wwe June 16, 2000

Dancing in the dens

Sundance Channel has an. LGBT show every day in June

by Michelle Tomko

Hats off to Robert Redford and his merry band at the Sundance Channel where, for the third year in a row, they are presenting an LGBT-themed feature, documentary, or block of shorts every day during the month of June in their "Out Loud" series.

This year, 26 full-length features and nine shorts make up the air list. Mark your calendar for anything that looks good because most of these will be hard to find in the aisles of your corner video store.

A sample of the flicks to take note of this month is the coming of age autobiographical Edge of Seventeen. Written and produced by Todd Stephens, this story is based on his own coming out experience, growing up in Sandusky and getting his first job at Cedar Point. If you missed it last season, don't make the same mistake twice.

Incidentally, the amusement park refused rights for the film to use its name.

"It's a large family corporation that needs to protect its image," said director David Moreton. "We were just an unknown bunch of filmmakers, and they didn't know what we were going to do and how we were going to use the amusement park. I don't think they were comfortable with it. It didn't matter. All we did was change the name."

Most of the footage was shot from outside the park.

On the other hand, the late Legends gay bar in Cleveland welcomed the project with open arms. Interior scenes at the "Fruit & Nut Co." nightclub were filmed there.

"They were so great. The guy that runs it was just really sweet and very, very helpful at getting extras and letting us use his place all the time," Moreton said.

"The days are gone where you could go out and make a movie for one hundred thousand dollars, and get crew to work for free, and get name actors to be in your movie and take it to a festival and sell it," added Moreton on the difficulty of independent film. "Nowadays, if you don't have a big-name actor in it and you don't spend over a million dollars, I think it's very difficult to have anyone ever even see the movie. Any movie that portrays gay men having sex in any kind of normal explicit way is shunned by the film community. We made the movie we wanted to make."

The film is a great example on what filming on a low budget can accomplish. It is well acted by the protagonist Chris Stafford as well as a show-stealing supporting performance by veteran Lea DeLaria. Shot on location here in Ohio, there are little or no sound troubles, an eighties soundtrack to put you right back into cuffed pants, and an almost uncomfortable realism throughout. Remember your awkward, guilt-ridden first time? Plus, we are left with that unresolved issue of parents coming to grip with their son's sexuality.

Moreton describes why the movie is so important to him. "I was very impressed with how this story was told. How this kid dealt with it at such a young age when me and so many other people took much longer to come out. Here was a kid at 17, addressing issues that a lot of people don't address until much later, if ever.'

Moreton also took special care to round out an often-overlooked character in this genre of film. "We often see a female best friend. But she is usually a quote-unquote, fag hag. I wanted her to be pretty and a sexual object for him, and to be hurt. I wanted to see the pain. He uses her in a very horrible way. He exploits that relationship just to make a decision. I was very interested in exploring that relationship. Because I think that is something that hasn't been explored."

Two wonderfully moving biographies, Paul Monette: the Brink of Summer's End and You Don't Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men are also on the

menu.

The first chronicles the life of Paul Monette, one of the most eloquent writers on AIDS and winner of the National Book Award for his memoir Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, who succumbed to AIDS himself in 1995.

Edge of Seventeen

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Your Hosts Francas Parker & Son

Desert Hearts

Before his death, the writer allowed filmmakers Mont Bramer and Lesli Klainberg to follow him through his darkest hours of medicines, sickness and death of lovers, to his last fleeting moments on Earth.

On hand are friends like Judith Light and family like Paul's brother, who give honest interviews on the man they loved. Little is left out. Even Monette's dog Puck is included in this wellrounded tale that for some is all too familiar. Some neat footage of the 1993 march on Washington too.

You Don't Know Dick sheds light on an often-overlooked portion of our queer community: the transsexual male.

Here, six men speak candidly on all aspects of this brave transformation. They, and their lovers, talk uncensored about the mechanics of surgery and sex, and re-

veal the intimate details of confusion growing up and in the workplace. Some of the males are straight, some are gay, and a few do not have what the movie calls "bottom surgery." But all are honest and courageous.

Candace Schermerhorn and Bestor Cram certainly earned their 1996 Best Documentary Award at the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival with this groundbreaking piece. If anyone is confused on this issue, you will definitely know dick soon after watching.

Speaking of landmarks, few women coming out in the eighties will forget the mainstream classic Desert Hearts, or their crush

Chutney Popcorn

on Patricia Charbonneau, for that matter. The 1985 film, directed by Donna Deitch, is both good movie and relevant for its historical value as it weaves a story of a professor (Helen Shaver) who travels to a ranch owned by pre-Mrs. Stanley Roper Audra Lindley and ends up in a relationship with a spirited casino worker (Charbonneau). I Think I Do and Chutney Popcorn are two funny, smart comedies. Although they both suffer from some clichéd dialogue, sound problems, and the quintessential curse of low budget films, non-actors, they are sure to entertain.

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