 W

Victoria

Elmwood

MONDAY 6.18

Castro

Roxie

Victoria

Elmwood

TUESDAY 6.19 Castro

Roxie

Victoria

Elmwood

11:00 am Yours in Sisterhood p.71 D

1:45 pm Coming Up Queer p.72 S

4:00 pm L’animale p.60 W

6:45 pm Nina p.62 W

9:30 pm Malila: The Farewell Flower p.60 W

.22

Roxie

7:00 pm The Heiresses p.58 W

9:30 pm Postcards from London p.62 W

Victoria

1:30 pm Quiet Heroes p.69 D

1:30 pm My Best Friend p.62 W

4:00 pm The Marriage p.61 W

4:00 pm Dykes, Camera, Action! p.65 D

6:30 pm When the Beat Drops p.25 C D

9:15 pm Riot p.63 W

Piedmont

5:00 pm  Lights. Camera. Take Action. p.33

7:00 pm Transtastic p.75 S

9:15 pm Skate Kitchen p.52 U

Castro

1:30 pm Alone in the Game p.39

7:00 pm Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood p.70 D

9:30 pm Southern Pride p.71 D

9:15 pm Narcissister Organ Player p.68 D

7:00 pm Nina p.62 W

9:45 pm Shakedown p.70 D

9:15 pm Everything Is Free p.50 U

SATURDAY 6.23 11:00 am Life in the Doghouse p.66 D

6:30 pm We the Animals p.53 U

6:30 pm The Heiresses p.58 W

Roxie

11:30 am For Izzy p.51 U

1:45 pm Chedeng and Apple p.57 W

4:15 pm Leitis in Waiting p.45

4:00 pm Would You Look at Her p.76 S

6:30 pm Ideal Home p.51 U

6:30 pm Of Love & Law p.68 D

9:00 pm 9:15 pm Dark Twisted Kill the Monsters Fantasies p.51 U p.73 S

7:00 pm Life in the Doghouse p.66 D

9:30 pm Fish Bones p.50 U

Victoria 11:00 am Unstoppable Feat p.71 D

1:15 pm Follow Me p.54 E

3:30 pm Mario p.61 W

6:30 pm And Breathe Normally p.24 C W

7:00 pm Fucking Adelaide p.55 E

9:15 pm Hard Paint p.44

9:15 pm White Rabbit p.54 U

9:00 pm Shakedown p.70 D

7:00 pm Bixa Travesty p.64 D

9:00 pm The Drag Roast of Heklina p.56 t

9:30 pm Skate Kitchen p.52 U

SUNDAY 6.24

Piedmont

Castro

11:00 am Fun in Girls Shorts p.74 S

12:00 pm Fun in Girls Shorts p.74 S

FRAMELINE42 1:30 pm Fun in Boys Shorts p.73 S

2:30 pm Yours in Sisterhood p.71 D

4:00 pm Just Friends p.59 W

5:00 pm McQueen p.67 D 6:30 pm Anchor and Hope p.57 W

6:30 pm McQueen p.67 D

7:00 pm Studio 54 p.29

7:30 pm Freelancers Anonymous p.42

9:30 pm Narcissister Organ Player p.68 D

9:30 pm Closing Night Party at Oasis p.29

Q Opening/Closing C

Centerpiece

s retrospective Showcase U

US Feature

episodic

World Cinema

Documentary

Shorts program

Family matinee

 Panel

t Special

presentation

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QUIET HEROES

DIRS Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga, & Amanda Stoddard 2017 USA 68 min

Dr. Kristen Ries, an infectious disease specialist, arrived in Salt Lake City to begin her practice on June 5, 1981—the same day the CDC published its first report on the disease that would become known as AIDS—and she soon encountered her first patient with the disease. The city’s Mormon monoculture made addressing the disease especially difficult. Because of stigma and fear surrounding both AIDS and homosexuality, Ries, working tirelessly alongside her eventual life partner, physician assistant Maggie Snyder, was the only doctor in the state of Utah willing to treat people with HIV/AIDS during the crisis’ terrible early years. Assisted by the nuns of the Holy Cross Hospital, Ries and Snyder cared for patients facing not only grave prognoses but also complete ostracism from their families, workplaces, and communities. People with HIV/AIDS, particularly in conservative Salt Lake City, were “the lepers of our time,” says Sister Bernadette Mulick, recalling that era. “The need was great.” For Ries and Snyder, meeting that need—providing care, comfort, and compassion to people with HIV/AIDS— became their life’s work. Many documentaries about the AIDS crisis in the United States have focused on large cities with vocal populations of gay men. Quiet Heroes turns a lens on a less obvious location. In doing so, it tells a powerful, inspirational story about how one heroic doctor and a very small group of caregivers made a huge difference in a community and in thousands of lives.

THE REST I MAKE UP

ROOM FOR A MAN

“Everyone always fell in love with her— male and female,” says an ex-lover of María Irene Fornés. After viewing director Michelle Memran’s fascinating documentary about, and love letter to, the charismatic Cuban-born playwright, you’ll be getting in line as well. Fornés was an integral member of New York’s vibrant experimental theater scene in the 1960s and ’70s, alongside Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, and John Guare. Outside theater circles, she’s probably remembered more for her relationship with Susan Sontag than for her Obie Award–winning plays. While this film touches on “the love of my life,” as Fornés calls Sontag, its real focus is Fornés’ intuitive creative process and her influence on contemporary theater. The Rest I Make Up operates as a sort of master class in making art, and even as Fornés struggles with loss—of memory and of community—her inquisitive approach to life remains strong. At one point, Fornés invents the thoughts of passing boats, creating a mini love story; in another moment, she describes the experience of losing memories with an air of curious wonder. While the film provides context with interviews, archival footage, and photos, Fornés is always the focus. The camera follows her on neighborhood walks, to book parties, and even to Cuba. “Am I so fascinating that you feel I don’t need a script?” Fornés asks the director early on. The answer is yes.

“I think it’s the loneliness that I have filmed.” Anthony Chidiac trains his camera on the intimate details of his mother’s home: the textured wallpaper, the gilded mirrors, the woven rugs, the ever-vigilant Doberman. Their Beirut apartment is Chidiac’s refuge, but it is also a cage. When his bedroom undergoes a renovation, he uses the opportunity to explore his own identity within the confines of the apartment. Much to his mother’s dismay, Syrian construction workers arrive to do the remodeling. As they peel away at the walls, Chidiac engages them in a game of questions, searching for answers of his own about nationality and masculinity. A tense Skype call with his uncle underlines the disdain with which Chidiac’s homosexuality is treated in Lebanon and by his family. His uncle suggests he move away. His mother keeps the Doberman because she does not have a man around to protect her, even though Chidiac is there. Eventually Chidiac reaches out to his estranged father, in search of not only a renewed Argentine passport he once had as a child, but also acceptance. Room for a Man is at once confessional and universal. Chidiac’s belief that “societies divide us, and cinema will reunite us” is evident in the care with which he frames his shots, the way he addresses his subjects, and the film’s lingering silences. Calling to mind the works of cinematic vanguards Chris Marker and Chantal Akerman, Room for a Man is an assured and beautiful debut.

