Last night I found myself reading an interview with Sufjan Stevens about his music from "Call Me By Your Name." I had been thinking of Sufjan after rediscovering his 2006 Christmas Album. In typical Brian fashion, after obsessing about him for a bit I found myself in the google machine and back to "Call Me By Your Name." Although I have loved many films this year, it's always different when you LOVE your favorite film of the year.
The only film I have watched in the vein of CMBYN is Netflix's "Alex Strangelove." I had hoped to write a piece for Awards Daily about "Alex Strangelove," a bit of lite follow up to last years "Love and Heartbreak" piece, but I couldn't land interviews or get an answer from my editor, so I left it alone. By the time I came around to writing about it, I had watched it so many times, that I wasn't quite sure how to put my thoughts down.
I LOVED "Alex Strangelove." I've seen it at least 6 times...but is it going to make my Top 10? I'm not sure anymore. As we have come to the end of the year it keeps slipping farther and farther away from the top spot. Other queer films are now in front of it, not to mention some of this year's Oscar hopefuls.
How can a film I watched 6 times not be seriously considered for my Top 10? Takes me back to this summer's exploration of best v/s favorite. There is a difference....
There are a couple of series, both with queer characters, that also sent me into obsessive tailspins. Although I only watched "Elite" once through, I had to know more about this series. There isn't a ton out there, at least on the US side of things, but Netflix is making a 2nd and 3rd series. I am hoping by the time it comes along I will still be interested. I still have yet to watch the 2nd season of "13 Reasons Why."
Then you have "Schitt's Creek." I love this show so much. I wasn't incredibly hooked in the beginning, but I couldn't wait to get to the David/Patrick relationship I was hearing so much about. Since finishing the series, I rewatched everything from Patrick and David's first date on. Twice! And now I've started the series over and have changed my tune about those first episodes. They really knew what they were doing from the start. I was the one who hadn't adjusted to them.
I think that what I'm drawn to in terms of multiple viewings, particularly in these queer stories is the love story. Although "Call Me By Your Name" has equal parts love and heartbreak, it still has romance and flirtation...a loving family...many things I have clinged to and longed for over the years.
"Alex Strangelove" may be a story seemingly told, but not in this time. Despite the fact that the majority of our youth seem to be much more open than the youth of my generation, it doesn't take away the fact that one comes out...first to themselves and then to others. There will always be coming out stories, but the context will ever be changing.
This year, when programming the Oxford Film Festival, one of the first things I noticed were the diminishing number of coming out stories. This is a significant change from what I've viewed in the past.
We just announced our slate, and one of the features is "Giant Little Ones." This films takes that coming of age/coming out tale and flips it in the most incredible way. If you haven't seen it yet, you must. Why not come to Oxford in February!? More on OXFF in a bit....
The beautiful "A Moment in the Reeds" shows us a son who isn't out to his Dad, but out to the world (been there!). This film shows one of the most romantic and sexual relationships I have seen on film. In an earlier piece I mentioned how the film went "deeper" in a sense than "Call Me By Your Name," and I stand by that. I love the playfulness of and uncomfortability of Elio jumping on top of Oliver when they first have sex. But the film chooses to skip the rest. Which is a choice I am fine with. Whether or not it works is irrelevant to the fact that "Reeds" goes there, and it is beautiful.
My other favorite queer film of this year is "1985." So much about this film rings true to my own life. A young queer man comes home from NYC to visit his family for Christmas. Check. I am not going to tell you all the details of the film because I want you to have the opportunity to see it for yourself, but I couldn't help think...what if I had been born just a few years earlier. I was about the age of the younger brother in the film in 1985. Could have been a very different story for me. I more than likely wouldn't be typing this piece right now.
There are other Queer films that I could talk about - "Final Portrait," "Can You Ever Forgive Me," "The Favourite," and there are others I still need to see "A Kid Like Jake," "Happy As Lazzaro," "Night Comes On," "We the Animals," and many, many more I'm sure.
