film
Outfest Los Angeles:
Turning the Spotlight on LGBT Films
The most “colorful” filmmakers, writers and actors come OUT in a big way July 9-19 for Outfest Los Angeles—the 27th annual LGBT film festival. Tinsel town will
be shining brighter than ever with this year’s selections, exciting films, features and shorts from all over the world. In addition Outfest also hosts informative panel
discussions and special events at venues throughout the Los Angeles area. The impressive list of films and filmmakers involved include writer-director Peter Bratt’s
powerful drama La Mission starring Benjamin Bratt, as the Opening Night Gala. Likewise, the Closing Night Gala showcases Adam Salky’s return to Outfest with his
stunning debut feature Dare, starring Emmy Rossum, Alan Cumming and Zach Gilford. Other gala screenings include the touching drama Mississippi Damned as the
U.S. Dramatic Centerpiece, as well as the mystery thriller El Niño Pez (The Fish Child) as the International Dramatic Centerpiece. Fig Trees, a visually riveting documentary
opera about AIDS activism by John Greyson is planned as this years Platinum Centerpiece.
Here are some of the most anticipated films of the festival that true devotees of gay cinema will definitely want to check out.
OPENING NIGHT GALA - LA MISSION screens July 9 a sequel portraying the activists as modern-day saints. Dark humor abounds in
In San Francisco’s Mission District, reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic this surreal production as St. Peregine, the patron saint of amputees and leather,
Che (Benjamin Bratt) is a bus driver and single father. His joie de vivre lies in social- and St. Martin, embodied by an albino squirrel, jam on toy instruments, and the
izing with his circle of friends and transforming old cars into lowrider master- courageous leads rebel, refusing to be martyrs for the AIDS cause.
pieces, but more than anything, he loves his son, Jesse (Jeremy Ray Valdez), who
is about to graduate from high school. When he discovers that Jesse is gay, Che’s LADY TROJANS screens July 11
world is thrown into turmoil, and he reacts in the only way he knows—with physi- Lady Trojans is a feature documentary about a girls’ high school basketball
cal violence. In his battle with his demons, Che’s old friends and new neighbor team in 1990’s Tucson, AZ. The story focuses on Anna, star player and one of the
Lena (Erika Alexander) and his deep connection to his Native American roots group who identified as lesbians who made up the majority of the team for the
become increasingly important in his life. four years that she played. Anna and her teammates took the risk to explore their
sexuality, figuring out if they were gay, straight or bi by fooling around, dating,
HANNAH FREE screens July 10 and falling in love with each other. Through current interviews with the Lady
Romantic, touching and poignant, Hanna Free eloquently depicts a lifelong Trojans, archival VHS home movies from their high school escapades, reenact-
love affair between two very different women. Hannah (played as an older woman ments, archival photographs and original animation, Lady Trojans explores teen
by the remarkable Sharon Gless) is adventurous and rebellious, while Rachel is sexuality, manipulation and love, coming out and coming of age.
content with a traditional small town life. They tell the stories of their lives—from
mouth-watering apple pie to clandestine sex in the barn, from adventurous trav- MISSISSIPPI DAMNED screens July 14
els to an unbearable marriage, from a world war to deep family denial. Through a Alternately steeped in joy and despair, Mississippi Damned is a stark chronicle
history spanning nearly 70 years, their love is the bond that withstands it all. of the bravery inherent in hopelessness. In fact, writer/director Tina Mabry’s
remarkably assured debut remains relentlessly uplifting even as it tracks the
FIG TREES screens July 10 monumental struggles of an African-American family sunk into a quagmire of
At the center of this playfully perverse video opera are AIDS activists Tim McCa- addiction, poverty and abuse. As the years pass and the disappointments mount,
skell, the Canadian founder of AIDS Action Now!, and Zackie Achmat, whose drug the characters still summon the courage to dream.
strike in South Africa made international headlines. Documentary footage of
their political battles is intercut with a fictional plot about Gertrude Stein and Vir- MAKE THE YULETIDE GAY screens July 14 and 18
gil Thomson who, having finished their play Four Saints in Three Acts, have created The story of Olaf “Gunn” Gunnunderson (played by up-and-coming young
12 RAGE monthly | July 2009
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