GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE March 9, 2007

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The best of the Ten Percent

The must-see queer films in the Cleveland film festival

by Anthony Glassman

When the Cleveland International Film Festival gets going, it's always a big deal. Thousands of people who seldom go downtown, much less to Tower City, vie with each other for parking spaces and pray that the screening they want to see isn't sold out.

Those are simple tasks compared to working out a schedule to maximize the number of films one can see, or trying to convince the boss that one has a flu that mysteriously lasts from March 15 to 26, but has no aftereffects, other than perhaps tired eyes.

This year's installment, the 31st annual festival, runs the usual gamut from familyfriendly fare to documentaries about people getting plowed by barnyard animals, with divisions like "Local Heroes,” “World Tour” and "Cinema en Español."

What's most important to us, however, is the 10% Cinema, a perennial favorite of the festival and glimpse into the latest in queer film.

By some odd vagaries of the film biz, some of the pics are not available to reviewers. In mainstream Hollywood fare, that usually means that it's some horrible drivel aimed at teenagers. But in the festival, it could mean anything except that it's drivel.

Only two of the 10% Cinema features lacked screeners this year-Alexis Dos

Santos' Glue and local-girl-done-good Jamie Babbit's Itty Bitty Titty Committee.

Glue follows Lucas, a bored 15-year-old in Patagonia who, along with his friend Nacho and their new acquaintance Andrea, engage in sexual experimentation while they try to pass the time. [Friday and Sunday, March 16 and 18]

Itty Bitty Titty Committee is Babbit's second feature film since But I'm a Cheerleader. Anna is a small-breasted woman in a big-breasted world. When she meets a gorgeous activist who tells her to change her mind, not her body, she joins a radical feminist group in a film with Clea DuVall,

Dykes ToWatch Out For by Alison Bechdel

togetherness

SO WE'LL MEET YOU RIGHT HERE AFTER THE MOVIE'S OVER AT 4:35. GOT IT? REPEAT IT BACK TO ME.

MAUL

กก

©2007 BY ALISON BECHDEL

IT'S SO WEIRD BEING SINGLE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. SINGLE! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

GOD. YOU CAN'T EVEN BUY A SINGLE PEN ANY MORE.

אינם

OVER THERE, AT 4:53.

INFINIPLEX

SOB!

IN THE LOBBY, AT 5:34.

INFINIT SMOKIN' ACES LAST KING of

SCOTLAND

THE QUEEN

JACK FROST

OKAY, FIRST THE OFFICE SUPPLY STORE TO GET TICKETS FOR THE RAFFLE.

THE

TEN QUEEN

ROYAL FLUSI

Love Sick

Daniela Sea, Melanie Lynskey, Melanie Mayron, Jenny Shimizu and others.

Of course, Babbit hasn't been idle-she directs more TV than one would think possible, but it's nice to have a feature film of hers at the festival. [Saturday and Sunday, March 17 and 18]

Joy Civitore

Itty Bitty is unfortunately one of only three female-specific movies, with another five being mostly male-oriented. In a big change from previous years, there is only one documentary: Mike Roth and John Henning's Saving Marriage.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in November 2003that barring same-sex couples from marriage was a violation of the state's constitution. Six months later, gay and lesbian couples got married legally for the first time in the United States.

Immediately, efforts were launched to undo the ruling by amending the Massachusetts constitution. The film chronicles the battle-still ongoing to safeguard it. Through interviews with lobbyists, lawmakers, activists and the couples who are the most affected, Roth and Henning follow the first few years of the effort to preserve marriage in Massachusetts.

The screenings are sponsored by Equality Ohio, and a film forum with Mike Roth will be held after the Sunday, March 25 screening of Saving Marriage. [Friday and Sunday, March 23 and 25]

The two remaining "women" films are both love stories, although they are as different as night and day.

Love Sick, a Romanian film by Tudor Giurgiu, follows college students Christina and Alexandra on their whirlwind romance

DOESN'T IT STRIKE YOU AS STRANGE THAT WE'RE BOTH STILL WORKING FOR THIS GAY MARRIAGE ORGANIZATION EVEN THOUGH WE'VE JUST LEFT OUR PARTNERS?

WELCOME

ΤΟ

STAPLED

No.

across Bucharest and the countryside. Alexandra is a country girl who has come to the big city for school, and there she meets and falls in love with Christina, who not only shares her bed, but also her brother Alexander's.

The entire film sees Christina torn between the two Alexes in her life, although it is a narrative explored through Alexandra's eyes.

A quiet, at times creepy film with a gripping story, Love Sick has an almost indescribable indie-rock feel to it, and one has big hopes for Giurgiu's future endeavors. [Friday to Sunday, March 23 to 25]

Ned Farr's The Gymnast, on the other hand, is American born and bred. It is the tale of Jane Hawkins, whose chance for Olympic gold went bust along with her Achilles' tendon.

Now 43, she gets lured back into gymnästics when an instructor wants to put together an aerial duet with her and Serena, the Korean adopted daughter of an elderly Jewish couple.

Jane's marriage is on the rocks-in her husband's case, use the bartender's definition of that term-and she finds herself drawn to Serena, discovering that she might be lesbian. Or it might be a way her brain is trying to distract her from those "Oops, I forgot to have babies" moments that are coming more and more frequently.

Compared to Love Sick's indie-rock feel, The Gymnast seems more simply like an indie flick, one of those gems made totally under Hollywood's radar. The aerial dances performed by Dreya Weber and Addie Yungmee are incredible to behold, and it's intriguing to be given this inside look at the performances. [Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20 and 21]

Stewart Wade's Coffee Date, in comparison to the last two films, is almost insanely typical. It's an almost generic cute little gay comedy about mistaken identity. Barry puts a personal ad online for his Continued on facing page

WHAT STRIKES ME AS STRANGE IS THAT WE'RE BOTH STILL WORKING WITH THE HORRIBLE BETH MCLAUGHLIN-FARKAS EVEN THOUGH SHE ACCUSED US OF BEING ADULTERERS IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE FREEDOM TO MARRY BOARD,

ENVELOPES for LIFE

ENVELORE

NON EVERYONE THINKS WE'RE CARRYING ON. AT THIS RATE WE MIGHT AS WELL BE.

ENVELOPES

for your NEXT 5 REINCARNATIONS

ELOPES

OPEXT5

for LIFE

TARNATIONS

5000

50

ENVELOP

for LIFE

WELOPES

EXT 5 ERATIONS

TONI! I'M SORRY TO GO

ON LIKE THIS WHEN IT'S

STILL SO RAW FOR YOU!

WHAT HAPPENED, GLORIA? MY LIFE USED TO BE SO TOGETHER.

IT WILL BE AGAIN. DON'T WORRY.

CH, PLEASE. CAN'T You PEOPLE CONTROL YOURSELVES?

UHHH...

ELSPETH.

HI BETH. UZ.

www.DykesToWatchOutfor.com

BAGY

BUT YOU

HAVE 144