The annual Queer Film Festival has expanded this year
to include more films that appeal to a broader audience
BY AMY LICHTY
PULSE REPORTER
From documentaries to short
films to full-length feature movies,
the cinema operates as an influen
tial and important medium for many
artists aspiring to make their voices
and ideas heard. Films dealing with
the queer community have been
some of the most eye-opening and
thought-provoking in the industry.
With the help of the UO Cultural Fo
rum, some of these films can be
seen on campus this weekend in the
annual Queer Film Festival. The festi
val has served as a campus outlet
for controversial and inspiring films
supporting the gay and lesbian com
munity for 13 years, making it the
longest-running gay and lesbian film
festival in the Northwest.
"(It was started) because people
needed an outlet for queer film that's
not being seen in the mainstream
theaters or even the Bijou," festival
coordinator Tara Allred said. "There
are all of these greatfeatures out
there that are showing a whole other
side of people's lives that usually
aren't seen."
Although this film festival has been
around for a good number of years,
there's still an abundant lack of queer
films coming to the area, and the
minds behind the Queer Film Festival
have been striving for change.
"Our goal is to bring traditional and
really innovative films to the area
where very few of these kinds of films
are being shown," Cultural Forum ad
viser Darrel Kau said.
"We've been trying to expand it in
the past couple of years, not only ex
tending in terms of how many films
we bring and what kind of program
ming we have, but we've been trying
to expand the audience and make
sure it continues to appeal to as
broad of an audience as possible,"
said Doug Hopper, last year’s film fes
tival coordinator. "(We want to ap
peal) not just to people that are queer
identified, but people from all over the
Eugene community and the campus
community as well."
Another goal the Cultural Forum
has set for the Queer Film Festival is to
provide a place where everyone can
feel comfortable, regardless of what
their lifestyle choices may be.
"I think for a lot of people it's just a
great place to come and see some
diverse films and connect with
peoplethatyou see around campus
but you don'tgetthe chance to
interact with," Allred said. "I've
talked to a lot of students who are
from small towns and they absolute
ly could not go out because there
would be violence (against them).
And they come here and they watch
the films and justfeel a sense of be
longing. It gives people a place to
come where they will be accepted
no matter who they are or what they
believe in."
A wide variety of films will be seen
in this year's film festival, which be
gins tonight at 8 p.m. with a showing
of Andy Warhol's "Lonesome Cow
boys." The festival continues into Fri
day, with a showing of "Tarnation,"
one of the mosttalked about gay
films of the year, at 7 p.m. The Short
Film Competition winners will be an
nounced at9 p.m., and a "Buffythe
Vampire Slayer" musical sing-a-long
will be shown at 11 p.m.
"This year's festival is going to be
a lot more fun. We're going to show
things that might be tough to see and
make you think, but we're also hav
ing a lot of fun, so people can sit
back and laugh," Allred said.
On Saturday, the festival starts up
at 1 p.m. with a documentary entitled
"Freedom to Marry," which discuss
es the varying perspectives on the
San Francisco same-sex weddings
of February 2004. The festival contin
ues with shorts and more documen
taries, and at 6 p.m. the Audience
Choice Awards will be distributed.
Films for mature audiences only will
be showcased at 9 p.m., including
"Raspberry Reich", which Hopper
described as "really edgy, provoca
tive, Marxist-inspired, radical, hard
core pornography." After that at
11 p.m., a documentary on the
"Amazing World of Orgasms" will
be shown.
Sunday, the festivities continue be
ginning at noon, and at 2 p.m., the
Queer Film Festival comes to a close
with "Goldfish Memory," a light-heart
ed look at the dangers and delights of
dating in contemporary Dublin.
"Topics range through a variety of
themes representing different diverse
cultural, social and historical con
texts," Kau said. "The themes are
mixed and have different contexts, so
it reaches different types of interests
and different people's experiences
and provides a whole other context of
gay and lesbian issues."
Students can purchase an all-fes
tival pass for just $6. Tickets are $8
forthe general public and are on
sale now at the UO ticket office and
at all festival events, which will be
held in PLC 180.
amylichty@dailyemerald.com
■ CD review
Amos’ usual piano tunes replaced in her (Beekeeper release
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tori Amos,
"The Beekeeper"
Tori Amos is typically coy about
her music, holding her inspirations
close like secrets and making each
song a charmingly melodic acknowl
edgment that there are things she'll
nevertell.
So it goes with rockroll's
mistress of enigma. She'll tease
you by saying her new album, "The
Beekeeper," is based on the six
sides of a honeycomb — each rep
resenting a facet of female emotion
— but shush you and leave only
EVERYDAY
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interpretations when you start
asking questions.
While that may frustrate some and
leave them cursing the artist's ego,
few will be dissatisfied with the
songs. "The Beekeeper" is delicious
and rich, thanks to Amos' use of new
instruments to complement her piano.
The album isn'tfull of the "Tori-and
her-piano" tunes we're used to hear
ing. Her voice soars over a deep,
humming electric organ on "Wit
ness," a groove-laden trackthat drips
with sensuality. And "Ireland" is
a danceable and flip ditty about a
road trip.
Overall, her eighth album is fuller
r
than previous efforts. But it is not en
tirely absent of the feminist message
that earned her a cult following in
the 1990s.
"Power of Orange Knickers" and
"Original Sinsuality," which has Amos
apparently refusing accept the Bible's
concept of Eve tempting
Adam to eat forbidden fruit, clearly
have a feminist message with a
capital F.
"Original sin? No, I don'tthink so.
Original sinsuality," the song goes.
Released concurrently with her
book "Tori Amos: Piece by Piece,"
the album may be the closest thing
to a passionate confessional through
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music from the 41 -year-old Amos.
Too bad we can only speculate
what she's really saying.
— Ryan Lenz
Clem Snide,
"End of Love"
In the vague genre known as "alt
country," Clem Snide has always
occupied the side less likely to know
howto ride a horse, and more prob
ably to be seen wearing trucker hats
in Brooklyn.
Now with five albums, the band's
music may have the lilting accept
ance and guitar-strumming simplici
ty of country, but Clem Snide is
mostly about the introspective, iron
ic lyrics of Eef Barzelay.
Horns occasionally make a nice
contribution, but there's no question
that Barzelay's pipes are the main
attraction here. His precious, nasal
voice sounds has grown stronger
and more accustomed to quivering
fluctuations with time. «
Barzelay sings lyrics about
German hip-hop, made-for-TV movies
and sophisticated chicks. Though he
often verges into self-conscious poet
ry, some lines are memorable, like
"the first thing every killer reads is
Catcher in the Rye.'"
Jake Coyle
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