Father Geek here, Dorothy Parker just sent in her and Nikki's latest report from the AUSTIN GAY & LESBIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL... soooo with no further adieu here's our bar-hopping, darkened screen haunting tag team's third venture into...
Nikki Finn here with another installment from the oh so lavender land of the aGLIFF film festival. First up is a shorts program called SUPERBOYS. Really this set was only bookended by the kind of cartoon action-figure character that the name suggests, but all dealt with themes of fighting against an enemy (though not always the one you'd expect).
The first one was Pimp & Ho: Adventures in Queersploitation (dir. Mark Kenneth Woods 2001 Canada 9 min) follows J Pimp and Honey Ho as they fight to keep the *gayborhood* safe from the drug-dealing, heterosexual Big Daddy. Unfortunately it was hurt by it's low production value, but somehow this only seemed to make the comparison that it was trying to establish to the 1970's blacksploitation films even clearer.
Going West (dir. Michael Mew 2002 Canada 25 min.) is a comic expose of what might be behind today's cookie-cutter urban gay culture. When a smalltown boy moves to the city he gets caught up in a militant gay organization determined to set the standard for a new generation of queers. This one deals with a topic that can be spiky for some: criticism of gay culture and how if you don't fit into the standard *club* role you are not part of the family. It was a little heavy handed and visually enforced many of the ideas that the story was trying to tear down, but was also important as there are so many that feel they are on the fringe of their own society.
hotbod.com (dir. Steven Sprung 2001 USA 13 min.) shows one man's search for the way to change into the muscled hunks that he sees on the computer, thinking that this is the best way for him to meet guys. He feels scrawny and unattractive and he internalizes this to the point that he projects his own inadequate feeling when trying to pick up a guy he likes. This one was perhaps the most touching and felt the most real. There weren't any contrived devices of sarcasm or camp to water down the story. Many people (gay and straight) have not only felt the way the lead character does, but have gone through similar steps as well. It ultimately shows that attraction is mostly about projecting the right attitude.
The Heterosexual Agenda (dir. Mark Kenneth Woods 2001 Canada 12 min.) takes the conservative propaganda films that are still being used to demonize gays and turn them around. It shows what it means to live heterosexually and the consequences this lifestyle. The comedy is light, but their message comes through very clear, as in a scene where we watch two *ex-straights* talking about the danger of their old lifestyle, holding hands in front of a large Madonna calendar.
And then there was the final film, SUPERFAG (dir. Kurt Koehler 2002 USA 24 min.). Our queer hero, Superfag battles homophobia and the evil Professor Peckerhead with the help of his superfriends: Disco Mama, Taco Chick and Salsa Girl. The visuals were sharp and glossy and everything looked to be in super technicolor, just what you would expect from a comic come to life. There were many many references to pop culture, apeing everything from Superman and Batman, to Dynasty and Charlie's Angels. After the screening the director Kurt Koehler said that there were negotiations to turn this into a series, complete with many more heroes, villians and special guest stars, so keep an eye out for those.
There may have been many ghettoized in-jokes but the ideas were ultimately univeral. Whether they were battling comic foes, the demons within or the real life ones out there (Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Fred Phelps) the heroes in Superboys showed that freedom and happiness are still hard fought.
