Queer Lounge (Salotto Queer) è una organizzazione no-profit nata nel 2004 e dedicata a promuovere e sostenere il cinema lesbico, gay, bisessuale e transgender con l’obiettivo di aumentarne il successo e la circolazione. Ospitato presso importanti festival cinematografici, offre una possibilità di incontro tra i registi e gli artisti LGBT, oltre a fornire servizi informativi al pubblico gay-friendly, alla stampa, e agli imprenditori del settore.
Oltre al Sundance e al Toronto Film Festival, Queer Lounge dovrebbe presto partecipare anche al festival di Cannes, da dove Ellen Huang, ex imprenditrice del settore, ebbe l’idea per questa organizzazione. Infatti se ogni Paese può avere a Cannes il suo padiglione per promuovere la propria cinematografia, perchè non istituire anche un padiglione per il cinema LGBT?
Mentre sembra che ormai la televisione abbia accolto con successo programmi gay-friendly (Will & Grace, The L Word, Queer Eye, ecc), il cinema LGBT, nonostante qualche eccezione positiva come Brokeback Mountain, ha ancora molto bisogno di essere sostenuto e incoraggiato. Il grande pubblico infatti ha ancora la tendenza ad evitare i film con tematiche gay, un po’ per pregiudizio e un po’ perchè pensano che non li riguardi. Di conseguenza le grandi produzioni e distribuzioni raramente investono in film con contenuti LGBT, che richiamano poco pubblico e quindi poco guadagno. Siamo così di fronte ad un circolo vizioso: scarsi finanziamenti e poche risorse influiscono negativamente sia sulla quantità che sulla qualità di questi film, impedendogli di arrivare al successo e di portare al grande pubblico la loro ricchezza tematica.
Queer Lounge vuole essere una forza per il superamento di questa impasse e dimostrare che anche il cinema queer può avere un grande richiamo e un interesse per tutte le persone che vogliono conoscere il mondo nella sua completezza. Vuole facilitare la partecipazione del pubblico al cinema queer e nello stesso tempo rafforzare il cuore della comunità cinematografica LGBT e spingerla verso il successo. (dal sito Queer Lounge)
Il sito di Queer Lounge
Il sito del Sundace 2007
Di seguito l’elenco delle opere a tematica queer oppure realizzate da registi LGBT (queste ultime sono segnate con #) presenti al Sundance e allo Slamdance 2007 (che si svolgono dal 18 al 28 gennaio a Park City nello Utah), offerto dal sito di Queer Lounge (appena avremo informazioni sufficenti le inseriremo nel nostro database).
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
LUNGOMETRAGGI
AN AMERICAN CRIME #
Regia di Tommy O’Haver
Scritto da Tommy O’Haver, Irene Turner
Interpreti: Catherine Keener, Ellen Page, James Franco
(USA ; 2006; 92 min.; color; 35mm)
Premiere Section/World Premiere
The true story of Gertrude Baniszewski, suburban housewife and mother of seven, who locked a teenage girls in the basement of her home in the early 1960’s. From the director of Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss.
FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
Regia di Daniel Karslake
Scritto da Daniel Karslake, Nancy Kennedy
(USA ; 2006; 95 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Documentary Competition/World Premiere
Five conservative Christian families are at the center of director Daniel Karslake’s exploration of the Religious Right’s impact on gay rights through its own interpretation of Biblical teachings.
GIRL 27 #
Regia di David Stenn
Scritto da David Stenn
(USA ; 2006; 86 min.; color/b&w; Sony HD Cam)
Documentary Competition/World Premiere
Author and Hollywood multi-hyphenate David Stenn (The L Word) digs deep into Hollywood’s seedy past to reveal the story of Patricia Douglas, an underage dancer raped at a stag party thrown by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Instead of heeding the studio’s advice and stay silent, she went public and filed a landmark lawsuit. The resulting scandal and studio cover-up drove Douglas into hiding. Now, 65 years later, Patricia Douglas emerges to tell her story.
