Pride nears; queer film festivals showcase exciting new work and make decision on controversial film
It’s summertime, and for the queers, that means many things. Chief among them are Pride celebrations, all through June. Cool gatherings to share and build community are our film festivals, designed to showcase the work of our own, and to disseminate the many facets that make us queer and fabulous. In New York City, NewFest runs from May 31 thru June 10. My newest film, BRO CRUSH, is set to screen on Saturday June 9, at 3:30pm, in the GENDER REDESIGNER program. Other highlights include Taiwanese feature film SPIDER LILLIES, the long-awaited return of Pratibha Parmar with romantic comedy NINA'S HEAVENLY DELIGHTS, and HOOKS TO THE LEFT, the latest from NewFest alum Todd Verow. For a detailed film schedule, check out: www.newfest.org.
In San Francisco, the Frameline film festival (www.frameline.org) found itself in a bit of controversy regarding its scheduled screening of the film THE GENDERCATOR by Catherine Crouch.
Crouch’s summary and director’s statement about her film are taken from her website (www.catherinecrouch.com). They follow:
“The Gendercator is a short satirical take on female body modification and gender. The story uses the ‘Rip van Winkle’ model to extrapolate from the past into a possible future.
In 1973 a group of hippie women are celebrating Billie Jean King’s victory over Bobby Riggs. They are partying in the rural woods outside of Bloomington, Indiana. Our heroine Sally is a simple minded, sporty type who overindulges at the party and passes out under a tree. Sally wakes up 75 years later in 2048 to discover (amongst other social changes) that feminism has failed utterly and completely. Sex roles and gender expression are rigidly binary and enforced by law and social custom. When Sally rejects the feminine hairdo and short skirt she is given, the doctor at the emergency room calls in the ‘Gendercator’, a government official who informs Sally that butch women and sissy boys are no longer tolerated – gender variants are allowed to chose their gender, but they must chose one and follow its rigid constraints.
Sally is baffled by this brave new world. All she wants is to ‘do her own thing’ – but her own thing is no more. Sally is a simple-minded stoner, indoctrinated into 70s feminism. She is no poster girl or freedom fighter, just a gentle tomboy dropped into the future with a tendency to respond in slogans such as ‘sisterhood is powerful’.
Nurse Nancy locates some of Sally’s former friends – they are 100 now, but because of advances in the medical profession (cloning spare parts), they are still healthy and thriving. The friends tell Sally they heard she moved to California and that’s why they never looked for her. One of her friends appears to be a man and tells Sally, ‘They made me do it. They’ll make you too.’ They explain to Sally that in the early 2000s the evangelical Christians took over the government and legislated their strict family values, legally sanctioning only ‘one man, one woman’ couples. Advances in sex reassignment surgery have made it possible to honor an individual’s choice of gender AND government policy. Sally is comfortable in the middle of the genders, an unacceptable choice in 2048.
Director’s Note
Things are getting very strange for women these days. More and more often we see young heterosexual women carving their bodies into porno Barbie dolls and lesbian women altering themselves into transmen. Our distorted cultural norms are making women feel compelled to use medical advances to change themselves, instead of working to change the world. This is one story, showing one possible scary future. I am hopeful that this story will foster discussion about female body modification and medical ethics.”
After many in the transgender community protested objected to Frameline’s proposed showing of the film, the festival decided not to screen it. In Frameline’s words:
“FRAMELINE REACHES DECISION REGARDING THE FILM THE GENDERCATOR
5/22/2007
After considerable dialogue with members of the transgender community and after careful consideration of the issues raised by Catherine Crouch’s film The Gendercator, Frameline has decided not to screen The Gendercator in Frameline31. Given the nature of the film, the director’s comments, and the strong community reaction to both, it is clear that this film cannot be used to create a positive and meaningful dialogue within our festival. We are grateful to the many Frameline members, filmmakers and Transgender community leaders who brought this issue to our attention and assisted Frameline’s senior staff in making this important decision.
We are deeply committed to promoting the work of transgender filmmakers and films about transgender issues. Frameline Distribution distributes over twenty transgender themed films and over one third of our free monthly Frameline at the Center screenings have been transgender themed. Through the Frameline Completion Fund, we have given funding to the following films: The Brandon Teena Story, Southern Comfort, A Boy Named Sue, By Hook Or By Crook, Screaming Queens: The Riot At Compton's Cafeteria, Red Without Blue, The Believers, Cruel & Unusual, F. Scott Fitzgerald Slept Here, and Maggots And Men.
Frameline has partnered with Female-to-Male International in jointly sponsoring screenings of transgender films for our community and the public. We have enjoyed our association with Frameline and welcome their timely and community-minded response to the concern we expressed on this issue,’ stated Rabbi Levi Alter, President of FTM International. ‘We look forward to continuing our partnership with Frameline to present films of interest by, for and about the transgender community.’
