9th Annual Queer Film Series, Fall 2008

We are pleased to announce the program for the 9th Annual Queer Film Series!

Films will be shown every Monday in October and the first Monday in November at 7 pm in Library Room 114. Films will be followed by discussion and are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Drs. Jill Ehnenn [email protected], Kim Hall [email protected], or David Orvis [email protected].

SCHEDULE

10/6 VENUS OF MARS  (105 minutes, 2004) 

An eye-catching transgender singer of a Minneapolis glam rock band and her wife negotiate the frontiers of love and gender.  On stage, wearing a vinyl corset and stiletto boots, s/he's Venus, lead singer of the glam rock band All The Pretty Horses. At home in Minneapolis with Lynette, her wife of twenty years, s/he's Steve. Born male, Venus is transgender. S/he's "in between" — taking female hormones, but not planning to have sexual reassignment surgery. To some, s/he's a pioneer, courageously exploring a brave new world of gender identity, free of categorization. To others, s/he's a freak. This documentary is both the unique coming out story of Venus' gender-redefining journey, and the truly contemporary love story of a couple weathering dramatic changes in uncharted relationship territory.

10/13 FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO (99 minutes, 2008)

A multiple award winning documentary that explores the perceived conflict between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community. The film looks deep into the hearts of several families--a few of them quite famous--that have struggled with making sense of having a homosexual son or daughter in the fold. At the same time, the film deconstructs the thin religious arguments against homosexuality through a number of clerics and scholars who explain both translation issues and the cultural and historical context for Old Testament quotes routinely referenced as arguments against homosexuality.  Includes interviews with former U.S. presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, who has a lesbian daughter, a gay bishop in New Hampshire’s Episcopal church, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

10/20 BE LIKE OTHERS (TRANSSEXUALS IN IRAN) (74 minutes, 2008. In English and Persian with subtitles)

"You are unusual creatures, but completely normal." Thus a surgeon begins his consultation with a young Iranian man seeking a sex-change operation to love his boyfriend safely, as a woman. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death. Twenty-five years ago, however, the Ayatollah Khomeini wrote a fatwa pronouncing transsexuality legal and allowing for sex-change operations, since nothing in the Koran specifically forbids the surgery. An intimate and unflinching look at life in Iran, seen through the lens of those living at its fringes, this documentary is a provocative look at a generation of young Iranian men choosing to undergo sex change surgery.

10/27 SAVING FACE (97 minutes, 2005. In English and Chinese with subtitles). 

This lesbian romantic comedy focuses on Wilhelmina, a young surgeon, who has kept her sexual orientation secret from the conservative Chinese community of Flushing, NY.  But when her widowed mother (Joan Chen) becomes pregnant and is kicked out by her own parents, Wil suddenly has to juggle her mother's secrets with her own...which include her sparky new romance with a ballet dancer who is the daughter of her boss. A movie that is bundle of intrigue and lust, a sly comedy, and also an exploration of the characters' psyches and the complex social rules of their world.

11/3 SAVING MARRIAGE (2008)

Three years in the making, Saving Marriage is on the scene as the state of Massachusetts grapples with a simple question: Should gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry? You'll hear the personal stories of people that are shaping history. Career politicians who stand up to their constituents and follow their hearts. Seasoned lobbyists who see the holy grail of the gay rights movement suddenly within reach. And regular people thrust suddenly into the world of politics by an issue that could change their lives.