QFest
The fifth annual edition of QFest St. Louis presented by TLA Releasing was held Sunday, April 22 - Thursday, April 26, 2012, at the Tivoli Theatre. QFest uses the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the diversity and inherent complexities of living an alternative lifestyle in today's society. This year's event features an eclectic slate of contemporary LGBTQ-themed feature films, documentaries, and shorts. Contact artistic director Chris Clark for details and perks of sponsoring the event or a film: chris@cinemastlouis.org or 314.289.4152
AWARDS: Congratulations to the winners of the 2012 QFest Awards:
Best Feature: CLOUDBURST by Thom Fitzgerald
Best Documentary: VITO by Jeffrey Schwarz
Best Short: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED (TAPE 96) by Drew Stephens
FILMS:
Cloudburst
In this moving comedy, Oscar®-winning actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker play Stella and Dot, an aging couple together for 31 years. Now in their 70s, Stella is hard of hearing and Dot is legally blind. Dot’s prudish granddaughter decides the best place for Dot is a nursing home. In a last-gasp bid to stay together, Stella liberates Dot from the facility. They escape in a battered pickup truck and drive to Nova Scotia on a quest to be legally married.
“4 Pounds” (Josh Levy, Canada, 2010, 8 min.) Scott Thompson (“Kids in the Hall”) stars in this hilarious story of an actor who, over the course of four life-changing weeks, focuses his considerable will on the goal of losing some weight.
“52” (Josh Levy, Canada, 2011, 4 min.) Scott Thompson also stars in this sly short that probes one man’s greatest nightmare: getting old.
LOVE FREE OR DIE: HOW THE BISHOP OF NEW HAMPSHIRE IS CHANGING THE WORLD
“Love Free or Die,” which premiered at Sundance, tells the story of a man whose two defining passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and his love for his partner. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to become an Anglican bishop in the historic traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bulletproof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats every day since. The film follows Robinson’s personal story as both American churches and the nation debate whether or not LGBT people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of God and the law.
JAMIE AND JESSIE ARE NOT TOGETHER
Have you ever fallen in love with your best friend? Jamie (St. Louis native Jax Jackson) is moving from Chicago to New York with the hope of becoming a Broadway actress. Best friend Jessica is bummed because she’s not-so-secretly in love with Jamie. As moving day gets closer, Jessica tries to make Jamie jealous by dating other girls, but her plan backfires in a way she could never imagine. In this touching film, the two young women must figure out how to grow together or how to grow apart. Director Carlton and actor Jackson will attend.
In this romantic comedy, a women’s Bible-study meeting takes an unexpected turn when the members’ true motives are revealed. Director Paro and co-star Cyra Polizzi will attend.
AUGUST
After spending several years in Spain, Troy returns to Los Angeles and decides to phone former lover Jonathan and meet for coffee. A seemingly innocent rendezvous turns into an attempt to revive past passions. Jonathan, however, has a new beau and is trying to make the right decision the second time around.
The fragile romance between two men is threatened by addiction, obsession – and the secret of Tape 96. Director Stephens will attend.
MARY MARIE
In the wake of their mother’s death, sisters Mary and Marie decide to spend a final, idyllic summer in the home where they grew up. The pair is exceptionally close and content to be alone, swimming, exploring, reminiscing and re-creating the golden moments of their youth – their deeply intimate bond growing even stronger. Their insular world is soon disrupted when they meet Peter, a local handyman hired to fix the house before it is sold. Both sisters find themselves drawn to Peter, and over the course of the summer their love triangle escalates to a heartbreaking, near-fatal climax that forces the sisters to reconsider the intensity of their bond. Director Roxo will attend.
NORTH SEA, TEXAS
Teenage boy Pim lives with his mother in a rundown house on a dead-end street on the Belgian coast. As a kid, Pim dreamt of a better life, imagining princesses and beauty queens, but when he turns 16, he dreams of Gino, the boy next door, instead. Ever since they were children, there has been a simmering sexual tension between them. The sensitive and lonely Pim often flees to his dream world to avoid the mockery, humiliations and tiny bits of hope that make up his life. But dreams never come true. Or do they?
