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Saturday September 17, 2005
riffRAG Presents an Evening
of Queer Music Videos
location:
LE PETIT VERSAILLES
346 East Houston Street (between Avenues B and C)
FREE ADMISSION
7:00pm Reception
8:00pm Screening Bro, the Boss said it best when
he droned, “57
channels and nothing on.” Even the new all gay, all the
time networks Logo and Here cannot satisfy me. Because when I
crave
something other than yet another
documentary about lesbian grandmothers and gay male choruses,
something more light and whimsical, well, where can I turn to?
Not to MTV,
where my desire for masculine bodies can only be quenched by
bloated frat
boys and the T&A belongs to decidedly straight plastic dolls.
Nah, I don’t want any of that. Instead, I crave Lucas Michael’s
subversive camp in LM2, the sweet punk rock crush of Ji-Sung
Kim’s
How Fluttering, and the sexy interaction between a young artfag
and his Life Drawing mentor in Erica Cho’s School
Boy Art.
riffRAG presents an evening
of queer music videos. Although some of these works are not strictly
classified as “music
video,” music
and sound play crucial parts in their narrative, underlining
and enhancing their meaning. They don’t illustrate; they
illuminate.
Films/videos to be screened
(Running time: approx. 55 minutes):
If You Want It (Giles
O’Dell, 6 min., video, 2003)
An animated music video for a Portland-based queer group
that channels Dr. Seuss and births a new kind of nastiness.
(Music
by Scream Club)
LM2 (Lucas Michael, 4 min., video, 2003)
LM2 is a “drag
upon drag” performance of empowerment where
the drag queen becomes the voice (the “real”),
and Liza Minelli becomes my impersonator, being forced to
lipsynch to my voice.
The song‘s meaning, an anthem of survival and optimism
in the face of life’s/love’s obstacles, is thus
usurped by this reversal of roles. (LM) (Music by Lucas Michael)
School
Boy Art (Erica Cho, 12 min., Super 8, 2004)
Franz's
dream is to attend a real art school. He draws religiously
and packs his sketchbook with anatomy studies in preparation
for Portfolio Day. Will the inscrutable Professor pass or
fail him?
This tape highlights
a queer female actor’s performance as an elder male
professor teaching a young queer boy how to draw as a stage
for the student’s
first sexual experience. (EC) (Music by D’Argento) Clay
(A Would Be Ghost Town) (Sara Mithra, 7:30 min., animation, 2005)
To temper the grief of a lost parent, young Emma cultivates
a garden in 1880 New Mexico. She searches her landscape for
Pueblo
artifacts
amidst mining development. Might her companion, Corrine,
unburden her sorrow? This tape examines the loss suffered
by oppressed
groups when
confronted with the alternating drive to preserve endangered
culture (by the scientist) or to ransack the terrain (by
the white settler).
The disappearing frontier ensures the need for (indigenous
or) queer historical reclamation in an atmosphere of grief.
(SM)
(Music by Mirah)
How Fluttering (Ji-Sung Kim,
4 min., Super 8, 2003)
Crushing out and on the run to a punky soundtrack in a Super-8
and animated tale. Yes, love can still be fun. (Music by
Thee Headcoatees)
Agent X: Report (Mishann Lau,
5:30 min., video, 2002)
Trapped in a world of secret agents and operatives, survival
depends on success, and success is a finicky lover. Agent
X: Report is
a glimpse into a world of neo-codewords and disguises as
thick as sunglasses
at night. Shot on mini DV with only available lighting,
Agent X: Report
is a send up of the traditional spy caper meets 80’s
music video with a dash of Hong Kong spice. (Music by navel4eve)
Maybe Never (But I’m Counting the Days) (Nguyen
Tan Hoang, 15 min., video, 1996)
"Maybe Never restages both a multitude of narratives about
the loss of innocence and the changing nature of sexual fantasy and activity
in the age of AIDS….While the question of Asian American
identity is never specifically addressed, Nguyen’s
casting of Asian Americans as the objects of desire, the
creators of fantasy and the participants
in erotic exchanges with one another produces a distinctive
aesthetic which firmly incorporates Asian American bodies,
perspectives and imaginations
within a contemporary sexual landscape of risk, desire,
regret and creativity." –Eve Oishi, "Bad
Asians: New Film and Video by Queer Asian American Artists," Countervisions:
Asian American Film Criticism
7-1-05
After-party Details
$2 open bar (mention riffRAG) 9-10 pm, with the TRAXX radical go-go dancers.
Jigsaw
526 E 11th Street
between A & B
New york, NY
Take the L train to First Ave & 14th Street
Walk 3 blocks south & 1-1/2 blocks east.
Girlsroom
210 Rivington Street
between Pitt and Ridge
New York, NY
From Jigsaw, walk south on Avenue B, then east on Rivington. Or,
take the F train to Delancy Street and walk east on Rivington.
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