Oxford Film Festival
I'm very honored and lucky to be able to program for the third year in a row the LGBTQ films for the Oxford Film Festival. This year, you will get to see 6 Feature Films and 2 shorts blocks. What an incredible, incredible thing. When I started programming the fest I had 3 slots for features and one block for shorts. Thanks to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (yeah, I pretty much won my first Oscar!) and Melanie Addington, my friend and OXFF Exec Director I had an easier, if still difficult, time choosing amongst the many LGBTQ films I was privileged to watch over the past screening season.
I was even able to program a "Queer Edge" block of shorts...in Mississippi! Take that Cindy Hyde-Smith!!
One of the first films I saw, "Hippopotamus," has many, many penises! It takes place in a gay, clothing optional resort! What do you expect!?
I can remember texting Melanie about it as soon as I finished it. I couldn't quite imagine it in the regular block...but I had and held on to the idea of an "Queers on the Edge." section. As the films kept coming in, the block took shape. Everything in that block isn't penises and sex, but it pushes, in some way, the boundaries of traditional LGBTQ storytelling.
I am not going to go into the entire slate today. Instead, check out descriptions below, with a link to the full list of OXFF films. Closer to time, we will go there.
On another note, Awards Wiz is going on a teeny hiatus. I have much to do in my regular life, and I can't dedicate the time I need to write until next week. Which will begin my annual 12 Days of Christmas Catch Up Series.
OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL
LGBTQ FEATURES
At The End of the Day
Rating: Teens and Up
Director: Kevin O'Brien TRT: 108 m..
Saturday, 5:15 p.m. Malco Screen 4
Logline: After his wife leaves him and he is tossed out of his counseling job, Dave finds himself as a conservative professor at a Christian college. When the Dean gets word that a group is trying to buy a building he wants for expansion, he asks Dave to join the group and find out about their progress. Dave is in for the shock of his life when he finds himself in a gay support group. His job is to stop their launch of an LGBT homeless youth shelter in their small town. But things don’t always go as planned and love wins out in ways we may not expect. MS Premiere. LGBTQ Competition. Q&A is scheduled.
Call Her Ganda
Rating: Teens and Up
Director: PJ Raval TRT: 97 min.
Friday, 10:45 am, Malco Screen 4
Logline: When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans-woman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case -- an activist attorney, a transgender journalist and Jennifer’s mother -- galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism. MS Premiere. LGBTQ Competition. Q&A Scheduled.
Plays with:
Leia’s Army
Director: Oriana Oppice • Teens and up • 14 m. • A family is torn apart when a teenage girl attends the Women's March in DC without telling her born-again Christian, Trump-supporter mom. Regional Premiere.
Giant Little Ones
Rating: Teens and Up
Director: Keith Behrman TRT: 94 min.
Friday, 1:15 p.m. Malco Screen 4
Logline: Franky Winter (Josh Wiggins) and Ballas Kohl (Darren Mann) have been best friends since childhood. They are high school royalty: handsome, stars of the swim team and popular with girls. They live a perfect teenage life –until the night of Franky's epic 17th birthday party, when Franky and Ballas are involved in an unexpected incident that changes their lives forever. MS Premiere. LGBTQ Competition. Q&A Scheduled.
The Gospel of Eureka
Rating: Teens and Up
Director: Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher TRT 75 min.
Friday, 3:30 p.m. Malco Screen 4
Logline: Love, faith, and civil rights collide in the south as evangelical Christians and drag queens step into the spotlight to explore the meaning of belief. Gospel drag shows and passion plays set the stage for one hell of a show. LGBTQ Competition. MS Premiere.
Plays with:
A Son Inherit
Director: Michael Williams • Family Friendly • 14 m. • Cary finds comfort, advice, and conflict through unexpected conversations that may mend more than just his troubled relationship with his boyfriend. OFF Alum.
Jules of Light and Dark
Rating: Mature
Director: Daniel Laabs TRT 85 min.
Saturday, 10 a.m. Malco Screen 4
Logline: In present-day Texas, Maya (Tallie Medel) and her on again, off again girlfriend Jules (Betsy Holt) total their car after a night of backwoods raving and teen mischief. They’re rescued from the wreckage by Freddy (Robert Longstreet), a divorced oil worker whose stoic facade crumbles as he comes to see himself, and his repressed desires, in Maya. OFF Alum. MS Premiere. LGBTQ Competition. Q&A Scheduled.
