OUTFEST FUSION is an annual celebration of the rich heritage of the LGBTQ individuals that populate greater Los Angeles. The films and TV shows that screen at Fusion showcase the stories of queer communities of color, including African, African American, Asian diaspora and Latinx perspectives as well as many other cultural identities. The festival enables Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Genderqueer people of color to see themselves on the big screen, often for the very first time – a powerful and validating experience that underscores the universality of our lived experiences.
Here then are QUEERGURU’S Picks of The Must-See Films over the weekend:
LINGUA FRANCA NY based Filipino trans filmmaker ISOBEL SANDOVAL’s heart-wrenching third feature film is sadly one of those tales of the moment that seem like they can never end well.
Its the story of Olivia (played by Sandoval) who is an undocumented Filipino caregiver who looks after Olga an elderly Russian Jewish women in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The irony of the situation is that Olga and her late husband had landed In the US themselves some decades ago in very similar circumstances as Olivias
This is not the story of Sandoval’s own life, but she is however in a position to relate to it personally and so adds a real sense of authenticity to it. It’s a very downbeat drama that seems to deliberately avoid giving even a hint of optimism and hope, yet somehow Sandoval draws us in and keeps us invested until the very end.
EL PRINCIPE aka The Prince, the directing debut of filmmaker SEBASTIÁN MUÑOZ is one of most homoerotic prison movies we have seen for some time, and it bears the influences of other queer movies of that genre. The main difference of this tale set in ALLENDE’S CHILE in the 1970s is that young Jaime ( JUAN CARLOS MALDONADO) ….. who is given the nickname The Prince …. is actually happy to be in jail.
Muñoz wrote the script with LUIS BARRALES adapting a novel by MARIO CRUZ, and it is an immensely powerful and engrossing coming-of-age, the like of which we’ve never seen before. Whilst it hardly glorified homosexuality, it certainly normalized these relationships which made a rather grim prison life easier to bear.
DRIVEWAYS For his sophomore feature film director ANDREW AHN took a great leap from his award-winning debut. SPA NIGHT was an exceptional coming-out story of a young KOREAN/AMERICAN man who was confused at having a foot in different cultures and as such Ahn’s sympathetic and nuanced tale was a refreshing take on it all.
Driveways is the tale of Kathy (HONG CHAU) a Korean/American single mother and her about-to-be 9 year old son Cody (LUCAS JAYE) who has to drive across country to deal with her recently dead sister’s house. The siblings had been estranged for years and in fact had hadn’t known each other as adults, so what awaits Kathy is a dreadful shock.
Driveways is a very different coming-of-age story with Cody finding out where he belongs and at the same time helping his mother come to the same realisation. The bond between them is not only very tight but contains this remarkable respect for each other that helps make this story so much more compelling
BREAKING FAST Writer/director MIKE MOSALLAM’S enchanting debut feature, is part queer romantic comedy and part tutorial on the ups and downs of being a gay Arab Muslim living in West Hollywood. Somehow the two are a good fit, so it makes us feel good that love (eventually) conquers all and we’ve learnt something new too.
Mosallam said that his intention was to tell a story that speaks to the nuances of daily life and treats identity: religious, sexual, gender and otherwise, as harmonious lenses by which individuals interact with the world. He did that and make them fall in love too.
MOSQUITA Y MARI is a cute latino coming-of-age story from 2012. Set in L.A.’s predominately immigrant Huntington Park area it tells of two Mexican teenage girls who become neighbors. One of them Yolanda, who’s nickname is Mosquita, is a ‘good’ girl who lives in a nice home with hard-working pushy parents who are proud of their daughter who gets straight A’s at school and who is on track for college. Mari, the other girl is a toughie living with a younger sister who she looks out for, and her mum, and as the family are undocumented aliens work is hard to come by and they are so broke that they always on the edge of being evicted.
On Mari’s first day at High School she is assigned to be Yolanda’s study mate, and at first they do not hit it off at all as they appear to be complete opposites. But then a friendship blossoms and later to the confusion of both girls it is on the cusp of developing into something much deeper than that.
OUTFEST FUSION
Friday, March 6 – Tuesday, March 10,
https://outfest.org/fusion2020/
P.S. for the full reviews of the movies above and over 1000 more LGBTQ films https:// queerguru.com
