McKay, John

1997

In Favorite, a North Irish schoolgirl's crush on a teacher ripens over time into a lesbian romance in which one woman is destined to be left behind.

Alston, Macky

1997

In his entertaining and thought-provoking first feature, filmmaker and ACT UP activist Macky Alston brings a uniquely gay perspective on identity to a very personal film about secrets, history and race in America. Spurred by memories of growing up in a North Carolina town where many families, both black and white, shared the surname Alston, Macky travels the South searching for the Alston story. At an all-white Alston reunion he gets a lecture on the family tree — not just all the way back to Charlemagne and Alfred the Great, but to Noah and Adam as well. At an all-black reunion he makes connections that lead to a series of poignant and enlightening encounters. Along the way, Family Name becomes a moving study of the things we tell each other and the things we don’t, and of the price we pay when we decide to keep our real identity a secret, even from ourselves.

Reid, Chris

1997

A young man hitches a ride from an older man, who manipulates him though he is not anunwilling party. The experience changes the young man's views and his life.

Maccarone, Angelina

1997

With all the classic features of the genre – romantic infatuation, mistaken identity, and climactic mayhem – Everything Will Be Fine is a lesbian romantic comedy with a real kick. When Nabou is dumped by her girlfriend Katja, she is not about to give up without a fight. While obsessively staking out her ex's apartment, Nabou mistakenly ends up in the apartment downstairs and is subsequently taken on as a house cleaner by Kim, a successful ad executive unsure of her own life decisions. As Nabou gets increasingly caught up in Kim's life, both find their own romantic intentions becoming confused. Underlying the film's whimsical and sexy exterior is the compelling story of its Afro-German heroines' pursuit of love and fulfillment in the face of everyday racism.

Maccarone, Angelina

1997

Gallus, Maya

1997

Erotica explores the range and variety of "the female gaze" from the S&M rituals of a Parisian dominatrix to the San Francisco lesbian night club scene.

This feature-length documentary explores a wide range of lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women's erotic fantasies and sexual practices. It reveals the conflicts and complexities of female sexuality as well as the joys and triumphs of self-discovery and personal empowerment. Highlights include exclusive interviews with nonagenarian Pauline Réage, the reclusive author of the provocative "Story of O.," and with renowned dominatrix and pornographer Jeanne de Berg, who also happens to be the wife of acclaimed French novelist and experimental filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet. Other interviewees include celebrity porn-stars-turned-filmmakers Annie Sprinkle and Candida Royale, photographers Bettina Rheims and Phyllis Christopher, dyke drag queen Karlyn "Fairy Butch" Lotney and urban American rap artist Lique. Bay Area locals should also appreciate footage of erotic dancer Jade Blue Eclipse at the CoCo Club. Vegetarians and penis-haters take note: Erotica contains clips of more than one kind of cut raw meat.

Harrington, Raquel Cecilia

1997

Attraction ignites true love between two women who realize they must break their current relationships in order for theirs to unfold,

Decisions, decisions, decisions. When attraction ignites between two women in pre-existing live-in "partnerships," they must tread carefully. Elena, a beautiful university student, and Julia, one of her professors, steal every moment they can to be together. But current girlfriends, misread flirtations, and social proscriptions complicate their attempts to follow their hearts, and the women find out just how difficult it is to stage a surreptitious rendezvous when one of your lovers is a cop. Entwined is a film full of hope for anyone who’s thought they could never get out of a suffocating relationship. Set against the lush tropics of Miami, Raquel Cecilia Harrington’s debut feature (her short Sonia screened at last year’s Festival) blends Cuban and North American cultures to create a sensuous, archetypal love story.

Roman, Nora

1997

The founding of the first gay and lesbian Community Center in El Salvador.

Barbato, Randy

1997

In Drop Dead Gorgeous, stand-up comedian Steve Moore takes us on a guided tour of his life, from his Southern childhood to his HIV status.

Dougherty, Cecilia

1997

This tape is a documentation of sorts of my commute between NY and Boston, which I made weekly for my job. Mostly I document the mental space of the commute -- like dream space.