WUD Film Presents: The 1st Annual Reel Love LGBT Film Festival
The Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee is hosting Madison's first LGBT film festival from November 10th-13th, 2011. Our Reel Love Film Festival is for Madison’s thriving LGBT community, students, community members, and the general public.
The film festival presents eleven films over four days that take place at the Marquee Theater at Union South. There will be a wonderful array from classic films to diamonds in the rough and everything in between. We want to celebrate the LGBT community and also educate people on current issues - from disapproving churches to pride on a global scale.
The film festival is 100% free and open to the public. WUD Film is out to prove that "reel love has no gender".
Short Schedule
Thursday, November 10
7:00 pm: We Were Here (USA, 2011, 90 min., digital, dir. David Weissman)
Friday, November 11
4:30 pm: Paris is Burning (USA, 1990, 78 min., digital, dir. Jennie Livingston)
7:00 pm: Tomboy (France, 2011, 84 min., digital, dir. Céline Sciamma)
9:30pm: The Birdcage (USA, 1996, 118 min., digital, dir. Mike Nichols)
11:59 pm: Pink Flamingos (USA, 1972, 92 min., digital, dir. John Waters)
Midnight: Dance at DMF. Plan B’s Video DJ Amos Smith performs for free at the Sett in Union South
Saturday, November 12
4:30 pm: For the Bible Tells Me So (USA, 2007, 100 min., 35mm, dir. Dan Karslake)
7:00 pm: Bloomington (USA, 2010, 83 min., digital, dir. Fernanda Cardoso)
9:30pm: 3 (Drei) (Germany, 2010, 120 min., digital, dir. Tom Tykwer)
11:59 pm: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (USA, 2011, 75 min., digital, dir. Madeleine Olnek)
Sunday, November 13
4:30 pm: Were the World Mine (USA, 2008, 95 min., digital, dir. Tom Gustafson)
7:00 pm: Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride (Canada, 2009, 85 min., digital, dir. Bob Christie)
Long Schedule:
Thursday, November 10, 7:00 pm – Opening Night Film
We Were Here
USA, 2011, 90 min., digital, dir. David Weissman
We Were Here is the first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco. It explores how the City’s inhabitants were affected by, and how they responded to, that calamitous epidemic. Though a San Francisco-based story, We Were Here extends beyond San Francisco and beyond AIDS itself. It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination
“Of all the cinematic explorations of the AIDS crisis, not one is more heartbreaking and inspiring than We Were Here… Throughout We Were Here there is not a hint of mawkishness, self-pity or self-congratulation. The humility, wisdom and cumulative sorrow expressed lend the film a glow of spirituality and infuse it with grace” (Stephen Holden, New York Times).
Friday, November 11, 4:30 pm
Paris is Burning
USA, 1990, 78 min., digital, dir. Jennie Livingston
Dip back into LGBT history with a retrospective screening of seminal documentary Paris is Burning. Between 1987 and 1989, director Jennie Livingston documented the lives of gay and trans performers, mostly black or Latino, who compete in New York City’s balls and dream of achieving celebrity status. Visually striking with an intensely saturated color palate and gorgeous film grain, Paris is Burning is a profound record of an inspiring moment in time and an underrepresented culture. Before Madonna, before Glee, there was Paris is Burning. (Description adapted from Frameline)
Friday, November 11, 7:00 pm
Tomboy
France, 2011, 84 min., digital, dir. Céline Sciamma
In French with English subtitles.
A French family with two daughters, 10-year-old Laure and 6-year-old Jeanne, moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holidays. With her Jean Seberg haircut and tomboy ways, Laure is immediately mistaken for a boy by the local kids and passes herself off as Michael. Filmmaker Céline Sciamma brings a light and charming touch to this drama of childhood gender confusion. Zoe Heran as Laure/Michael and Malonn Levanna as Jeanne are nothing less than brilliant. This is a relationship movie: relationships between children, and the even more complicated one between one’s heart and body.
“Heran gets it just right. Not only is she/he piercingly photogenic, but she affects the self-conscious swagger of a boy with striking authenticity. Levana is another natural, oozing wit and wisdom beyond her six years” (Mike Goodridge, Screen Daily).
Friday, November 11, 9:30pm
The Birdcage
USA, 1996, 118 min., digital, dir. Mike Nichols
Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest star as two dramatically disparate couples who manage to reconcile their vast differences for the sake of their children who are getting married. An early foray into Hollywood overtly tackling gay life, the remake of the popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles was championed upon its release fifteen years ago as, “going beyond the stereotypes to see the character's depth and humanity. The film celebrates differences and points out the outrageousness of hiding those differences” (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation).
