Aimee and Jaguar
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queens
I he Broken Hearts Club
Fourth film fest proves Hollywood
still doesn’t like dykes
by
O riana G reen
Chutney
Popcorn
Ballot Measure 9
t’s heartening that a handful of
dedicated volunteers has managed
for the fourth year now to present
a queer film festival in Portland.
Beginning Oct. 13 at Cinema 21 will
be two weekends filled with some
thing for almost everyone in our
diverse sexual landscape.
Just don’t expect to find many
homegrown, middle-aged lesbians,
because as usual, they’re in short sup
ply. And that’s not the fault of festival
organizers hut rather Hollywood
greenlighters, who apparently don’t
think mature lesbians like movies.
Apparently, only gay men will pay $8
to see themselves larger than life.
And most of the gay films that do get made
in love with a woman married to a Nazi soldier.
are sweet-young-thing coming-of-age films.
It’s moody, sensitive, poignant and well-
OK, so we’re out of the friggin’ closet, now tell
acted. My only problem with it is I’ve already
me a story about real life.
seen my life’s allotment of Nazi movies; I don’t
I’m also really pissed at director Robert Alt
want to sit through any more films about
man and his latest execrable flick, Dr. T and
oppression that end badly.
the Women, the single most misogynistic film
The second film is Gendemauts, Monika
I’ve seen in many years. If anyone tries to con
Treut’s delightful, sometimes wacky documen
vince you this is a lesbian movie, don’t waste
tary about the San Francisco trans scene, focus
your time or money to find out it isn’t. Les
ing on people who have made or are making
bians are. the punch line, a plot device devoid
the chemical/physical shift from one gender to
of real context or meaning. Altman is a tired
another. And that other gender might not fit
into any known category. Treut collects quite
filmmaker grabbing at faux dykes to make his
silly story seem hip.
an array of examples who willingly show the
sometimes gritty process of metamorphosis.
And then there is the potentially interest
Many other films sound promising on
ing feature in a can on somebody’s shelf,
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, star paper—we’ll all find out together if they’re as
good as their hype. On opening night, Oct. 13,
ring Calista Flockhart as a lesbian tarot reader
Superman Dean Cain stars as a single gay guy
in a cast full of big-name actresses. But it can’t
in The Broken Hearts Club, written and direct
find a distributor and is being shunted to cable
television.
ed by Greg Berlanti, himself a gay guy and for
What’s that got to do
with our film fest? Just
more evidence to explain
what Hollywood thinks of
dykes and why the festival
selections are often rather
obscure.
Just Out was only able
to preview two films, but
they were both well-made
and should delight their
target audiences. The first
of those, Aimee and Jag
uar, is a beautiful German
film based on the true
story of a young Jewish
lesbian who falls tragically
merly a writer on Dawson’s Creek.
Also on the opening night bill
is What's Cooking?, an ensemble
piece about four diverse Los
Angeles families celebrating
Thanksgiving. Sparks fly as Kyra
Sedgwick comes home for the
holidays with her “roommate,”
Julianna Margulies.
Other promising-
sounding features
include Chutney
Popcorn, about a young
Indian American les
bian struggling with
family approval. Get
Your Stuff is an edgy,
indie comedy about two
gay 90210 guys in search
of family connections to
offset their shallow
lifestyle. Urbania is a
dark tale about a man
who is haunted by the
absence of his boyfriend
as he roams the streets
of New York.
Eban and Charley is
the work of several Port
landers. Produced and
shot in Oregon, it
promises some contro
versy for its storyline
involving a 29-year-old
man’s courtship of a 15-
ycar-old deaf boy.
Another local film is,
unfortunately, still time
ly: Ballot Measure 9, the
1995 documentary about
an earlier Oregon Citi
zens Alliance effort.
In addition to the
features, as always, is a
program of men’s and
women’s short films.
The festival winds up
with I’m the One That I Want, a filmed ver
sion of the concert Margaret Cho gave here
earlier this year. ¡ n
For a complete schedule of films, pick up
a program or visit the Internet site
wwiv.sensoryperceptions.org. Advance tickets
and passes are available at In Other Words,
Gai-Pied and Balloons on Broadway.