|
|
  'I Killed My Mother' Saturday Oct 2nd
3:30pm @ Cinema 21 – Shorts series
4 short films kick off the post-party day after, so it’s a good mix to start festing.
My Name is Love follows two men who share the same secret and the dangerous liaison it produces. Titillating.
Gayby follows the straight girl fantasy of having a baby with her gay best friend of college by actually getting to bed him. Good luck with that one.
Go-Go Reject delves into the fantasies of a frozen yogurt slinger who aims to be the naked boy version of Jennifer Beals.
Queer Pet Adventures has got to be the gayest movie ever…
5pm @ Cinema 21 – Assume Nothing
In a most Portlandesque love of gender query Assume Nothing examines what it means to inhabit a gender that is neither or both “male” and “female.” Focusing on the art, photography and performances of five “alternative” gender artists of Maori, Samoan-Japanese, and European descent, AN blurs all kinds of lines while it entertains.
Continue reading »
  Aaron Tveit as Peter Orlovsky and James Franco as Allen Ginsberg in 'Howl' Portland’s celebration of all things queer and filmic, well one of them (don’t you love this town?) is here once again to usher in the season of popcorn and snuggling. This year the Portland Lesbian and Gay Film Festival takes over Cinema 21, Living Room Theaters, and The Hollywood Theater starting with the Allen Ginsberg beat biopic Howl.
Now in its 14th year, PLGFF, has grown out of the struggling film festival that could into a vibrant week and a half long celebration that has already sold out VIP platinum passes.
Artistic Director Gabriel Mendoza says of the progression, “In earlier days, simply finding queer films was a challenge…[Now] the challenge is whittling the selection down to what will work best in Portland.”
Continue reading »
  William S Burroughs William S. Burroughs, The Man Within. Directed by Yony Leyser screening Sat June 5th, 6pm
People must of thought I was a weird kid. I carried around a torn, stained copy of Naked Lunch in my backpack for months during high school in Utah. It was a difficult book to understand but the reading was made easier because I recognized the science fiction tropes he used and I forgave him the graphic, homosexual imagery. William S. Burroughs wasn’t someone just any young student could idolize. His prose was abstract and difficult. He was a junkie, and had been for forty years. He wrote about strange creatures that fed off the ejaculations of the human race. He developed avant garde methods of prose construction such as the cut-up technique. His influence reverberates through the generations. He inspired queers all over the world to rebel against a society that controlled and punished them. He was celebrated in his later years as the Godfather of Punk. How did this strange, queer junkie worm himself into mainstream American culture and become that dark renaissance man?
Continue reading »
  Film still 8: The Mormon Proposition. Directed by Reed Cowen. Screening 7pm tomorrow as part of QDOC.
I consider the passage of Proposition 8 in California to be the biggest setback to the gay marriage movement. Activists, allies, and the hundreds of couples that were newly married were all taken completely by surprise. Everything had seemed to be going our way. The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage, City Hall began issuing licenses to thousands of people, and polling showed that the majority of Californians were in favor of letting the progress towards equal marriage rights stand. When a last ditch effort initiative, Proposition 8, appeared on the ballot in 2008, it seemed destined for defeat.
But no one counted on the Mormons rolling into town.
Continue reading »
 
Portand’s QDoc is the only queer documentary film festival in the US (and one of two in the world) held annually at the intimate Clinton Street Theater (2522 SE Clinton). That’s pretty special. But not surprising for our hometown.
It’s also a great kick-off to Pride season to reflect on our LGBT roots before we start the party. Several qPDXers got the chance to screen some of these films and will be providing reviews in the next couple days. But the folks organizing the fest have put together a pretty fabulous preview on their own:
Continue reading »
 The Lovers play Friday night at Someday Lounge The Siren Nation Festival is a celebration of woman-fueled art, music, film, and knowledge. If that sounds like a lot, it is. Beginning with a kick off festival this Thursday the 5th at Olympic Mills Building (107 SE Washington). This free, all ages event from 6-10pm will feature the DJ talents of DJ Safi and DJ Tender and some spontaneous performance art throughout the night. “The Journey” is Siren Nation’s annual fine arts exhibit. Through a variety of media “The Journey” expresses, both the overall journey of women and the personal journey of over 50 Portland Artists.
Continue reading »
 'And Then Came Lola' In the rough road this is this nation’s economy small sacrifices abound. One of them is PLGFF’s second weekend. This ending with a whimper instead of a band makes me quite sad. Luckily, the films themselves promise to be interesting and original.
Sexy lesbians constantly running is never a bad thing, and 7pm’s quick 70 minute And Then Came Lola promises to be a run romp through the streets of San Francisco. Apparently the indie flick it is based off of, Run, Lola, Run, is already considered an art house classic, and whether And Then Came Lola, turns out to be closer to homage or parody it is sure to be fun. Anything that calls to mind the ultra-hot Franka Potente is a must see for me.
Continue reading »
 'Antarctica' Drool at 7pm starts out like any other unhappy-married-woman-discovers-her-lesbianism movie. This plot is so overdone even Oprah has real life version.
Luckily Drool has a bit of a twist. When Anora’s abusive husband discovers their secret all hell breaks loose and he ends up dead in a freak accident. So, the ladies pack up the car, the kids, and the body and hit the road. Drool claims to tackle the themes of racism, domestic abuse, sexism and homophobia with dark humor and wit.
Continue reading »
 'Pornography' This weekend saw yours truly at two of the most boytastic movies of the weekend. Both Pornography and Greek Pete held graphic gay male sex as integral to the plot, though the message and approach was vastly different.
I also experienced a much shorter line at the ladies room than I am accustomed to.
I was highly skeptical of both films as the lights dimmed, and I was rather unsure about Pornography until the very end. But though I would not watch it for pleasure, it raises some very interesting questions about the gaze and what really excites about porn.
Continue reading »
 'Hannah Free' A May/December romance with Sharon Gless (Queer as Folk and Cagney and Lacey) and 36 hours with a mileu of gay men cannot do your Tuesday wrong at the Portland Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
At 7pm Hannah Free screens to what I can only assume will be quite an interesting audience. Set in a rural nursing home, religious homemaker Rachel is forbidden from seeing her much older lesbian lover, the rough and tumble Hannah Free (Gless).
Continue reading »
|
|
