Regan, Francis

1998

A young man receives an inappropriate birthday gift, and Mother Marilyn confirms that Marilyn Monroe and President Kennedy’s love-child was indeed gay.

McBride, Jason

1998

Toronto, 1952. 18 year-old Derek undergoes painful aversion therapy designed to "cure" his homosexuality.

Perry, Nickolas

1998

Nineteen years old with a lust for speed, Johnny sets out to find fame and glory on the race tracks of North Carolina -- unaware that he's about to take the ride of his life.

Perry, Nickolas

1998

Nineteen years old with a lust for speed, Johnny sets out to find fame and glory on the race tracks of North Carolina -- unaware that he's about to take the ride of his life.

Sparked by a top-notch cast from feature films and prime-time television, this first feature from director/writer Nickolas Perry is a moving portrait of lost youths struggling to find themselves at the end of the twentieth Century. Johnny (Jesse Bradford of Romeo + Juliet) is a teen runaway with dreams of making it big as a race car driver in North Carolina. But on his way he gets side-tracked in Las Vegas, where he meets Eric, a gay street urchin (Jordan Brower of "Teen Angel"), Steve, a more experienced hustler (Jonathan Taylor Thomas of "Home Improvement") and Eric’s surrogate mom (Daryl Hannah). To his surprise, Johnny finds himself caught up in a way of life he never knew existed. Now he has to decide if he can escape, or if he even wants to. Perry focuses on that special time when boys become men, adult reality starts to intrude on youthful ideals, and painful choices about love and life must be made. Perry’s short film, Must Be The Music was a hit at the 1997 SFILGFF, and caught the attention of filmmaker Gus Van Sant, who acts as executive producer here. The results prove that the enthusiasm for Perry’s first effort was well deserved. With Speedway Junky, a new film talent has arrived.

Comstock, William

1998

A presentation of American Gay Cultural HIstory, 1958-65, through the lens of Italian made Hercules films.

Lavish historical spectacles were a staple of Italian cinema since silent days, but it took American bodybuilder Steve Reeves and the international box office sensation Hercules to put the muscleman at the center of the show. Imitations and sequels followed, and from 1957 to 1965 the Italian film industry produced over 150 of the most curiously homoerotic films ever made. The eroticism comes from the blatant beefcake appeal of the hero’s physique, fetishized by peek-a-boo costumes and subjected to trials of strength and lingering torments. But the gay/camp appeal of the gladiator films went further. Wild dance numbers, over-the-top female villains, and garishly theatrical sets created alternate universes of bizarre glamour. Behind the glamour, all was not so pretty. Production schedules were impossibly rushed, scripts hardly existed and actors were forced to do their own dangerous stunts. As the genre declined, the sadomasochistic element, once used for suspense, became an end in itself. MGM film archivist John Kirk presents video clips from over 70 of these rarely screened gems, along with videotaped interviews with stars Richard Harrison, Gordon Mitchell and Mickey Hargitay, and cameos from body-building legends Steve Reeves, Ed Fury and Reg Park. Along with the campy fun, Sons Of Hercules delivers a serious assessment of an almost totally neglected film genre.

Walters, Nathaniel

1998

A lovely man is pursued by a stranger who seduces him with a tale of immortality.

Mubashshir, Daaimah

1998

Tells one side of a story in several layers, using text and altered music.

Babbit, Jamie

1998

A mortuary cosmetician surrounds herself with sleeping beauties. This time she wants her princess to wake up.

Schmidt, Laurie

1998

A story of a woman whose dreams take her away from her ordinary life.

1998

A conventional French family lives in apparent harmony…until one day the father brings home a <<pet>> rat. One by one, as they come into contact with the rat, each character unravels…