Peter Sarsgaard (left) and Jon Foster appear in ‘The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,’ one of the more than 40 gay-themed films showing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of Queer Lounge)
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GREG MARZULLO
Friday, January 11, 2008
After a downright bleak 2007, queer film rises again at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, held in Park City, Utah, from Jan. 18-24.
Queer Lounge, a queer film networking organization launched at Sundance in 2004 by Ellen Huang, recently revealed a list of more than 40 gay-related films to be shown at this year’s festival. A quick glance over the offerings reveals some impressive debuts, interesting storylines and the return of some longtime and groundbreaking queer film veterans.
“We’re seeing that some of the queer filmmakers that started the whole queer film new wave in the ’90s, they’ve come back and matured into real powerhouses in themselves,” says Huang.
Alan Ball, one of the creators of “Six Feet Under” and the writer of “American Beauty,” will be showing “Towelhead,” about a young Arab-American girl who gets involved with an army reservist living in her neighborhood.
Criag Lucas, the director behind “Longtime Companion” and “The Dying Gaul” is back with “Birds of America,” starring Matthew Perry and Hillary Swank. His new film focuses on three siblings who are suddenly reunited and working through various identity issues.
Director Tom Kalin returns to Sundance after 16 years with “Savage Grace,” starring Julianne Moore as a mother who tries to cure her son of being gay. The film is produced by “Boys Don’t Cry” producer Christine Vachon, whom Huang says has a special knack for bringing outsider queer films into the mainstream.
“[Savage Grace] is about a psychosexual relationship between a boy and his mother that results in a murder,” Huang says. “[Vachon] is really able to explore the dark side of these stories while still avoiding the stigmas of saying that gay people are always like this. She’s able to show all kinds of different layers of society.”
One of the stronger gay documentaries at Sundance this year is “Be Like Others.” Set in the virulently homophobic Iran, the filmmakers show how many young gay men and lesbians choose gender reassignment surgery rather than live in gay relationships — an important topic given the reports and rumors coming out of Iran about the executions of gay youth.
“We’re hearing from insiders that this is going to be the breakout documentary,” Huang says. “To me that means that something’s going to crossover into the mainstream consciousness.”
GIVEN THE PLETHORA of films coming out of the independent film circuit this year, what’s the real possibility of seeing any of these at the local multiplexes or even the art houses?
When mentioning to Huang the difficulty I had in keeping a weekly queer film column going in 2007, she chuckles and says, “It’s always very tough.” She adds that it’s often easier to get gay themes on television than it is to get them at the movies.
“Even gay people probably don’t [go out to see gay films]. Oftentimes, some of the LGBT product isn’t always as good as you can get out of the mainstream studios.”
However, as seen in 2007, the year after “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote” and “Transamerica,” queer offerings from the mainstream studios fell flat (read: “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry”). Huang’s Queer Lounge, now a part of gay media watchdog group GLAAD, is hoping to change that.
The lounge became connected with GLAAD in August 2007 when Huang was looking for a larger organization that could “support us with better infrastructure and funding.” She’s hoping this extra organizational power can help leverage a change for queer film in Tinseltown.
“There’s a lot of queer stuff to be done in Hollywood,” Huang says, tossing out the idea of creating a think tank comprised of people like Ang Lee, James Brooks and Craig Lucas, “people who have power in Hollywood to get more stuff in the pipeline.”
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