Defurne, Bavo

1996

Rereads the classic Sebastian legend

Holch, Meredith E.

1996

An anti-establishment dyke gets big-time revenge on her fly-by-night landlord.

1996

In the Rachel Williams Documentary, the Amazonian supermodel talks frankly to the camera about her uncompromising attitude toward her sexuality. Rachel reveals the reality of coming out in the glare of the media spotlight, and the intimacy of her relationship with rock singer Alice Temple. Taking the lid off the world of modeling and challenging the viewer with Rachel’s often outspoken views, this documentary is a rare insight into the world of the celebrity dyke.

Treleaven, Scott

1996

Brillant account of the thriving hompunk scene - queer renegades & iconoclasts, fast music and cool hair.

Nishimura, Akko

1996

A profile of Coleen Gragen, a 5th Degree Black Belt martial artist, teacher, and leader within the women's community.

Kotzer, Ran

1996

This is the story of an HIV carrier in Israel

Positive Story is a first-time glance into the world of people living with HIV and AIDS in Israel. As a child Avi used to sit for hours on one of the hills overlooking Tel-Aviv, dreaming of the day he would be free to live his life openly in the big metropolitan city. At the age of 17, Avi began discovering the gay world of Tel-Aviv: secret gardens, night clubs, cafes. At the age of 19, in a routine examination for HIV, Avi tested positive. Avi is rare among Israelis for his willingness to tell his story honestly and openly. In The Forbidden Love of the Hero a deceased Israeli Medical Corps Colonel's surviving partner attempts to obtain widower rights from the State of Israel. The program opens with a compelling new Frameline release, Faggots Are for Burning an intense, impressionistic and compelling melange of sound and image dealing with a young gay man's inner conflict with his sexuality and his own Christian Fundamentalism.

Ford, Dave

1996

(See "Pogo Trilogy")

Capuano, Antonio

1996

Pianese Nunzio has the voice of a songbird, the body of a young David, and the desire to become a priest. His friend and mentor, Father Lorenzo Borrelli, has the conviction of a religious man and the courage to fight the local Mob. He also has a sexual relationship with Nunzio.  Director Antonio Capuano’s brilliant second feature takes place in a poor Naples neighborhood where the Mob rules. Father Lorenzo has rejuvenated the local parish with fiery sermons and anti-Mafia newspaper editorials. But the Mob fights back, seeking to discredit Father Lorenzo by using his relationship with Nunzio against him. A dynamic and morally complex tale that reflects on the nature of crime, guilt, sexuality, and God, Pianese Nunzio captures the chaotic rhythm and decaying beauty of Naples not only in its music and cinematography, but also in the ambiguous friendship between an earnest young man and a priest who believes that “eroticism is sanctity.”

Matsumoto, Neil

1996

Kristy Nichols is a pre-op transexual prostitute working the streets of Hollywood. She likes REO Speedwagon, The Cars, really short skirts and the possibility of being held by someone she loves. She hates heavy metal and big egos. Phantom Pain is a gently comic look at Kristy's confusing life which downplays the usual issues of gender identity: Kristy has doubts about the final, surgical solution to her gender-quest but transexuality is among the least of her troubles. Listless and with a face soured by a constant look of resignation, Kristy (her adopted name comes from her fondness for Kristy McNichols "when she was on Family"), just can't figure out what to do with herself. Male or female? Actress or prostitute? The streets or a white picket fence? Adrift in Los Angeles, she allows the people in her life, from her bitter wheelchair-bound roommate to a series of nasty male tricks, to run her ragged. When a professor of sexology asks her to star in a film about a transexual prostitute, Kristy thinks she may have finally found some direction in her life. She's wrong. Filmed in black & white with a soundtrack combining early 60's pop with melancholy New Age piano music, Phantom Pain was made on a shoestring budget over three weeks in late 1995. Its droll sense of humor is so pervasive that Kristy's confession that Carrie Fisher's performance in Star Wars inspired her to become an actress may seem like a serious revelation. But not even Kristy can say that with a straight face.  – Paul Bollwinkel

Clark, Donna

1996

Producer Valentine Schmidt asks, "Do lesbians kill more than other women or are they being targeted for capital punishment?" Of 20,000 convicted murderers in the U.S., 1% receive the death penalty; and of all the women on death row, 40% are lesbian. They are also predominantly poor and/or women of color. We've come a long way, baby — not. Hot on the heels of Butterfly Kiss and Basic Instinct, Perverted Justice fiercely examines how pre-existing prejudice in the culture influences prosecution. Through news footage, commentary from lawyers, scholars, and activists, and an interview with Andrea Jackson (sentenced to death for killing a police officer), Perverted Justice uses the power of media to give faces to those dehumanized by the American trial process.