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.

Rekow, Lea

1996

Peep brings together fashion and fetish in a document filmed as an unedited camera roll, in which the performers are peep show workers.

Fontenot, Heyd

1996

It isn't hard to get rough-and-tumble boys to show their scars. But then to get the same boys to talk about what gets their Peckers Rising? Well, Texan filmmaker Heyd Fontenot got just that, and much more, too. These boys don't seem to have any trouble getting it up for the camera.

Labadie, Jean Philippe

1996

Paulo and his brother, both deaf, remember their childhood.

Bonder, Diane
Platt, Liss

1996

The classics redone.

Gold, Tami

1996

In 1991 Cheryl Summerville, a cook in a Cracker Barrel restaurant in suburban Atlanta, received a termination paper stating that she was fired for "failing to demonstrate normal heterosexual values." She was shocked to discover that in 47 American states, including her own, it was legal to fire workers simply for being homosexual. Out at Work chronicles the dramatic stories of three gay workers over the course of five years, all of whom have faced extreme workplace discrimination: Cheryl Summerville, Detroit auto worker Ron Woods, and New York Public Library clerk Nat Keitt. This powerful documentary follows these three courageous individuals through their collective fight to secure workplace safety, job security and employee benefits for gay and lesbian workers. The film also illustrates the struggles of heterosexual co-workers to deal with and ultimately support their gay and lesbian peers. In a moving, profound and entertaining style, Out at Work raises critical issues about workplace rights, legislation and labor unions, and ultimately sounds a clarion call for human rights for all.

Shafi, Kausar

1996

"The Other Other" looks at changes taking place today in the Lesbian and Gay Community in Britain towards accepting and understanding bisexual people, drawing attention to the debate following the London Pride Festival name change to include bisexual and transgender.

The Other Other focuses on the recent move to including bisexuals and transgendered people in the mission statement and title of the former "Lesbian and Gay Pride" March and Festival in London, a move which has provoked strong reactions on all sides.

Lofton, Charles

1996

O Happy Day lays gay claim to a revolutionary moment in black history.