HOW SHE MOVE
Regia di Ian Iqbal Rashid
Scritto da Annmarie Morais
Interpreti: Rutina Wesley, Dwain Murphy, Tracey Armstrong
(Canada ; 2006; 98 min.; color; 35mm)
World Cinema Dramatic Competition/World Premiere
Following the tragic death of her sister, gifted student Raya is forced to leave her prestigious private school and return to her old neighborhood. Raya endures life at the local high school, and soon finds herself drawn back into a world she knows well — the world of Step dancing. From the director and writer of Touch of Pink.
THE LAST DINING TABLE
Regia di Gyeong-Tae Roh
Scritto da Gyeong-Tae Roh
(South Korea ; 2006; 91 min.; color/b&w; 35mm)
New Frontier/North American Premiere
A minimalist, surreal, ironic and poetic exploration film explores modern social problems including pollution and environmental concerns, and the collapse of “family values.”
LIFE SUPPORT
Regia di Nelson George
Scritto da Nelson George, Jim McKay, Hannah Weyer
Interpreti: Queen Latifah, Wendell Pierce, Anna Deavere Smith
(USA ; 2006; 127 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Premiere Section/World Premiere
Based on the life of director/writer Nelson George’s sister, Life Support stars Queen Latifah as a former drug addict and now a devoted mother who, when she learns she’s HIV-positive, becomes an AIDS activist.
THE NINES
Regia di John August
Scritto da John August
Interpreti: Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, Elle Fanning
(USA ; 2006; 102 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Premiere Section/World Premiere
Acclaimed screenwriter John August’s (Go, Big Fish) directorial debuts centers on a troubled actor, a television showrunner, and an acclaimed videogame designer who discover their lives are intertwined in unsettling ways.
PROTAGONIST
Regia di Jessica Yu
Scritto da Jessica Yu
(USA ; 2006; 90 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Documentary Competition/World Premiere
Filmmaker Jessica Yu (In the Realms of the Unreal) unites the seemingly unrelated lives of four very distinctive men, including a German terrorist, a bank robber, a martial arts student, and an “ex-gay” evangelist.
SAVE ME
Regia di Robert Cary
Scritto da Craig Chester, Robert Desiderio, Alan Hines
Interpreti: Chad Allen, Robert Gant, Judith Light
(USA ; 2006; 93 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Spectrum/World Premiere
A gay recovering drug addict returns home to his family only to be forced into a Christian gay rehabilitation center, where he meets and falls in love with another gay man also being forced into conversion therapy.
SMILEY FACE
Regia di Gregg Araki
Scritto da Dylan Haggerty
Interpreti: Anna Faris, John Krasinski, Adam Brody, Jane Lynch
(USA ; 2006; 88 min.; color; 35mm)
Midnight Section/World Premiere
Stoner actress Jane unknowingly eats a batch of marijuana-infused cupcakes made by her equally stoned roommate, thus kicking off a trippy day of comical misadventures. From the director of Mysterious Skin.
TEETH #
Regia di Mitchell Lichtenstein
Scritto da Mitchell Lichtenstein
Interpreti: John Hensley, Jess Weixler
(USA ; 2006; 87 min.; color; 35mm)
Dramatic Competition/World Premiere
A high school girl discovers that her body is more than capable of defending itself when she becomes the target of male violence. This is actor Mitchell Lichtenstein’s (The Wedding Banquet) feature film debut.
TRADE #
Regia di Marco Kreuzpaintner
Scritto da Jose Rivera, Peter Landesman
Interpreti: Kevin Kline, Cesar Ramos Ceballos, Paulina Gaiton
(USA ; 2006; 113 min.; color; 35mm)
Premiere Section/World Premiere
A young Mexican national and an American cop team up on a desperate mission to find two young women kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. From the director of Summer Storm.
