Jun 09, 2006  |  By: GREG MARZULLO  | COMMENTS     

After D.C.’s Pride has come and gone, there are still plenty of gay themes to celebrate at the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Md. Started in 2003, the annual SilverDocs film festival — produced by the AFI and the Silver Spring-based Discovery Channel — premieres documentary works from filmmakers all over the world.

Each year, they have a number of gay-related films as part of the lineup, and 2006 is no different. The festival begins on June 13 and runs until June 18. All films are shown at the AFI Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, MD. All screenings are $9.25.

One of the most moving films in the lineup is “The Sheriff of Gay Washington,” which is all about Sergeant Brett Parson of the D.C. police department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit. Directed by John W. Poole, this brief documentary provides a touching and at times revealing glimpse into Parson and his experiences as a gay cop in the nation’s capital.

Parson radiates a sense of authority mixed with charm during the on-the-job moments captured on film. These lighter interactions provide for a nice set-up when his story reaches the emotional climax of Wanda Alston’s 2005 murder. Parson took the call and headed out to Alston’s house where she was found stabbed to death.

Parson’s sense of isolation when he says, through tears, “It’s down to me,” is palpable. He also says that he’s had to investigate the deaths of nine other friends while on the D.C. police force, and through his sunny demeanor, the emotional toll of these deaths comes through clearly.

From the completely opposite side of the world comes “The Blood of the Yingzhou District,” directed by Ruby Yang. This devastating film follows the lives of Chinese children orphaned by the spreading AIDS epidemic. Some of the children have AIDS and others do not, but the stigma they suffer at the hands of their remaining family and the surrounding community is heart-rending regardless of their status.

The families profiled in the film contracted AIDS through a blood-for-dollars program — an easy moneymaker for the poverty stricken families in rural villages. The health officials take the blood donations, mix them all together and then re-inject a portion of it into the donators to fortify them for their next round of blood drawing.

The story of Gao Jun, a boy who can’t be more than four years old, is particularly heartbreaking. Both of his parents died of AIDS, and he, too, has the disease. His entire extended family abandons him, because they don’t want the stigma of being attached to someone with the virus. Gao Jun, with blistered skin and listless eyes, wanders among mud-stained walls in an abandoned house and refuses to speak to anyone who approaches him.

All of the children’s stories are set against the desolate backdrops of crumbling shacks, dirty pigs rutting through squalid stalls and skeletal, winter trees — a fitting imagistic commentary for the woeful conditions of these children’s lives.

FROM ISRAEL COMES “Paper Dolls,” a wonderful documentary about drag queens from the Philippines who live in Israel. Director Tomer Heymann delves deeply into the issues of transvestism, gay identity, immigration and the nature of compassion by following the lives of five men who make up the drag performance troupe, the Paper Dolls.

Most of the main subjects work with the elderly, tending them in their sickness, changing their clothes, exercising them and cleaning their homes. Anachronisms abound as Chiqui, the oldest of the group, guides a wizened Orthodox Jewish man to his Torah study session. The queeny Chiqui sits in the room, humming songs while listening to his headphones, and meanwhile, a group of bearded men in black suits debate the ideas in the holy books.

Sally, dressing in women’s clothes full-time, works with a man who lost the use of his voice during a bout with throat cancer. She cooks, takes him to the doctor and helps him into bed. He knows that the help is biologically male, but that doesn’t affect his genuine care for Sally.

 The discrimination they face from much of the Israeli public is shameful considering the amount of work the Filipinos do with the elderly. One cab driver says that it’s natural for Filipinos to practice homosexuality, because the Philippines are the cradle of evil. Heymann expertly cuts to Jan, one of the Paper Dolls, feeding her charge and settling him into bed — a biting commentary on the previous vitriolic display of bigotry.

All of the Dolls live in fear of deportation. Once ...