Frameline 2011: Saturday
Jun. 20th, 2011 07:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nakedbeeWe saw some really awesome movies today! Two standouts were an excellent documentary on asexuality and a fabulously fun trans superhero action flick from Indonesia.
Note: plot summaries and promotional images again shamelessly lifted from Frameline. Check out the festival website for more info, including links to the official movie websites.
This Is What Love In Action Looks Like
Zack Stark came out to his parents one day in high school, banking on their love and support. Instead, they announced their plans to send him off to Refuge, a teen centered ex-gay rehabilitation program operated by the Christian group Love In Action. Zach began blogging about the program, capturing widespread attention online after posting the group’s by-laws, a series of rules so bizarre they recalled nothing so much as the camp classic But I’m a Cheerleader. By the day of his admission to the campus, outraged supporters and advocates had begun a protest at its Memphis location, which continued until its closure in 2007, bringing scrutiny to the ex-gay movement on a national level.
Good, solid documentary. Very moving to see the former director of the program during the Q&A, talking about how the protests caused him to radically change his life. Score one for the power of love over hate!
(A)sexual
Meet Swank Ivy who makes YouTube videos debunking common beliefs about asexuals; or David Jay, the movement’s poster boy, and a regular on television talk shows. The ladies of The View can barely conceal their disbelief as young and cute Jay describes his lack of desire—for anyone. (A)sexual documents the growth of this newly organized sexual minority while raising provocative questions about queer inclusiveness and the boundaries of “normal” sexual desire.
The community is powered by the internet and modeled on the gay rights movement. In 2002 Jay created a website, asexuality.org, so he could find others like himself. Today, there are some 26,000 members of AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network). Members discuss coming out as an asexual, their struggles for acceptance, and the various subgroups within the community (to cuddle or not to cuddle?).
Very awesome! I've been reading so much on asexuality in fannish circles recently, I was intensely curious about how the conversation in the doc would differ. The director did a fabulous job of showing some of the complexity and diversity of the community, which I really appreciated. Unlike a lot of other films in this festival, where glossy urban hipsters abound, I actually recognized all the people in the film (not actually recognized … just … they looked and sounded like the crowd of freaks and geeks I hang out with, you know?). It was very cool.
Tales of the Waria
The vast island nation of Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population, part of which is a singular community of men who live openly as women—the waria.
Tales of past and future heartbreak haunt them, but they all pursue love and happiness in the waria spirit. Tiara, who instructs contestants in catwalking at a waria supermodel pageant, sums it up: “God created me and my fellow warias to make this world more beautiful.”
This was pretty cool. Also, the guy that did the Q&A was really good … it's clear that studying a group of people for 20 years means you come up with some pretty insightful things to say. :)
Jamie and Jessie are Not Together
Jamie is moving from Chicago to New York (Brooklyn, of course) to become a Broadway actress. Her best friend and roommate, Jessica, is bummed, because she’s in love with Jamie. Quirky local flair, a Greek chorus of bearded bears, and a cool soundtrack reveal this to be a love letter both to Chicago and “will they or won’t they?” friendships.
This one was only OK. Not enough music! I kept forgetting it was a musical … it had, like, 3 songs, which were OK but just not enough. Also, the title was predictive of the ending … I feel petty for complaining given that there was no false advertising, but it certainly was not the friendship-turned-love story I was hoping for.
Madame X
Madame X, the first feature film of Lucky Kuswandi, lets us have it all at once: the action-loaded superhero movie, the never-ending-laughter trashiness of queer comedy, and the social consciousness of political film.
This was really cool! I'd had my hopes for a good superhero movie and this just blew me away. Yes, it was over the top, but in a really awesome way, rather than in a snarky, ironic, too-cool-for-real-enthusiasm way. The movie was Indonesian, which was especially cool given all that we'd just learned about the waria community just a few hours before. Favorite things:
* hairdryer grapple gun
* silver vespa of justice
* the Tante Yatje character who dressed like Frida Kahlo for no other reason I could discern other than as a way to convey her awesomeness
* dance class that turns out to be martial arts training in disguise
* secret underground lair with blinking lights, lots of computer monitors, and fabulous red and black flocked rococo wallpaper
Note: plot summaries and promotional images again shamelessly lifted from Frameline. Check out the festival website for more info, including links to the official movie websites.
