The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, founded in 1977, is the biggest bestest most spectacular LGBT film event in the entire universe. For example it is the "largest," "longest-running" and "most widely recognized." It's put on by Frameline, an LGBT media/arts non-profit, and it's happening this week in San Francisco, from June 14th through June 24th. There are so many amazing movies being shown this year, from old classics like Cheryl Dunye's Watermelon Woman to hotly anticipated debuts like Jeffery Schwarz's documentary Vito and foreign-lesbian-films-you've-been-reading-about-on-AfterEllen like Kiss Me and Bye Bye Blondie.
Of course, not everybody lives in the Bay Area, which is unfortunate as I'm really dying for some nice lesbian to move here and open a convenience store in the abandoned building next to mine, ideally one that sells cream, Teas Tea and quarters. Anyhow, if you're not in the area, I've helpfully included information about where you might be able to see these films some other way before they eventually come out on video. Sidenote did you know that Wolfe Video, the Leaders and Creators Of Lesbian Movie-Land, just started an On-Demand service? You can watch Tomboy tonight! You're welcome.
10 LBT Movies You'll Wanna See This Week
1. Mosquita y Mari (Feature) directed by Aurora Guerrero, 2011
Two Chicana teenagers in Huntington Park come of age, discover themselves, get in trouble, fall in love for the first time, etc. Basically this is my favorite plot of all time - shy smart college-bound young lesbian meets wicked hot "bad girl" best friend who smokes, lesbian falls in love with best friend, emotional breakdowns / familial riffs / sexual tension ensues!
Out of Town: Mosquita y Mari comes to Los Angeles on July 19.
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2. I Am A Woman Now (Documentary) - directed by Michiel van Erp, Netherlands, 2011
I know, I know, enough already from the European senior citizen transwomen! Let's hear somebody else's story for once, amirite? I swear, every time I turn on the television it's another French transwoman over the age of 65 talking about growing up trans in the mid-20th-century. JUST KIDDING. I know literally not one thing about the subject of this movie, and chances are good you don't either, which's why we all need to go see it.
They are all women of a certain age; blue-haired ladies using canes, well-preserved sixty-year-olds walking small dogs in the park, or aging beauties meeting old beaus for a posh lunch. And they all have one thing in common: Dr. Georges Burou, who in the ’60s and ’70s operated a clinic in Casablanca where he performed groundbreaking sex-change surgeries.
In this beautifully photographed documentary, five transwomen reflect back on their lives as women, and the various paths that led them to surgery. In a mixture of interviews, home-movies, and scenes of their daily lives, we hear their stories.
Out of Town: I Am A Woman Now comes to Los Angeles on July 15 and New York on July 29.
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3. Mommy is Coming (Feature/Erotic), directed by Cheryl Dunye, 2012
Here's why you want to see this Feminist Porn Award winnter -- Papí Coxxx and Jiz Lee are in it and Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman, The OWLS) directed it. There's absolutely no way I could say anything about this film not described in this fantastic paragraph:
...Claudia’s search for this personal growth takes her to a magical Berlin queer sex club for an exceptionally submissive encounter with two transguys who help Claude discover gender bending and his true capacity for giving up control. Meanwhile a surprise visit from Dylan’s mother (the divine Maggie Tapert) creates additional dramatic complexities as she escapes her sexless marriage with Dylan’s father and embarks on an out-of-town fling with the handsome and ever attentive hotel clerk, Claude.
Out of Town: Mommy is Coming is coming (!!!!) to Berlin on June 26 and October 24-28.
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4. Face 2 Face (Documentary), directed by Katherine Brooks, 2012
The director of Loving Annabelle was struggling with depression, addiction and years of suppressed trauma — as well as the after-effects of working for years on reality television programs like The Real World and The Simple Life -- when she decided to hit the road in search of renewing human interactions, which is when humans talk to other human beings face-to-face in three dimensions. So she posted about her mission on facebook, and the first 50 of her 5,000 Facebook fans to respond made it onto Kat's Face 2 Face van-trip itinerary, which spanned 11,000 miles around America. Sounds cool, right?
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5. Yes Or No? (Feature), directed by Saratsawadee Wongsomphet, Thailand, 2010
It's Thailand's first lesbian romance movie and basically it looks so cute I can hardly stand to not be watching it this moment and all ensuing moments. Ostensibly heterosexual Pie's new college roommate is a mega-cute ukelele-playing tomboy named Kim, who hasn't really staked out her own sexuality quite yet. What happens next? GUESS YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEEEEEE
Out of Town: It's on youtube!
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