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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1997)
ju s t o u t T soptem bor 5. 1997 ▼ 21 SURELY c ontmued In »in page !'■) other of Riggs’ films—in concert with interviews with Riggs and his life partner. Jack Vincent, Riggs’ family, students and friends—/ Shall Not Be Removed is a powerful and engrossing docu mentary. It provides insight into the man behind the message, showing him to have been a passionate, pleasure-loving and demanding man. lb . Despite the pain inherent in the film, flH there is lightness. Riggs’ generous joie de vivre flows like honey. It makes us miss him all the more, but reminds us that— M f through his work and his inspiration— he will not be removed. Pat Robertson learned that the hard way. (Director l Karen Everett, narrated by Rhodessa Jones. Filmmaker appearance.) W ith the short : Letters from Home (Director Mike Hoolboom) * W hat ’ s on the B ill - U nscreened T hursday , S ept . 18 9:15 pm — Lilies Above: I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs And most, in the few years following the project, have gone on surviving—even begun to flourish. Surviving Friendly Fire makes you marvel at the resilience of the human spirit, and wish every town could give its abandoned children such a simple second chance. (Director Todd Nelson, narrated by Ian McKellen. Filmmaker appear ance.) W ith tiie short : Camp Lavender Hill (Director Michael Magnaye) S aturday , S ept . 20 4:45 pm — I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs his little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. From the opening moments of this fast- paced documentary (it’s hard to believe all this Fits into an hour), you can tell you’re in for a heart- wrencher. The face of Marlon Riggs, gaunt and tightened by pain, lights up with amusement as he tells of the promise of his childhood. Back then people said, “That boy is going to be a preacher, because he sure can talk!” His family fussed over him, and gave him every encouragement. But we know how this story ends; Marlon Riggs dies of AIDS. He did become a preacher in a way. Whatever he learned in his life that gave him strength, his first impulse was to share it with others. When he learned about African American history at Harvard University, he vowed to make Films that would T spread this knowledge to others who might not make it to college. Groundbreaking Films like Ethnic Notions and Color Adjustment were the result. Proving the leftist adage that the personal is political, Riggs’ most important gift to his society was the gift of himself. His message intensified with Tongues Untied, which itself started as a short Film about the poetry of black gay writers, such as Essex Hemphill and Assoto Saint, living in Oakland, Calif. During production of the Film Riggs learned he was HI V-positive, and his vision for the project exploded. He went on to use his own story to link the poems, use his own story to illustrate the damage that silence and invisibility had worked on a vibrant culture. The present Film in part chronicles the historic response to Tongues Untied. It became the center of another flurry of public debate about the Na tional Endowment for the Arts, the border be tween art and obscenity, and the use of public funds for art that, for some, crossed that margin. Hilarious, infuriating clips from The 700 Club are shown that strike a pose of horror at Riggs’ film. Cutting through the clamor, Riggs, shown in what appears to be a PBS broadcast, makes a statement that should have silenced the furor and sent every one home: “Many of the people who have lam basted this work.. .don’t even imagine that we are part of those Americans whose salaries are taxed to support the government.” Making liberal use of clips from Tongues and tale of romantic, yet forbidden, love that takes place in tum-of-the-century and 1950s Québec. Framed as a confession made to a priest by a man imprisoned for 40 years, the story concerns dashing lovers and a mysterious mur der. With an all-male cast, based on the play Les Fleurettes by Michel Marc Bouchard. (Director John Greyson) A F riday , S ept . 19 9 pm —“Boys in Shorts ilms include 27 directed by Greg Sax; Karen Black Like Me directed by David Briggs; Shantay with RuPaul and Kathy Najimy, directed by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey; Boot Camp directed by John Matthews; Frostbite directed by Wrik Mead; Cater Waiter directed by Eric Lane; Kiki and Herb: A Total Eclipse o f the Heart directed by Victoria Leacock; 28 by Greg Sax. F F riday , S ept . 19 10:30 pm — Shooting Porn lay the voyeur as you take in what the camera doesn’t show on the sets of two pom produc tions, one helmed by Chi Chi La Rue, the other by Gino Colbert. This documentary, which spawned a theatrical offshoot, the play Making Pom, bares all. (Director Ronnie Larsen) P S aturday , S ept . 20 1 pm —“Totally Queer Video” irected by Jane Farrow, So Over the Rain bow, Outlaw with Leslie Feinberg, directed by Alisa Lebow; School directed by Kika Thome; III Wind directed by Matt Ebert (filmmaker ap pearance); Nice directed by Jane Farrow; Have Some Fun directed by Tony Stinkmetal. D 7 pm —Late Bloomers midlife lesbian coming-out story that blos soms in a Midwestern high school between an awkward geometry teacher and the principal’s secretary. (Director Julia Dyer) A W ith shorts : Don’t Bug Me (Director Allyson Above: Out at Work S unday , S ept . 21 2 pm —Shinjuku Boys eet the hosts of the New Marilyn Club in Tokyo: Tatsu, Gaish and Kazuki. They are annabes, women who live as men but don’t iden tify as lesbians, although they entertain women admirers. A glimpse into what is, for Westerners, an enigmatic niche of Japanese female sexuality. (Directors Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams) M W ith short : These Shoes Weren’t Made for Walking (Director Paul Lee) 4 pm —Out at Work he documentary that got a pink slip from PBS. It chronicles the five-year fight for equal rights in the workplace on the part of three queer workers: autoworker Ron Woods, Cracker Barrell restaurant employee Cheryl Summerville and New York Public Library clerk Nat Keitt. (Directors Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold) T W ith short : Bill and Ann Shepherd: A IJfe’s Work (Director Matt Levin. Filmmaker appear ance.) 6 pm —Some Prefer Cake womanizing would-be comedian dyke and her apparently straight gal pal enter un charted territory when the latter gets jealous of the former’s new (capital R) relationship. Report edly, there’s lotsa bonking. (Director Heidi Amesen. Filmmaker appearance.) A Mitchell) and Play (Director Shamiran Samano) W ith short : Twisted Sheets (DirectorChris Dea 9 pm — leather Jacket Love Story oet Kyle moves to the big gritty city in search of monogamous love and hooks party boy Mark; can they find happiness together, or are they doomed to be unzipped? Cameo roles by Mink Stole, Geoffrey Moody and Morris Kight. (Director David DeCoteau) P 10:45 pm — Different fo r Girls guy runs into an old friend from high school, but she’s a girl—and hey, he went to an all boy institution. To confuse him even more, he begins to be attracted to Kim, whom he now remembers was Karl. All eyes will be peeled to see how the story turns out in this unique trans sexual love story. (Director Richard Spence) A Above: Crocodile Tears con) 8 pm —Crocodile Tears his one’s as queer as they come: It pairs the talents of first-time producer, writer, editor and actor Theodore Sod, 46, gay and HIV posi tive, with the vision of director Ann Coppel, an out lesbian. Most of the gay characters in the film are played by out gay actors, and the crew was mostly lesbian or gay. It’s a dark and powerful film with a Faustian, be-careful-what-you-wish- for theme that confronts internalized homophobia. (Director Ann Coppel. Filmmaker appearance.) T Watch fo r reviews o f some o f the unscreened films in the Sept. 19 issue o f Just Out