DIR Michelle Memran 2018 USA 79 min

— MONICA NOLAN

DIR Anthony Chidiac 2017 Lebanon, USA 77 min In Arabic and French with English subtitles

— ELLIOTT BREEDEN

— CHARLES PURDY

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

Monday, June 18, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 11:00 am · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 17, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

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Documentaries 69

SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD DIR Matt Tyrnauer 2017 USA 98 min

“Just what are you?” Scotty Bowers is asked at one point. “I’m everything!” he says with a cackle—a fitting introduction to this bewitching unsung Hollywood icon, also known as the pimp to the stars. Bowers made a name for himself in the 1950s, when he began facilitating discreet liaisons for Hollywood stars. Working as a gas station attendant after returning from serving in the Marine Corps during WWII, Bowers started arranging quickies and orgies for clients in a nearby trailer or adjacent hotel. He continued his “introduction service” while working parties throughout Hollywood, catering to the wide-ranging tastes of both men and women—gay, straight, and everything in between. The actor Stephen Fry ruminates, “Scotty himself was pre-gay.” Though Bowers ended his services at the start of the AIDS epidemic, he left a lingering impact on many lives. Bowers was the source of some of the scandalous revelations in the notorious Hollywood Babylon, and in 2012 he finally released his own exposé, the bestselling memoir Full Service. “The truth can’t hurt them anymore,” Bowers says of his decision to dish on the private lives of his mostly deceased clients. Matt Tyrnauer (Studio 54, pg. 29) captures Bowers, now 94, in all his spry charm and lets his storytelling be the star of the show, taking in the wild tales of Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Spencer Tracy, and other Hollywood royalty with an irresistible relish. — ELLIOTT BREEDEN

SHAKEDOWN

DIR Leilah Weinraub 2018 USA 80 min

When you come to Shakedown, remember the following: First, you better be ready to tip. And second, “This is a gay club—they dance for girls; if you don’t like it, just have a seat, boo boo, OK?” Shakedown, a series of parties by and for black women, dominated Los Angeles’s underground lesbian strip club scene from the 1990s through the 2000s. This film is equal parts provocative, touching, sexy, and nostalgic for days long gone. (Special shout-out to the aunties in the vintage footage rocking teeny-tiny bikinis, high-top sneakers, and Coming to America Queen to Be ponytails!) Director Leilah Weinraub captures the glamour, grit, and joy of club life at Shakedown, from welcoming the birth of the first Shakedown baby, to dancers being harassed and arrested by the LAPD. We meet a captivating crew, including Miss Mahogany, a black house mother who has organized parties since the ’80s; Egypt, a femme performer with an alter ego as dominant Sasha Fierce, but a voice so soft you’d never know it was coming from the same person; and Ronnie Ron, Miss Mahogany’s butch lesbian protégé, a brilliant MC and the founder of Shakedown Productions. It’s a celebration of a unique time and space, crackling with footage that (amazingly) was shot and has survived. So settle in and grab some dollar bills. These girls know how to put on a show. — TAYLOR J. HODGES

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

THE SILK AND THE FLAME DIR Jordan Schiele 2018 USA 87 min In Mandarin and English with English subtitles

Single and successful but without a boyfriend (to make himself happy) or a wife (whose fertility would make his aging parents happy), Yao Shou returns to his family’s village from the capital to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Accompanied by a friend—the filmmaker Jordan Schiele, a Beijing-based New Yorker fluent in Mandarin—Yao navigates and endures a rocky reunion: his father has been disabled by a pair of strokes, and his mother (deaf and unable to speak words since a childhood illness) conveys her delight at Yao’s visit by haranguing him about his overdue obligation to procreate. Filmmaker Schiele gives us astonishing access to Chinese village life, Yao’s family’s dynamics, and the complex inner life of his gay friend. In public, Yao is remarkably placid about his parents’ chronic displeasure. But in solitary reflections to Schiele, Yao sneaks a cigarette and expresses his frustration at his fruitless sacrifices to meet the expectations of his mother and father. “I’m always trying to be a good boy,” he says, a striking confession for a man in his late 30s. To maintain that role, Yao will go so far as to “introduce” a fake girlfriend (actually, a coworker) to his extended family on his cellphone via FaceTime—a virtual love interest who truly exists only in the ether. Ravishingly photographed in crisp blackand-white, The Silk and the Flame is an empathetic, touching portrait of a self-aware man bound by loyalty and boxed in by archaic cultural norms. — MICHAEL FOX

Friday, June 22, 9:45 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general Friday, June 22, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 9:00 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 16, 4:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

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70 Frameline42

SOUTHERN PRIDE

DIR Malcolm Ingram 2018 Canada 88 min

In 2006, Malcolm Ingram’s award-winning documentary Small Town Gay Bar (Frameline30) explored gay bars in rural Mississippi. Gay bars are often the only safe communities for small-town LGBTQ people in the Deep South’s Bible Belt, and bigoted forces—Fred Phelps, Tim Wildmon, and more—have long tried to shut them down. Now, after the election of Donald Trump has emboldened anti-LGBTQ hatred in the region, Ingram returns to document the travails of running a gay bar in Mississippi, with a profile of lesbian bar owners in Biloxi and Hattiesburg. Lynn Koval, the white owner of Just Us Lounge, the oldest gay bar in the state, and Shawn Perryon, Sr., the black owner of the nine-year-old Club Xclusive, decide separately to hold their cities’ first Pride celebrations in 2017, as a rebuke to the “open-season” mentality encouraged by Trump, as well as to Mississippi’s Religious Liberty Accommodations Act, the Pulse nightclub terrorist attack, and the murders of three Gulf Coast transgender women shortly after the 2017 inauguration. Just Us Lounge restored their community after Hurricane Katrina leveled Biloxi and nearly destroyed the bar. Can they and Club Xclusive organize a Pride event in the face of homophobia and racism? Months of preparation yield fundraising fiascos, unexpected road repairs, and the comical hustling of indifferent spring breakers. But the power of community should never be underestimated, and the brave efforts of the two gay bars are an inspiring example of real Southern pride. — FRAKO LODEN

