Hasick, Paul

1995

It's a typical Sunday for roommates Scott, a gay lab technician, and Gwen, a lesbian artist/waiter, in Not Alone: A Hallowe'en Romance, except it is October 31, and there's a protest march that evening against gay bashing - and the boy from last night is calling for another date.

Witkins, Doug

1995

A comedy-drama about the tangled lives and loves of six not entirely likable L.A. friends who are left to pick up the pieces after the death of Tom (Dan Frank), their darkly charismatic and manipulative leader. Despite the emotional and sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Tom, both Wendy (Ericka Klein) and Kevin (Smith Forte) still carry a torch for him and are disconsolate with grief over his demise. The solace they find in each other eventually leads to more than either can handle. Then there’s Andy (Robert Pecora) who seems to have nothing better to do than to walk around in his skimpy underwear all day. For reasons unknown, he is unhappy with Ben (Mark S. Larson) the seemingly harmless new housemate. Meanwhile Ben goes on snooping expeditions through the house and performs inexplicable chores in the basement. When his motives come to light and Tom’s twisted mind games come back to haunt them, everyone does battle for a cut of the stakes in this sexy stylish film riddled with blink-and-you’ll-miss-them plot twists and turns. But you’ll no doubt be distracted by the dilemma of 18-year-old Vince (Koing Kuoch) who has a crush on his hunky cholo neighbor (Tymme Reitz).

Kwietniowski, Richard

1995

A broad range of Derek Jarman’s aquaintances celebrate his dizzying love of life a year after his death. Clancy Chassay, the young actor who debuted in Derek’s film Wittgenstein, provides a mischievous potted biography for Jarman beginners, and also reveals for the first time his Famous Last Words.

1995

O’Brian, Kelly
Farrow, Jane

1995

Kijak, Stephen

1995

A movie for everyone who thought Lois Lane was crazy to want any man, even a Superman. A young gay artist, played by actor and drag queen Alexis Arquette (Grief, Wigstock, Frisk, and ‘96 Festival entry Scream, Teen, Scream), languishes in a maddening creative deadlock. As he struggles with his lack of direction and a somewhat dubious and possibly unstable new boyfriend, he uncovers a secret trove of photographs of his uncle's male lover. . . . Meanwhile, his actress mother, played with a manic edge by Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in Superman) is writing alliterative experimental multimedia theater pieces. She is also being pursued by her son's best friend, a lesbian sculptor (out comic Georgia Ragsdale) whose lover (Bay Area performer Omewenne) channels the souls of departed women artists onto canvas. With its wry sense of humor and colorful characters attempting to stay sane in a difficult world, Never Met Picasso focusses on topical issues: the relationship between creativity and queer lifestyles, the underrepresentation of women in art history, the connection between the drug culture and the arts, and the retracing of family and personal history. Ultimately, the film suggests that we find our true path in own back yards, and makes a powerful statement about the importance of art as a means to unite, celebrate, and live.

Praunheim, Rosa von

1995

In his funniest film since A Virus Knows No Morals, gay filmmmaker Rosa von Praunheim is murdered while on stage hosting a tribute to himself. The murderer and the body disappear, and tabloid journalist Gesine Ganzmann-Seipel is given the assignment of uncovering the motive for the crime. Her quest for a greater understanding of von Praunheim’s life carries her from the German Underground to New York City, and introduces her to a bizarre assortment of characters — angry ex-lovers, bitter actors, hedonistic porn stars, and a loving mother. The intrepid, platinum-blond journalist (seductively played by cabaret star Desiree Nick) soon discovers that everyone wanted to kill Rosa. Funny, campy, and bitingly satirical, Neurosia is a shameless autobiography recapping half a century of guerrilla filmmaking and gay activism.

Gilbert, Sky

1995

Using his camera-conscious, pseudo cinema-verité style, Canadian filmmaker Sky Gilbert continues the tradition of his 1993 Festival hit My Addiction with his latest feature My Summer Vacation. The film tells the story of Joe, a young man at the end of his youth, in search of love. His older lover leaves for Europe and gives Joe a movie camera with the suggestion that Joe film his sexual escapades while he's away. Our hero takes to the streets of Toronto, camera in tow, interviewing likely (and unlikely) boyfriends up and down Church Street, the heart of that city's gay district. After innumerable rejections, Joe finds Chris and takes him home to seduce him. The new friendship proves rocky as Chris refuses to go to a party attended by Joe's friends, a hooker, a stripper and a drug addict. The cultural divide between the two becomes greater when Chris introduces Joe to his bed-ridden, hypochondriacal mother. In the end, Joe has loved and lost, and has learned some important lessons about love during his final summer vacation of his youth.

1995

This British documentary gives voice to the adult children of "out" lesbians. What did they think of their childhoods? Their mothers’ politics? Their mothers being out? The value system they grew up in? These questions and more are addressed in funny and moving interviews with the lesbian moms and their grown-up kids.

West, Dawn

1995

Domestic violence in lesbian relationships is something most people don't want to talk about, and we have managed to keep it safely in the closet for too long. Dawn West tackles this important issue head-on in her powerful documentary My Girlfriend Did It. The stories of a wide range of women who have been in abusive relationships and have managed to survive are juxtaposed with the examination of one relationship that ended in tragedy. Through interviews with survivors, therapists, attorneys, advocates and researchers, this film provides first-hand accounts, defines the cycle of violence in relationships and presents issues of "coming out" as a battered lesbian.