22nd San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - III
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Special Report By Andrea Chase
The 22nd San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival kicks off this week. Here are some last minute picks to round out your viewing schedule.
We've seen sci-fi flicks with lots of neato-keeno special effects and no story to hang them on. Hilary Braugher takes another tack. She's written and directed an oddly compelling time travel story with nary a special effect in sight. Instead, "The Sticky Fingers of Time" quietly contemplates physics, metaphysics, and reincarnation as a cocktail whipped up in a cosmic blender. The result is an enigmatic prose poem rendered in starkly modern blank verse. James Urbaniak, of "Henry Fool" has the film's best line. "Welcome to non-linear time, you'll get used to it." Audiences will not only get used to it, they'll embrace it.
>From prose poem to lyric poetry with Iannis Smaragdi's impressive bio-pic "Cavafy," about one of Greece's pre-eminent poets. The film is told in an impressionistic style, highlighting key moments in Cavafy's life. Rich, atmospheric cinematography and an eloquent though virtually silent performance by Dimitris Katalifos make this a sumptuous piece of filmmaking.
"The Brandon Teena Story" is a revealing documentary that considers the events leading up to the murder of a pre-operative transsexual in Nebraska. Brandon, nee Tina, left a string of girlfriends with nothing but praise for his sweet considerate nature. The filmmakers Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir contrast that with the seamy underbelly that middle America can be when confronted with issues of blurred gender lines.
"Queer Cartoons II" rounds up another group of animated films that run the gamut from funny to thought-provoking to disturbing. "Dirty Baby Does Fire Island" by Todd Downing is a little of all three and definitely my pick of the pack for its wicked take on agreed upon cultural norms.
For more information about the 22nd San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, call 415 703 8663.
© 1998 - Andrea Chase - Air Date: 6/17/98
