LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Film |
by Joe Bilancia |
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. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 13, No. 4, May 2, 2003 |