Discovering films that reflect same sex stories

It was summertime in Los Angeles, the city of palm trees, glorious beaches, glamour and films — the city of Hollywood. I was invited to be on the International Dramatic Features Jury of Outfest, Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, one of the oldest LGBT film festivals in the US. It was a rare honour for an Indian filmmaker. As a queer filmmaker from India, where the queer film movement is still nascent and where resources are limited, it was important for me to see how a 30-year-old festival helps build networks to marshal talent, knowledge and resources together so that young filmmakers can benefit from the experiences of more established filmmakers.

I had to watch only 15 international features as part of my jury work, but I didn’t want to miss out on the latest American queer films either. So I carefully planned my 10 day schedule — timings of the films, pre-screening receptions, post-screening parties, and a couple of meetings.

The first two days went according to plan. The opening film Vito, a documentary about the vociferous gay activist and film historian Vito Russo, took us to the Stonewall days and the fierce battle on the streets to stop discrimination and violence against gay & transgender persons. On the second day, the American film I Want Your Love came as a shock: I still can’t decide whether I hated the film because it had less of a story and more explicit gay sex, or if I liked it for audaciously pushing the boundaries of cinematic expression.

On the third day, after watching a film as part of my jury schedule, I planned to catch a film at the other screening venue, a 5-minute walk away. Whether out of sheer laziness, or because of the scorching sun, I ended up staying at the same venue for the next film — a documentary titled Face 2 Face. It isn’t really a queer film, but the fact that Katherine Brooks is an out and proud lesbian woman makes it as queer as it comes.

In Face 2 Face, filmmaker/actress Katherine Brooks takes an 11,000+ mile journey to meet her virtual friends because, despite having over 5,000 Facebook friends, she hadn’t had a real hug for over a month. Battling her own depression, addiction and suppressed trauma, she makes connections with 50 unknown people to find out about their lives, their stories, their pain and suffering, and their little joys. Every encounter touches her heart.

Though the film was primarily about social networking, it reminded me of the isolated world most LGBT people in India still live in. While in metro cities there are social spaces where gays and lesbians can meet, talk and interact, in most small towns, LGBT people lead closeted lives, with few friends they can bare their souls to. Often, the only connection is the hurried sexual encounter in parks and public toilets that leave them feeling depressed and hurt.

Besides Face 2 Face, there were some other wonderful films that made the festival memorable for me: Cloudburst (from Canada) is a heart-warming story of two ageing lesbians on a road trip to Canada to get married (starring Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis as a foul-mouthed randy lesbian); Beauty (from South Africa) is a dark and shocking film about a closeted married man’s desire for his friend’s son that pushes him to the edge; and Facing Mirrors (from Iran) is about the unlikely bond between Rana, a woman cab driver, and Eli, a rebellious woman trying to escape to Germany for a sex-change surgery.

We finally chose My Brother The Devil (from UK) for the Outfest 2012 Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Dramatic Feature Film for its “taut narrative, sensitive interrogation of masculinity, excellent performances by an ensemble cast, and intense cinematic experience”. But my personal favourite was

Ira Sach’s Keep The Lights On, an intense drama of love, lust and drugs that questions the boundaries of relationships.

Sridhar Rangayan is a filmmaker whose films revolve around the LGBT community.