Ten Percent Cinema is a one hundred percent must

March 17, 2000

Show Me Love

Oil Warnin

Beefcake

Punks

by Michelle Tomko

Cleveland With any luck, the Hollywood bandwagon is going to be in the shop for a few days as an anticipated 35,000 audience members from Northeast Ohio and abroad flock to Tower City March 16-26 to celebrate the twenty-fourth annual Cleveland International Film Festival, sponsored by the not-for-profit Cleveland Film Society.

But don't go expecting to see the White House explode, a Rocky sequel, or Julia Roberts with yet another quirky career choice. The festival offers an alternative banquet of 80 feature films and 100 shorts from over thirty different countries, giving both VCRs and Tom Hanks a well needed break.

Of note to the queer community is Ten Percent Cinema. This year the program contains five films, two of which the Gay People's Chronicle had the opportunity to screen. Both are in subtitles, but keep reading, they're worth your while.

Oi! Warning, directed by Dominik and Benjamin Reding is a dark, German, homoerotic West Side Story, minus the music and Officer Krupky. Here, instead of the Sharks and the Jets, we have the Punks verse the Skinheads and "Maria" is a young, closeted skinhead.

The film follows the struggle that the leading man Janosch goes through in his search for acceptance and identity. The story begins with Janosch running away from home and going to live with his skinhead friend Koma and his wife.

Koma, thrilled at having a sycophant, becomes Janosch's mentor and guides him into the skinhead world. Things fall apart when Janosch becomes attracted to a street performer, the lone wolf, way leftist, delightful character of Zottel. The jealousy and homophobia of Koma ends in disaster.

The gay content is light and is not really prevalent until the last act. But you do get all that German ingenuity: The film is shot in black and white, with sharp and interesting camera angles, gruesome violence, and a subtle flare of tension throughout.

Those who see this film will also get a feeling of how easy it is for lost youths to become the enlistees of predatory groups like the skinheads. All of the characters have a vulnerability and the viewers find themselves being able to relate to all of them. You will be totally charmed by Zottel.

Show Me Love, directed by Lukas Moodysson, is a Swedish coming out film that possesses both wit and sincerity.

It tells the story of Agnes, a friendless, suicidal sixteen-year-old who realizes she has a crush on Elin, a classmate. Elin and her obnoxious, sidekick sister are the only ones who attend Agnes' party. On a bet, Elin kisses the birthday girl and realizes her feelings.

The plot itself is a formula lesbian coming-out film with feelings of despair, teasing at school, suppressing the urges and dating boys, bad hair, Dockers, a crush on the popular girl and all of the other angst-ridden scenes.

But, the difference between this movie and its American counterparts is the realism. The young actors are brilliant. This is a slice of life at its finest. If you liked Boys Don't Cry, you'll like this too. Don't miss it if you want to take an unpleasant stroll down coming out memory lane. It's John Hughes without the fluff and the Dragnet theme song playing when something bad happens to the hapless

teens.

The three remaining films in the queer fringe are Beefcake, Punks, and a set of gay and lesbian shorts. The first is a docudrama about 1950s muscle magazines. The second tells a story of unrequited love, drag queens and West Hollywood from an African American perspective.

Of the many titles in the shorts selection is Maid of Honor, where two women examine their commitment to one another. Also included is Hitch, the story of two men and their encounter in a pickup truck.

Below the Belt and Boy Next Door are both teen exploration shorts. The first, deals with two seventeen-year old girls, and boxing. The second is a bent sibling rivalry between a brother and sister fighting over the cute new neighbor boy. David Wittkowsky, the festival's openly gay director, said that each year, the shorts are better, and he adds more. “They just keep getting longer and longer,” he said.

GAY PROPLE'S CHRONICLE

Punks