Already 5 days into Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival we are taking a look at what it still to come for this 2nd weekend. As there always in this the second longest-running film festival of its kind, there is a whole range of queer cinematic treats : from award-winning international feature films to social documentaries to experimental shorts,
Like every LGBTQ Festival this year Reeling’s Program is streaming Virtual Online with every film available for a 2-3 day period. It means you do not have to go to Chicago to enjoy any of the movies BUT you do have to live in Illinois to access the streaming platform.
Here then are
QUEERGURU''s PICK of
UNMISSABLE MOVIES
in the Rest of The Fest
AHEAD OF THE CURVE: This is the story of a very determined 23 year old gambler who always won. First on the horses which filled her pockets with money, and then on the magazine she started with the proceeds. This was the birth of Deneuve which later morphed into Curve became the biggest selling lesbian magazine in the world, and the very first one to put the word ‘lesbian’ on the front. Now 30 years later this fascinating documentary on the powerhouse queer activist and the magazine’s founder Frances ‘Franco’ Stevens comes to the screen as a compelling part of LGBTQ history to date.
A SKELETON IN THE CLOSET: Argentinan filmmaker Nicolás Teté wrote/directed/produced this delightful rom-com that is a real family drama too. Manuel (Facundo Gambandé) has come back home with two things in mind : celebrate his parents wedding anniversary, and also ask them for money so he can move to Denmark with his boyfriend. What wasn’t on the agenda was falling on love with his old high school teacher
GALORE : so we will confess we are great admirers for old-school drag queens who have learnt their craft by spending years entertaining us in bars big and small and not all ways top draw. This is the story of one of them the disarmingly charming .Sander den Baas aka Lady Galore who is something of a national treasure in Holland but who is at a crossroads in her life .She is having to deal with health issues which has the possibility of her having to stop performing. Directed by twin brothers Lazlo and Dylan Tonk. Grab a box of Kleenex for this one.
LUZ : Portland based filmmaker JON GARCIA has followed up his highly successful FALLS TRILOGY of movies with yet another exceptional queer love story . This time however he has moved on from Mormons to Mexican Mafia. It’s the story of Ruben ERNESTO REYES)has a job driving for his Mafiosa cousin Julio (REGA LUPO) taking his girls back and forth to ‘work’. However Ruben falls for one of them and gets so drunk with her that he crashes the car killing her outright. It lands him in Correction Center and reluctantly having to share a cell with a very threatening Carlos (JESSE TAYEH). Being the new kid on the block Ruben is given a rough time by all the other inmates, but slowly Carlos lightens up and becomes his prison mentor. Not long after that their new friendship develops and they actually end up as lovers.
MINYAN is a gentle coming-out film about a 17 year struggling with both his sexuality and his Jewish faith. and is the debut feature from queer filmmaker ERIC STEEL It has a great deal of charm., andwe loved both the subtlety and the slow pace. It’s a wonderfully wee tale ….…and should we mention how very hot and authentic the scenes of intimacy are too?
NO HARD FEELINGS: Parvis with his bleached blonde hair has never acclimated to the small northern German city Hildesheim like his middle-class supermarket-owning parents. He still yearns for the life he left behind in Tehran, which is surprising as a gay man, life couldn’t have been a bed of roses. When he gets arrested for shoplifting and given 120 hours of community service in a refugees camp, it all turns into a beautiful queer story or race, belonging and love
PIER KIDS: ELEGANCE BRATTON’S compelling documentary on the homeless LGBTQ kids of color that center their lives around the piers in NY’s Greenwich village has been years in the making. He started filming in 2011 and shot footage up until 2016 by when some of the kids had grown up, and a few had sadly died, but most of the scene had essentially remained unchanged.
Bratton’s own story accounts for the movie’s authenticity for as an African/American gay teenager he had been kicked out of his home when he ‘came out’ and had lived on the streets for the next few years. However he starts his film pointing out the sobering facts that he, and the pier kids, are hardly alone. Of the 2 Million homeless youth, over 50% of them identify as LGBTQ, and then 40% of that total are people of color.
EYTAN FOX the ‘father’ of Israeli queer cinema that helmed such classic dramas as ‘YOSSI & JAEGER‘ and ‘THE BUBBLE’ seems to be mellowing with age, with this heart-touching romance SUBLET.
This is Fox’s first film in English and stars JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY as Michael a 55 year old New York Times travel writer visiting Tel Aviv to research his latest article. When he arrives at his AirBnB he discovers that the 25 year owner (NIV NISSIM)) is still in residence and both men surprise themselves with what comes next.
THE CAPOTE TAPES : Capote was a singular figure in the 20th century. He presented himself unapologetically on television at a time when most gay men took pains to avoid scrutiny. His books Breakfast at Tiffany’s and ‘IN COLD BLOOD’ were bestsellers and critical darlings Now The Capote Tapes delivers a fresh portrait that reinvigorates our understanding of this vital writer. Among the film’s revelations are newly discovered tapes of interviews that The Paris Review co-founder George Plimpton conducted with Capote’s friends after his death. They are interwoven with Capote’s notorious television appearances and insightful interviews with the likes of Dick Cavett
To see the Full Film Schedule and how to book and stream the films https://reelingfilmfestival.org/2020/ for FULL REVIEWS of these movies and over 1200 other LGBTQ Films www.queerguru.com
