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As a lead-in to my brand spanking new column to grace these pages, I
thought I would begin with an introduction. I am the Programming
Director for The Rehoboth Beach Film Society, presenters of the annual
Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival (this year to be held November
5-9, 2003). I have been programming festivals for well over 8 years and
have worked with the entertainment industry for years before that.
Enough about me! On to film!
What Is a Gay Film?
Gay: Of, relating to, or having a sexual orientation to persons of the
same sex.
Film: A movie. Or
movies considered as a group. So, by definition, A Gay Film is: A movie
(or movies considered as a group) dealing with topics of, relating to,
or having sexual orientation to persons of the same sex. OK, so that was
easy. See you next week.
Seriously, what is a
gay film? While this question is not easily answered, I am not so sure
the answer is really what we are seeking as much as the need to have
something to consider our own (gay ghettos, gay restaurants, and gay
bars). This need has not escaped the movie screens, as we long for films
that portray our lives.
The answer to the
question becomes a little more of a necessity when dealing with
programming concerns for GLBT specific film festivals. From LA and San
Francisco to Evergreen, Washington, and everywhere in between, there are
over 150 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Film Festivals. Each
would answer this question differently, and many would not answer it at
all. Here at the beach we are less affected by these distinctions. We
have an audience that is adventurous and willing to see great films that
entertain, evoke emotion, teach, inform, or provide escape to a
different world. The underlying desire is to see a high quality film.
This blurred distinction between straight and gay often dissolves the
need to define a film and pigeonhole it for a particular audience.
To classify as a
“gay” film, is it enough to have a “gay” sensibility or high
camp factor? Is it enough to be directed by a GLBT individual? Is it
enough to have a gay character, whether or not that character’s
sexuality is truly an integral part of the film? Or do we need the
complete unadulterated man-on-man or woman-on-women action in order to
classify the film as “Gay”?
While there have been
gay films with a large budget (Philadelphia, Priscilla, Queen of the
Desert), they are often quite the opposite. Many of these films truly
evoke the moniker of “independent.” Often self-financed and self
produced, these are films you may only see gracing the screens of the
aforementioned 150 festivals. Shot on old film stock or directly on
video, they do not carry the “look” of the films we may be more
familiar with. We as programmers try to educate the audience that we
need to understand the constraints of filmmakers and ask our audiences
to look upon these films differently than the blockbuster films we might
be use to. Fair or not, this is the reality of much of gay filmmaking at
this point in time.
Things are changing.
There are more and more distributors (companies who purchase the rights
to films to show theatrically) who are being classified as distributors
specializing in GLBT films. They have been able to place their films in
major market theaters, thus ensuring that these films receive some press
and elevate them beyond those destined to go from the GLBT festival
circuit to the shelves of the local video store, and even then only in
stores that have a strong niche section aimed at the GLBT population.
The more notoriety the genre receives, the more advances for the future
will occur.
The next step in the
evolution of gay films is the Video/DVD market. With the onset of
niche-specific video distributors like TLA Video, many films will be
able to recoup investment and even save some funds towards the next
project, which may or may not be a bigger, more polished production.
Video/DVD availability also gives consumers the opportunity to purchase
films that they did not have the opportunity to see during the limited
festival run.
In the end, I am not
sure that we derived an answer to our question as much as we have
investigated the issue. Whether or not the answer is important, the
question will continue to be asked.
To complain to the
writer, or to heap on the praise, the author can be contacted at Joe@rehobothfilm.com
or 302-645-9095.
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