rebecca (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} splinterjete) wrote,@ 2008-05-04 22:31:00 |
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7 things to see (and do) at this year's inside/out festival
another year, yet another flurry of gayness. it's always amusing how the films are typically so clearly divided between boys and girls, each bucket having its own bog of cliche's and formulas that one can see night in night out. this year, there's a helluva lot more lady content, especially with the shorts, where there are count them 6! short screenings devoted just to dyke stuff in all its flat-ironed complexity.
overall though, the actual roster of films looks quite decent this year, no joke. there are several films that I've eagerly anticipated and other surprises that look enticing. now, and i've filtered by bias when making these picks, but it just may be that the *3 best* films at this year's inside/out have trans or intersex subjects (ironic for a 'lesbian and gay' film festival) but in keeping with the other trans films that have brought audiences to their feet in the last two years: namely 20 centimetres and red without blue.
there's also some interesting stuff happening on the sidelines, and, of course, the hottest stuff happens after the credits roll, when you cruise the crowd outside the cinema - really, that's what we're all here for, right? and, if you're like me and you need a good 3 hours to strike up a conversation well, you can always volunteer. the volunteer info session is on tuesday night at x-space at 58 ossington.
so, i present you with
1. check out the closing gala and best film of the festival, see XXY on sunday the 25th at 7:30pm at the bader. this year's closing gala is by far the standout film in this year's stronger-than-usual cast of queer and trans flicks. in fact, this is not a queer or trans flick at all, though it potentially skims the borderland between the two. XXY is a story about a coming-of-age film about an intersex youth needing to make serious life decisions while confronting a genderphobic world. this seems like a fascinating exploration into a misunderstood group of folks. of course, the danger with any singular representation, including this, is that it's going to unfortuanately carry the burden (whether it acknowledges that or not) of educating us non-intersex folks. as such, it's always easy to critique such films for what they don't say or the potential stereotypes they're perpetuating (or maybe creating).
2. see a trans documentary that may not be cliche or exploitative. she's a boy i knew screens saturday the 24th at 2:30 at the bader (who picks these times!). this is the eagerly anticipated Toronto premiere of the award-winning Canadian documentary that was the audience fave at the vancouver international film festival. with so many trans documentaries out there, what makes this one unique? two things. it blasts out stereotypes about the hyperfeminized (and heterosexual) trans woman by portraying a trans dyke. the director is also the subject, which means that trans women are finally making films about ourselves. it offers up the potential for a refreshing take on the overdone doc topic of 'the transition narrative'.
3. see an icelandic film about a filipino that the germans love. the amazing truth about queen raquela screens tuesday the 20th at 5:15 at the ROM. icelandic director olaf de fleur johannesson gives us hybrid doc/not-doc about a filipino trans girl who's porn work takes her to europe. starella raquela rios as herself (may the days of tranny blackface be behind us, felicity?), this should be a pretty poignant cinematic event; as proof: queen raquela scored the best film award at the berlin international film festival earlier this year, following in the footsteps of gus van sant, pedro almodovar and many others.
4. check out the float/fly multi-media installation at interaccess on ossington just north of queen, running from may 9-18. philadelphia ex-pat (the opportunity to maybe touch a piece of philly is enough to get me in the door) niknaz tavakolian explores liminality, that's a fancy word for being in-between in this piece that's built to get us all thinking as well as net her an MFA. outstanding. the opening is friday may 9, from 7pm onwards and... after the wine's run dry, y'all should all pop by one of fave pubs, sweaty betty's next door and commandeer the kick-ass juke-box for the night after the opening as well. now, the question i'm left pondering is 'would a sweaty betty be a liminal space'? it's a smelly space and sticky space, that's for sure.
5. support the queer and trans youth of toronto! see the annual shorts screening of theQueer Youth Digital Video Project on saturday the 24th at 4:30 at the bader. each year the videos in this program get stronger and stronger and you can't beat the energy in the room for this screening and the Q&A.
6. get all interrogative, or whatever queer theorists do, at the art activists, mavericks and mayhem on sunday the 18th from 1 until 4 at university college on the UofT campus. this FREE session is part of the larger 'queer here! queer now!' symposium. this three hour chit-chat will "offer audiences an opportunity to begin thinking about ways in which the terrains of our everyday social lives can be critically navigated and imaginatively built and mapped anew". hmm, i wonder if the everyday social lives of trans folks, queer and straight, can be *explicitly* mapped into the mandate and name of the festival? the cisnormative 'lesbian and gay film fest' label has got to go, it doesn't even reflect the diversity of the festival which has done a great job of getting on with trans inclusion. will the 19th Annual Inside/Out in 2009 be the aptly renamed the 'queer and trans film festival'? we shall see.
