November 8-12

Good News!—The Ninth Annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival is only a few weeks away! More good news! Joe Bilancio has returned as Festival Program Director. (But if you attended the summer film reviews in July and August, you already knew that).

One of the characteristics that makes the Annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival so wonderful is the diverse audience that attends every year. While that is a plus, it also adds to the challenge of programming a Festival that meets everyone’s interests. Some feedback from previous Festivals has suggested that there be more films with GLBT themes.

The first step in the programming process is to screen several hundred films just to see what is available. Then Joe tries to select a balance of GLBT films, international films, American films, environmental films, and the list goes on—as well as a mix of features, documentaries, and shorts. This year’s Festival will offer more than 100 films for film enthusiasts to view. We hope the film(s) will entertain you, touch your emotions, provide great cinematography, teach you something new, introduce you to a new culture, or just make you laugh.

In addition, we hope that the Film Festival will provide you with fabulous experiences. Did a film stay in your thoughts and/or conversations well after you exited the theater? Did you meet new people at the Festival or enjoy participating in stimulating and thought-provoking conversations? Was the food delicious? Did the positive energy uplift you? We hope you will experience ALL the Film Festival has to offer. But if you can’t help yourself, and you need to count, there are fifteen films that have a GLBT orientation (16 if you count the short Contemplating Emily).

An Almodóvarian musical with the flair and attitude of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and the catchy music of Queen, Madonna and Dusty Springfield; this Spanish confection is one of the most inventive and entertaining movies of the year. Enter the world of Marieta/Adolfo (Mónica Cervera)—a narcoleptic, pre-op transsexual prostitute who longs to get rid of eight inches of equipment that separates her from being the glamorous person she longs to be. When she accidentally falls asleep, usually during the most inopportune moments, Marieta’s dreams become lavish and colorful musical numbers, where—as a "real woman"—she can sing in Spanish and English. Surrounded by her "family," which includes Ice Box (Rossy de Palma of Almodóvar fame) and Tomás, an aspiring cellist who happens to be a dwarf, Marieta finds support among her chaotic and often comical street life. But when she meets a man known only as "the fruit stocker," (the hunky Spanish pop singer Pablo Puyol) whose buttocks are compared to a "ripe peach," it is love at first sight and spunky Marieta is caught between a rock and a hard place: true love or her true self. Shot in eye-popping Cinemascope and taking inspiration from Bob Fosse, Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers and even pop diva Madonna, director Ramón Salazar has crafted a film that will leave you humming as you exit the theater and contemplating your next costume for Halloween.

Dir. Ramón Salazar, 2005, Spain, 35mm,113 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.

C.R.A.Z.Y. is a wildly entertaining, ambitious and magical cinematic homage to the pop-culture-saturated Montreal middle class of the seventies. It is a rare combination of intimate, character-driven auteur film and universally appealing crowd-pleaser. Zachary Beaulieu was born on Christmas Day, 1960, a fitting date for one destined for the road less traveled. His mom, Laurianne—who has a proclivity for ironing toast—certainly thinks her son is special. But can a sexually confused teenager with an affinity for Bruce Lee, John Lennon and, most importantly, David Bowie, survive four rough-and-tumble brothers and win the affection of his loving but old-fashioned father Gervais? The pulsing soundtrack is a guiding force in this story. Gervais is infatuated with Patsy Cline and lip-synchs to Charles Aznavour records at family functions. Zac also expresses himself through music: Pink Floyd and Robert Charlebois rock his world, and The Rolling Stones even help him to levitate miraculously during his prayer for a quicker midnight mass (with the congregation tolling in with their chants as well). However, it is Bowie and his "Space Oddity" that are Zac’s deliverance, accompanying his gentle rebellion and giving him the opportunity to dream. "Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare," indeed. Visually arresting flourishes are full of heart and have a strong emotional core, as does the period design, which offers a dead on evocation of the time without falling into the trap of kitsch. Brimming with humour and bittersweet drama, C.R.A.Z.Y. is ultimately the triumphant story of a beautifully ordinary family, of parental love, of outsiders struggling to find their place in the world and of the challenges of growing up different.

Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005, Canada, 35mm, 129 mins. In French with English subtitles. AWARDS: Canada’s entry into the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Best Canadian Feature Toronto International Film Festival, 2005 Canadian Genie Award for Best Motion Picture in Canada

An irreverent send-up of every sci-fi blockbuster from Star Wars to Star Trek, Dreamship Surprise: Period 1 became the highest-grossing German film of all time second only to Lord of The Rings: Return Of The King. Acquiring comedy awards across Europe, this film is light, hilarious, and offers good-natured fun. Space in the year 2304, in a UFO that crash-landed in the Nevada desert 300 years ago, mankind found the scientific guidelines which were used to colonize Mars half a century later. Now the descendants of the first colonists are on their way back to Earth. Led by their unbelievably wicked Regulator Rogul and his unbelievably even more unbelievably wicked disciple Jens Maul, they are up to no good. In fact, the Martians are planning to subjugate the blue planet to the red one. With a huge array of spaceships, a conquest of Earth seems imminent. And only the crazy (and very few) crew of Dreamship Surprise can ‘help’ Captain Kork, engineer Shrotty and first officer Mr. Spuck. But instead of fighting intergalactic crime, they’re busy with their choreography for the upcoming ‘Miss Waikiki Pageant’. With the help of the space cowboy and taxi pilot Rock (hunky Til Schweiger) they set out to save the earth from invasion and quite possibly from themselves.

Dir. Michael Bully Herbig, 2005, Germany, 35mm, 87 mins. In German with English subtitles.

Get ready to laugh your pants off and oogle all the pretty boys in what is sure to be a Festival hit. The first film, Boasting, featured a cast of hunks and a witty script. Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds promises more sexy, irreverent fun for everyone. Returning to head up the cast are gay American Idol finalist Jim Verraros as Kyle and Emily Brooke Hands as Gwen, the ultimate fag hag. New to the cast along with an array of studs is John Waters veteran Mink Stole in a hilarious turn as Kyle’s mom, Helen. When Kyle and Marc have a breakup that doesn’t quite feel final, Marc goes off in search of other prey while Gwen, Kyle and Tiffany head to art class, where today Troy will model nude (worth the ticket price alone). As the trio lusts after hot and hunky Troy, they can’t quite figure out who he likes: boys or girls? Troy and Kyle leave class together and head off across campus where they bump into Jacob and his ex-gay group, "Coming In". Kyle, who is ultra-gay without a butch bone in his body, decides to pretend he’s an ex-gay to see if he can get into mixed-up Troy’s pants. There’s lots of room for comic craziness as the charade heats up.

Dir. Phillip Bartell, US, video, 90 mins.

A hilarious and historically accurate period piece set in the big-haired, shoulder-padded ‘80s, a young virgin finds herself immersed in a counter culture fueled by hot music and sexual expression beyond her wildest dreams. A naïve, innocent girl stumbles upon a wild world of rock and sex in this music-filled romp. Sara, still a virgin, stumbles her way to the underground nightclub El Calentito, owned by a sassy transsexual. The venue plays host to some of the hottest up-and-coming musical groups including Las Sioux, an all-girl rock band fronted by Joan Jett look-a-like Carmen, who happens to be a lesbian, and Leo, who is always in some state of undress so her breasts can run free. In the politically conservative climate of the Franco regime, the club has become a safe haven for all forms of sexual expression: gay, bisexual and "try-anything" sexual. Sara gets invited to perform with Las Sioux and, on the night of her scheduled debut, February 23, 1981, an uprising occurs causing the government to collapse and a thrilling night of wild, uninhibited celebrations explodes, leaving the country of Spain in a tizzy. El Calentito is a raucous, high energy comedy that is out, loud and in your face. It’s an effervescent roller coaster ride that will definitely be nostalgic for some and influence a new generation of youth to take to the stage and kick butt.

Dir. Chus Gutiérrez, 2005, Spain, video, 89 minutes In Spanish with English subtitles.

