Feng, Wu

1996

During the Han Dynasty, it was called the passion of the cut sleeve. The expression originated from the story of the Emperor who was sleeping with his male lover stretched out across his sleeve. When the Emperor wanted to get up, he cut off his own sleeve so as not to disturb his lover. More than two thousand years have passed and the lives of Chinese homosexuals are no longer celebrated in the official histories. It was not so long ago that the government declared that homosexuality in China did not exist. Yet the tumultuous changes in China in the last ten years have also brought new lives to lesbians and gays. In the tradition of activist cinema, two courageous Chinese men have documented for the first time the daily lives of lesbian and gay men in the People's Republic of China. They have traveled throughout the country — from Urumqi in the west to Hainan Island in the south — and learned about the survival techniques of their sisters and brothers. They bring safe-sex literature and stories of others who are like themselves. In some cities, the directors also took their camera to the parks, discos, bars and homes of lesbians and gays who were willing to let us into their lives. Interviews with intellectuals, workers, writers, a former Peking opera singer, and one of the directors himself bring us the realities of an unknown world and what the darkness before dawn looks like in the People's Republic of China.

1996

Rimkus, Stevan

1996

Stevan Rimkus' evocative dancing stars an admirably crumpled Sylvia Syms Trapped in the rude and intrusive 90's. A dying old woman turns out to have a mysterious and surprising past in Steve Rimkus's delightful short Dancing.

Donaghy, Tom

1996

Dopp, Melissa

1996

Cowgirl Sweethearts: A Dyke-u-mentary follows a group of lesbian country singers on tour.

Neant-Falk, Cecilia

1996

A warm, funny documentary film about 5 seventy year-old homosexual women telling about their lives and the long way to acceptance and happiness.

What was it like to be a lesbian in the decades before the Daughters of Bilitis and Stonewall? In Neant-Falk and Bergstrom’s documentary about lesbian love, Companions: Tales from the Closet, we meet five women between the ages of 60 and 75. They talk about their lives from the 1930’s and onwards with a mixture of humor and emotion, telling tales of budding love and erotic encounters, and also of self-hatred and secrecy. All of the women were forced to question conventions and risk losing friends and colleagues in their courageous fight for the right to choose their own way of living.

Neant-Falk, Cecilia

1996

A warm, funny documentary film about 5 seventy year-old homosexual women telling about their lives and the long way to acceptance and happiness.

What was it like to be a lesbian in the decades before the Daughters of Bilitis and Stonewall? In Neant-Falk and Bergstrom’s documentary about lesbian love, Companions: Tales from the Closet, we meet five women between the ages of 60 and 75. They talk about their lives from the 1930’s and onwards with a mixture of humor and emotion, telling tales of budding love and erotic encounters, and also of self-hatred and secrecy. All of the women were forced to question conventions and risk losing friends and colleagues in their courageous fight for the right to choose their own way of living.

B, Hima

1996

Asian and Pacific Islander families discuss their issues and reactions to their childrens' coming out.

In Coming Out, Coming Home five proud and very confident Asian Pacific Islander families speak frankly, emotionally and more openly then ever seen before on screen on the subject of their children's sexual orientation. This is a touching opportunity to witness a remarkable set of loving families ready, willing and able to stand up and be counted in the face of adversity and misunderstanding.

Albelo, Anna Margarita

1996

Albelo, Anna Margarita

1996

A young Parisian thief accepts to do a last "job" to take the money and run to Hollywood and escape her Parisian Underground.