1998

Guangli, Wang

1998

Two surprising looks into lesbian and gay life in China and Taiwan: Wang Guangli's MAIDEN WORK is a rare and innovative glimpse into the Chinese underground. The romance of Xue (Snow) and her lover Yu (Rain) shatters over a portrait of Yu painted by the artist, Jinian. When Jinian injures his eye in a bar fight, his mind (and the film) becomes a swirl of fragments – the women’s relationship, old Chinese war movies, Maoist discos – as a haunting past clash and meld. Jinian feels compelled to make a movie about the women and himself, and we take part in his attempt to get the film made, despite plenty of obstacles, real and imagined. Lush and abstract, Maiden Work, ranks with any of the best art films from Europe, without the pretension. Shockingly mature, not just in the handling of it’s subject, but for its incredibly gorgeous cinematography. In the languid and beautiful TOO YOUNG, Mo Tzu-yi, a bookish outcast, escapes the mundane regimen of boy’s school through spiritual self-help tapes. When he grows attracted to the rough-hewn Chieng Wen-yi, a mysterious outsider with a rumored past, their lives briefly touch.

Guangli, Wang

1998

Wang Guangli's Maiden Work is a rare and innovative glimpse into the Chinese underground. The romance of Xue (Snow) and her lover Yu (Rain) shatters over a portrait of Yu painted by the artist, Jinian. When Jinian injures his eye in a bar fight, his mind (and the film) becomes a swirl of fragments – the women’s relationship, old Chinese war movies, Maoist discos – as a haunting past clash and meld. Jinian feels compelled to make a movie about the women and himself, and we take part in his attempt to get the film made, despite plenty of obstacles, real and imagined. Lush and abstract, Maiden Work, ranks with any of the best art films from Europe, without the pretension. Shockingly mature, not just in the handling of it’s subject, but for its incredibly gorgeous cinematography.

Victor, Harry

1998

Parker, Steve

1998

"Music Video" about two men in love.

Stahlberg, Michael

1998

A beautiful, eye-opening portrait of a campy, talented Chilean-German gay artist. Lorenza lost both his arms in an accident at age 9: "I came to be an exhibitionist by my handicap. People stare at me whether or not I dress flamboyantly."

Bhave, Sumitra

1998

While the face of AIDS retains its universal humanity in every corner of the world, each culture sees the epidemic through its own eyes. Now Long Live Life allows us to share one of these entirely different perspectives on a disease we think we know so well. Filmmakers Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar have created a chaotic, powerful work that is as multi-layered and fascinating as the nation of diverse castes, religions, educational elites and economic classes it depicts. When a young Indian landscape designer finds out that an emergency transfusion has left her boyfriend infected with HIV, she becomes obsessed with finding the source of the tainted blood. Her search will take her into every strata of Indian society, from the quiet office of the respected doctor who performed the operation, to the teeming slums that are home to the desperate poor who have nothing to sell but their blood. Her story is paralleled by the tales of two young male lovers torn apart by society’s demands and their dread of this new disease, and of a young slum dweller who refuses to let fear destroy his compassion. By the time all the plot lines come together in a final episode of regret and reconciliation, Long Live Life will have enlightened and moved you in surprising ways.

Bhave, Sumitra

1998

Yule, Paul

1998

Documentary on the gruesome 1993 gay-bashing murder of Nicholas West in conservative Tyler, Texas and the subsequent justice system response up to an including interviews with the killers on death-row.

Ataman, Khutlug

1998

Drama about a German born Turkish teenager who flees his repressive, traditional family and embarks on a exhilarating journey of self discovery the dynamic youthful underworld of present day Berlin.

Murat is a Berliner, a Turk and a closeted gay teen. Hungry for experience – and eager to flee the domination of his big brother Osman, who declares that men who love other men are a disgrace – 16-year-old Murat secretly cruises the parks at night in hopes of making contact with others of his kind. Soon, Murat is caught up in Berlin's enigmatic subculture of Turkish hustlers and cross-dressers, including Lola, a Turkish transvestite singer in a local bar. Here, surrounded by a small coterie of admirers, Lola is a star. Included in this eccentric band are fellow performers Sisi and Sehrazat, young hustlers Iskender and Bilidikid (Lola's lover), and Friedrich, a German aristocrat who risks losing his social standing because of his passion for one of the Turkish boys. Lola and Murat become close friends, but Lola is guarding a secret involving Murat's family and his domineering brother Osman that could tear their small world apart. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Murat stumbles upon the bizarre truth about his family and life at home. Old wounds are opened and waves of violence finally push the brothers over the edge.