Tam, Ho

1997

Spies on hot Asian studs playing ball while contemplating the ephemeral nature of youth and beauty.

Lim, Madeleine

1997

The quest for home and belonging for three Singaporean lesbians living in the Bay Area, examining cultural identity, lesbian sexuality and immigration. Sambal Belacan is the recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant of 1997.

Escanilla, Claudia Morgado

1997

Kalin, Betsy

1997

A middle-aged woman climbs onto her roof atop a suburban Florida house to discover that a young stranger has claimed the rooftop as her own territory.

O'Hara, Meghan

1997

Norma Rae McCorvey left an abusive home at age 15. She married at 16, was a mother at 17, came out as lesbian at 18. And in 1973 she became the anonymous plaintiff Jane Roe in the landmark Supreme Court ruling on abortion. Roe vs. Roe, produced for Cinemax's "Reel Life" series, shows McCorvey to be a woman of immense contradictions and brutal honesty. She speaks openly of feeling used and abandoned by the pro-choice movement's leadership, of finding the courage after years of depression to speak out on behalf of abortion rights, and of her 1995 conversion to Fundamentalist Christianity and to the anti-abortion crusade. McCorvey's partner of 28 years, pro-choice activist Connie Gonzales, shares the spotlight in this remarkable film, allowing us to see McCorvey’s personal strengths and needs through the lens of a long-term lesbian relationship. One touching, bizarre scene shows the two women driving to work together and kissing good-bye in the parking lot of a suburban Dallas strip mall – Gonzales headed to her job at an abortion clinic and McCorvey to the neighboring Operation Rescue office.

Patten, Mary

1997

Riot Grrrandmas! interviews some right-on old-timers, including the charming Ruth Ellis, an African-American lesbian soon to celebrate her 100th birthday. A videozine celebrating the older gals in our midst.

Sirota, Greg

1997

A short film portraying a teenage boy's moment of sexual discovery.

Jarmel, Marcia

1997

he Return Of Sarah’s Daughters allows us to enter the world of Orthodox Judaism through the lives of various women. Rus, for example, has found tremendous fulfillment and a sense of community in Orthodoxy. Mariam, on the other hand, left Orthodoxy when she felt rejected for affirming her lesbian identity. The filmmaker weaves her own personal experiences as a Jewish woman into this informative and revealing documentary.

Picher, Lydia Dean

1997

Reno Finds Her Mom follows comedian and political screamer Reno through her real life search to find the birth mother who abandoned her.

In this made-for-HBO-docudramedy, gonzo lesbian stand-up comic Karen Reno, adopted at birth by lily-white suburbanites, goes in search of her biological mother and her ethnic roots. Hilarious at times, poignant at others, Reno's film gives Madonna's Truth Or Dare a run for the money in the Media Personality Allows Camera To Capture Unflattering Moments Of Real Emotion department. Reno jokes, screams, rants, rails, mugs, curses, cries and connives her way through a Kafkaesque adoption bureaucracy, exhibiting all the bravada and vulnerability that so endears Reno to her fans. When a clandestine source in the adoptee underground scores the vital information as to Reno's mother's name and present whereabouts, Reno must face a moment she has dreaded and longed for her whole life. Brief fantasy-scene cameos by Lily Tomlin and Mary Tyler Moore add deft comic touches to lighten the tone whenever the material threatens to get too heavy. The film is ultimately uplifting because, corny as it sounds, not only does Reno find her Mom – she finds herself in the process of searching.

McCune, Chris
McPherson, David

1997

Dedicated to the memory of street-active, HIV-positive, transgendered people who have passed away.