UNSTOPPABLE FEAT: THE DANCES OF ED MOCK DIR Brontez Purnell 2018 USA 67 min

Ed Mock, the avant-garde San Francisco legend who melded classical dance, experimental performance art, and acting, finally gets his due in local director Brontez Purnell’s heartfelt documentary. A bold and inventive dancer and instructor, Mock honed his craft under the acclaimed Jimmy Payne in Chicago and performed internationally for decades. He pushed boundaries with his improvisational techniques, nude and gender-fluid performances, and mesmerizing, genredefying dance. In an era when New York dance was all about hard lines and conformity, Mock had a distinctively San Francisco approach: his classes, performances, and dance company focused on the humanity and the unique personality of each individual, making space for every person’s artistic ability within a collective, rather than asking dancers to conform to one vision of linear dance. But above even his vision and talent, it was his personal relationships in the Bay Area in the 1970s and ’80s that inspired generations of followers, admirers, lovers, and zealots—many of whom still speak of visiting his dance studio as something akin to attending church. These individuals, as well as academics and historians, discuss the continuing inspiration of Mock’s work, while mourning his loss among the era’s generation of gay, queer, and bisexual black men lost to AIDS. Chock-full of interviews, archival footage of Mock’s performances, and modern performances of his pieces, this documentary is a sincere homage to his life and art, and a testament to his continued inspiration. — J. SWEMBA

YOURS IN SISTERHOOD DIR Irene Lusztig 2018 USA 101 min

The women wrote their letters to Ms. magazine and signed them, as good feminists did, “In sisterhood.” Most were never published. Forty years later, awardwinning filmmaker and media archeologist Irene Lusztig traveled around the United States, to the towns where the letters had been written, and asked local women to re-embody the letter-writers’ voices and read aloud these deepest secrets, angriest rants, and sincerest pleas on camera. What happens is intersectional, personal, political—and perfectly stunning. In smalltown Kansas, a transgender teen reads a 1975 letter proposing a new gender-neutral pronoun: “I’m not a ‘he-she-whatever’!” From a lawn chair in Bowling Green, Ohio, a middle-aged African American wonders who from her town would have written such a powerful screed about the media’s lack of black representation in 1979. A seventysomething from San Francisco says of a 1974 writer’s decision to no longer fake orgasm, “That was very me.” Poignantly, a woman rereads her own 1976 letter, written when she was sixteen, confronting her fear and sense of loss—but also her optimistic exuberance—about coming out as a lesbian. These are just a sampling of the powerful portraits-within-portraits the film captures, from 306 interviews in 32 states. Lusztig’s camera is still; her takes, unhurried; her shots, simply framed; and her locations, unremarkable. This very ordinariness underlines the extraordinary dialogue she’s created between the past and the future of feminism. — LUCY LAIRD

Sunday, June 17, 11:00 am · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 22, 9:30 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 11:00 am · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 2:30 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general

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Documentaries 71

SHORTS PROGRAMS

BI CANDY

COMING UP QUEER

Gender- and sexually-fluid shorts take center stage in this year’s batch of Bi Candy. From challenges in relationships and online dating, to running into exes at parties, these shorts dive into expectations and personal hang-ups with honesty and humor. Monogamish follows Sagar and Nishi and explores the dynamics and strength of two non-traditional couples in which agreements are made and boundaries are challenged. Brannan & the Monosexuals: Double Booked brings a whole new meaning to “double dating” when Brannan inadvertently makes online dates with a guy and a girl on the same night. In Tell Me Twice, Natalie spontaneously runs into her ex at a party and is forced to confront her feelings. In Noodle, a hard situation gets even harder when a straight guy tries to cheat on his girlfriend with a revenge-seeking lesbian. In The Feels: Season 2, Episode 1, “Different,” we find that navigating adulthood is never easy as we follow Charlie, an awkward and endearing illustrator and high school teacher who comedically stumbles through work and love. In the funny and provocative comingof-age tale Morning After, five friends explore their sexual identities and realize that they may not fall within society’s cleancut lines in poignant and moving ways.

Six short films that celebrate queer, trans, and non-binary youth and young adults of diverse backgrounds and experiences will inspire and delight as they take us through journeys with love interests, classmates, families, and communities. Starting in Colombia, Darío is a talented teenage dancer, but his mother’s disapproval stands in the way of his performing at the upcoming carnival. We then meet Dani, a non-binary “dragtivist” of Sri Lankan heritage who lives in San Francisco and challenges gender norms through drag king performances as Dani Boi. Twelve-year-old Erin is on a mission to woo the coolest girl at school in Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls, but will it strain her friendship with her BFF, Liz? In rural Pennsylvania, The Toothmans share their experiences as a family with a trans teen daughter who faces obstacles at school but comes into her own with the support of her parents. In Sweet and Sour, Wei visits his mom at her Chinese restaurant with his new boyfriend, but becomes nervous about coming out to her. We end in Australia, with ten year-old Mrs McCutcheon who prefers to wear dresses at school, despite being teased for it. Friendship and romantic interest from a classmate and pressure from the principal to dress differently all culminate at the school dance, with an ending that will have everyone on their feet.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 78 MIN

— CURATED BY ALLEGRA & APRIL HIRSCHMAN

MONOGAMISH DIR NARDEEP KHURMI 2017 USA 14 MIN / BRANNAN & THE MONOSEXUALS: DOUBLE BOOKED DIR CARYN HAYES 2017 USA 18 MIN / TELL ME TWICE DIR CAITLIN STICKELS 2017 USA 13 MIN / NOODLE (NOUILLE) DIR BENOÎT MASOCCO 2017 FRANCE 6 MIN / THE FEELS: SEASON 2, EPISODE 1, “DIFFERENT ” DIRS TIM MANLEY & NAJE LATAILLADE 2017 USA 12 MIN / MORNING AFTER DIR PATRICIA CHICA 2017 CANADA 15 MIN

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 67 MIN

— DANIEL MORETTI

DARÍO DIRS MANUEL KINZER & JORGE A. TRUJILLO GIL 2018 GERMANY, COLOMBIA 15 MIN / DANI BOI DIR LOGAN MUCHA 2018 AUSTRALIA 6 MIN / ERIN’S GUIDE TO KISSING GIRLS DIR JULIANNA NOTTEN 2017 CANADA 15 MIN / THE TOOTHMANS DIR HANSEN BURSIC 2017 USA 8 MIN / SWEET AND SOUR DIR ANN SUN 2017 USA 6 MIN / MRS MCCUTCHEON DIR JOHN SHEEDY 2017 AUSTRALIA 17 MIN This youth program is free and open to the public. Some films contain mild language; the suggested age range is 12 and older.

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Wednesday, June 20, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 17, 1:45 pm · Victoria free

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DARE

DARK TWISTED FANTASIES

FUN IN BOYS SHORTS

Taking risks comes with coveted rewards and crushing setbacks. In each of these challenging and playful shorts, men dare to confront the unknown—with wildly different outcomes. In the devilishly satiric Men Don’t Whisper, a gay couple (Charles Rogers and Jordan Firstman, Call Your Father, Frameline41) wrestling with their own toxic masculinity attempts, in cringe-worthy fashion, to seduce two women. In Kissing Walls, love interests with unorthodox practices throw a pair of roommates way out of their comfort zones. A savvy social media influencer forces himself to reconcile his public online persona with the fact he’s still closeted to his family, in Share. The night gets steamy and volatile in You Look Good in Blue, a sexy tale of stolen kisses and fumbling lovemaking. Finally, The Dare Project takes audiences on a rare 15-year journey, starting with Adam Salky and David Brind’s classic short Dare (Frameline29). Popular hunk Johnny takes a late-night dip with cute loner Ben, but just as things get steamy, an interruption stops their flirtations cold—that is, until the much anticipated 2018 sequel, which brings back the same leading men, now in their 30s, to finish up what they started all those years ago.