TULI
Regia di Auraeus Solito
Scritto da Jimmy Flores
Interpreti: Desiree Del Valle, Carlo Aquino
(Philippines , 2006; 107 min.; color; Sony HD Cam; In Tagalog with English Subtitles)
Spectrum/U.S. Premiere
When a young woman who falls in love with her female best friend refuses her arranged marriage and rebels against her provincial town’s customs, she finds the courage to start her own life that reflects her beliefs and her values. From the director of The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros.
A VERY BRITISH GANGSTER
Regia di Donal MacIntyre
(UK ; 2006; 97 min.; color/b&w; Sony HD Cam)
World Cinema Documentary Competition/World Premiere
Celebrated undercover journalist Donal MacIntyre explores the intriguing and contradictory life of Dominic Noonan, considered one of Britain ‘s biggest mob bosses, who also happens to be gay.
YEAR OF THE DOG
Regia di Mike White
Scritto da Mike White
Interpreti: Molly Shannon, Peter Sarsgaard, Laura Dern
(USA : 2006; 98 min.; color; 35mm)
Premiere Section/World Premiere
A happy-go-lucky secretary’s life changes in unexpected ways when her dog dies. From the screenwriter of Chuck and Buck.
CORTOMETRAGGI
ASK THE INSECTS #
Regia di Steve Reinke
(Canada; 2006; 20 Minutes; color; Sony HD Cam)
Part homemade science (before it became doctrine and law), part animated video reverie, Reinke’s brief and episodic compression is an incendiary release which opens by announcing the death of the reader, and ends with the death of the author.
DOORMAN
Regia di Etienne Kallos
(USA ; 2006; 17 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
A Latino doorman of a New York apartment building begins to unravel emotionally when he is seduced and then dumped by a privileged college kid who lives in the building.
INFINITE DELAY
(Precedes feature film Strange Culture)
Regia di Kadet Kuhne
(USA ; 2006; 9 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
A restrained subject surrenders herself to a sublime state of waiting in a mysterious underwater world.
LIGHT WORK I #
Regia di Jennifer Reeves
(USA ; 2006; 8 min.; color/b&w; Sony HD Cam)
Found images from 20th century educational films are sewn together with melted down pharmaceuticals affixed directly to the film, forming a concentrated fusion with pulsating electronic sounds, bass clarinet and organ.
THE TRAGIC STORY OF NLING
Regia di Jeffrey St. Jules
(Canada; 2006; 15 min.; b&w; Sony HD Cam)
In his struggle to survive beyond the walls of a slum city, a man soon finds that he is no more humane than his animal friend.
DOCUMENTARI
FREEHELD
Regia di Cynthia Wade
(USA ; 2006; 40 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
In the last weeks of her life, Lieutenant Laurel Hester has one goal – to leave her hard-earned pension to her life partner Stacie.
I JUST WANTED TO BE SOMEBODY
(Precedes feature film For the Bible Tells Me So)
Regia di Jay Rosenblatt
(USA ; 2006; 10 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Part document and part poem, this film brings us back to the late 1970s and reflects on Anita Bryant’s life and the impact she had.
SCAREDYCAT #
(Precedes feature film Girl 27)
Regia di Andy Blubaugh (NGC)
(USA ; 2006; 13 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
This film examines the inevitable and justifiable fear the filmmaker experiences following a physical assault at the hands of five young men.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN #
Regia di Mitch McCabe (NGC)
(USA ; 2006; 13 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
A photographer chronicles her life over five years of political events, comically interweaving protest footage with her photographic diary of self-portraits to tell a modern tale about art, change, hope, and futility.
CORTOMETRAGGI INTERNAZIONALI
A DAY OUT
Regia di Jong Yoon Lee
(South Korea ; 2006; 13 min.; color; 35mm)
Repressed sexual longings between a stern military sergeant and his submissive private come to a violent boil when the two spend a night with a prostitute in a motel room.
FAMILY REUNION
Regia di Isold Uggadottir
(Iceland ; 2006; 19 min.; color; 35mm)
New York lesbian, Katrin, struggles to come out to her relatives back in Iceland , but revelations at a family reunion challenge all her assumptions.
