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HIGHLIGHTS
FROM THE 2002 LONG ISLAND GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
by Jed
Ryan
The
2002 Long
Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, from
November 14th through the 17th at the Cinema
Arts Centre in Huntington,
was a magnificent success! The weather outside was
far from being June-like, but this was no doubt one of Long
Island's
most dynamic gay and lesbian pride events. Gay pride in the
Autumn? Why not? What a great chance to display
your most fabulous ensembles in leather and faux fur. The
Festival drew many members of the Long Island GLBT community
and its
supporters, and set new records for attendance. Community
movers and shakers mingled with filmmakers, and were treated
to everything from rightfully resurrected classics (1968's "The
Killing of Sister George"); award winning short films
("The Ten Rules: A Lesbian Survival Guide"); and
several hotly anticipated New York premieres like "The
Trip" and "Luster."
 No
doubt, the prized jewel among the feature films shown
at the 2002 Long Island
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival was "The
Trip" (Directed by Miles Swain, USA, 2003). Before
the movie on the night of Friday November 15th, a Wine
and Cheese
Reception, sponsored by the Long
Island Ravens MC, was
held in the Cinema Arts Centre's Sky Cafe. Fellow Ravens
Jim Greene, Peter, Michael, Scott, Greg, Tom, and Peter
were all there to warm up the
crowd. Before "The
Trip," we saw "Tom Clay Jesus," a
short film about gay male relationships which packs a real
wallop
into its 17 minutes. Director Hoang A. Duong was
at the theater to introduce his film. As for "The
Trip," all I can say is.. Wow! It was funny,
warm, provocative, well-made, and-- in the words of LIGLFF
Director Stephen
Flynn-- "destined
to become a modern gay classic." "The Trip" follows
two lovers, Alan (Larry Sullivan) and Tommy (Steve Braun),
throughout a volatile period of time for gay men in America's
history, starting in 1974. It was a time of rotary
phones, typewriters, and wild fashions; when sex parties
were called "scenes,"
pot was the drug of choice, and many people-- gay and straight--
got swept away in overindulgence of many varieties. (One
character asks another, "How was your date?" He
answers, "It
was a disaster!" The friend retorts, "Why, was
he a bottom too?!") It was also a time of political,
social, and sexual revolution which gave rise to such figures
as anti-gay
harpy Anita Bryant. The film takes us along on a journey
toward 1984, when AIDS became the gravest threat to gay
men. "The
Trip" beautifully blends romantic comedy and
drama with historical fact, paying great attention to such
details
as
clothing, music, and pop culture (Alan's mother, in one
scene set in the '70's, says, "We need to be getting
home. Your
father doesn't want to miss 'Kojak!'") But
at the heart of "The Trip" is
the love story: At college in the '70's, dark-haired Alan,
a conservative
Republican and
aspiring journalist, meets blond Tommy, an out and proud
fledgling gay activist. The unlikely pair fall in
love. Unfortunately,
a secret lies beneath the surface. Alan, before becoming
more enlightened about gay rights as well as his own sexuality,
has written a book called "The Straight Truth" which
perpetuates anti-gay stereotypes of the religious right. Four
years later, the book gets published, and the secret that
Alan was the author gets revealed-- effectively damaging
Tommy and
Alan's relationship beyond repair. Years later, Alan
is in a comfortable but not happy relationship with a closeted
older man; he feels "safe," but his soul is dying. He
learns that Tommy is suffering in his own way, and time
is limited. Will Alan and Tommy reunite and make
the titular "trip" to
Mexico that the couple had planned years ago? Alexis
Arquette, as the couple's flamboyant friend Michael, has
many of the movie's funniest lines, although he's rivaled
by the
couple's friend Beverly (Sirina Irwin), who may seem like
just a bubble head blonde (In the early scenes of the movie,
she
seems to have modeled her character from Goldie Hawn in "Laugh
In.") but who actually has a heart of gold. Jill St.
John is incandescent and VERY funny as
Alan's redhead mother, a
lady who's way ahead of her time. "The Trip" is
must-see cinema. It will be released by TLA Releasing
this year. Stay tuned.. and check out "The
Trip" web site,
www.TheTrip-TheMovie.com.