Friday, November 11, 11:59 pm
Pink Flamingos
USA, 1972, 92 min., digital, dir. John Waters
Renegade filmmaker and noted aficionado of expressive bad taste John Waters exploded into international infamy with this darkly comic, no-budget parade of the perverse, in which plus-size cross-dresser Divine stars as Babs Johnson, a flashy criminal on the lam from the FBI who is hiding out in a trailer outside of Baltimore, MD. Accompanying Babs are her mother, an obese and dim-witted woman who is malignly obsessed with eggs; her degenerate son, Crackers; and Cotton, Babs' duplicitous "traveling companion" and Crackers' co-conspirator in unwholesome erotic play. (Description adapted from USC School of Cinematic Arts.)
Saturday, November 12, 4:30 pm
For the Bible Tells Me So
USA, 2007, 100 min., 35mm, dir. Dan Karslake
Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate? Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp (as a literal reading of scripture dictates).
Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, For the Bible Tells Me So offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.
Saturday, November 12, 7:00 pm
Bloomington
USA, 2010, 83 min., digital, dir. Fernanda Cardoso
A fun twist on the hot-for-teacher genre, Bloomington is a coming-of-age drama about Jackie Kirk, the former child star of a sci-fi hit show. Hoping to find independence from her somewhat overbearing mother, Jackie leaves California for the Midwest to attend college. Surprisingly, she doesn’t fit in with her peers, who are constantly aware of her celebrity status. At a department mixer, Jackie is instantly attracted to Catherine, a young professor with a reputation. Both being outsiders, they develop an intense bond as they pursue a secret affair. “Succulent lesbian bodice-ripper . . . This very funny and honest film is a glorious homage to all those who lack impulse control” (Bay Area Reporter).
Saturday, November 12, 9:30pm
3 (Drei)
Germany, 2010, 120 min., digital, dir. Tom Tykwer
In German with English subtitles.
Tom Tykwer returns to his native Germany for this witty and surprising examination of a love triangle. He starts by introducing Hanna, a Berlin doctor and television host, whose mind is always racing in several directions at once, and her partner of 20 years, Simon , a focused art engineer (the director relays their thoughts through inner monologues). The two have tried to conceive without success, and have built their life around a love of the arts. One night, by chance, Hanna ends up at the theater with Adam, a research scientist, and feels a spark. While Hanna keeps running into him, Simon struggles with the loss of a loved one and a serious medical diagnosis. Then he meets Adam during an evening swim, and events take an unexpected turn due to his similar attraction to this seductive character. As in Run Lola Run, Tykwer employs split screens, still images, and animated sequences with subtlety and skill while always keeping the focus on his three compelling leads. (Description adapted from the Seattle International Film Festival)
Saturday, November 11, 11:59 pm
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
USA, 2011, 75 min., digital, dir. Madeleine Olnek
Called "A hilarious date movie for couples of all orientations" by the Hollywood Reporter, New York playwright and filmmaker Madeleine Olnek's feature-length debut is the joyously campy tale of extraterrestrial lesbians banished to Earth to experience heartbreak and rid themselves of love, a feeling that clouds up the atmosphere on their home planet. Shot in expressive black-and-white, the movie lovingly sends up 1950's-era sci-fi while honestly dealing with the intricacies of contemporary relationships. (Description from Rooftop Films)
Sunday, November 13, 4:30 pm
Were the World Mine
USA, 2008, 95 min., digital, dir. Tom Gustafson
If High School Musical indulged in flights of homoerotic fancy, it might look something like Tom Gustafson’s Were the World Mine, an enchanting and exuberant exploration of teenage turmoil, lust and theatricality. Wendy Robie (Twin Peaks) plays Ms. Tebbit, an unconventional teacher at a posh, all-male academy, who sets out to produce a stage version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and recruits her star student, Timothy (Tanner Cohen), to take part. When not suffering the wrath of his homophobic classmates, Timothy withdraws into his imagination, where macho rugby players morph into dancing fairies decked out in go-go boy attire. Timothy first balks at acting in the play but eventually embraces the role of Puck and, armed with a magical pansy, turns nearly the whole town gay — with unexpected implications for his mother, his two best friends and the hot star rugby player.
Sunday, November 13, 7:00 pm
Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride
Canada, 2009, 85 min., digital, dir. Bob Christie
Homosexuality remains illegal in roughly 80 countries. In seven, it is punishable by death. Beyond Gay follows the Vancouver Pride Society’s (VPS) Parade Director Ken Coolen and his VPS colleagues as they travel to places where Pride is still steeped in protest to personally experience the rampant homophobia that still exists. They also travel to Sao Paulo Brazil for the world’s largest gay parade and New York City, the birthplace of the modern gay liberation movement. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people cheering in the streets, Pride is much, much more than a parade and a party. It is a giant step on the road to true equality. Increasingly the Pride movement is globalizing. Coolen and many Pride organizers in North America and Europe, where celebration has overtaken political action, strive to remind their communities that Pride is at its heart a global fight for human rights.