Wexner series brings three days of new queer cinema

by Kaizaad Kotwal

Columbus-The Out at Wex film series will feature three days of exciting new queer cinema next week. An annual festival hosted by the Wexner Center, these films would not find their way to Columbus were it not for the vision of the film and video programmers there.

This second annual festival has the latest and hottest commodities of the queer and indie cinema scene.

Savage Grace

To start with, there will be Savage Grace, Tom Kalin's latest venture on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m.

Kalin, who became on of queer cinema's most interesting voices with Swoon in 1992, creates a gritty drama in his latest film. Based on a true story, Savage Grace follows the ups and downs of a carpetbagging woman and her gay son.

The Baekeland family, descended from the man who invented the first plastic, are presented here warts and all. Their lives swirl in a mess of murder, Oedipal incest, sexual obsession and other mayhem.

Starring the ever-amazing Julianne Moore, who has made a nice side career of queer films (Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, Safe) this film will shock and entertain. Also starring Hugh Dancy (who played gay in last year's Evening) and Stephen Dillane, the film is produced by out producer Christine Vachon who has nurtured some of the best queer cinematic voices of the last two decades.

The most controversial film of this year's Sundance Film Festival, Savage Grace will be introduced at the Wexner screening by Vachon and Kalin.

Water Lilies

On Friday March 7 at 7 p.m., the French film Water Lilies will be preceded by the short No Bikini.

Water Lilies is about young adolescent women coming to terms with coming of age. Set during one summer at a public swimming pool, these girls confront issues of love, romance, and sexual burgeoning.

No Bikini, from Canada, focuses on gender discovery. After the screening, a party will be held at Union Bar and Food, 782 N. High Street, at 10 pm.

Tearoom

All day on March 8 the festival will screen Tearoom by Massillon native William E. Jones. Featured at this spring's prestigious Whitney Biennial, this film was actually made in 1962. Created from hidden police cameras in a men's room in Mansfield, Ohio, the film revisits the days when so much of being gay-including sex-was all underground and subversive.

Many men's lives are still ruined with

these undercover sting operations. (More recently, police videotaped a rest stop near Wellsville, Ohio in 2001, arresting 13 men. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the practice.) The film raises very powerful issues of politics, privacy and the power of societal taboos. Jones will be on hand to sign the companion book he has written to go along with this film.

Before I Forget

Also on March 8 at 3:30 p.m. Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget will be screened. On John Waters' top ten film list, Nolot's work tells the story of aging French hustler Pierre. Played by Nolot, Pierre has been living with HIV for two decades and now must confront issues of aging and mortality.

Lagerfeld Confidential

At 7 p.m. on March 8 a documentary on legendary gay designer Karl Largerfeld will take us into the designer's mind and studio. Lagerfeld Confidential is a unique look into an even more one-of-a-kind mind and personality.

HER PART

Itty Bitty Titty Committee

The festival will conclude on March 9 and 9:30 p.m. with Itty Bitty Titty Committee by Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader). The film follows the transformation of Anna from a shy, retiring type into a radical dyke guerilla artist.

Catch all these works while you can because most, if not all, are probably not likely to play even at the art house cinemas in Ohio. For tickets and more information visit www.wexarts.org/fv_or call 614292-3535.

Marie G. Bielefeld, Ph.D.

COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST

CONFIDENTIAL VOICE MAIL

440-734-8164

WESTGATE PLAZA BUILDING 20325 CENTER RIDGE ROAD (ACCESSED FROM LINDEN ROAD)

February 29, 2008 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 13

TRUFFLES

PASTRY shop

Truffles Pastry Shop & More

More of the Same Fabulous Cakes & Pastries! More Seating! (We've Remodeled) More Vegan Desserts!

Free Wi-Fi Available!

11122 Clifton Boulevard⚫ 216-334-2240 Winter Hours: Monday-Thursday 7am-10pm Friday & Saturday 7am-11pm Sunday 10am-9pm

ELECT

Barbara Anne Ferris to Congress

Just Frames & Art

Custom Framing · Since 1985

We Frame Anything!

ALWAYS 30% Off!

216-691-4500

2171 South Green Road · University Heights, Ohio 44121

Our most precious

gem is you!

KEITH

8089 Columbia Road

Olmsted Falls, OH 44138 440.235.5000

厄包包

Specializing in

JEWELERS

handmade committment

rings

customstones@yahoo.com

Democrat 10th District Ohio

VOTE Tuesday, March 4

"...and this page endorses Ferris as the Democrat more in

tune with the community, its needs and its future."

-Plain Dealer April 23, 2006

www.ferrisforcongress.com

"I will continue to work hard for the safety, security, and well being of everyone in our community, create living wage jobs, and strengthen education!"

Paid for by Friends of Barbara Anne Ferris