qFLIX, the annual LGBTQ film festival, takes place July 5-10.
The festival opens with the world premiere of writer/director J.C. Falcón’s “People You May Know,” a romantic comedy-drama about three friends — Joe (Sean Maher), Delia (Andrea Grano) and Herbert (Mark Cirillo) — facing romantic troubles when the gay Joe gets the married Delia pregnant. Cirillo will be attending the festival.
One of the highlights of qFLIX is the 20th-anniversary screening of Cheryl Dunye’s classic Philadelphia-set and -shot drama “The Watermelon Woman.” The first feature film by an African-American lesbian, this funny, sexy and very clever mix of fiction, documentary and direct address features Dunye as a young lesbian who makes a journey of self-discovery when she researches the life of Fae Richards, a (fictional) African-American actress who intrigues her.
“I think beyond simple representations and DIY filmmaking: My film went into collaborating and practicing what I preached,” Dunye noted. “I featured people in my community, investigated my past and put my politics and passion into my art. My film wasn’t just about lesbian/gay identity, but something bigger. That set me apart from African-American representation. That’s where I found my niche and what I used as a springboard. It wasn’t simply representing myself; I did more — creating a whole world of identity politics present, past and future.”
Another local voice at qFLIX is Todd Shotz, producer of the film “Lazy Eye.” In this romantic drama, Dean (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) is an L.A.-based graphic designer with the titular ocular problem. One day, out of the blue, he gets an email from Alex (Aaron Costa Ganis), his ex and true love from 15 years ago. After some email exchanges, the pair arranges to meet in Dean’s Joshua Tree home for sex, true confessions and a possible second chance at their relationship. The film pivots on the dynamics between the attractive leads, and Near-Verbrugghe makes his despair palpable while Costa Ganis gives a very sly, seductive performance.
Shotz, who grew up in Elkins Park and went to Cheltenham High School before studying English and theater at the University of Pennsylvania, hopes audiences will connect with the guys in “Lazy Eye.”
“We did a lot of talking about how the film is an LBGTQ story, but it’s a universal story about the vision you have for your life, and reconnecting with what might have been,” said Shotz in a recent phone interview. “What if I had stayed with this person, or reached out to them again? People connect with this movie so much because they have all had these thoughts — especially people who are in their late 30s and 40s. I hope that it will bring up for them what they are doing in their lives.”
Another strong entry with a similar “recapturing the past” theme is “Retake.” In this terrific American indie, Jonathan (Tuc Watkins) hires Evan (Devon Graye) to “become Brandon,” his former boyfriend, so they can recreate the couple’s California road trip. Whereas Jonathan is holding onto his past, Evan is escaping from his. While this two-hander has some contrived road-movie moments, the performances are strong and the ending is highly satisfying and earned.
Producer Sean Mandell said over Skype that he appreciates that the film engages the audience by “playing back and forth between the characters. One time you’re in the driver’s seat with Jonathan, and then next you’re in the passenger seat with Evan.”
Mandell planned the film meticulously, finding places that “felt authentic to the story — that dusty road trip of the past — so viewers feel they are walking into the rooms and lives of other people.” It works beautifully.
A third film about two guys together is “Paris 5:59: Theo and Hugo,” by gay filmmakers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau. This remarkable French romance opens with an astonishing, explicit and nearly wordless 18-minute sequence set in an after-hours Parisian sex club. Theo (Geoffrey Couët) sees Hugo (François Nambot) and is smitten. They have an erotic encounter that segues into spending the night together. But the journey of Theo and Hugo is sex first, then love. This sweet, serious — Hugo is HIV-positive — and enchanting romance follows the characters in real time as they bike through the streets, share a meal and stare at one another lovingly on the metro. Both Couët and Nambot are magnetic together (and they are quite sexy sans clothes).
Co-director Ducastel discussed the astonishing opening sequence over Skype.
“We knew what we wanted — that it didn’t look like a porno scene — but we wanted to film the sex in a very direct and sincere way without porn grammar and close-ups,” Ducastel said. “It’s a little idolized, but it’s realistic. We wanted to show the friendly and generous energy of the group, so that’s what I asked everybody: to be sensual with each other.”
Moreover, Ducastel remarked about the importance of having an HIV-positive character.
“It has been 18 years since our film ‘Jeanne and the Perfect Guy’ [which also depicted an HIV-positive character], and in that time the attitudes towards HIV have changed and this film is recording that.”
“Queer City” by Draper Shreeve is a fabulous documentary that showcases various LGBTQ New Yorkers, from Kris and Sarah, two lesbian parents; to Tom Duane, an openly gay senator; and Mr. Pam, a bisexual gay-porn director. The film also includes profiles of Eric, a transgender Haitian immigrant, and Tee, a Latina lesbian. Shreeve’s subjects are fascinating individuals with compelling stories of everyday queer life, which is what makes his portraits of them so inspiring.
In an emailed director’s statement, Shreeve explained how he assembled his subjects and allowed them to describe their lives.
“The emphasis is on their personal stories, but serious issues are addressed along the way,” Shreeve said. “I feel they capture the spirit of queer life … in this strange and exciting time of change. Maybe we all have more in common than we thought.”
qFLIX also presents the world premiere of Todd Verow’s “*Required Field,” a dreamy, globe-hopping, experimental and existential film. The story concerns a serial killer named NO1KNOWS (Verow) whose audio and video diaries are found, but they offer no motivation or meaning for his crimes. Most of the film consists of NO1KNOWS traveling through America, Europe and Israel for random hookups, private moments of contemplation and a few discretely filmed murders. Of local note, one sequence was shot in a Philadelphia nightclub.
Verow explained, via email, that “*Required Field” is “a film about loneliness and how online hookups and anonymous sex, sex without commitment or feelings, can rot away a person from the inside out. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for promiscuity, but sex should always be about making an emotional connection, no matter how many partners you have, or how quick and nameless the sex may be.”
“The repression of feelings can be just as harmful and dangerous as the repression of sex,” he continued. “The lead character in ‘*Required Field’ feels he has a mission to free the lost souls he encounters, to make them into ‘something,’ but in reality, he is just trying to obliterate himself, to feel nothing.”
The closing-night film is writer/director Rob Williams’ amiable romance “Shared Rooms,” about three couples dealing with parenthood, roommating and nudism. Williams said in a recent phone interview that he wants viewers “to leave with a smile on their face, feeling good about themselves and the world.”
It is Williams’ love of Christmas films (he previously made “Make the Yuletide Gay”) and the idea of “finding family” that prompted him to merge three stories of gay couples who face personal and romantic challenges for “Shared Rooms.” Although the film is set at Christmas, it is also set in Los Angeles, so the attractive guys are not wearing bad reindeer sweaters. In fact, two of the men in the film wear nothing at all through most of the running time.
Williams acknowledged that casting the “nudists” simply involved “finding actors willing to do whatever it took to be real to the characters,” adding, “It’s rare to find actors who are gung ho, but they got the characters and were true to my vision as a writer/director. It was great working with them, and I know the audience will enjoy them as well.”
For schedule, tickets and more information, visit http://www.qflixphilly.com/.