Queer and here, but not over it
Selections from queer film fest image+nation show sexual politics haven’t lost their edge
by Tristan LapointeDavid AdelmanArshad KhanDiego Pelaez Gaetz
Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride
Drool
Fig Trees
Jaded urbanites might find it comforting to know that the people behind Montreal’s queer film festival image+nation—whose theme this year is Homo Horreur—still worry about it being too mainstream.
The festival was founded in the politically charged late 1980s, when gender politics tended towards radicalism and there were few venues for queer expression. Almost an instant success, it grew steadily until even corporate sponsors were ready to jump on board.
“The biggest surprise to me was in ‘99 or 2000, when Bell Mobility started trying to get product placement in the festival,” said festival programming director Katharine Setzer. “That’s when you knew for sure that things were changing.”
Now in its 22nd year, image+nation’s programming ranges from more accessible features to challenging, graphic films. Selections are rounded out by a master class of what festival organizers have dubbed a “nouvelle vague” of Québécois filmmakers.
Setzer says she doesn’t want mainstream acceptance to stop people from looking beyond, or at least critically at, the queer image.
“The queerness of a film is entirely subjective,” she said. “However a film shapes itself is really between it and the audience. Hopefully, we can move past rigid identity politics.”
image+nation opens Oct. 22 and runs until Nov. 1. For the full festival schedule, see image-nation.org.
—Tristan LaPointe
Fig Trees
A man sitting on a hospital bed looks up and begins singing “Addio Del Passato,” a song from Puccini’s opera La Traviata. Opening both his hands to reveal one empty palm and one full of pills, the man wonders, “Do I take the pills and live or launch a treatment strike and die?”
Fig Trees, a documentary-opera directed by John Greyson, is a musical tribute to HIV activists and the people they’ve helped. Greyson focuses on Gertrude Stein’s subversive 1934 opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, and charts the course of Tim McCaskell, a founding member of Toronto’s AIDS Action Now, and Zackie Achmat of South Africa-based Treatment Action Campaign. Both activists are infected with HIV.
Greyson exposes the apathy of politicians and the greed of pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in the death of countless people, all depicted in beautifully rendered cinematography.
Fig Trees plays Oct. 27 at 9:15 p.m. at Imperial Theatre (1432 de Bleury St.)
—David Adelman
Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride
Beyond Gay is a visual treat, but its beauty is unfortunately only skin deep. Directed by Bob Christie, this documentary never gets to the root of problems associated with the LGBTQ liberation movement or Pride; none of the many activists in this Western-centric film ever speak in depth and none of the issues brought up are fully examined or resolved.
The film follows activist Ken Coolen of the Vancouver Pride Committee on a Pride “tourism” trip across select European and American destinations, with Sri Lanka thrown in for ethnic flava. It stays safely on the “civilized us” versus the “uncivilized them” track, measuring queer freedom using signifiers such as whether or not a city hosts Pride parades.
It was delightful to catch a glimpse of Jack Layton and hear from openly gay member of Parliament Libby Davies. However, Beyond Gay seems to preach a neo-liberal politic of being beyond race, class, ethnicity and religion in a world which is still entrenched in those struggles. Perhaps another edit will bring this project to the next level: beyond spectacle.
Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride plays Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. at Imperial Theatre.
—Arshad Khan
Drool
Drool, a Southern-countrified dark comedy from director Nancy Kissam, reminds me of fried chicken. While I enjoyed it, I was left feeling guilty and bloated
.
The story follows a Southern family in the grip of an entirely irredeemable father. He is an alcoholic, racist and wife abuser who has bad skin and voted for Bush—you know the drill.
Their lives change drastically when a beautiful, young cosmetics saleswoman moves in next door. The suffering wife is smitten and the two have a gratuitous and unexplained lesbian dalliance. The husband finds out and is killed in the ensuing struggle, prompting the rest of the family and the cosmetics guru to take off on a cross-country drive with Daddy in the trunk.
On paper, Drool sounds badass. The soundtrack and animated interludes are charming and the plot is a great premise for a dark comedy. The problem is that Drool is neither overly dark nor funny and is more like a mixed bag of dreamy indie goodness and failed sentimentality.
It’s hard to sympathize with a lamb of a wife who kills her husband rather than leaving him. I imagine it’s supposed to represent some sort of feminist rhetoric, but I’m not buying it. What could’ve been a tragically funny romp ends up an overly moralizing tale which, while deliciously crispy on the outside, will ultimately result in food poisoning.
Drool plays Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. at Imperial Theatre.
—Diego Pelaez Gaetz
The Link Volume 31 Issue 01