*super huge added bonus*: stay later for the first uncensored screening of passiflora. this way controversial flick made censor's head spin - transsexuality, abortion, MJ, the pope, it was all too much in 1985- and was unable to be screened at TIFF because of smokescreening from the NFB. extra super huge added bonus: the film will be presented by the godfather of canadian queer film, thomas waugh - this screening happens at 7:30 at innis town hall just around the corner.
7. after you've caught the best film of the festival, cruise cute american directors and other queer film geeks at the closing gala. i did my best awkward teenage boy impression last year, and i swear my voice was cracking when i met brooke sebold director of Red Without Blue, rightfully awarded Best Doc at last year's gala.
in addition to these 7 things, i'll also be seeing these flicks as well.
girls go'in wild in all the right ways:let's get physical shorts program, friday the 16th at 5pm at the bader
watching futuristic diseased rodents sing as part of the: futureland shorts programs, friday the 16th at 8pm at cinecycle
feeling bloated with white privilege watching: a jihad for love, saturday the 17th at 2:15 at the bader
sneaking lube into the screening of: trans entities: the nasty love of papi and wil on saturday the 17th at 9:45pm at the ROM
flashing my student card to check out the free doc screening about bi black men in cleveland: on the downlow screen sunday the 18th at 12:30pm at the ROM
seeing what may be the best girls coming of age flick since heavenly creatures: naissance des pieuvres (water lillies) screens monday the 19th at 7:30 at the ROM.
checking out the local crop: hogtown homos 13 films by local filmmakers, screens wednesday the 21st at 7:30 at the bader.
doin' the trans thing: the annual transplanetarium screening happens friday the 23rd at 7:30 at, of course, the ROM
and check out will munro & nik red spinning at the afterparty at the beaver. hell yes.
representing! femmetastic! screens sunday the 25th at 5pm at the ROM.
so... what are other folks seeing?
~becca
another year, yet another flurry of gayness. it's always amusing how the films are typically so clearly divided between boys and girls, each bucket having its own bog of cliche's and formulas that one can see night in night out. this year, there's a helluva lot more lady content, especially with the shorts, where there are count them 6! short screenings devoted just to dyke stuff in all its flat-ironed complexity.
overall though, the actual roster of films looks quite decent this year, no joke. there are several films that I've eagerly anticipated and other surprises that look enticing. now, and i've filtered by bias when making these picks, but it just may be that the *3 best* films at this year's inside/out have trans or intersex subjects (ironic for a 'lesbian and gay' film festival) but in keeping with the other trans films that have brought audiences to their feet in the last two years: namely 20 centimetres and red without blue.
there's also some interesting stuff happening on the sidelines, and, of course, the hottest stuff happens after the credits roll, when you cruise the crowd outside the cinema - really, that's what we're all here for, right? and, if you're like me and you need a good 3 hours to strike up a conversation well, you can always volunteer. the volunteer info session is on tuesday night at x-space at 58 ossington.
so, i present you with
1. check out the closing gala and best film of the festival, see XXY on sunday the 25th at 7:30pm at the bader. this year's closing gala is by far the standout film in this year's stronger-than-usual cast of queer and trans flicks. in fact, this is not a queer or trans flick at all, though it potentially skims the borderland between the two. XXY is a story about a coming-of-age film about an intersex youth needing to make serious life decisions while confronting a genderphobic world. this seems like a fascinating exploration into a misunderstood group of folks. of course, the danger with any singular representation, including this, is that it's going to unfortuanately carry the burden (whether it acknowledges that or not) of educating us non-intersex folks. as such, it's always easy to critique such films for what they don't say or the potential stereotypes they're perpetuating (or maybe creating).
2. see a trans documentary that may not be cliche or exploitative. she's a boy i knew screens saturday the 24th at 2:30 at the bader (who picks these times!). this is the eagerly anticipated Toronto premiere of the award-winning Canadian documentary that was the audience fave at the vancouver international film festival. with so many trans documentaries out there, what makes this one unique? two things. it blasts out stereotypes about the hyperfeminized (and heterosexual) trans woman by portraying a trans dyke. the director is also the subject, which means that trans women are finally making films about ourselves. it offers up the potential for a refreshing take on the overdone doc topic of 'the transition narrative'.
