Portland Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

Starting tomorrow Portland once again parts the curtain for a week and a half long festival celebrating queers on the silver screen. This year may not have quite the level of excitement as last year’s big 1-0, or a conversation with Hedwig and Shortbus filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell but a bunch of queers all huddled together in the rainy fall weather to watch independent film is almost always a good time.

Curiosity of Chance

There weren’t any pre-screenings this year so I can’t give you any definite must see flicks but I will preview some of those that most grab my attention and will provide reviews for the films and functions I manage to make it to. You know they’ll all be at the Fox Tower before too long anyway.

Tomorrow’s opener is a “John Hughes-styled high school comedy” called The Curiosity of Chance. It’s gotta be worth seeing for the adorable 80s boys outfits alone but the excitement of opening night can’t be underestimated either.

Saturday the 13th’s Brand Upon the Brain is sure to be a festival favorite. In fact it’s more than a movie but a nearly indescribable performance art experience complete with an orchestra, a foley (sound effects performed onstage) team, and narrator Karen Black. The story revolves around children living in a lighthouse/orphanage with strange and tyrannical parents. It seems largely irrelevant. All you need to know is it’s bound to be a fantastic and creepy experience.

Super Amigos – a documentary that follows five modern-day superheroes in Mexico City as they fight for social justice and human rights

In the spirit of ever-evolving gender sport and confusion, Tuesday the 16th’s Butch Jamie promises to be a fun and farcicalTootsie or Victor Victoria for the aughts. When butches and felines are competing for Hollywood stardom you never know what’s going to happen.

We’ve all heard of the picture that gets old while the man stays young but next Friday the 19th you can relive The Picture of Dorian Gray in a much gayer and contemporary way. While filmmaker Duncan Roy changes the time and locale of the Oscar Wilde classic he’s actually bring back an early more explicitly homo version.

All this year’s films, however, look pretty amazing. How could you not want to check out gems like Itty Bitty Titty Comittee or rousing dramatic and comedic Show & Tell from local filmmakers? For a complete schedule of all the fabulousness not to be missed visit the PLGFF website.