18 ▼ m arch 1 7 , 1 0 0 5 T ju st o u t
C in em atic M ecca
Continued from previous page
Best Actress plume because of the strong feelings
this film engendered. Still, it is work that sticks
with you. Haunting.
On the other end o f the spectrum was the world
premiere o f Patricia Rozem a’s feel-good crowd-
pleaser When Night Was Falling (Canada). Fans of
Rozcma’s earlier outing, / 've Heard the Mermaids
Singing, will perhaps welcome this new effort.
Night follows heroine Camille as she strays from
her Calvinist boyfriend/preacher into the arms of
circus performer Petra. Like Mermaids, this is both
quirky and simple. W henever the picture concen
trates on its visual elements, particularly the magic
and sensuality of the circus setting, it soars. When
the two women finally get it on, the results are
utterly delicious. However, when the action shifts
to dialogue, the movie itself falls. The perfor
mances ultimately suffer under a sophomoric script.
When Night Was Falling tries much too hard to be
fresh, life-affirming, w him sical.. .blah, blah, blah.
However, perhaps the final word should go to the
audience, which gave the film a rousing reception.
The Forum of Young Cinem a— one o f the two
alternative sections o f the festival— presented a
smattering of queer films and videos, making up a
small percentage o f its overall programming. T ra
ditionally, the forum ’s offerings are a mixture of
social-issue documentaries, cutting-edge cinema,
and pretentious claptrap. This year was no excep
tion.
On the plus side was the European premiere of
Deborah Hoffm an’s brilliant Complaints o f a Du
tiful Daughter (U.S.). This highly personal explo
ration of the director’s relationship with her mother
now suffering from A lzheim er’s disease is a m ulti
faceted gem— softly humorous, quietly moving,
and filled with a deep humanity. A must-see.
(Historical note: the queer highlight o f the 1995
festival came shortly after V alentine’s Day, when
both Hoffman and her life partner Frances Reid
were nominated for Academy Awards in separate
categories— possibly the first lesbian couple to be
so honored in Oscar herstory. Go girls!)
The jury is still out on Steve M cLean’s Post
cards from America (U.S.), based on stories by
David Wojnorowicz. This mood piece mixes spec
tacular visuals with an equally disjointed narra
tive. Audiences are split— some find it poetic and
profound, others dismiss it as inflated and distant.
See it for yourself and decide.
D on’t bother seeing Roy Cohn/Jack Smith
(U.S.), Jill G odm ilow ’s utterly inept rendering o f
Ron Vawter’s acclaimed performance piece o f the
same title. I w on’t comment on the worth o f the
piece itself (other than to say, enough with the Roy
Cohn already!). Some friends assure me that on the
stage it was extremely affecting. On the screen it
was a complete bungle— lousy camera angles,
endless audience cutaways, poor editing, no direc
tion.
PHOTO BY LINDA KLIEWER
The Forum
Sierra Lonepine Briano (left) and Kathleen Saadat share a welcome moment o f levity in Ballot M easure 9
Finally, in the forum ’s video section, Berlin
media mogul Jürgen Brüning scores with He Is
Bold and He Is a Racist. A clever treatise on gay
skinheads and their everlasting pursuit of m ascu
linity, it was awarded the first prize for Best Video
o f the Festival.
The Market
The European Film M arket comprised over
300 films not accepted into the festival proper.
By far the highlight o f this section was Nancy
M ecler’s stunner Sister, My Sister (Britain), star
ring Julie W alters, Joely Richardson and Sodhi
May. Set in the 1930s and based on a real-life
incident (which also inspired the Genet play The
Maids), this over-the-topper is a wild combination
o f high cam p and high drama. We all know the
story: the icy Madame and the subservient sibling
servants. However, this version bares all as sisterly
affections rapidly turn into the love that dare not
speak its name, with murderous results. W alters
(Educating Rita ) gives new meaning to chewing
up the scenery as Madame, and, in both manner
and intensity, Joely Richardson bears an uncanny
resemblance to Vanessa Redgrave— her real-life
mother. M eticulously crafted and orgasmically
entertaining— this one’s a queen’s dream and a
dyke’s delight.
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If y o u h a v e a n y s p e c i a l r e q u e s t s , p le a s e call!!!
sure 9 is a m ust for television audiences— call your
Panorama
Helmed by openly gay W ieland Speck, this
section is by far the most gay and lesbian friendly—
over 20 o f the 52 feature-length works and half of
the shorts deal with issues relevant to our commu
nity.
The shorts this year were hit and miss, with one
title dominating the pack. Trevor (U.S.), by Peggy
Rajski, proved the most popular title in the festival.
This Academy Award nominee follows an over
weight teen obsessed with the theater, San Fran
cisco, and Diana Ross. Sounds familiar? Yes, h e ’s
one o f us! Hitting every gay nerve imaginable,
director Rajski is a fresh new talent to be reckoned
with. She could not attend the festival because she
is now working on a feature with none other than
Jodie Foster (w ouldn’t you like to be a fly on the
wall on that set!).
Portland audiences will welcome Panoram a’s
documentary Ballot Measure 9 (U.S.)— this year’s
Sundance A udience A w ard w inner. H eather
M acD onald’s well-crafted, highly emotional film
chronicles the fierce battle to defeat an initiative
discriminatory to gay men and lesbians that ap
peared on the 1992 Oregon ballot. Presenting both
sides without the pretense o f objectivity, this film
is a textbook on how the religious right is organiz
ing, sometimes with deadly results. Ballot Mea
local PBS affiliate and dem and that they air this
important work.
Tw o docum entaries by and about African
American artists were presented. Marlon R iggs’
Black Is...Black A in’t (U.S.) contains many bril
liant moments: a weakened R iggs’ fever-pitched
bedside medley, Bill T. Jones’ stunning danse
macabre, and a host o f interviews, each done with
dignity and respect. But, like the gum bo that is the
main m otif o f the piece, the ingredients never quite
come together— the cinem atic stew suffers from
an awkward structure, thematic repetition, inordi
nate length, and the absence o f R iggs’ guiding
hand (he died before he was able to com plete the
film).
Michelle Parkerson and Ada Gay G riffin’s A
Litany fo r Survival: The Life and Work o f Audre
Lorde (U.S.) profiles the great African American
poet’s work and her struggle against cancer. Lorde’s
love o f the spoken word shines through, and glim
mering archival footage is woven together with
haunting sound montages. However, the film some
times suffers from lesser craftsm anship and occa
sional rambling about issues not germane to Lorde’s
life.
Three pieces dealing with the underground
rounded out Panoram a’s documentaries. Jochen
Hick’s Menmaics (Germany) delves into the leather
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