Frameline’s Board of Directors and staff are proud of our work with and on behalf of our Transgender community members. Going forward, we will continue working with the community to further our own education and encourage more discussion and understanding within the filmmaking community as a whole. Again, we thank all of our community members for respectfully expressing their concerns and we look forward to sharing our ideas and expanding our partnerships.”
Incidentally, NewFest will be screening THE GENDERCATOR on June 2 and 4. A more predictable venue for it will be the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, In August.
In San Francisco, the Frameline film festival (www.frameline.org) found itself in a bit of controversy regarding its scheduled screening of the film THE GENDERCATOR by Catherine Crouch.
Crouch’s summary and director’s statement about her film are taken from her website (www.catherinecrouch.com). They follow:
“The Gendercator is a short satirical take on female body modification and gender. The story uses the ‘Rip van Winkle’ model to extrapolate from the past into a possible future.
In 1973 a group of hippie women are celebrating Billie Jean King’s victory over Bobby Riggs. They are partying in the rural woods outside of Bloomington, Indiana. Our heroine Sally is a simple minded, sporty type who overindulges at the party and passes out under a tree. Sally wakes up 75 years later in 2048 to discover (amongst other social changes) that feminism has failed utterly and completely. Sex roles and gender expression are rigidly binary and enforced by law and social custom. When Sally rejects the feminine hairdo and short skirt she is given, the doctor at the emergency room calls in the ‘Gendercator’, a government official who informs Sally that butch women and sissy boys are no longer tolerated – gender variants are allowed to chose their gender, but they must chose one and follow its rigid constraints.
Sally is baffled by this brave new world. All she wants is to ‘do her own thing’ – but her own thing is no more. Sally is a simple-minded stoner, indoctrinated into 70s feminism. She is no poster girl or freedom fighter, just a gentle tomboy dropped into the future with a tendency to respond in slogans such as ‘sisterhood is powerful’.
Nurse Nancy locates some of Sally’s former friends – they are 100 now, but because of advances in the medical profession (cloning spare parts), they are still healthy and thriving. The friends tell Sally they heard she moved to California and that’s why they never looked for her. One of her friends appears to be a man and tells Sally, ‘They made me do it. They’ll make you too.’ They explain to Sally that in the early 2000s the evangelical Christians took over the government and legislated their strict family values, legally sanctioning only ‘one man, one woman’ couples. Advances in sex reassignment surgery have made it possible to honor an individual’s choice of gender AND government policy. Sally is comfortable in the middle of the genders, an unacceptable choice in 2048.
Director’s Note
Things are getting very strange for women these days. More and more often we see young heterosexual women carving their bodies into porno Barbie dolls and lesbian women altering themselves into transmen. Our distorted cultural norms are making women feel compelled to use medical advances to change themselves, instead of working to change the world. This is one story, showing one possible scary future. I am hopeful that this story will foster discussion about female body modification and medical ethics.”
After many in the transgender community protested objected to Frameline’s proposed showing of the film, the festival decided not to screen it. In Frameline’s words:
“FRAMELINE REACHES DECISION REGARDING THE FILM THE GENDERCATOR
5/22/2007
After considerable dialogue with members of the transgender community and after careful consideration of the issues raised by Catherine Crouch’s film The Gendercator, Frameline has decided not to screen The Gendercator in Frameline31. Given the nature of the film, the director’s comments, and the strong community reaction to both, it is clear that this film cannot be used to create a positive and meaningful dialogue within our festival. We are grateful to the many Frameline members, filmmakers and Transgender community leaders who brought this issue to our attention and assisted Frameline’s senior staff in making this important decision.
We are deeply committed to promoting the work of transgender filmmakers and films about transgender issues. Frameline Distribution distributes over twenty transgender themed films and over one third of our free monthly Frameline at the Center screenings have been transgender themed. Through the Frameline Completion Fund, we have given funding to the following films: The Brandon Teena Story, Southern Comfort, A Boy Named Sue, By Hook Or By Crook, Screaming Queens: The Riot At Compton's Cafeteria, Red Without Blue, The Believers, Cruel & Unusual, F. Scott Fitzgerald Slept Here, and Maggots And Men.
Frameline has partnered with Female-to-Male International in jointly sponsoring screenings of transgender films for our community and the public. We have enjoyed our association with Frameline and welcome their timely and community-minded response to the concern we expressed on this issue,’ stated Rabbi Levi Alter, President of FTM International. ‘We look forward to continuing our partnership with Frameline to present films of interest by, for and about the transgender community.’
Frameline’s Board of Directors and staff are proud of our work with and on behalf of our Transgender community members. Going forward, we will continue working with the community to further our own education and encourage more discussion and understanding within the filmmaking community as a whole. Again, we thank all of our community members for respectfully expressing their concerns and we look forward to sharing our ideas and expanding our partnerships.”
Incidentally, NewFest will be screening THE GENDERCATOR on June 2 and 4. A more predictable venue for it will be the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, In August.
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