Strings of dark, perverse, hilarious, and bizarre fantasies run through this quartet of bold visions from across the globe. After a recent breakup with a boy named David, a young man spirals down a mind-bending rabbit hole of unusual past encounters with other Davids. In Malaysia, a shy teenager finds herself drawn to the village bad girl, who harbors a nocturnal secret in It’s Easier to Raise Cattle. Ester Martin Bergsmark (Something Must Break, Frameline38) returns with Swedish Candy, Some Violence and a Bit of Cat, a surreal, comical, and transgressive triptych of tales taking on consumption, gluttony, and gender. Bergsmark’s three interwoven strands include a glossy corporate infomercial celebrating the unsettling production of gelatin, and two parallel stories of women exploring the thin boundary between the grotesque and delectable. Performance artists Eva Johansson and Louise Löwenberg portray eerily close cousins who find their rehearsal of a notorious Tarzan & Jane routine going awry thanks to a vodka-filled watermelon. In Islands, winner of the Queer Palm at Cannes, garçon terrible Yann Gonzalez blurs the lines between wet dream and lucid nightmare, as a macabre, sensual stage performance sends a ripple of erotic desires through its audience and performers in visually sumptuous detail.

Are you ready for a little mood adjustment? We have the right prescription: eight uplifting small doses of joy are just what the doctor ordered, in this year’s collection of heartwarming and giggle-inducing short films that go down easy. We start with a film industry satire: a picky Hollywood bedmate delivers detailed post-coital feedback in Matt & Dan: Sex Notes. When cutie pie Carson gets rejected for being too Femme, he embarks on a hilarious journey of selfexamination, featuring Drag Race’s Aja as a fairy godmother. Don’t Fuck with England is a punishing lesson in British diction, while Bad Friend is a catchy music video about two queer and fabulous friends who have a falling out, only to re-meet 25 years later (don’t miss the cameo from Mx Justin Vivian Bond!). In The Fix, a mild-mannered fast-food worker seeks out a controversial cure for his oral obsession, and in his standup Routine, comedian Dwayne shares a dating experience that reveals quite a bit about his new community. Manivald is a shy 33-year-old fox still living at home with his overbearing fox mom, who both get very interested in a hunky wolf plumber. Finally, Josh has something important to tell his lifelong friend Andy on a hike to the High Rocks.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 96 MIN

— HARRY VAUGHN

MEN DON’T WHISPER DIR JORDAN FIRSTMAN 2017 USA 22 MIN / KISSING WALLS, EPISODES 1 & 2 DIR ZAK PAYNE 2017 USA 14 MIN / SHARE DIRS ELLIE WEN & BARNA SZÁSZ 2018 USA 13 MIN / YOU LOOK GOOD IN BLUE DIR HARRISON SHEEHAN 2018 USA 15 MIN / THE DARE PROJECT DIR ADAM SALKY 2005/2018 USA 32 MIN This program contains sexually explicit content.

Total Running Time: 94 min

— JOE BOWMAN

DAVID DIR JAMES SWEENEY 2018 GERMANY, USA 8 MIN / IT ’S EASIER TO RAISE CATTLE (LAGI SENANG JAGA SEKANDANG LEMBU) DIR AMANDA NELL EU 2017 MALAYSIA 17 MIN / SWEDISH CANDY, SOME VIOLENCE AND A BIT OF CAT (SMÅGODIS, KATTER OCH LITE VÅLD) DIR ESTER MARTIN BERGSMARK 2018 SWEDEN 45 MIN / ISLANDS (LES ÎLES) DIR YANN GONZALEZ 2017 FRANCE 24 MIN

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 73 MIN

— PETER L. STEIN

MATT & DAN: SEX NOTES DIR WILL GORDH 2018 USA 5 MIN / FEMME DIR ALDEN PETERS 2017 USA 18 MIN / DON’T FUCK WITH ENGLAND DIR ROCKET EAR 2018 USA 3 MIN / BAD FRIEND DIR STEPHEN WINTER 2018 USA 5 MIN / THE FIX DIR EDWARD JACK 2017 USA 11 MIN / ROUTINE DIR WES AKWUOBI 2017 USA 6 MIN / MANIVALD DIR CHINTIS LUNDGREN 2017 CANADA, CROATIA, ESTONIA 13 MIN / HIGH ROCKS DIR TYLER WALLACH 2017 USA 12 MIN

This program contains sexually explicit content.

Saturday, June 16, 11:00 am · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 15, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Saturday, June 23, 9:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 24, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

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Shorts Programs 73

FUN IN GIRLS SHORTS

HOMEGROWN

REALNESS & REVELATIONS

Be delighted by every twist and turn in this quirky collection of queer women’s shorts— where nothing is quite as it seems. Featuring grandmothers, BFFs, brides-to-be, and rival siblings, this year’s selection runs the full gamut. Gaze in wonder at Grace and Betty, as Grace finally decides to come out to her grandmother, who has a big secret of her own. In Pop Rox, we discover that telling your BFF that you’re in love with them is probably best done without a third wheel along for the ride. And what does it really mean to be Dick Sisters? How about accidentally killing a guy you both dated and then falling in love with each other, all in the same night? In Lesbehonest: I’ll Be All Right, we catch Blaire, a womanizing lesbian, who after an impulsive break-up ends up with too many dates at the same party. A surprise twist is unveiled in Children Alike when a brother decides to take his new girlfriend home to meet his sister. Ice Cold presents a wedding day to remember, as a blushing bride has her best and worst day ever. And well it’s just too true: Dyke Bars Never Last. Bay Area electronic pop artist Sapphic Lasers explores the heartbreak of the closures of all the wonderful dyke bars.

Seven awesome shorts each bearing deliciously queer fruit, all homegrown here in the San Francisco Bay Area! In Dyke Bars Never Last, a lonely queer sits outside of the now closed Lexington Bar, and follows a trail of signs, motorcycle babes, and femme dommes and leather daddies to the Last Dyke Bar on Earth. Jed Bell’s Dropping Penny is a comedy about a day in the life of two trans dogwalkers in San Francisco. A woman confronted with the absence of her lover is haunted by memories of passion, tenderness, and pain that pierce the margins of her reality, in Fig Tree. Don’t Judge Me, It’s Rude is about an emotionally nuanced reconnection at a tree stump. In I Live Here, Stevie tags along for a night out with his roommates, but later finds himself locked out of the house. Then police arrive. The PrEP Project is a hybrid doc and serves up a dose of sex ed for the 21st century, taking the fear out of the HIV epidemic with fun and outrageous frankness. A Great Ride looks at older lesbians—Sally Gearhart, Brenda Crawford, and several women who live in an LGBTQfriendly retirement community in Santa Rosa—aging with dynamism and zest for life, determination, and humor.

