Preview
FAIRYTALES SEVENTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
May 27 to June 2
Uptown Screen
It seems the wave of queer (and often atrocious) indie films from the ’80s and ’90s has finally bottomed out. Now available at video stores everywhere, they sit unassumingly on the shelves, gathering dust beside your favourite seasons of Queer As Folk, The L Word, Six Feet Under and Will and Grace. A testament to the days when queer film festivals and filmmakers rose up to say all the things that Cruising, Making Love, Personal Best and Philadelphia asepticized in the mainstream, there is little room for obscurity these days when pink TV networks, Queer Eye and Angels In America hover over the home airwaves.
Some might say, refreshingly so or not, that queer film has finally married the mainstream. But has it? As "Holywood" continues to play morality squad in such films as Alexander and A Beautiful Mind (check out the jock-homo bashing in the latest remake of The Longest Yard), indie films are coming out on top at the box office with a more acute mirror to life. And if mainstreaming means Cannes and Sundance, one can only be thankful that queer filmmaking has come along for the ride.
Take, for example, two of the U.S.-based headliners at this year’s seventh annual FairyTales Film Festival. Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Elisabeth Shue, has already taken the official selection categories at Sundance and the Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals, slated for major release following its film fest tour. A rural-meets-urban slice of the messed-up American dream, the film is being touted as a huge advance in Araki’s work after years of struggling with films like The Living End and Totally F***ed Up.
Angela Robinson’s D.E.B.S., an extended feature of the short seen at last year’s FairyTales, also highlights this year’s festival after capturing Sundance and Berlin film fest attention. A smartly dressed, all-gyrl teen-action pic about lipstick-loving secret agents, the film was picked up by Screen Gems, Samuel Goldwyn and Destination Films for major release as well, throwing Emmy-winning actress Holland Taylor and Oscar-nominated Michael Clarke-Duncan into its mix of plaid-skirted lesbians with guns and perfect coifs.
Hot lesbians in schoolgirl uniforms? You can’t get anymore straight than that.
Even Bruce LaBruce, whose films always come with some sort of warning, has captured international commercial success with his latest German-Canadian co-production The Raspberry Reich. Could what he describes as a "porno-political-palooza" become a snooze-fest for Karen and Jack audiences?
More than ever, international and local films seem to be the place to get your fix of rare releases and indie surprises. Rémi Lange’s French and Arabic journey down The Road to Love shifts the queer eye to northern Africa, while Thailand director Ekachai Uekrongtham explores the true story behind legendary transgendered kick-boxer Nong Toom with Beautiful Boxer. Other award-winners, such as Spanish director Miguel Albaladejo’s Bear Cubs and France’s Clara’s Summer, offer up some unique romantic fare.
Featuring two short packages, a documentary screening and a panel discussion on "Sex, Communication and Art" with guest artists, it comes as no surprise that FairyTales has begun to blend indie with mainstream flavours in its programming. Reaching a wider audience, it’s an important marriage of tops and bottoms with a better focus on quality before queer content. Let’s just hope that in doing so, FairyTales remains versatile enough to avoid getting sandwiched in between.
Advance tickets at Casablanca Video and BluBox Inc. or at the door
Check www.fairytalesfilmfest.com for more details. |
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