The schedule for this year's film festival is about to be announced, and I am pleased to say that there are a number of films that deal with the questions facing people in various faith communities. Not that this wasn't present in past festivals, just that this year it is one of the four areas of focus. But last year there were a number of great films on this subject, including one about teens in a camp for evangelicals that was pro-glbt. It was an amazing film to watch.
This year, one of the films sounds quite sensation — a kind of Trading Places, Trading Housewives kind of story. Except it seems to be the story of what happens when a gay minister and a religious right activist male head of household change places as part of a debate over same-sex marriage. They move into each other's homes and face the society each one lives in. This isn't fiction, but a documentary made with the support of the Canadian Television Fund and directed by Brent Kwachuk. It's called God Only Knows. And I can't wait to see it.
There are also a couple of films of interest to those in one of my other tribes: the Jews.
First is “Hineini: Coming Out at a Jewish High School.” It's the story of Shulamit Izen — a gay teen who wanted to start a gay-straight alliance at the New Jewish High School in Waltham. It's a story of real courage — and surprises. School administrators and students had to face questions about pluralism in this private school. Amazingly, other queer students and even several gay faculty members at the school came out as a result of her courage. Another documentary (and oftentimes the best stories are true stories) this was directed by Irena Fayngold.
While not a film about religion per se, "Tied Hands" is the story of an Israeli mother whose son is dying of
AIDS and her quest to find marijuana on the streets of Tel Aviv at night to ease his pain. It won the award for Best Feature Film at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. Juror David Hunter said that the film “acknowledges the temporary state of our lives on earth but finds hope in the power of human love.”
Then there's We're All Angels, a film by Robert Nunez, on the two gay Christian teen pop stars who fell in love. And if you don't already know the story, you may be shocked to know that this is another documentary.
Another intriguing item on the list is soulMaid -- the story of a young man who cleans apartments in his underwear. Except that one day he has a seizure and a vision of the second coming that seems to be decidedly very queer. It's a comedy, and here's a preview:
Of course, there's lots of other goodies to come at this year's NewFest. There are an amazing number of world premieres, which is terrific since in recent years with so many films opening in mainstream venues it felt like the festival was being past by by the industry. Not this year: opening night is the new Picture of Dorian Gray. So this year I decided to give up on my usual strategy of buying tickets for about 20 films, and went all the way for an all access pass. After all, queer representation of this depth and breadth is rare. There are many films here that never see wide release -- hell, there are many films here that never even make it to the Quad, and often they are films that are quite worth seeing (though I've learned to walk out when it's clear otherwise) Hope to see you at NewFest this year, with more than 250 films, there's lots to choose from.
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