Southern Pride
Rating: Teens and Up
Director: Malcolm Ingram TRT: 91 min.
Sunday, 10:30 a.m. Malco Screen 3
Logline: A documentary about people from two towns in Mississippi organizing gay and black pride events in Trump's backwater America. OFF Alum. MS Premiere. Special Screening. Q&A Scheduled.
Queer Edge Shorts
Saturday, 8:30 p.m. Malco Screen 4
Block rated Mature; Q&A Scheduled
All We Are
Director: Will Stewart • 16 m. • After meeting through a personal ad, two men form what they believe will be nothing more than a fantasy-motivated fling—no names, no information. MS Premiere.
Hiding in Daylight
Director: Cheryl Allison • 15 m. • After a gay purge, four best friends are surviving by living in fake marriages to each other. They secretly meet once a week to see their true spouse and play a game where they reminisce about their former openly gay lives. World Premiere.
Hippopotamus
Director: Jody Wheeler • 15 m. • Left alone to caretake a gay clothing-optional resort closed for the season, a man finds himself confronted by what he can see -- and what he can't. MS Premiere.
How I Came Out!
Director: Mark Goshorn Jones • 6 m. • A man has an incredible "coming out" story - he just doesn't realize it yet. World Premiere. OFF Alum.
Pepper
Jayil Pak • 15 m. • The Korean goddess of birth visits a maternity ward, hanging a red pepper on the doors of patients she deems worthy of bearing a son. When a boy among a group of souls refuses to bite into a spicy pepper for his reincarnation, the ghost of a little girl inhabiting the hospital offers to go in his stead. MS Premiere.
Queen for a Day
Director: Savannah Rodgers • 4 m. • Queen for a Day is a short comedy about drag queens and marriage. Directed by Savannah Rodgers, this film shows the joy of the LGBTQ+ experience through the lens of a heterosexual married couple from the suburbs. World Premiere.
Sell Your Body
Director: Jaanelle Yee • 11 m. • A medical school dropout in crippling student debt swipes a wild couple on a dating app to make some fast cash. MS Premiere.
LGBTQ+ Shorts
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Malco Screen 4
Block is rated Mature; Q&A Scheduled
home alone, baby blue
Director: John e. Kilberg • 11 m. • Upon entering his family home, he’s haunted by fragments of a tortured past. Within the trappings of this house, he begins to unravel the trappings of his mind. Regional Premiere.
If This is Wrong
Director: Chelsea Woods • 14m. • When it comes to primetime television’s most homoerotic buddy cop series, one would be hard to find a more obsessed fan than Maria. Black, queer and a lifelong geek with a love for slash fanfiction, Maria’s deepest passion is the show Bay City and the work of a mysterious fic writer who seems to understand what it’s like to feel like an outsider. But in real life, Maria finds little empathy from her best friend Anna. Maria hopes a trip to the coffee shop that inspired her favorite writer’s newest fic might help her bring Anna into the fold. Regional Premiere.
Light in Dark Places
Director: Lagueria Davis • 11m. • A mother makes a shocking discovery when she's left to pack up her daughter's house after a tragic car accident. MS Premiere.
The boy who wanted to fly
Director: Jorge Muriel • 20 m. • In the Madrid of the 80s, Ivan, a five-year-old boy, is confronted with the birth of a new brother. His sister is dad’s favorite; the newborn is mom's favorite.
The Dress You Have On
Director: Courtney Hope Therond • 13 m. • A surprising find challenges a couple to question the foundation of their relationship. MS Premiere.
The One You Never Forget
Director: Morgan Jon Fox • 9m. • 14-year-old Carey nervously prepares for his first dance as his parents reminisce about their own. Carey's mother (Tasha Smith, EMPIRE) tasks Carey's father (Malik Whitfield, THE TEMPTATIONS) with getting a picture of Carey and his date. A moment of tension arises as Carey becomes elusive and tries to thwart his father's objective. OFF Alum. MS Premiere.
You Say Hello
Director: Lovell Holder • 22 m. • A suicidal, young gay man retreats to his family's beach house to end his life, but a chance encounter with a hustler changes his plans. Regional Premiere. OFF Alum.
The full press release/lineup for this year's Oxford Film Festival is here:
No comments:
Post a Comment