These enriching shorts showcase the stories and experiences of queer and trans folks of color. Celebrating trailblazers, queer resilience, and the beauty of dance, these films feature QTPOC folks forging toward truth and equality. Many Loves, One Heart tells the story of the nascent LGBTQ movement in Jamaica, highlighting courageous members of the community and their allies. In Colombia, Darío, a 17-year-old boy, tries to hide his love for carnival dancing from his disapproving mother. The body and movement between Two Men open a dialogue of sexuality and hyper-masculinity in a stylized world. Happy Birthday, Marsha! imagines the iconic transgender performer and activist Marsha P. Johnson in the hours before Stonewall. The Things You Think I’m Thinking features a black male burn survivor and amputee going on a date with a non-disabled man. After the bar, they go back to his apartment, where he faces his demons. In Masks, we witness a closeted medical student risk being outed to her family on the same evening that a masked gunman opens fire at a gay nightclub.

GRACE AND BETTY DIR ZOE LUBECK 2016 USA 12 MIN / POP ROX DIR NATE TRINRUD 2017 USA 12 MIN / DICK SISTERS DIR LAUREN GARRONI 2018 USA 9 MIN / LESBEHONEST: I’LL BE ALl RIGHT DIR JANA HEATON 2017 USA 19 MIN / CHILDREN ALIKE (LIKA BARN) DIR JULIA BOSTRÖM 2017 SWEDEN 5 MIN / ICE COLD DIR SEKIYA DORSETT 2017 USA 13 MIN / DYKE BARS NEVER LAST DIR STACY MCKENZIE 2018 USA 6 MIN

DYKE BARS NEVER LAST DIR STACY MCKENZIE 2018 USA 6 MIN / DROPPING PENNY DIR JED BELL 2017 USA 8 MIN / FIG TREE DIR ANA QUINTANILLA 2018 USA 5 MIN / DON’T JUDGE ME, IT ’S RUDE DIR TAYLOR WHITEHOUSE 2018 USA 5 MIN / I LIVE HERE DIR SHANE WATSON 2017 USA 18 MIN / THE PREP PROJECT DIRS CHRIS TIPTON-KING & ROBYN KOPP 2017 USA 19 MIN / A GREAT RIDE DIRS DEBORAH CRAIG & VERONICA DELIZ 2018 USA 28 MIN

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 77 MIN

— FRANCES WALLACE

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 89 MIN

— KEVIN SCHAUB

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 94 MIN

— PAUL STRUTHERS

MANY LOVES, ONE HEART DIR SARAH FEINBLOOM 2017 USA, JAMAICA 19 MIN / DARÍO DIRS MANUEL KINZER & JORGE A. TRUJILLO GIL 2018 GERMANY, COLOMBIA 15 MIN / TWO MEN DIR YUANHAO ZHAO 2017 CHINA 9 MIN / HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARSHA! DIRS REINA GOSSETT & SASHA WORTZEL 2017 USA 14 MIN / THE THINGS YOU THINK I’M THINKING DIR SHERREN LEE 2017 USA 15 MIN / MASKS DIR MAHALIYAH AYLA O 2018 USA 22 MIN

Saturday, June 16, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general Saturday, June 23, 12:00 pm · Piedmont $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 15, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 24, 11:00 am · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Thursday, June 21, 9:15 pm · Victoria $12 members, $14 general

Wednesday, June 20, 7:00 pm · Elmwood $12 members, $14 general

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74 Frameline42

TRANSTASTIC

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

WORLDLY AFFAIRS

This crowd-pleasing collection of shorts places trans and gender nonconforming folks front and center in a celebration of locally-celebrated legends and internationally-known trans pioneers. The evening starts off with Shawna Virago’s Last Night’s Sugar, a music video that tells the tale of late-night escapades and economic ruin. In the Fabled episode “D as in Delta,” a chance encounter with a hitchhiker leads to newfound liberation in the first episode of this modern fairytale anthology series. Take a stroll with Dropping Penny, a comedy about a day in the life of two trans dogwalkers in San Francisco. In the Self-Made Men episode “Showbiz,” Rocco Katastrophe and Amos Mac are joined by Murray Hill, inviting us into a world of universally relatable dreams and aspirations. Zackary Drucker’s Southern for Pussy finds a mother and daughter, played by Drucker (Transparent), discussing precisely that. After a few years absence, Evan returns one night to face his now-famous former bandmates, in We Forgot to Break Up. In the first two episodes of the T, a trans woman navigates a drunk night with her uncommitted best friend. Happy Birthday, Marsha!, a hybrid short doc featuring Film Independent Spirit Award winner Mya Taylor (Tangerine), imagines iconic transgender performer and activist, Marsha P. Johnson, in the hours before the historic night at Stonewall.

These eight short documentaries give us insight into the lives of some truly remarkable people, told in many different ways. Take a seat and get to know them all, Up Close & Personal. A filmmaker sends a message to his future self in Note to Self. Meet Malaysianborn Sereena, a captivating transfeminine performer who poetically discusses trans (in)visibility in What Do You See. The doc 98 Years* and Counting is a call for and celebration of women’s leadership and a stark look at the under-representation of women in positions of power. My Own Wings is a beautifully executed transmedia project that explores intersex identity. The Things That Make Us is about two people and their journey in learning to love their bodies. Many Loves, One Heart tells the story of the nascent LGBTQ movement in Jamaica. In Angela Wilson: A Butcher’s Story, meet Angela, the owner of Avedano’s, an independent butcher shop here in San Francisco. In Picture This, we follow Andrew, a self-described “queer cripple,” as he plans the second edition of a sexpositive play party. The film shows the uneasy dichotomy that disabled people face, of feeling invisible or like outcasts. With its insistent and unflinching gaze, Picture This invites us to see them for who they are.

