Alabama Moving Image Association (AMIA), the organization that produces the nationally recognized Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, has announced the feature and documentary program line up for the second annual Birmingham SHOUT, a celebration of gay and lesbian films. The inaugural festival attracted over 1300 attendees, and featured a sold out opening night screening.
Opening night will feature THE GYMNAST, winner of nineteen film festival awards, and will take place April 27 at WorkPlay. A special screening of SUFFERING MAN’S CHARITY will be held Saturday night. Twenty-seven films will be screened in WorkPlay’s theatre and soundstage on Saturday and Sunday. A complete schedule is available on the website, www.bhamshout.com. The feature and documentary films scheduled for 2007 Birmingham SHOUT are:
BOB & JACK’S 52 YEAR ADVENTURE (color, 41 minutes), directed by Stu Maddox, is the most compelling documentary yet of a lifelong relationship between two men, how it survived the past 52-years, and how it stays intact through the challenges of growing old gay.
BORN AGAIN (color, 70 minutes) traces director Markie Hancock’s 20-year journey out of the fundamentalist religion she was indoctrinated into as a child. The film encompasses her leaving her faith and family to claim a self and create a new family.
BOY I AM (color, 72 min), directed by Sam Feder and Julie Hollar. While female-to-male transgender visibility has recently exploded in this country, transgender issues in the lesbian community often run into resistance from the many queer women who view transitioning as a “trend” or as an anti-feminist act. This documentary explores the experiences of three young transitioning FTM’s in New York City.
THE BUBBLE (color, 114 minutes, Israel), directed by Eytan Fox, is a story about three young Israelis, two guys and a girl, who share an apartment in Tel Aviv’s hippest neighborhood. Trying to put aside political conflicts and focusing on their lives and loves, these progressive 20-somethings are often accused of living in a sort of escapist bubble.
FAT GIRLS (color, 82 minutes), directed by Ash Christian, is an off-beat coming of age dark comedy that focuses on the relationship between a high school senior, theater-loving Rodney Miller, and his best friend Sabrina who are both considered ‘outcasts’ at their small Texas high school– he for his sexuality and she for her weight. Starring Ash Christian, Jonathan Caouette, Robin De Jesus, and Ashley Fink.
FOUR MINUTES (color, 112 minutes, Germany), directed by Chris Kraus, introduces the story of a young girl named Jenny whose life is over. She killed someone, and she would do it again.
FREEHELD (color, 38 minutes), directed by Cynthia Wade, is a powerful documentary about a woman, Lieutenant Laurel Hester, who is in the last weeks of her life who has only one goal – to leave her hard-earned pension to her life partner Stacie. Without it, Stacie will lose their house. For once the law is not on Laurel’s side and time is running out.
GLORIOUS MAIL (color, 86 min.), directed by JD Evermore, tells a story about a Jewish filmmaker from New York who travels to the small town of Sinnaville, Mississippi for a week to shoot his graduate thesis documentary about a gay antique dealer and community theater actor causing a local and federal controversy with his gay mailbox.
**GLORIOUS MAIL is a world premiere. Filmmakers and cast scheduled to attend.
THE GYMNAST (color, 98 min.), directed by Ned Farr, is his feature debut film about a woman named Jane, a former elite gymnast, who searches to give her life new meaning when confronted with age and infertility. Caught between an overbearing husband and a possessive former teammate, she finds escape in a Cirque du Soleil-type aerial act — and in the arms of another.
**THE GYMNAST is the Opening Night film scheduled Friday April 27 at 8pm.
ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE (color, 83 minutes), directed by Jamie Babbit (BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER), presents the story of Anna, an insecure, apolitical girl who encounters a radical, political art group, falls in love with its leader, Sadie, and transforms from a girl into a woman.
LESBIAN SEX & SEXUALITY (color, 90 minutes), directed by Katherine Linton. In a nation where sexuality in general is taboo, lesbian sex, lust and sexual representation are even more marginalized. By visiting writers, academics and “sexperts,” and going inside sex shops, erotic dance clubs and lesbian-owned porn companies, this three-part series goes beyond mass appeal to find out what really turns on lesbians.
RAINBOW’S END (color, 75 minutes), directed by Jochen Hick and Christian Jentzsch, is a revealing multinational journey from the center to the borders of Europe. From parades and protests in Warsaw and Krakow to touching personal stories with social, religious and political insights, the film documents the experiences of gays and lesbians throughout the world.
RED WITHOUT BLUE (color, 77 minutes), directed by Benita Sills, Todd Sills, and Brooke Sebold, is an artistic and groundbreaking portrayal of gender, identity, and the unswerving bond of identical twins Mark and Alex despite transformation. Today, Mark is attending art school in San Francisco, and Alex is living as a woman named Clair in New York.
ROCK BOTTOM (color, 61 minutes), directed by Jay Corcoran, follows the journeys of seven gay men struggling with meth addiction and recovery against a backdrop of an emerging second wave of HIV infection. From grappling with the drug’s effects on their physical and mental health to wrestling with their darkest sexual desires, ROCK BOTTOM delivers a chilling portrait of a community in crisis.
SEMPER FI (color, 73 minutes), directed by Vince DiPersio, is the story of Jeff Key, a gay marine from Parrish, Alabama, and his crisis of conscience while serving in Iraq.
**SEMPER FI is the Closing Night film and a world premiere, and is scheduled Sunday, April 29 at 7:30pm. Jeff Key is scheduled to attend.
SUFFERING MAN’S CHARITY (color, 92 minutes), directed by Alan C*****g, presents the story of John Vandermark, a failed composer turned music teacher with a weakness for taking in impoverished young men of great aspirations. When John discovers his latest visionary has simply been using him, he turns the tables on his young tenant in an effort to make him work off his rent debt. Starring Alan C*****g, David Boreanaz, Anne Heche, Carrie Fisher, Jane Lynch, Henry Thomas, and Karen Black.
