Jodie Foster “came out” during a recent Hollywood Awards ceremony, Gus Van Sant’s feature on the assassination of San Francisco’s gay mayor Harvey Milk is now in production, and gay and lesbian liaisons amongst the older [Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi] and younger star sets [Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson?] are now looked upon with almost avuncular support.
Yet, way before alternative lifestyles tipped their way into the mainstream, there was the Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (April 17-25). A key showcase, Torino supported the early “taboo” efforts of Van Sant and Derek Jarman and introduced local audiences to Todd Haynes, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Now firmly established within the international film calendar, the “little” festival, nestled amidst mountains in the heartland of Italian machismo and primo gelato by filmmakers Ottavio Mai and Giovanni Minerba in 1986, is one of the longest continuously running queer-themed cinematic events in the world.
These days, Torino’s challenge is to balance its programming slate. Being provocative without being preachy or kitschy or dipping too deeply into narrative-light soft-core porn is no easy task for a ‘themed’ festival. Thankfully, for the most part Torino succeeds.
Kicking off the festivities: a blow out river-side fete and screening for Madrid director Juan Flahn’s
Chuecatown; a crowd pleaser/family comedy-murder mystery involving real estate value and the mysterious murders of little old ladies. Torino then went on to host a fully international slate of 150 films [plus over 100 shorts].
Replete with a particularly strong documentary section, festival director Minerba and his genial programmers continue to show a keen eye for weird, wonderful and intriguing prospects from all over the world. Favorites included: Julian Cole’s fascinating documentary,
With Gilbert and George; Bruce LaBruce’s hilarious gay-zombie feature,
Otto; or Up with Dead People (pictured above) and Thomas Gustafson’s Shakespearean musical
Were the World Mine.
This year’s special offerings included a tribute to Ms. Foster; John Waters’ megastar Divine, and France’s Sébastien Lifshitz. Even Hong Kong auteur Stanley Kwan and New York based artist-provocateur Terence Koh – screening his epic sex-fest God -- popped into town as special guests.
Although, strangely, there were no Italian films in the main competition, the eleven Jury members, including American director Jamie Babbit (
But I’m A Cheerleader), Portugal’s João Pedro Rodrigues (
Odete) and Italy’s critic/journalist Pier Maria Bocchi went global, giving special Jury mentions to Germany’s Julia von Heinz’s
Was am Ende zählt and France’s Christophe Honoré (for
Les Chansons d’amour). But the Ottavio Mai Award for Best Feature Film rightfully went to French director Santiago Otheguy’s breathtaking
La León. Featuring a stunning performance by Jorge Román, it’s a simply told and beautifully shot story of one man’s day-to-day struggle against the nature of the world around him.
Documentary honors went to Parvez Sharma’s heavily lauded opus on Muslim sexuality,
A Jihad for Love, with Special Mention and an Audience award to Australian Julian Shaw’s
Darling! The Pieter Dirk-Uys Story. The solid, if slightly “last season”
The Walker, Paul Schrader’s finale of his “gigolo” trilogy, starring Woody Harrelson as the escort of the wives of the Washington political elite, was the closer.
Labels: Festivals
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 7/08/2008 10:18:00 AM
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