Frameline42: Everything you need to see at the San Francisco’s international LGBTQ festival
Frameline42 is the San Francisco International LGBTQ festival and it starts today, in you guessed it, San Francisco! The festival is entering it’s 42nd year and continues to go from strength to strength. Director of Exhibitions and Programming, Paul Struthers announced the program by proclaiming, “I’m thrilled with this years diverse and enriching slate that our exceptional programming team has curated.” The festival will be showing over 150 films from over 30 countries so, what’s on? As you might imagine with a festival that runs for 10 days (14th to 24th June) there’s a lot happening! Here’s some of the highlights we have to look forward to.
Featured Films
TransMilitary
The opening night documentary looks at the biggest employer of Trans people in America – the military. More than 15,000 active transgender military personnel face uncertainty as the commitment to the country they have made is now in peril and they are now actively threatened with a transgender ban. Filmmakers Fiona Dawson and Gabriel Silverman bring us vividly into the epicenter of the battle in this captivating, emotionally charged documentary.
Retablo
This Friday night you can catch Peruvian writer-director Álvaro Delgado Aparicio’s acclaimed debut feature film Retablo, which examines the relationship between a father and his young son in the mountains of Peru after the father discovers his sons homosexuality. Retablo looks to be a poignant coming-of-age story about an aspiring young artist coming to terms with the meaning of masculinity and the power of paternal love.
50 Years of Fabulous
Filmmaker Jethro Patalinghug’s (I Won’t Give Up) documentary captures what makes the City of San Francisco the totally unique, one of a kind, home for the LGBTQ community. It documents the vibrant history of the Imperial Council, the oldest LGBTQ charity organization in the world.
Studio 54
The closing night will see a screening of this critically acclaimed documentary about the most famous disco of them all, Studio 54. The screening will then be followed by an after party at Oasis where there will also be the announcements of this year's Audience Awards and the First Feature Film Awards. So, like you need reminding, make sure to bring your dancing shoes! And possibly ride in on a white horse like Bianca Jagger definitely didn’t that one time.
Showcase
1985
The year 1985 will be remembered for many things. Not least in Yen Tan’s feature film for being the year that Rock Hudson (Giant) died from AIDS and also the first commercially available AIDS test where made available. 1985 is both the year and the setting of the film which features a stand out cats that includes Corey Michael Smith (Gotham), Michael Chiklis (Fantastic Four) and Virginia Madsen (Dune).
Alone in the Game
Natalie Metzger (The Robbery) and Michael Rohrbaugh's (The Perfect Gentleman) documentary looks at the lives of gay athletes, from all walks of life and levels of ability and status and the struggles they face. The documentary will also hopefully show how far athletes have been able to come in the face of such adversity and come out, play out with the support of both the fans and the industry alike.
Retrospectives
Buddies
The first feature length movie about AIDS has been long unavailable but Frameline will be proudly showing the world premiere of it’s brand new 2k restoration. Arthur J. Bressan Jr.'s touching film follows as David (David Schachter) is ‘buddied up’ with Robert (Geoff Edholm) who has been abandoned by his friends and loved ones after discovering that he has AIDS. The film is a simple two hander – with other characters only heard off screen - that looks at the lives of two men touched by a critical friendship.
It’s elementary: Talking about gay issues in school
Filmmaker Debra Chasnoff (That’s a Family) somehow managed to take the minefield of talking about LGBTQ issues in schools and turn it into a groundbreaking documentary. Chasnoff, who sadly passed away last year, was an Academy Award winning director whose film did so much to help break down the stigma of talking about these issues in schools. This year she also posthumously be awarded the Frameline Award for her all of her filmmaking, activism and for being a lifelong champion of social justice.