This Is What Love In Action Looks Like
Zack Stark came out to his parents one day in high school, banking on their love and support. Instead, they announced their plans to send him off to Refuge, a teen centered ex-gay rehabilitation program operated by the Christian group Love In Action. Zach began blogging about the program, capturing widespread attention online after posting the group’s by-laws, a series of rules so bizarre they recalled nothing so much as the camp classic But I’m a Cheerleader. By the day of his admission to the campus, outraged supporters and advocates had begun a protest at its Memphis location, which continued until its closure in 2007, bringing scrutiny to the ex-gay movement on a national level.
Good, solid documentary. Very moving to see the former director of the program during the Q&A, talking about how the protests caused him to radically change his life. Score one for the power of love over hate!
(A)sexual
Meet Swank Ivy who makes YouTube videos debunking common beliefs about asexuals; or David Jay, the movement’s poster boy, and a regular on television talk shows. The ladies of The View can barely conceal their disbelief as young and cute Jay describes his lack of desire—for anyone. (A)sexual documents the growth of this newly organized sexual minority while raising provocative questions about queer inclusiveness and the boundaries of “normal” sexual desire.
The community is powered by the internet and modeled on the gay rights movement. In 2002 Jay created a website, asexuality.org, so he could find others like himself. Today, there are some 26,000 members of AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network). Members discuss coming out as an asexual, their struggles for acceptance, and the various subgroups within the community (to cuddle or not to cuddle?).
Very awesome! I've been reading so much on asexuality in fannish circles recently, I was intensely curious about how the conversation in the doc would differ. The director did a fabulous job of showing some of the complexity and diversity of the community, which I really appreciated. Unlike a lot of other films in this festival, where glossy urban hipsters abound, I actually recognized all the people in the film (not actually recognized … just … they looked and sounded like the crowd of freaks and geeks I hang out with, you know?). It was very cool.
Tales of the Waria
The vast island nation of Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population, part of which is a singular community of men who live openly as women—the waria.
Tales of past and future heartbreak haunt them, but they all pursue love and happiness in the waria spirit. Tiara, who instructs contestants in catwalking at a waria supermodel pageant, sums it up: “God created me and my fellow warias to make this world more beautiful.”
This was pretty cool. Also, the guy that did the Q&A was really good … it's clear that studying a group of people for 20 years means you come up with some pretty insightful things to say. :)
Jamie and Jessie are Not Together
Jamie is moving from Chicago to New York (Brooklyn, of course) to become a Broadway actress. Her best friend and roommate, Jessica, is bummed, because she’s in love with Jamie. Quirky local flair, a Greek chorus of bearded bears, and a cool soundtrack reveal this to be a love letter both to Chicago and “will they or won’t they?” friendships.
This one was only OK. Not enough music! I kept forgetting it was a musical … it had, like, 3 songs, which were OK but just not enough. Also, the title was predictive of the ending … I feel petty for complaining given that there was no false advertising, but it certainly was not the friendship-turned-love story I was hoping for.
Madame X
Madame X, the first feature film of Lucky Kuswandi, lets us have it all at once: the action-loaded superhero movie, the never-ending-laughter trashiness of queer comedy, and the social consciousness of political film.
This was really cool! I'd had my hopes for a good superhero movie and this just blew me away. Yes, it was over the top, but in a really awesome way, rather than in a snarky, ironic, too-cool-for-real-enthusiasm way. The movie was Indonesian, which was especially cool given all that we'd just learned about the waria community just a few hours before. Favorite things:
* hairdryer grapple gun
* silver vespa of justice
* the Tante Yatje character who dressed like Frida Kahlo for no other reason I could discern other than as a way to convey her awesomeness
* dance class that turns out to be martial arts training in disguise
* secret underground lair with blinking lights, lots of computer monitors, and fabulous red and black flocked rococo wallpaper