GAY PEOPLE'S CHIRONICLE

MARCH 22, 1996

Evenings Out

Lesbians and gay men coming together in dark places

by Tamara Murphy

As if I needed one more excuse to coax my girlfriend into a darkened room and not come out for a week, the Cleveland Film Society has gone and granted one more, and it's a biggie.

When the 20th Cleveland International Film Festival opens next week at Hoyts Tower City, you'll have to drag me into the light of overcast Cleveland day kicking and screaming. And after working downtown all day, keeping me from my happy home near the Lake is no small feat. For those of you who aren't movie buffs (are there any such folk?) I heartily recommend you make an exception. For those of us who are, hold tight honey, cause heaven is just around the corner.

With more than 50 feature films, and 10 collections of shorts, the problem won't be finding something worth seeing, it will be finding the time to see everything. This year's festival kicks off on Thursday, March 21 and runs through the 31st. Over

the course of ten days, the festival will cover films from more than 20 countries exploring nearly every imaginable topic.

Among the series presented are PanAfrican Images, five new films from the African diaspora; American Independents, six works from six young directors; and of course our very own Ten Percent Cinema, a program of new gay and lesbian films. Last year's Ten Percent included the hilarious Australian hit The Sum of Us, which took home the Roxanne T. Mueller Award for Best Film.

A glance through the festival program and a brief conversation with Film Society Executive Director David W. Wittkowsky indicates some important migration in the way lesbian, gay, and bisexual film is being produced and presented. No longer simply a "special interest" category, you'll find no fewer than three Ten Percent films are cross-referenced in other series, and two films not referenced in the Ten Percent grouping a have strong l-g-b thematic presence. Wittkowsky attributes this to a

Ten Percent Cinema and other films with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered themes

Costa Brava

Wednesday, March 27, 12:15 pm Thursday, March 28, 9:15 pm

Madagascar Skin

Sunday, March 24, 7:00 pm Monday, March 25, 9:15

5 pm

Lesbian and Gay Shorts Sunday, March 24, 4:30 pm Monday, March 25, 7:15 pm. Wednesday, March 27, 12:00 pm Stonewall

Friday March 22. 10:00 pm. Tuesday, March 26, 4:45 pm

Late Bloomers

Friday, March 22: 2:30 pm 14. Saturday, March 23, 6:45 pm Sunday, March 24, 2:15 pm

Pretty Baby

Friday, March 29. 5:00 pm. Saturday, March 30, 10:00 pr Vintage: Fan

Friday, March 22 12:30 pm Sunday, March 24, 9:15 pm

All films are at Hoyts Cinema in Tower City, on Cleveland's Public Square. The parking entrance is on Huron Rd. near Ontario St., across from Gund Arena.

growing recognition that the issues facing the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community are not isolated. More often than not, it simply puts a new perspective on a universal subject.

Another change this year is the combining of the Lesbian and Gay Shorts into one program. Wittkowsky pointed out that he felt it important to bring the men and women of this community together. I tend to agree. At times there appears a deep rift between the lesbian and gay male communities, and what results is a splintered and often alien culture. I was grateful for the opportunity to see some of the "male oriented" films showing at the festival. I think lesbians and gay men have quite a bit to learn from one another, and the vast differences in the cinematic styles of the shorts, in particular, amplify this.

This rift in lesbian, gay, and bisexual culture is not limited to gender, but also becomes apparent across racial lines. Thomas Allen Harris' deeply intimate portrait of the AfricanAmerican experience from a gay perspective made me acutely aware of my ignorance in this regard. Watching Vintage: Families of Value was in many ways like peering through a keyhole at a completely foreign world. While I shared with these men and women a common sexuality, I was ignorant to their experience. It really brought home to me how easy it is to slip unconsciously into the patterns of privilege afforded members of any "dominant" culture. Even gays and lesbians, who by rights

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