GRACELAND #
Regia di Anocha Suwichakornpong
(Thailand ; 2006; 17 min.; color; 35mm)
One night in Bangkok, Jon and a mysterious woman embark on a journey to a foreign land – the human heart.
HARD TO SWALLOW
Regia di Mat Kirkby
(UK ; 2006; 14 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Three couples share Sunday lunch…and certainly don’t drink too much, fight or swear at each other.
MAKE A WISH
(Precedes feature film Enemies of Happines)
Regia di Cherien Dabis
(Palestinian Territories ; 2006; 12 min.; color; 35mm)
A young Palestinian girl will do anything it takes to buy a birthday cake.
PEACE TALK
Regia di Jenifer Malmqvist
(Sweden ; 2006; 14 min.; color; Sony HD Cam)
Little Jonna and her friend Emilie play at being soldiers, but Jonna’s mother doesn’t approve of the course their game takes.
PROGRAMMI SPECIALI
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
PIERRE HUYGHE ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Regia di Pierre Huyghe
(France ; 2007; 90 min.; color; 35mm)
New Frontier
A presentation of rarely screened short films by Pierre Huyghe, one of France ‘s most celebrated young artists. Huyghe’s split-screen project The Third Memory (1999) features legendary gay bank robber John Wojtowicz re-enacting scenes from Dog Day Afternoon — the 1975 Al Pacino film based on Wojtowicz’s real-life attempted bank robbery to pay for his lover’s sex change operation. Also included are Blanche Neige Lucie (1997), Streamside Day (2003), This is Not a Time for Dreaming (2004), and A journey That Wasn’t (2006).
SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
LUNGOMETRAGGI
OFF THE GRID: LIFE ON THE MESA
Written & Regia di Jeremy Stulberg and Randy Stulberg
(USA ; 2007; 70 min)
World Premiere
Amid the backdrop of a vast New Mexican desert, a group including dispirited Gulf War veterans, vagabonds, and lost youth band together to protect “the last part of America that is free.” Their extreme radical take on real American patriotism meets federal law head-on and their legal rights to produce and sell marijuana. Fight for your right to party!
RED WITHOUT BLUE
Written & Regia di Brooke Sebold, Benita Sills & Todd Sills
(USA ; 2007; 74 min)
World Premiere
This film documents the turbulent lives of identical twin brothers, Mark and Alex, and the journey they go through after one decides to become a woman. At 14, the twins had already been faced with divorce, coming out as gay, and a joint suicide attempt forcing a brief separation between the two. This story gives an honest portrayal of their bond and ultimate redemption despite their family’s dismal past.
SUPER AMIGOS
Written & Regia di Arturo Perez Torres
(Canada/Mexico; 2007; 82 min)
World Premiere
Meet Super Barrio, Super Gay, Super Ecologista, Super Animal and Fray Tormenta. They are real-life masked crusaders, out to fight crime in Mexico City . Together they fight against some of the city’s worst criminals: corrupt government officials, homophobes, polluters, animal rights abusers, and poverty.
CORTOMETRAGGI
THE MALLORYS GO BLACK MARKET
Regia di JoEllen Martinson & William Scott Rees
(USA ; 2007; 13 min.)
Opening Night Short/World Premiere
Three Big Apple fashionistas ship two suitcases worth of vintage clothing to fashion hungry Russian teens in a scheme to save them from fashionable ruin.
THE SADDEST BOY IN THE WORLD
Regia di Jamie Travis
(Canada ; 2006;13 min)
US Premiere
Being the saddest boy in the world is not easy for Timothy Higgins, but preparing himself for death is.
THE FAMOUS JOE PROJECT
Regia di Eli Rarey
(USA ; 2007; 16 min.)
World Premiere
In a grand attempt to spread love worldwide, a young man puts his web cam to great use and documents his sex life.
THE CARESS OF THE CREATURE
Regia di Stewart McAlpine
(USA ; 2006; 19 min.)
World Premiere
Just what exactly is this thing creeping about in Lake Habbagappee… with such a gentle touch?
