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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE July 14, 2006

This ain't your daddy's Karaoke!

Specials

All Digital Karaoke System

New Speakers

✩Light Show

Wireless Mics

Over 16,000 song selections! or bring your own!

Contests

Sing-a-longs

& More!!

Friday, July 14 & Friday, July 21

Micke

4365 State Road in Cleveland, 216-661-1314

A LESBIAN AND GAY PSYCHOTHERAPY PRACTICE

D.L. DUNKLE & ASSOCIATES

Offering ProfessionAL, CONFIDential SerVICES To Individuals, Couples, and GROUPS

Debra L. Dunkle, LISW, Ph.D.

John O'Connor, LISW

Judie Shields, Ph.D.

Martha Webb, Ph.D.

216.229.2100

12417 CEDAR ROAD, SUITES 21-24, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH 44106.

Did you know

RENTS are expected to rise 5.3% this year?

If you can afford to rent, you may be able to buy your own home. Call me for details or attend an informative:

First Time Homebuyer Seminar Wednesday, July 19, 2006 6:30 8:00 PM LGBT Community Service Center 6600 Detroit Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44102

Please call or e-mail me to register. Space is limited.

Thomas j. Rankin

440-527-0266 press 2 to leave your reservation Thom.Rankin@remcorp.com

FREE GAS CARD FOR THOSE WHO ATTEND.

EQUAL HOUSING

LENDER

REALESTATEMORTGAGECORP.

"Your Partners In Lending"

Ohio License No. MB 4514

Corporate Headquarters:

20325 Center Ridge Road, Suite 220, Rocky River, OH 44116

MEMBER

Mortgage Bankers

Association of America

MBA

The National Assocation

of Real Estate Prance

eveningsout

A 'Celluloid Closet' for the new millennium

by Kaizaad Kotwal

The Independent Film Channel premieres Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema on July 16 as part of a month of LGBT film, and will re-run it regularly for the next few months. (Check local listings). Made by Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg, Fabulous! is just thatfabulous.

This new documentary explores the history of gay and lesbian films from the beginning of the gay rights movement in the 1960s to the "New Queer Cinema" of the '90s, the proliferation and influence of gay and lesbian film festivals, the movie companies' discovery of the gay market; the explosion of gay images in the mainstream media and the current phenomenon of all things gay.

During the post-war period of 1940s America, queer images were forbidden in the mainstream. Kenneth Anger's 1947 film Fireworks is where queer cinema was born. Since then there has been no turning back, despite numerous obstacles along the way.

During the 1960s, Congress began to condemn the porn industry and was also labeling homoerotic material like physique movies “threatening" due to "inappropriate body parts next to other inappropriate body parts."

Not only were these films banned from public showing, but audience members could be arrested for watching them.

The government contributed to a renewed backlash against queer cinema, going after gay and lesbian artists who were funded by the National Endowment of the Arts. As the '90s progressed, queer cinema matured with films like Velvet Goldmine, High Art and The Opposite of Sex.

Gay film festivals began to emerge and

IFC

Jennifer Tilly, left, and Gina Gershon steal millions from the mob after making good use of this comfy bed in Bound.

The Stonewall revolt of 1969 created a climate for gay and lesbian activists across the country into being open and visible in all aspects of culture including cinema.

Gay sensibility exploded in the 1970s with icons like Elton John and Liberace. While lots of pop culture had gay undertones, it was still hidden in coded ways.

In the 1980s, the entertainment business was radically transformed by the emergence of video. To the gay audience, it was an amazing new technology. Now queer films that were never shown in theaters could be seen in homes all over the country.

Then the AIDS epidemic had an everlasting effect on the gay community and impacted art irrevocably.

The queer independent film movement of the 1990s emerged from the need to see modern gay and lesbian characters doing all the things straight characters did—falling in love, pining after love and getting into trouble., A major turning point came in 1991 when the Sundance Film Festival honored both Poison and Paris is Burning, two queer flicks with powerful subject matter.

played a huge part in strengthening the queer cinema community.

Throughout the '90s and into the new millennium, coming out took center stage. Ellen DeGeneres, k.d. lang, Rosie O'Donnell, Ian McKellan and Bryan Singer became powerful, out, faces in Hollywood.

Queer cinema has changed radically over the past 20 years. Tom Hanks won an Academy Award for playing a gay man dying of AIDS in Philadelphia, Hilary Swank won an Oscar for playing transgender in Boys Don't Cry, and Charlize Theron won for Monster.

Last year was truly radical with Brokeback Mountain taking queer cinema into the mainstream-accompanied by Capote, TransAmerica, Rent and The Producers. The future of queer cinema is open. The art and artists have scaled new heights. But the backlash continues to gather with unabated force and resources.

This documentary puts things in perspective and is important not only from a cinematic point of view, but also from a cultural and political vantage point.

It is a must see. This film is to 2006 what The Celluloid Closet was to the 1990s.

LAURIE SEKERES GANLEY LAKEWOOD SUBARU SUZUKI

Your Community Dealer

New and Used / Sales and Leasing

Imports and Domestics Certified used Subaru's

lauriesekeres@hotmail.com

216-226-6433 800-362-162 216-513-9565 cellular