Spread across three continents, this year’s sexy, romantic Worldly Affairs program is a quartet of magnificent shorts that places eight characters in moments of discovery through unexpected encounters. Reminiscent of a gay Before Sunrise set in Brazil, an Argentine man goes on holiday with no set plans, hoping to find someone to show him the Top 10 Places to Visit in São Paulo. At a gay sauna, a young man, something of a regular at the baths, finds his otherwise routine visit dramatically changed when he meets a bewildered older gentleman, in the beautiful, surprising Set Me As a Seal Upon Thine Heart. Two twentysomethings—newly transitioned Alexe and her gay best friend Carl—pregame at their apartment before meeting a group of old friends out on the town, not realizing the overflowing glasses of wine might lead them to a new stage in their relationship, in Pre-Drink, winner of the Best Short at the Toronto International Film Festival. To close the program, we return to Brazil through the lens of San Francisco–based filmmaker Travis Mathews (Interior. Leather Bar., Frameline38; Discreet, Frameline41). In Just Past Noon on a Tuesday, two strangers meet inside a beautiful São Paulo apartment; they are both lovers of the recently deceased tenant, and the encounter forges a physical and emotional connection.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 84 MIN

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 82 MIN

— KEVIN SCHAUB

Total Running Time: 70 min

— JOE BOWMAN

LAST NIGHT’S SUGAR DIR SHAWNA VIRAGO 2017 USA 5 MIN / FABLED: EPISODE 1, “D AS IN DELTA” DIR JENNIFER MORRISON 2018 USA 14 MIN / DROPPING PENNY DIR JED BELL 2017 USA 8 MIN / SELF-MADE MEn: episode, “showbiz” DIR AMY GOLDSTEIN 2018 USA 11 MIN / SOUTHERN FOR PUSSY DIR ZACKARY DRUCKER 2018 USA 5 MIN / THE T DIR DEVEN CASEY 2017 USA 14 MIN / WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP DIR CHANDLER LEVACK 2017 CANADA 16 MIN / HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARSHA! DIRS REINA GOSSETT & SASHA WORTZEL 2017 USA 14 MIN

NOTE TO SELF DIR ALEX BOHS 2017 USA 2 MIN / WHAT DO YOU SEE DIR MICHAEL BONNER 2017 AUSTRALIA 5 MIN / 98 YEARS* AND COUNTING: MORE WOMEN LEADERS NEEDED EVERYWHERE DIRS KIRTHI NATH & ZEL ANDERS 2018 USA 3 MIN / MY OWN WINGS DIR KATIA REPINA 2016 SPAIN, USA 9 MIN / THE THINGS THAT MAKE US DIR FOX FISHER 2017 UK 3 MIN / MANY LOVES, ONE HEART DIR SARAH FEINBLOOM 2017 USA, JAMAICA 19 MIN / ANGELA WILSON: A BUTCHER’S STORY DIR GABY SCOTT 2018 USA 7 MIN / PICTURE THIS DIR JARI OSBORNE 2017 CANADA 33 MIN

Monday, June 18, 7:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 22, 1:30 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

Friday, June 22, 4:00 pm · Castro $12 members, $14 general

sponsored by

with support from

TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN SÃO PAULO (TOP 10 LUGARES EM SÃO PAULO) DIR AKIRA KAMIKI 2018 BRAZIL 14 MIN / SET ME AS A SEAL UPON THINE HEART (SIMANI KE’HOTAM AL LIBHA) DIR OMER TOBI 2018 ISRAEL 10 MIN / PRE-DRINK DIR MARC-ANTOINE LEMIRE 2017 CANADA 23 MIN / JUST PAST NOON ON A TUESDAY DIR TRAVIS MATHEWS 2018 BRAZIL, USA 22 MIN This program contains sexually explicit material.

Shorts Programs 75

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 78 MIN

Feast your eyes and come travel the globe far and wide with this astounding array of women’s dramatic shorts, with complexly woven plots of intrigue, deceit, and what family ties can really mean when the chips are down. This stellar collection confirms the vitality of new filmmakers from around the world. A prize winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Would You Look at Her, from Macedonia, follows a hard-headed tomboy who uncovers the unlikely solution to all her problems in an all-male religious ritual. In Goddess, a closeted lesbian in New Delhi, India risks losing her family as she pursues her household maid, Devi. Kate makes a bargain with her terminally ill brother, who agrees to let her use his sperm if she comes out to her family that night in Tooth and Nail. From Australia, Concern for Welfare focuses on Ali, a gay Lebanese probationary constable at odds with her Muslim brother’s toxic behavior, but an unexpected encounter makes her rethink her battles. And finally, Lea and Court Matheson, a happily-married lesbian couple with a son return to Lea’s hometown to attend the funeral of her best friend, with some surprising results, in The Inherent Traits of Connor James. — FRANCES WALLACE

WOULD YOU LOOK AT HER (VIDI JA TI NEA) DIR GORAN STOLEVSKI 2017 MACEDONIA 18 MIN / GODDESS (DEVI) DIR KARISHMA DUBE 2017 INDIA13 MIN / TOOTH AND NAIL DIR SARA SHAW 2017 USA 20 MIN / CONCERN FOR WELFARE DIR FADIA ABBOUD 2018 AUSTRALIA 12 MIN / THE INHERENT TRAITS OF CONNOR JAMES DIR ALLY PANKIW 2017 CANADA 13 MIN

FAMILY MATINEE

WOULD YOU LOOK AT HER

COCO

DIRS Adrian Molina & Lee Unkrich 2017 USA 105 min

Embark on a musically colorful journey to the afterlife and back in Pixar’s enchanting, Academy Award–winning Coco. Twelve-yearold Miguel lives in Santa Cecilia, Mexico, where he secretly dreams of becoming a musician, despite his family’s ban on music—a ban that stems from a mystery surrounding his great-great-grandfather. On Día de los Muertos, Miguel’s aspirations and curiosity transport him to the beyond, where he reunites with skeletal ancestors who bring him to the Land of the Dead. In this bustling necropolis of neon spirit animals, dazzling nightclubs, and rich culture, Miguel learns that he must return to the Land of the Living by sunrise or forever remain with the dead. The only catch? He has been cursed and must find a blessing to return home. With the help of his relatives, a dogturned-spirit animal named Dante, and Héctor, a vagabond skeleton, Miguel races against the clock to solve the mystery of his curse and musical lineage, and to discover his voice along the way. Coco is a touching story of acceptance, living authentically, and finding family. When co-director and writer Adrian Molina and producer Darla K. Anderson both thanked their same-sex spouses during their Oscar acceptance speech, Anderson added, “Coco is proof that art can change and connect the world, and this can only be done when we have a place for everyone and anyone who feels like an ‘other’ to be heard.” — BRIAN RAY

This program is free and open to the public. Come early for special Pixar giveaways!

Saturday, June 23, 4:00 pm · Roxie $12 members, $14 general

Sunday, June 17, 11:00 am · Roxie free

sponsored by

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“Youth in Motion materials are accessible and empowering, to both adults and students whose aim is to make schools a more inclusive place for all.” — BRAD, GSA ADVISOR

“…Students seeing other leaders on film makes them want to be leaders, too.” — LEIGHANNE, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT

Creating Safer Schools for LGBTQ Youth & Allies · 25,000+ students served annually

· 7,000+ film and curricula collections distributed for free · 1,300+ K-12 schools registered in all 50 states

· 35 films making an impact on youth and educators for 11 years Youth In Motion is made possible through the generous support of:

Anonymous

The Hurst Family Fund

receive free LGBTQ films and curriculum, donate, or learn

more about Youth in Motion: frameline.org/youth-in-motion youthinmotion@frameline.org

Additional support provided by:

James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen

TICKET INFO Regular Screening General Public $14.00 Discount: Students/Disabled/Seniors $13.00 Member $12.00 Centerpiece Films General Public $18.00 Member $15.00 Opening Night Film & Gala General Public $90.00 Member $75.00 Opening Night Film Only General Public $35.00 Member $30.00 Closing Night Film & Party General Public $60.00 Member $50.00

HOW TO BUY TICKETS

PASSES

Advance member ticket sales start Wednesday, May 23. General ticket sales start Tuesday, May 29.

