Lesbian-Gay Film Festival Offers Eclectic Lineup

By DUANE DUDEK

Film festivals come and go, but the 11-day Milwaukee LGBT Film/ Video Festival is here to stay, if its ambitious 21st season schedule is any indication.

The festival, which begins Sept. 4, features an eclectic mix of narrative films, documentaries, experimental works and short films from around the world. The titles include “Jihad for Love,” about Islam and homosexuality; and “Derek,” Isaac Julien and Tilda Swinton’s documentary on filmmaker Derek Jarman.

The opening night film, “Were the World Mine” (U.S., 2008) — about a boys’ high school production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — is showing at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave.

The closing-night film, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Union Theatre, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., is the 1976 landmark “Parting Glances” and features an appearance by actor Richard Ganoung.

Unless otherwise noted, screenings are at the UWM Union Theatre. General ticket prices vary from $15 for the opening night film to $9 for UWM screenings and $5 for late-night screenings. Student and senior discounts are available. For details, go to www4.uwm.edu/ psoa/programs/film/lgbtfilm/.

The schedule includes:

Sept. 5: 5 p.m., “It Is Not the Homosexual Who is Perverse, But the Society In Which He Lives” (West Germany, 1971), “educational film” about German gay life (free); 7 p.m., “The New World” (France, 2008) poignant and lighthearted account of one lesbian couple’s struggle to adopt a child; 9 p.m., “You and Him: An Evening of Men’s Shorts.”

Sept. 6: 1 p.m., “She’s a Boy I Knew” (Canada, 2007), documentary about the filmmaker’s transition from male to female; 3 p.m., “An Island Calling” (New Zealand, 2008), documentary about the murders of two gay men in Fiji in 2001; 5 p.m., “La Leon” (Argentina, 2007) about the isolation of a gay man living in the Argentine wild; 7 p.m., “Butch Jamie” (U.S., 2007), comedy about an actress who gets cast as a man, is also the festival’s “cat film of the year”; 9 p.m. “Save Me” (U.S., 2007) about a gay youth sent to a Christian camp to be “cured”; 11 p.m. “The Lollipop Generation” (Canada, 2008), film shot on Super-8 over a period of 15 years by G.B. Jones about a group of juvenile delinquents.

Sept. 7: 1 p.m., “Call Me Troy” (U.S., 2007), profile of LGBT civil rights activist the Rev. Troy Perry; 3 p.m., “Affinity” (U.K., 2008), about passion in a women’s prison, based on the novel by Sarah Waters (free); 5 p.m., “A Horse Is Not a Metaphor” (U.S., 2007) lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer’s testimony about her fight with ovarian cancer (free); 7 p.m., “XXY” (Argentina/ Spain/ France, 2007), sexual awakening of an intersex teenager.

Sept. 8: 7 p.m., “Derek” (U.K., 2008); 8:30 p.m., “The Angelic Conversation” (U.K., 1985), Derek Jarman’s gay reverie based on Shakespeare’s sonnets (free).

Sept. 9: 7 p.m., “A Jihad for Love” (U.S., 2007).

Sept. 10: 3:30 p.m., “Equality U” (U.S., 2008), documentary about gay activists on a cross-country tour of colleges (free); 7:30 p.m., “Water Lilies” (U.S., 2007), drama by lesbian filmmaker Celine Sciamma about the secret longings of synchronized swimmers, showing at the Oriental Theatre.

Sept. 11: 7 p.m., “Jerusalem Is Proud to Present” (Israel, 2007), documentary about a World Pride celebration in Jerusalem; 9 p.m., “Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell” (U.S., 2008), documentary about the cellist, composer and singer-songwriter.

Sept. 12: 5 p.m. “Before I Forget” (France, 2007) director-star Jacques Nolot, as an aging hustler; 7 p.m., “The World Unseen” (U.K., 2007), two women risk love in apartheid South Africa; 9 p.m., “Saturn in Opposition” (Italy/ Turkey/ France, 2007), lives of a group of gay and straight friends through good times and bad.

Sept. 13: 12:30 p.m., “Hail the New Puritan” (U.S., 1985-’86), docu-fantasy performance video of British choreographer Michael Clark; 3 p.m., “In Alliance With Alliance,” students from the Alliance School of Milwaukee curate a program of shorts (free); 5 p.m., “Be Like Others” (Iran/ USA, 2008), documentary about sex- change surgery in Iran; 7 p.m., “Chris & Don: A Love Story” (U.S., 2007), documentary about the 30-year relationship between writer Christopher Isherwood and his much younger partner, artist Don Bachardy; 9 p.m., “In All the Right Places,” women’s shorts; 11 p.m., “Japan Japan” (Israel, 2007), exuberant documentary about a gay Tel Aviv slacker.

Sept. 14: 2 p.m., “Tru Loved” (U.S., 2008), breezy family film about a girl with two moms who moves to a new high school and tries to fit in (children under 16 are admitted free if accompanied by an adult); 4 p.m., “On Our Team,” comedic short films; 6 p.m., “Parting Glances” (U.S., 1986), landmark film by Bill Sherwood, who died of AIDS in 1990, co-stars Steve Buscemi. Actor Richard Ganoung, who grew up in Lake Geneva, will appear at a talk-back after the screening.

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