Another Wave: Global Queer Cinema, Part Two
September 1–16, 2006

Part Two concludes the series that brings together a broad palette of international Queer Cinema produced since the late 1980s—a wide range of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender film and media from North America and Western Europe, as well as less-available works from sub-Sahara Africa, India, Thailand, Holland, Bolivia, Mexico, Spain, and China. This new wave of queer filmmakers investigates cinematic form in relationship to the complexities of their sexual identities and the world in which they live, and continues to query the possibilities of film and media aesthetics.

Organized by Charles Silver, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Media; David A. Gerstner, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, CUNY, College of Staten Island and author of Manly Arts: Masculinity and Nation in Early American Cinema; Jim Hubbard, filmmaker, curator, and archivist; Thomas Beard, Program Director, Ocularis. Special thanks to Mahen Bonetti, Ann Butler, V. J. Carbone, S. Leo Chiang, Tom Chomont, Nelson Gonzalez, Stephen Kent Jusick, Abina Manning, Ralph McKay, Olivia Newman, Brent Phillips, William Phuan, Cordelia Swann, Dorothy Thigpen, Basil Tsiokos, Debra Zimmerman; and for the loan of prints, First Run Features, Sneak Preview Entertainment, Strand Releasing, Zeitgeist, Miramax, Swank, Water Bearer Films, New Zealand Film Commission, and the individual artists.

See the screening schedule for Another Wave: Global Queer Cinema, Part One

New York Long Distance. 1994. France. Directed by Yann Beauvais. A stroboscopic autobiography about a metropolis remembered, and the death that haunts it. 9 min.
I Like You, I Like You Very Much. 1994. Japan. Directed by Hiroyuki Oki. Filmed in the port city of Kochi, Oki’s first narrative feature offers a rare depiction of small-town gay life in Japan. In Japanese, English subtitles. 58 min.
Friday, September 1, 6:00; Monday, September 4, 2:00. T2

Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia. 1989. Germany. Directed by Ulrike Ottinger. Ottinger’s epic traces a fantastic encounter between two different worlds. Seven Western women travelers meet aboard the sumptuous Trans-Siberian Express, meticulously reconstructed by Ottinger. Dubbed a lesbian Lawrence of Arabia and just as sweepingly romantic, the film is a grandly entertaining, unforgettable journey. In German, English subtitles. 165 min.
Friday, September 1, 7:45; Saturday, September 2, 4:00. T2

Forbidden Fruit. 2000. Germany/Zimbabwe. Directed by Sue Maluwa Bruce, Beate Kunath, Yvonne Zuckmantel. Breaking long held taboos about sexual identity and lesbian love in African society. 30 min.
Woubi Cheri. 1998. France/Ivory Coast. Directed by Philip Brooks, Laurent Bocahut. Woubi Cheri is considered the first documentary film to give African homosexuals a chance to describe their world in their own words and to demand their right to construct a distinct African homosexuality. In French, English subtitles. 62 min.
Saturday, September 2, 2:00; Sunday, September 3, 4:30. T2

The Salivation Army. 2002. Canada. Directed by Scott Treleavan. What starts as a zine to rally restless queer punks becomes something decidedly more sinister in this study of the perils of initiation and brotherhood, scars included. 22 min.
Making Maps. 2001. Taiwan. Directed by Chun-Hui Wu. Soaked in semen and blood (some real, some fake), this curious amalgam explores the “psycho-geographies” of urban landscapes, faded porn, and boyhood ritual. 19 min.
Sea in the Blood. 2000. Canada. Directed by Richard Fung. This personal documentary—titled after the literal translation of thalassemia, a rare blood disease—reflects on family, migration, and what it means to live with illness. 26 min. Program 67 min.
Saturday, September 2, 7:30; Sunday, September 3, 6:30. T2

Madame Satã. 2002. Brazil. Directed by Karim Ainouz. With Lazaro Ramos. An extraordinary portrait of the triumphs and tragedies of an explosive and paradoxical personality. João Francisco dos Santos (1900–1976; aka Madame Satã), born to slaves and sold by his mother at the age of seven, pursues his freedom on the mean streets of Lapa, Rio de Janeiro. In Portuguese, English subtitles. 105 min.
Sunday, September 3, 1:30; Wednesday, September 6, 8:30. T2

Bomgay. 1996. India. Directed by Riyad Vinci Wadia with Jangu Sethna. Based on R. Raj Rao’s poetry, Bomgay presents six short vignettes about being gay and struggling to establish an identity in contemporary India. 11 min.
The Old Testament. 2002. China. Directed by Cui Zi’en. One of the first openly gay Chinese underground films, The Old Testament offers a rare glimpse at gay life behind communist borders. Through biblical references, three vignettes explore sexuality, homophobia, and AIDS. In Mandarin, English subtitles. 75 min.
Monday, September 4, 4:00; Sunday, September 10, 6:00. T2

Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamás acabarás de ser amor (A Thousand Peace Clouds Encircle the Sky). 2003. Mexico. Directed by Juliàn Hernández. With Umberto Juan Carlos Ortuño, Juan Carlos Torres. A gay teenager roams the barren and dreamlike streets of Mexico City in search of someone who might reveal the secret hidden between the lines of a good-bye letter from his ex-lover. In Spanish, English subtitles. 83 min.
Thursday, September 7, 6:00; Saturday, September 9, 2:00. T2

