Five for History Mont

Quintet of films illustrates cultural highs and lows

CLAY GEERDES (2)

October 4, 2002

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Cleveland-October is Gay and Lesbian History Month, a time to celebrate thousands of years of homosexuals leading nations, writing magnum opera and creating timeless music, among other accomplishments.

The Cleveland Cinematheque, whether or not they realized they were doing it, put together a schedule of films in October that illustrate the highs and lows of gay and lesbian history since the Stonewall riots in 1969.

The first film out of the gate is Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the concert film of then-bisexual David Bowie in his most ambitious and ambiguous role, the space oddity and completely androgynous Ziggy Stardust. For fans of Bowie too young to have seen him in concert at this point, it's like a trip back in time, catching an artist at the height of his fame. For those who were there, it's a

stroll down memory lane.

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars will play Oct. 6 at 8:50 pm.

Next up is the documentary The Cockettes, a look at the legendary San Francisco drag troupe that took the city by storm but fizzled when they started making lowbudget movies and opened a show in New York.

The film, which combines interviews with famous fans of the Cockettes with clips of the troupe in action, was a huge success at Sundance last winter, and will play October 11 to 13,

with screenings on Friday and Saturday at 9:25 pm and Sunday at 9 pm.

Next up is the concert film ABBA: The Movie. To quote Terence Stamp in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, "If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: No more fucking ABBA!"

They're not gay, but their music did define the heady, postStonewall, pre-AIDS days of the late '70s, so Lasse Hallstrom's film of the band might be worth a watch. It shows on Saturday, October 12 at 7:30 pm.

One of the darkest displays of anti-gay sentiment in the last thirty years that did not involve actual

violence being perpetrated against LGBT people is explored in George Ratliff's documentary, Hell House. Across the country, every Halloween anti-gay churches put on their own versions of haunted houses, known as "Hell Houses." Instead of vampires and werewolves and zombies carrying chainsaws, the Hell House shows the "wages of sin:" post-rave date rape, post-abortion depression, abuse.

The one tableau that has garnered them the most publicity, and protest, is that of a gay man lying in a hospital bed, dying of AIDS, the churches' attempt to scare people away from homosexuality.

Hell Houses are invariably met with protests from gay organizations, some of whom have been able to get local radio and television stations to yank their advertisements. Hell House examines one such event, held each year by the Trinity Assembly of God in Cedar Hill, Texas. The movie will play on Thursday and Friday, October 24 and 25 at 9 pm and 7:15 pm, respectively.

Finally, the Cinematheque will premiere television producer Carol Tizzano's Picture Perfect, a look at the media's sexualization of women and girls and the effect that the eroticized images have on women and men. A panel discussion featuring Tizzano will follow the 4 pm screening on Sunday, October 27.

Admission to Cinematheque screenings is $7, $4 for members and Cleveland Institute of Arts students. The screening of Picture Perfect, however, will be $10, $7 for members and $4 for CIA students.

The Cleveland Cinematheque is located inside the CIA, 11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland. They can be reached at 216-421-7450, or online at www.cia.edu/ cinematheque.

The Cockettes,

above and left.

Picture Perfect

a film by Carol Tizzano

o compelling documentary that challenges how girls and women are depicted in the media

Sunday October 27 2002