 30th LGBT Film Fest Boasts Local and International Talent—By Mara Math Published: June, 2006  "Laughing MattersÖMore" is a series in which covers four lesbian comics. Pictured here from left to right: Sabrina Matthews, Vicki Shaw, Renee Hicks, and Elvira Kurt. There may be no giant birthday cake as Frameline celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival this year, but there will be plenty of party favors for viewers to take away: the aesthetic satisfaction of experiencing a well-made film, the laughter from queerly inventive comedy, the potentially life-changing reverberations from new queer theory, or simply the pleasure and validation of seeing ourselves and our community represented on the big screen. While this year's Festival, June 15-25th, boasts 265 films from 33 countries, the most provocative piece of work this year may prove to be a homegrown one: FtF: Female to Femme, a documentary by San Franciscans Kami Chisholm and Elizabeth Stark, premieres at this Festival. ("Femme" refers to a dyke who exhibits identifiably, stereo-typically, or even exaggeratedly feminine behavior, though, as the film illustrates in lively fashion, the term encompasses a broad and varied spectrum of aesthetics, appearances, behaviors — and interpretations.) "We use the language of gender transition to look the implications of radical femininity," says Stark, co-founder of San Francisco's first Femme Conference in 1997. While the use of that language began mostly in jest, it eventually also provided some useful insights. The author of the acclaimed novel Shy Girl, Stark says she turned to film for this project in part because femme is very visual, and because "I could have done an anthology, but then the only people represented would be those who feel comfortable expressing themselves in writing." Some of those appear as well, of course, including writer Jewelle Gomez, actor Guinivere Turner, and Leslie Mah of rock group Tribe8. Chisholm, a filmmaker who identifies as butch, explains, "I've been struck by how many docs there are about butches, and the absence of films about femmes. I wanted to investigate the question, what kinds of assumptions are being made if femmes aren't included in radical gender thought?" The most controversial offering among the feature films, according to Frameline programmer Jennifer Morris, may be Loving Annabelle. Directed by Catherine Brooks, Loving Annabelle tells the tale of a 17-year-old schoolgirl who seduces her female Catholic teacher. Exciting Festival LineUp Radical comic Margaret Cho stars in her first narrative feature, Bam Bam and Celeste, for which she wrote the loosely autobiographical script about the friendship between two outcasts, a young woman and a young drag queen who have been friends since high school. Lorene Machado, who has directed several of Cho's comedy concert films, helms this one as well. "It's not a message film," Machado assures, "it's a screwball road-trip comedy. It's Margaret's world, it's very edgy." Despite Cho's popularity, marketing the film has been difficult, she says, Film industry execs tell Machado, "I laughed all the way through—but it's kind of too gay." To which Machado responds, "Maybe the world is too straight!" | ||
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