Wednesday, November 22, 2006

• Fight Club
  A defining characteristic of our collective identity - queer politics has taken us from Stonewall to Act Up to the current debate on gay marriage. These videos don't tackle straightforward issues, but they do capture the essence and sensibility of being political and assure us that activism is alive and well and, ultimately, still worth the fight.
  
  
  • Don't let the system get you down... Cheer up!
    (Jennifer Nedbalsky, USA, 2004, video, 13 min.)
    Documenting the vibrant movement of radical cheerleading at one of its most exciting moments, this video follows the radical pro-choice cheerbloc contingent to the 2004 March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C.
    
    
  • White(ness)
    (Mark Kenneth Woods, Canada, 2005, video, 2 min.)
    A visual essay on the cultural construction of race, power and privilege.
    
    
  • Jean Genet in Chicago
    (Frédéric Moffet, Canada, English and French w/ English Subtitles, 2006, video, 25 min.)
    A queer rewriting of the events surrounding the 1968 National Democratic Convention from the point of view of the French writer Jean Genet.
    
    
  • In the Wrong Place (Bamakom Halo Nachon)
    (Tamar Singer & Ma'yan Rogel, Israel, Hebrew and Dutch w/ English Subtitles, 2005, video, 37 min.)
    Documentary of a cinematographer who decides to leave Israel, after ending a failing relationship, to join the 'Squats' community in Amsterdam. An experimental video incorporating two languages.
    
    
  • Kanbrik (Or Allah's Outcast)
    (Hervé Joseph Lebrun, France, Arabic w/ English Subtitles, 2005, video, 8 min.)
    A young man thinks about his dead lover. The landscape and the muezzin chant give rhythm to this parable of vanished desire.
    
    

• Positively Naked
  (Arlene Donnelly Nelson & David Nelson, USA, 2004, video, 38 min.)
  
  85 HIV+ souls, no apologies, no clothes. Positively Naked captures a photo session by renowned artist Spencer Tunick as he creates one of his nude photographic installations for the 10-year anniversary cover of POZ magazine. A diverse group come together in a Manhattan deli to shed their clothes, their inhibitions and the stigma attached to their HIV status.
  
  Intimate interviews reveal the emotions of the participants. For many, this is the first public statement of their status and the camaraderie between them is moving - men and women, straight and gay, healthy and ill. When Tunick begins the photo shoot, the film shifts into something powerful and emotionally raw that celebrates the preciousness of life and the transformative power of art.
  
  
• Combat
  (Patrick Carpentier, Belgium, French w/ English Subtitles, 2006, video, 56 min.)
  
  Two men go into the woods to fight. They are lovers. They are brutal. They are tender. They throw punches with the intent to hurt, but they do so willingly and passionately. No one is victorious in these battles.
  
  Award-winning director Patrick Carpentier takes us into the very depth of a relationship that is both erotic and disturbing. The viewers are forced to ask themselves: How far would they go to express the true nature of passion? Is it possible to reach the end of desire? How can we let go in a world in which we are taught not to let ourselves be pushed around? At what point do pain and pleasure become one? Above all, this is a film about the fear of abandonment and how we act to avoid it, no matter what the cost.
  
  Winner of the Teddy Jury Award at this year's Berlinale, Combat is an emotional and provocative piece that will challenge and reward the viewer in equal measures.