3. see an icelandic film about a filipino that the germans love. the amazing truth about queen raquela screens tuesday the 20th at 5:15 at the ROM. icelandic director olaf de fleur johannesson gives us hybrid doc/not-doc about a filipino trans girl who's porn work takes her to europe. starella raquela rios as herself (may the days of tranny blackface be behind us, felicity?), this should be a pretty poignant cinematic event; as proof: queen raquela scored the best film award at the berlin international film festival earlier this year, following in the footsteps of gus van sant, pedro almodovar and many others.
4. check out the float/fly multi-media installation at interaccess on ossington just north of queen, running from may 9-18. philadelphia ex-pat (the opportunity to maybe touch a piece of philly is enough to get me in the door) niknaz tavakolian explores liminality, that's a fancy word for being in-between in this piece that's built to get us all thinking as well as net her an MFA. outstanding. the opening is friday may 9, from 7pm onwards and... after the wine's run dry, y'all should all pop by one of fave pubs, sweaty betty's next door and commandeer the kick-ass juke-box for the night after the opening as well. now, the question i'm left pondering is 'would a sweaty betty be a liminal space'? it's a smelly space and sticky space, that's for sure.
5. support the queer and trans youth of toronto! see the annual shorts screening of theQueer Youth Digital Video Project on saturday the 24th at 4:30 at the bader. each year the videos in this program get stronger and stronger and you can't beat the energy in the room for this screening and the Q&A.
6. get all interrogative, or whatever queer theorists do, at the art activists, mavericks and mayhem on sunday the 18th from 1 until 4 at university college on the UofT campus. this FREE session is part of the larger 'queer here! queer now!' symposium. this three hour chit-chat will "offer audiences an opportunity to begin thinking about ways in which the terrains of our everyday social lives can be critically navigated and imaginatively built and mapped anew". hmm, i wonder if the everyday social lives of trans folks, queer and straight, can be *explicitly* mapped into the mandate and name of the festival? the cisnormative 'lesbian and gay film fest' label has got to go, it doesn't even reflect the diversity of the festival which has done a great job of getting on with trans inclusion. will the 19th Annual Inside/Out in 2009 be the aptly renamed the 'queer and trans film festival'? we shall see.
*super huge added bonus*: stay later for the first uncensored screening of passiflora. this way controversial flick made censor's head spin - transsexuality, abortion, MJ, the pope, it was all too much in 1985- and was unable to be screened at TIFF because of smokescreening from the NFB. extra super huge added bonus: the film will be presented by the godfather of canadian queer film, thomas waugh - this screening happens at 7:30 at innis town hall just around the corner.
7. after you've caught the best film of the festival, cruise cute american directors and other queer film geeks at the closing gala. i did my best awkward teenage boy impression last year, and i swear my voice was cracking when i met brooke sebold director of Red Without Blue, rightfully awarded Best Doc at last year's gala.
in addition to these 7 things, i'll also be seeing these flicks as well.
girls go'in wild in all the right ways:let's get physical shorts program, friday the 16th at 5pm at the bader
watching futuristic diseased rodents sing as part of the: futureland shorts programs, friday the 16th at 8pm at cinecycle
feeling bloated with white privilege watching: a jihad for love, saturday the 17th at 2:15 at the bader
sneaking lube into the screening of: trans entities: the nasty love of papi and wil on saturday the 17th at 9:45pm at the ROM
flashing my student card to check out the free doc screening about bi black men in cleveland: on the downlow screen sunday the 18th at 12:30pm at the ROM
seeing what may be the best girls coming of age flick since heavenly creatures: naissance des pieuvres (water lillies) screens monday the 19th at 7:30 at the ROM.
checking out the local crop: hogtown homos 13 films by local filmmakers, screens wednesday the 21st at 7:30 at the bader.
doin' the trans thing: the annual transplanetarium screening happens friday the 23rd at 7:30 at, of course, the ROM
and check out will munro & nik red spinning at the afterparty at the beaver. hell yes.
representing! femmetastic! screens sunday the 25th at 5pm at the ROM.
so... what are other folks seeing?
~becca