GOING DOWN IN LA-LA LAND
In this sexy and outrageously funny look at what an actor will do to succeed as an actor in Hollywood, young, handsome and ambitious Adam moves to LA from New York to pursue his dreams of making it big. He shares an apartment with zany friend Candy, who between auditions obsesses about shoe shopping and finding a wealthy man. After a rocky start as a talent-agency receptionist, Adam lands a promising new job at a production company but he’s soon led down a slippery path filled with washed-up starlets and meth-addled directors. To make ends meet, he almost loses himself in the seamy underworld of gay porn and prostitution.
In this short reminiscent of “The Twilight Zone,” creeping dread inexorably builds into horror on the morning after an unremembered one-night stand.
VITO
In the aftermath of Stonewall, a newly politicized Vito Russo found his voice as a gay activist and critic of LGBT representation in the media. He went on to write “The Celluloid Closet,” the first book to critique Hollywood’s portrayals of gays on screen. Responding to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Russo became a passionate advocate for justice via the newly formed ACT UP before his death in 1990.
JAN’S COMING OUT
Jan Walker was married for 23 years, and while her hubby watched soccer, she discovered “The L Word.” When her husband’s infidelity and a subsequent divorce pave the way for her late adoption of lesbian life, Jan is catapulted her into a new world. Encouraged by her bemused but supportive children, Jan seeks answers from others to help establish her newfound identity. In the film, she meets a host of diverse women – including St. Louis natives Jane Ellen Ibur and Sondra Seiler – and gathers tips and anecdotes from young and old lesbians, couples and singles, and fellow “dykes in training.” Subjects Ibur and Seiler will attend.
Leah, a young Jewish woman, has decided to come out to her parents and nervously expects the worst after telling them the news.
PURPLE SEA
Adapted from the novel “Minchia di Re” by Giacomo Pilati, “Purple Sea” chronicles the forbidden love of two young women in 19th-century Sicily. Angela isn’t like other girls her age: Fearing nothing and nobody, she refuses to hide her feelings for Sara. To maintain the relationship, Angela disguises herself as a man, and the chains that had imprisoned her existence suddenly disappear. Although newly powerful, Angela in her heart never denies her identity as a woman. Challenging the rules of society in order to be together, the women respond to a desire that’s as intense and compelling as only young love can be.
CODEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME
Three female aliens are sent to Earth on a mission to rid themselves of romantic emotions, which are considered toxic to their planet’s atmosphere. They are told to have their hearts broken on Earth, where such heartbreak is considered a given. Two of the aliens, Zylar (promiscuous and sassy) and Barr (codependent and clutchy), fall into an unfortunate romance with each other, but Zoinx, the third, meets Jane, an Earthling who lives an uneventful life and works in a stationery store. Unaware that the object of her affection is an alien, Jane falls hard for Zoinx.
THIS IS WHAT LOVE IN ACTION LOOKS
In the summer of 2005, a 16-year-old from Memphis, Tenn., wrote on his MySpace blog about his parents sending him to a fundamentalist Christian program that attempts to turn gay teens straight. In response, the teen’s local community staged daily protests at the facility, and his story became international news. The documentary features several former clients who tell their personal stories about the time they spent within the program’s walls. Director Fox will attend.
This touching documentary, produced by the Human Rights Campaign as a professional development tool for educators, features students from Massachusetts and Alabama discussing what they know about gay men and lesbians.
FINDING ME: TRUTH
Comfortable with his gayness but saddled with self-esteem issues, sweet, bright-eyed and emotionally vulnerable Faybien (RayMartell Moore) finds his love life put into an emotional spin when his ex returns with an interest in reigniting their relationship. His friends already have their own issues: Reggie’s in love with bisexual, noncommittal Greg; high-strung queen bee Amera is certain her boyfriend is cheating on her; and the always-meddling muscle queen Jay is busy confronting his rough-trade boyfriend’s girlfriend. A memorable cast of African-American actors make this film a fast, touching and furious emotional ride. Actor Moore will attend.
MY BEST DAY
Directed by St. Louis native Erin Greenwell, “My Best Day” is fresh from its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Karen’s life as a Midwestern receptionist is rattled when her estranged father calls for a refrigerator repair. Karen investigates, dragging along the janitor Meagan as a mechanic. In search of her family name, Karen will encounter her father’s recluse buddy sleeping on the couch, a gambling sister, a brother struggling with grade-school heartache and bullies, jail, and, ultimately her true path. Director Greenwell will attend.
QFest St. Louis Sponsors
- Jeffrey T. Fort
- LGBT Community Center of St. Louis
- Moonrise Hotel
- Vital VOICE
