Walton, Pam

1996

Family Values tells the story of a family torn apart by political and religious extremism. It is an intensely personal documentary about Pam Walton's search for reconciliation with her father, a leading behind-the-scenes figure in the radical religious right. Walton and her father have had nothing to do with each other for over 15 years because of what her father calls her "sinful lesbian lifestyle." The videomaker sets out to find the true meaning of "family" and to expose the enormous hypocrisy that exists among some of the right wing's "family values" activists. The video diary format, however, allows for a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. Finally, Family Values asks us to remember that "family" is a complex and deeply personal experience.

Ayres, Tony

1996

A filmaker makes a documentary about a photographer, but in this case, who is the voyeur and who is the photographer?

Sabroso, Felix

1996

Three gay roommates must find a fourth to share their flat after blowing their rent on a stripper who won't strip. Their homophobic landlady threatens eviction because they are once again late with the rent and "the music they play is diabolical and frightens the neighbors." In walks tall, sexy Lucas, the answer to their current problem and more than one of their dreams. The three close friends spend the next few months projecting their best fantasies on the longhaired stranger and viciously competing with one another for his attentions. One night they return home from a nightclub and find Lucas dead, a complete set of kitchen knives stuck into his chest. Enter the cleaning lady, followed closely by the high-heeled Chief Inspector and her sidekick in red platforms who "forgot her badge in her other purse." Over coffee and Chinese tea with lemon, each tells his own real or imagined story about his relationship with Lucas, and they discover that they all had reasons to do him in.

Ward, Robin

1996

Praying for the spirit to set us all free.

Dewhirst, Terri

1996

Sifting through media and medical representations of hermaphrodites, Endoscope questions the very notion of gender.

Gold, Tami

1996

Emily & Gitta by filmmaker Tami Gold (Juggling Gender) was made at the AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. It is the story of Emily, the child of Holocaust survivors, and Gitta, who grew up in Germany thinking of herslf as innocent and not responsible for he parents’ generation’s actions during the war. They meet and begin a dance of emotional and erotic intimacy. Almost as soon as it begins, however, their relationship threatens to be torn apart by the histories and memories they do and do not share.

Bernberg, Lana

1996

Mixing photographic abstraction, simple animation and a familiar nervous system, Ellipsis finds its meaning in an architecture of light that defines the landscape of consciousness and alludes to a "fin de siecle". melancholia. Local Bay Area filmmaker.

Yuan, Zhang

1996

East Palace, West Palace is an unconventional yet touching love story, a sensual portrayal of one man’s struggle with himself, and a disturbing indictment of the state-sanctioned oppression of homosexuals in China. In director Zhang Yuan’s fifth feature, a writer named A-Lan is taken into police custody for engaging in homosexual activity in a Beijing park. In the spirit of Jean Genet’s tortuous, impassioned yearnings, A-Lan is strangely attracted to his tormentor. During a routine interrogation, A-Lan vividly and poetically recounts his impoverished childhood, his first love, and various men from his past. Seen in flashbacks, all of the men in A-Lan’s life have the face of his captor, officer Shi. A-Lan remains neither shamed nor intimidated by the oafish cop’s verbal and physical abuse – he in fact welcomes it as the realization of his sadomasochistic desires. By suggesting that the Chinese people have become conditioned to accept petty indignities perpetrated by the state, Yuan’s simple film about gay life in China and the complex relationship that binds two particular men becomes bold social commentary.

Weber, Eva

1996

A humorous and passionate parody of the Nescafé gold blend coffee commercials.

Brown, Tom E.

1996

Don’t Run, Johnny speculates on what would happen if legendary B-movie filmmaker Ed Wood were alive today and decided to tackle the sensitive topic of AIDS.