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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2011)
34 NOVEMBER 11,2011 ■ PARK>> Cruisv ftrcade SIMPLY ALL ADULT >> SHO W GIRLS with 1.000+ channels and ergonomic QloM Open 24 HRs 7 Days a Week! Peep Hole 709 SE 122nd Aue., Portland. OR 97233 503.257.8617 November & December 2011 @ Karaoke Every Tuesday!! SC A N D A LS Join Us Every 1st Thursday for Live Music, and a New Featured Artist of the month With DJ Robb ' Friday, November 18th It's Back!! Mark your calenders!! "The G iving Tree" Through the month of December! Keep the date for the only p /a c e l ♦ r t Lt II scandalspdx.com E A R S 1125 SW Stark St. E V E 2011 503.227.5887 thearts • much about posteriors as it is about poster ity. And protrusions. And, as a certain for mer Sissyboy puts it, shiny things. Ihe brainchild o f the always affable Fan nie Mae Darling (aka Jeffrey Darling) and the iiber-talented Gula Delgatto (aka Eric Sellers), the inaugural event, slated for No vember 19 at QCenter, manages to shortlist most everyone: amateur filmmakers, impa tient viewers, last-minute joiners. “Ihere are so many other things going on,” said Darling. “Every single day you have seven options, and we realize that people sometimes are like, ‘.Look at that shiny thing! Look at that shiny thing!’” He and Sellers conjured up the fest a year ago, aware they’d have to make concessions to the deni zens o f the fast-paced queer arts world— even now, they’re extending submission deadlines to accomodate the rapid-fire realities o f the YouTube Generation. O f course there’s more to Shorty Shorts than, um, (lack of) length. The event is a night o f works from local filmmakers, most o f whom are queer. Ihe rules for submission are simple: Keep the film under 10 minutes, and no penetration. Other than that, everything’s fair game. “I love porn,” proclaimed Darling. “I prob ably watch porn more than I watch anything else. But there’s a time and a place for that. If it was up to me and Gula, we probably would have penetration. I wanna make people feel a little squirmy, but I don’t wanna make people feel flat-out uncomfortable.” Q C enter will transform from community hub to movie theater for this one-night-only cinema circus, complete with popcorn ma chine, a black tie-meets-cheetah print red carpet, beer and wine, and performances by Fannie and Gula. Darling says he’d like to build on his arsenal o f annual benefits to include Shorty Shorts as a yearly event, much like the upcoming Queer Quistmas. All proceeds from Shorty Shorts go to E s ther’s Pantry. “Eric and I kind o f have the Portland heart where we know we’re gonna be here for several years,” said Darling. “So we like the whole ‘L e t’s get back together again, guys!’ It’s so hokey, but at the same time we want Shorty Shorts to do that every year, too.” Those who recall Fannie Mae’s infamous wine-fueled video barrage in response to an October 2010 Just Out cover featuring Chi- Chi and Chonga— and a follow-up also featuring Delgatto— have a pretty good idea o f the essence o f the videos Darling is look ing for. So far, he reports, the short films have been primarily hilari ous, with lots o f the trashy drag element that Darling helped reinvigorate in town while a member o f the legendary Sissyboy troupe. The point isn’t to create a flawless master- work, but to give everyone the opportunity to be that wine-foeled video vixen. Briefly. Shortly. “People can overly edit it, but I like them raw,” said Darling. “I think that’s the funniest. In Portland it works because Portland’s so flicking weird. We want all genres, but this year it’s mainly people just kind o f going for that funny moment. I think people will expand more [in future festivals].” Darling and Sellers hope to expand, too, with a foil day o f films for the next Shorty Shorts. “We have in our mind something a lot bigger than it will be this year,” said Darling. “But it’s baby steps.” The Shorty Shorts Queer Short Film Festival is Sat., Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Q Center (4115 N. Mississippi Ave.). Admission is S5, or S3 with a canned food donation. For more infor mation, or fo r submission information, visit shortyshortspdx. blogspot. com.