Beso Nocturno (Night Kiss). 2000. Canada/Mexico. Directed by Boris Rodriguez. After witnessing the horrible death of his girlfriend, Diego is approached by a lonely woman to provide sexual services to her dying husband—and later suffers his own tragic fate. In Spanish, English subtitles. 14 min.
Dependencia sexual (Sexual Dependency). 2003. Bolivia/USA. Directed by Rodrigo Bellott. With Alexandra Aponte, Roberto Urbina. A group of young people who have nothing in common except the desire to experience intimacy become entangled in sexual dependencies, self-perceptions, and illusions of sexuality and desire. In English and Spanish, English subtitles. 105 min.
Thursday, September 7, 8:00; Saturday, September 9, 6:00 (introduced by Boris Rodriguez). T2

Venus of Mars. 2003. USA. Directed by Emily Goldberg. With Venus DeMars, Lynette Reini-Grandell. Venus of Mars is both a coming-out story and a contemporary love story. On stage, wearing a vinyl corset and stiletto boots, s/he’s Venus, lead singer of the glam rock band All The Pretty Horses. At home in Minneapolis with Lynette, his/her wife of twenty years, s/he’s Steve. Born male, Venus is transgender and “in between,” taking female hormones, but not planning to have sexual reassignment surgery. 105 min.
Friday, September 8, 6:00 (introduced by the filmmaker); Sunday, September 10, 3:30. T2

You 2. 2001. Holland. Directed by Pascale Simmons. With Chanella Hodges, Helen Kamperveen. A mother-daughter relationship is complicated by the daughter’s coming out. In Dutch, English subtitles. 22 min.
Sévigné. 2005. Spain. Directed by Marta Balletbò-Coll. With Anna Azcona, Balletbò-Coll. Marina, a TV editor hoping to produce a play about French socialite Madame de Sévigné and Sévigné’s obsession with her daughter, sends her script to Julia Berkowitz, a former actress turned theater director. When Julia accepts the script for production, she finds herself in a rewriting process with Marina that includes the drama of theater politics and romance. In Catalan and Spanish, English subtitles. 82 min.
Friday, September 8, 8:30 (introduced by art director Toni Martin); Monday, September 11, 6:00. T2

Zero Degrees of Separation. 2005. Canada. Directed by Elle Flanders. Selim and Samira, both Palestinian, are respectively in love with Israelis Ezra and Edit. The couples, caught in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, prevail through gentle humanity and mutual respect. Flanders uses home movies and interweaves her own narrative of growing up with Zionist grandparents. 90 min.
Saturday, September 9, 4:00; Sunday, September 10, 1:30. (Both screenings introduced by the filmmaker). T2

SIDA/AIDS
While AIDS is a worldwide social and political crisis, some of the most powerful films about AIDS are very personal works. Expressed within a cultural and national context, personal films become localized, particular, poignant, and revealing. 
SIDA/AIDS. 1992. France. Jennifer Burford. 5 min.
Cling Film. 1993. Great Britain. Anna Thew. 20 min.
Positiv. 1997. Canada. Mike Hoolboom. 10 min.
Peter Fucking Wayne Fucking Peter. 1994. Canada. Wayne Yung. 5 min.
Holding Steady without Screaming. 1995. USA. James Wentzy. 12 min.
Sometimes My Feet Go Numb. 1996. USA. Lourdes Portillo. 2 min.
Aide Mémoire. 1995. Germany. Michael Brynntrup. 15 min.
Viva Eu! 1990. Brazil. Tania Cypriano. 18 min.
Program 87 min.
Monday, September 11, 8:30; Wednesday, September 13, 6:00. T2

Cross-Cultural Jam
What does it mean to have a gay identity and to not be a member of the dominant culture? From myriad vantage points, these filmmakers look at notions of home, transience, sexual tourism, and national and immigrant identity. The films explore the complexities of being an African American lesbian, Jewish in Canada and Great Britain, Chinese in Canada, and Vietnamese in America.
Paixão Nacional. 1996. Brazil. Karim Ainouz. 9 min.
Rootless Cosmopolitans. 1990. Great Britain. Ruth Novaczek. 15 min.
1919. 1997. Canada. Noam Gonick. 8 min.
Intro to Cultural Skit-Zo-Frenia. 1993. USA. Jamika Ajalon. 10 min.
Salamander. 1994. Great Britain. Tanya Syed. 14 min.
Pirated! 1999. USA. Nguyen Tan Hoang. 11 min.
Via New York. 1995. Kenya/USA. Kagendo Murungi. 9 min.
First Year. 1996. USA. Trac Vu. 7 min.
Banana Boy. 2003. Canada. Samuel Chow. 7 min.
Fine China. 1998. Canada. Ho Tam. 8 min.
Program 98 min.
Wednesday, September 13, 8:15; Thursday, September 14, 6:00. T2

Memento Mori: Films by Jim Hubbard
Hubbard’s films are a queer mixture of painterly filmmaking with an intense interest in political engagement. He hand-processes his films, creating an expressionistic surface, often with a jewel-like radiance that cinematically transforms gay marches and drag queens. The films explore the public faces of individual homosexuals, while navigating the confluence of revealed desire and community action.
Elegy in the Streets. 1989. Silent. 29 min.
Two Marches. 1991. 8 min.
The Dance. 1992. 8 min.
Memento Mori. 1995. 17 min.
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. Work in progress. 10 min.
Program 72 min.
Thursday, September 14, 8:15; Friday, September 15, 6:00. (Both screenings introduced by the filmmaker.) T2

Un Año sin amor (A Year without Love). 2005. Argentina. Directed by Anahi Berneri. Pablo, a young writer stricken by AIDS and fearing death, begins a personal diary. Seeking to ease his suffering, Pablo sets off in search of love. He falls in with people who introduce him to sadomasochistic sexual practices and leather fetishism, and finds a way to eroticize his pain and tame his inner demons. In Spanish, English subtitles. 95 min.
Friday, September 15, 8:00; Saturday, September 16, 2:00. T2