A gay couple in war-torn 1992 Sarajevo outwits military authorities when one of the men passes himself off as a woman—a situation that lends an offbeat screwball charm to a film that also comes with harsh realities and tragedies. Ahmed Imamovic’s Go West follows the story of two young lovers, a Muslim cellist, Kenan, and a Serbian student, Milan. Kenan narrates their fight to survive amid the brutal inter-ethnic wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s. As Serb aggression persists in Sarajevo, Kenan’s faith makes him a prime target. To avoid questioning, Kenan dresses as a woman and poses as Milan’s wife. The two flee to Milan’s hometown where Kenan is introduced as Milan’s bride. Though the colorful town seems convinced by the charade, Kenan still agonizes over the fate of his fellow Muslims. Can Kenan’s secret be kept long enough for them to escape? Most Bosnian films of the past decade, like the Oscar-winning No Man’s Land, have centered on the rights and wrongs of the 1992-95 war, and the role of the international community. Go West takes Bosnian cinema a step further, using the backdrop of the war to address another controversial issue, homosexuality. Imamovic’s courageous first feature has run into a storm of criticism in a society where religion, whether Islam, Serbian Orthodox Christianity or Catholicism, plays a powerful role. The director has received death threats, religious groups have condemned the film, and Bosnians who have seen it do not want to be identified for fear of attack.

Dir. Ahmed Imamovic, 2005, Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia, 35mm, 97 mins. In Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian with English subtitles.

Skillfully weaving three radically different perspectives of a working-class married couple and a young refugee, this thought-provoking and engrossing film embarks on a tale of familial struggle and hope in what the future holds. Set under the gray skies of an English coastal town, Gypo documents the breakdown of a 25-year marriage affected by the wear of time, financial strain and emotional distance. Helen spends long, tiring days taking care of her grandchild and working the night shift at the local grocery store, while Paul is bitter and tired of being in poverty. Their days are monotonous and their future is bleak until Tasha, a Czech refugee, enters their lives through a friendship with their eighteen-year-old daughter. She shakes this working-class family to the core, drawing intense emotions from every member. An unlikely bond between Helen and Tasha develops and for each, their friendship and subsequent romance is as compelling a force as either has ever known. The riveting story is told in three intersecting chapters that represent the perspectives of these characters: nurturing Helen, independent Tasha and the scheming, bigoted Paul. The inclusions and omissions from each version of the story reflect the personalities as they reveal themselves. Great Britain’s first Dogme’ film, Gypo is a gripping, disquieting story about the refugee experience and, ultimately, about the notion of "belonging" to a nation, a community or a person.

Dir. Jan Junn, 2005, Great Britain, video, 98 mins.

Rebellious Catholic schoolgirls, hidden secrets and a controversial romance all unfold in the newest addition to the lesbian cult classic canon, joining films like The Children’s Hour and Mädchen in Uniform. Annabelle, the defiant daughter of a senator, arrives at a prestigious Catholic boarding school after being expelled from many others. It is up to the school’s poetry teacher Simone to ensure the rebellious teen does not stir up trouble. Brazen and beautiful, the new student quickly turns heads with her striking beauty and clever charm. Fellow student and bad girl, Cat, pounces, but her advances are quickly denied because Annabelle’s eyes are focused on a bigger prize—Simone. She aggressively makes her move in class, dissecting e.e. cummings’ poetry of sexual innuendos and sending Simone’s heart fluttering. The teacher desperately tries to conceal her lust not only because she is an educator, but also because she is suppressing her lesbian past! On a holiday weekend, the student and teacher are the only two remaining on campus. This time they cannot stop their wildest desires. In one moment their sweltering, uninhibited passion illuminates the screen, and in the next, a flurry of guilt unmasks the reality of responsibility. Talented writer/director Katherine Brooks brilliantly captures the conflicting emotions of erotic, romantic attraction and the apprehension due to the sexual and spiritual risks involved.

Dir. Katherine Brooks, 2006, US, video, 77 mins. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!