Streamline your Frameline42 experience with a Castro Pass, or upgrade your membership level to receive a Gold or Platinum Card for the ultimate Festival experience. With any of these passes you won't have to wait in box office lines or keep track of individual tickets! Plus, you’ll receive priority entry and enjoy the flexibility to decide each day which movies you’ll see.

Online:

Daily, 24 hours at frameline.org

Walk-up: Frameline42 Box Office, Presented by Showtime®, located at Strut, 470 Castro Street, San Francisco. Pre-Festival (May 25 to June 13) Open Tuesday to Sunday 3:00 to 7:00 pm, CLOSED Mondays Festival (June 14 to 23) Open daily 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm Fax: Daily, 24 hours at 415.692.4994. Payment: Cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express are accepted. Ticket Delivery Via Mail: Tickets/passes purchased online or by fax prior to June 4 will automatically be mailed within three business days to the billing address listed on the ticket order. NOTE: Orders received on or after June 4 will only be placed at Will Call.

Will Call: Tickets held at Will Call will be available at the theater of the ticket order’s first Closing Night Film Only screening ONLY on the day of that screening. Will Call will open thirty minutes prior to the General Public $35.00 first screening of the day at each venue. If you Member $30.00 miss the first screening for which you have Will Call tickets, we’ll hold your tickets at the theater where your next screening is taking DISCOUNTS place (and so on). Only those people listed on the ticket order will be allowed to pick up Frameline Members: Will Call tickets. Please bring a valid photo ID When ordering, you must present so our Will Call volunteers can make sure you your membership card or have get the proper tickets. your ID available. Limited to two discount tickets per screening. Sold Out? You might still get in! When advance tickets are no longer available, Students/Disabled/Seniors (65+): a separate Rush Line will form outside the venue, When ordering, you must present anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour prior to a valid photo ID (proof of discount the screening. Once the number of unoccupied eligibility). Send a photocopy of seats has been determined—typically a few your ID with your Ticket Order Form minutes before posted showtime—those tickets when ordering by fax. Limited to will be sold to individuals in the Rush Line. one discount ticket per screening.

Connect with us! BOX WEBSITE: frameline.org OFFICE: boxoffice@frameline.org SOCIAL MEDIA:

/frameline

/framelinefest

FESTIVAL HOTLINE:

415.703.8655

/framelinefest

#FL42

ABOUT FESTIVAL PASSES

An allotment of seats is held at every screening for Frameline pass holders. Please arrive early! Passes (with the exception of a Platinum Card) do not guarantee seating, and pass holders are allowed priority entry up to 20 minutes before posted screening time or until the pass holder seat allotment has been reached. Twenty minutes after the program has commenced, no one will be admitted into the theatre. Castro Pass: $240 each, available to members only (membership must be valid through June 2018). Castro Passes provide admission to all Frameline42 screenings at the Castro Theatre, excluding Opening and Closing Nights. Present your Castro Pass at the Members Door for admission. Castro Pass holders may be accompanied by ONE guest with a valid ticket. Quantities are limited. Gold and Platinum Cards: not sold separately Gold Cards are presented in appreciation of Frameline Members at the Benefactor ($800+), Visionary ($1,500 -$2,499), and Visionary Star ($2,500$4,999) levels. A Gold Card entitles the bearer to priority admission (subject to house manager discretion) to all Frameline42 screenings. Platinum Cards are presented in appreciation of Frameline Members at the Visionary Director ($5,000 -$9,999) and Luminary ($10,000+) levels. A Platinum Card provides the bearer with priority admission to all Frameline42 screenings, and reserved seating for all screenings at the Castro Theatre (with advance notice). Gold and Platinum Cards serve as your ticket to Festival events and screenings including Opening and Closing Night Films and Galas (some exceptions apply based upon Membership level). Gold and Platinum Card holders may be accompanied by ONE guest with a valid ticket or pass—please present your card at the Member Door for admission. To learn more about the benefits of Frameline Membership, please call us at 415.703.8650 x 301, contact members@frameline.org, visit www.frameline.org/support, or visit the Frameline Box Office, Presented by Showtime®, at 470 Castro Street inside Strut.

THE FINE PRINT: All orders are final. No refunds, exchanges, substitutions, or replacements. Frameline is not responsible for lost, stolen, forgotten, or damaged tickets or passes, or any item misdirected by the Postal Service. If a screening is cancelled, tickets must be returned to the Frameline Box Office within 48 hours of the cancelled screening date. Service fees are non-refundable. The service fee is $1.00 per ticket or pass. Returned checks are subject to a $25.00 fee. Frameline Box Office location is generously provided by Strut.

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FRAMELINE42 TICKET ORDER FORM Questions? Please contact boxoffice@frameline.org. Please print legibly or processing may be delayed. Fax to Frameline at 415.692.4994.

PLEASE CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

NAME

I am a Frameline Member. MEMBERSHIP #:

I am joining Frameline, and my membership payment is included.

BILLING ADDRESS

CREDIT CARD PAYMENT

Visa

CITY STATE

ZIP/POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY (OTHER THAN USA)

(

HOME PHONE

)

DAY PHONE — IMPORTANT

MasterCard

Discover

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

NAME (AS IT APPEARS ON CREDIT CARD)

ACCOUNT NO.

DATE

PROGRAM TITLE

American Express

VENUE

SECURITY CODE

QUANTITY PRICE PER TICKET

DISCOUNT TYPE*

EXPIRATION DATE

SUBTOTAL

SUBTOTAL = $

Join/Renew Membership Visit www.frameline.org/membership for a complete list of member benefits, including advance member ticket sales beginning on May 23, 2018. Explorer

◊

(24 & under). . . . . . . . . . FREE

Friend Discount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45 **

Friend.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60 Friend Dual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $120 Supporter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185 Supporter Dual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $350 Patron.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500

Visionary $1,500 – $2,999 Visionary Star $2,500 - $4,999 Visionary Director $5,000 - $9,999 Luminary $10,000+

Benefactor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $800 ◊ Explorer

Membership available for free to ages 24 and under. Please enclose proof of age.

** Please enclose proof of age or full-time student status. Available only to full-time students with valid ID, seniors (65+), and persons with disabilities.

Membership (see info at left)

Castro Pass

@ $ 240

Service Fee ($1.00 per ticket/pass) = $ One-time Additional Donation

Donation = $

Please make a special gift to support the future of queer film.

GRAND TOTAL = $ * DISCOUNT TYPES

M = Member

D = Disabled

S = Senior (65+)

ST = Student

Please enclose proof of age or student status. Non-member discount limited to one (1) discount ticket per screening.