Seen
at the Film Fest: the LIGLFF Programming Committee (Peter
Daly, Marc Slavinsky,
Paul Paquette, Chuck Lang, John Paul
Maginaul, Julia Maresca, and Michael Mulvaney; LIGLFF
Press Liaison Harold O'Brien; Volunteers Larry Hart,
Glenn Hansen,
Nick Montalbano, and Steve Rosenblum; Isaac Steven Vaughan
of Cherry Grove's Grove Hotel,
Bill McCarthy (The Long
Island Gay and Lesbian Switchboard),
Mike D'Antonio, Eva Sanchez (Long
Island Pride Parade),
Marc Carozzo, Joe Coppola, and many guys from the
Suffolk Gay Men's Group. Also seen were the director
of the lesbian favorite short "Bar Talk," Cheryl
Furjanic, and the film's star, Liz Dahmen. Ms.
Dahmen was exceptionally busy that weekend. She
was also at the Gay Life Expo in New York City that weekend,
promoting the glossy new lesbian
Magazine "Go" (Check out www.GoNYCMagazine.com.) Another
filmmaker who was present was Jorge Ameer, director of
the short "Misguided Piss" (yes, you
read that correctly!). The
5 minute film takes place in a men's bathroom-- and the
title says it all! Ameer is also the Executive Director
of the Glitter
Awards, an event which takes place in Hollywood and honors
international gay films. Another of Ameer's films, "The
Singing Forest," was seen by LIGLFF's Michael Mulvaney,
who described the film as "A modern day story of
reincarnation involving two gay lovers in a Nazi Germany
concentration camp. There's
full frontal nudity-- and a happy, if fantastical, ending!" Mulvaney
also adds that "The Singing Forest" uses
graphic images to convey the horrors of the gay holocaust,
a
subject worthy of greater cinematic exploration. Learn
more about Jorge
Ameer's work at www.HollywoodIndependents.com. The
filmmaker later appeared with Stephen Flynn at the Long
Island Eagle in Bay Shore on Friday night for a post-movie party.
 Watching "M.O.
of M.I." ("Modus Operandi of Male Intimacy") gave me an uneasy feeling of what the upcoming gay
cable network may be like after a few years: when, late
at night, the network
may become a dumping ground for gay-themed direct-to-video
B-movies and sex-and-thriller (with emphasis on the
sex) potboilers in the vein of Cinemax' "Red
Shoe Diaries." "M.O.
of M.I." (directed by Susan Turley, US, 2001)
was a big hit at The 2001 Fire Island Film Festival,
voted "Best
Feature Film" by the audience. It played at the
LIGLFF as an morning selection on Sunday, November
17th. The plot
of "M.O. of M.I." concerns a seemingly happy
gay male couple (Michael, 35 [David Stokey]; and Tom,
twenty-something
[Corey Schneider]) in Austin, Texas (yet, oddly,
none of the characters have any trace of a Texas accent.)
whose
lives are turned upside down when a sexy second-rate
performance artist (the kind that give performance
art a bad reputation)
with distractingly blue eyes named Jonathan [David
Christopher] drifts into town. Jonathan's also
a hustler, and he and Michael apparently had something
going on in the past, which
makes Tom start to emotionally unravel. Along
the way, there's a subplot involving a briefcase and
two thugs (who
seem to be the most at-ease actors in the flick!). It's
about halfway through the movie when the plot takes
a VERY strange turn, and we start to question exactly
who's screwing
who (in more ways than one), as well as the true motivations
and intentions of the three men. Secrets are revealed
at shotgun pace. Shot on digital video and blown up
for the big screen, "M.O.
of M.I." bears an unpolished look, and it's obvious
that the three male leads-- as physically appealing
as they are--
are pretty much neophytes in the acting department.
That said, "M.O.
of M.I." gets a lot of mileage from its low budget,
and it's definitely entertaining, even spouting some
unintentionally
funny bits, when "serious" acting turns into
camp: A jilted Michael screams out "I can't believe
I wasted EIGHT MONTHS of my life with you!" (As
if the couple had been together for years), and later,
lamenting his age, has
a Patty Duke-"Valley of the Dolls"-Neely
O'Hara-style hissy fit, screaming out, "I'm THIRTY
FIVE!."The
plot, which its multiple twists and turns, bears more
than just a passing resemblance to the 1998 Matt
Dillon/Neve Campbell/Kevin Bacon thriller "Wild
Things," right
down to the final scene where the REAL antihero escapes
by boat. "M.O. of M.I." is good trashy entertainment. Look
for it either in theaters or, eventually, cable TV--
and have the deep fried junk food ready! Check out
www.MOofMI.com.
The
men and women behind the Long Island Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival work
all year long to make the Festival one of our
most anticipated events. They're always looking for
new volunteers. Let's
make the 2003 Film Fest the best one ever! Check
out www.LIGLFF.org for
more info! See ya there!
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