What starts out as a routine assignment for an uptight, career-driven reporter and her cheery, inquisitive butch camerawoman quickly becomes a comedy of errors as the two find their direction in life. The odd couple, Kelly and Linda, pack up the car and hit the open road as market researchers videotaping various strangers answering hypothetical questions about allergies. In true comical fashion, their personalities clash when the ambitious but often-times bitter Kelly strives to work harder to fulfill her aspirations of being a news reporter, while carefree and content Linda is just passing time until she opens her tattoo parlor. On one of their many stops is a small town called Little Hope. The only place with a bed (and bunk beds to boot) is the youth hostel filled with a cast of characters like the awkward first-time girlfriends and the snarling manager who instills a nightly curfew. Their wacky adventure escalates when Linda hooks up with an old flame and Kelly desperately tries to find cell phone reception, which could lead to her finally achieving happiness. Director Erin Greenwell takes us on a ride through humorous misadventures jam-packed with snappy dialogue, sympathetic characters and laugh-out-loud scenarios true to classic buddy comedies — with a lesbian twist!

Dir. Erin Greenwell, 2005, US, video, 70 mins.

William Baldwin, Ricki Lake, Cheri Oteri and a cast full of memorable, wacky characters comically cross paths and collide in Kurt Voelker’s PARK, a rambunctiously funny film filled with surprises. Over the course of an everyday lunch hour we meet a wild bunch...see if you can follow this: Ian and Krysta are animal cleaners, but the latter is really just here for a fling with a lawyer named Dennis, who is cheating on his wife, Peggy, who is sitting in a car with her friend Claire, spying on him. Not far away, four coworkers pull up in a van. Sheryl and Meredith both have a crush on Nathan who runs around nude with Babar. At least one of them is gay. Meanwhile April tries killing herself and is latter joined in this mission by the aforementioned Ian. Darnell the tow truck driver will be called in to help clean up the mess. Did I mention that all of these shenanigans take place in one day in a relatively secluded section of an LA park? Not only is the title fitting as it is the setting of the film, but also as it is apropos for many of the characters who lives are stuck in park. With plenty of sex, lots of pain (psychic and otherwise!), shocking revelations and some very sweet revenge, PARK is a no-holds-barred comedy that attacks life in Los Angeles with gusto.

Dir. Kurt Voelker, 2006, US, video, 86 mins.
AWARDS: Best Feature—Audience Award Cinevegas Film Festival

Everyone is love-crazed in Maria Maggenti’s (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love) delightfully quick-witted screwball comedy, Puccini for Beginners; but Allegra Castiglione—our dashing, adorable heroine—is by far the most commitment phobic. Her lesbian lover dumped her because she couldn’t settle down and say "I love you." And just as she’s drowning her sorrows in a giant slice of Camembert, in walks Philip, a dapper Columbia professor who, against her better judgment, lights her fire. Kicking and screaming, she launches an affair with—heaven forbid—a man! Meanwhile, she falls into bed with irresistibly gorgeous Grace, a recently single, straight woman, of all things. While juggling two romances that are advancing way too quickly for comfort, Allegra lands in hot water that boils over into an explosive, cathartic climax for all. Waltzing beyond the coming-out stories of a decade ago, Maggenti playfully ushers in a new era of lesbian cinema free from an ideological agenda. Here sexuality is fluid and unapologetic, while gender identity and politics are hotly debated—and even poked fun at—rather than narrowly defined. Smart, snappy dialogue and effortlessly charming performances by Elizabeth Reaser (also in this year’s Sweet Land), Justin Kirk, and Gretchen Mol make this triangular tale soar. Like an accomplice, a glistening New York City operates as an enchanting cosmopolitan village, where chance meetings alter destinies and anything is possible.

Dir. Maria Maggenti, 2006, US, video, 90 mins.