TICKET DELIVERY INFORMATION

Your tickets will be mailed to the billing address listed above unless you select one of the options below. Orders received on or after June 4 will be placed at Will Call. On the day of the screening, your tickets may be picked up at the theater’s Will Call desk.

I would like my tickets held at Will Call (photo ID required). I would like my tickets held at Will Call. However, I also authorize the following person to pick up my tickets at Will Call (photo ID required):

PRINT AUTHORIZED PERSON’S NAME

frameline.org 79

VENUES Castro Theatre

15 TH ST.

429 Castro Street (between Market & 18th) www.castrotheatre.com

MUNI Metro: K, L, M, T (exit at Castro station)

BART: 16th & Mission station

Festival Box Office

ST ET RK A M

20 TH ST.

Presented by Showtime

Strut 470 Castro Street (Between Market & 18th) Pre-Festival (May 25 to June 13) Open Tuesday to Sunday 3:00 to 7:00 pm CLOSED Mondays Festival (June 14 to 23) Open daily 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm

San Francisco

www.frameline.org/festival/attend

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1 st 4 SOMA

ar ke t

m n lso iso Fo arr H

M 5

Oasis 298 11th Street (between Howard & Folsom) www.sfoasis.com

SS SO UT H VA N NE

Bus: 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 33 Ashbury/18th, 49 Van Ness/Mission

Closing Night Party

MI SS IO N

Terra Gallery 511 Harrison Street (at 1st Street) www.terrasf.com

Victoria

Frameline is pleased to partner with Everett Middle School in providing a parking option for Festival attendees. The lot will be operated by volunteer students and alumni from the school and parking fees collected go directly toward funding their after school programs. Fees are $10/day ($20/day on Pink Saturday, June 23). The lot is located on 17th Street between Church and Sanchez. Parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note the posted hours of operation and remove your vehicle before closing; NO OVERNIGHT PARKING IS ALLOWED. Neither Frameline nor Everett Middle School is responsible for any damage or loss to vehicles and/or personal articles. In the Mission District, you may also try the SF Parking Garage at 42 Hoff Street, just off 16th Street between Mission and Valencia. Please check with the garage directly for current rates as they are subject to change. Street parking can be difficult to find throughout the Castro and Mission Districts. If you do find a space, please be aware of residential parking restrictions found on many streets. It is strongly recommended that you do not leave any personal property or valuables visible within your vehicle.

2961 16th Street (between Capp & Mission) www.victoriatheatre.org

Opening Night Gala

VA LE NC IA

19 TH

PARKING P

BART: 16th & Mission station

Victoria Theatre

CH UR CH

Bus: 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 33 Ashbury/18th, 49 Van Ness/Mission

17 TH ST.

Roxie

18 TH ST.

Festival Box Ofﬁce

3117 16th Street (between Valencia & Guerrero) www.roxie.com

GU ER RE RO

Parking Lot

1 Castro

SA NC HE Z

MUNI Metro

NO E

Roxie Theater

16 TH ST.

DO LO RE S

BART: transfer to MUNI Metro at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, or Civic Center stations

CA ST RO

Bus/Streetcar: 24 Divisadero, 33 Ashbury/18th, 35 Eureka, 37 Corbett, F Market

T 1

CASTRO

MISSION

POTRERO HILL

101

280

FESTIVAL INFO Rialto Cinemas® Elmwood

Festival Box Office Presented by

2966 College Avenue (at Ashby), Berkeley www.rialtocinemas.com

Located inside Strut, 470 Castro Street (between Market & 18th) in San Francisco.

AC Transit Bus: 80 to College Ave., 51/851 to Ashby Ave. BART: Rockridge station » AC Transit 51/851 to Ashby Ave. Ashby station » AC Transit 80 to College Ave. Driving: Hwy 24 E » exit at Claremont Ave. turn left, then slight left at College Ave.

Berkeley

BUSINESS HOURS:

Ashby

4186 Piedmont Avenue (at Linda), Oakland www.landmarktheatres.com Driving: Interstate 580 E » exit at Broadway Auto Row/Webster St., keep left to merge onto Broadway, then turn left at Piedmont Ave. AC Transit Bus: C to Piedmont Ave., 12 to Linda Ave. BART: 12th Street station » AC Transit 12 to Linda Ave. MacArthur station » AC Transit C to Piedmont Ave. PARKING Parking is available on surrounding neighborhood streets where meters run until 6 pm Monday through Saturday.

y wa e Pi 7

land

Oak

Walk-up ticket sales Membership services Festival merchandise General Festival information

Order your tickets online at frameline.org

Patron Courtesies

Landmark Theatres Piedmont

• • • •

Lin

Ave

Oakland

Mac Art h

o Pabl

880

Festival (June 14 to 23) Open daily 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm AVAILABLE SERVICES:

ad Bro

San

580

Pre-Festival (May 25 to June 13) Open Tuesday to Sunday 3:00 to 7:00 pm CLOSED Mondays

Parking is also available in the Elmwood Parking Lot just west of College Avenue on Russell Street, one block north of the theatre. Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has a parking garage located on Colby Street between Ashby Avenue and Webster Street.

Ticket sales open to the general public beginning Tuesday, May 29.

College

PARKING In the Elmwood neighborhood, two-hour parking is strictly enforced until 6 pm. If you drive south on College Avenue, there is unlimited parking throughout the Rockridge neighborhood.

Tickets go on sale to Frameline Members online May 23 and in-person on May 25. Become a member and receive immediate discounts on Festival tickets and merchandise.

• All seats are general admission, and multiple seat-saving is not permitted. Ave

• While waiting in line, please be considerate 13 of our neighbors and local businesses. We remind patrons that it’s illegal to smoke while waiting in line or near entrances to venues. • Frameline believes in everyone’s right to choose the restroom they are most comfortable using. Please disregard any exclusionary signage that may be visible at our venues.

• Please refrain from wearing perfumes and other scented products so that attendees with environmental sensitivities can comfortably enjoy the films.

Services for Disabled Audience Members

Frameline is committed to accommodating audience members with disabilities, offering early seating as needed. Please make yourself known to the theater house manager for assistance.

All screening venues are wheelchair accessible. A limited number of assisted listening devices are available at select venues on a first-come, first-served basis.

All screening venues have wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. At the Roxie, please ask the house manager for the key to an accessible bathroom. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided at the Festival Awards presentation and many introductions and post-screening Q&A sessions of subtitled films throughout the Festival. Please visit www.frameline.org for details on ASL-assisted screenings.

frameline.org 81 frameline.org

Watch Diverse Queer Films. Online. For Free. YouTube.com/Frameline Visit Framelineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s YouTube channel to catch fresh, monthly LGBTQ content, and access our Frameline Voices Archive playlist of over 70 groundbreaking films.

Dropbox is a proud sponsor of Frameline42.

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