In this follow up to his wildly successful Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell set out to redefine how we view sex in the cinema and he has certainly done that. Part reaction to post 9/11 repression, part love letter to New York, and part homage to 70(s) era pornography, Shortbus is a true gem—a tender, full-frontal film about the tragedy and comedy of contemporary sexual mores. Shortbus is ostensibly the story of a group of societal misfits who gather at a sex salon in New York, clucked over by the motherly madame played by Justin Bond (Kiki and Herb). Our troupe of horny hedonists carry on joyfully—participating in orgies, reveling in societal taboos, discussing feelings, and above all —having sex, lots of sex, with lots of people. The genius of Shortbus is that the rampant sex throughout the film—while often baroque and screamingly orgasmic—is never gratuitous, yet can be, and often is, played for comedic effect with typical Mitchell-esque flair. In fact, the main characters, and one can assume, EVERY character in the film, has some sort of sexual riddle to ponder: the sex therapist in search of her first orgasm, the gay couple wondering whether to open up their relationship to other partners, the larger than life dominatrix who shelters herself in a storage unit. John Cameron Mitchell, ever the merry prankster, unleashes one visual orgy after another, while allowing the audience the chance to recognize their own frailties in the trials and tribulations of Shortbus’s characters. Shortbus is good, dirty fun and contains sex—real sex—and a lot of it, performed by real people. Please keep this in mind when deciding to see the film.

Dir. John Cameron Mitchell, 2006, US, 102 mins.

Logan, soft spoken, lonely, and 13 years old, is a boy with a crush. Unlike his equally lonely friend Joey, who obsesses over the sexual exploits of the slightly older, postpubescent boys, Logan is fixated on the boys themselves, particularly Rodeo Walker. Rodeo is the only one of the group of cool kids who shows any friendliness toward Logan, meaning he doesn’t go out of his way to make Logan’s life miserable. As Logan and Rodeo strike up a mismatched friendship, the kind that only works on walks deep into the forest when no one else is around, Logan’s infatuation with Rodeo inspires him to create a new persona named Leah. Leah and Rodeo grow close through whispered late-night phone calls, and when Leah agrees to meet Rodeo face to face, it is Logan who must finally prove that he can ask for what he so achingly wants. Wild Tigers I Have Known is an ethereal exploration of adolescent longing. Cam Archer’s storytelling is unconventional, fresh, and overflowing with the kind of heart that is touching and familiar to anyone who remembers junior high as a time of painful desire, confusion, and questioning. The well-crafted story, beautifully photographed, draws us back into this moody world of teenage isolation and eventual hope–a world that, perhaps mistakenly, we think we moved past long ago.

Dir. Cam Archer, 2006, US, video, 93 minutes.

They were television sports stars of the ‘60s and ‘70s, a bigger draw than major league baseball. And then, virtually overnight, they disappeared. Now, one man has brought them all back to reclaim their lost glory! Shot over seven years (1998-2004), JAM follows the saga of the America Roller Derby League, a group of fading Roller Derby stars who, despite the fact that they are in their 50s and 60s, are determined to make the sport a national sensation once again. At the center of it all is Tim Patten, the league’s founder and impresario. Diagnosed HIV positive in 1983, Tim believes his passion for Roller Derby is what keeps him alive. That a majority of the people profiled in "Jam," which is slang for a roller derby game, are gay, goes without comment. Juxtaposition of rough-and-tumble sport and sexual orientation treated with what may be described as an appealing sense of jaunty reverence.

Dir. Mark Woolen, 2006, US, Video, 85 minutes.

For the Love of Dolly, takes you into the hearts and homes of Dolly’s most devoted fans. Exploring fandom and obsession, the film takes a poignant and heartfelt look at people who devote themselves to the superstar, Dolly Parton. Although very different, the people in this film share a common purpose; their love of Dolly and a need to be close to her. To satisfy this need, these fans go to great extremes and it is through these extremes we come to understand who they are and why they do what they do. Through the eyes of her fans you will fall in love with the phenomenon that is Dolly Parton and through the eyes of the filmmakers you will fall in love with her fans.

Dir. Tai Uhlmann, 2005, USA, 57 Mins.

And if that isn’t enough GLBT films, stay tuned for the next Another Take series in February, 2007. But first, ENJOY THE FESTIVAL!