If the usual multiplex fare is getting you down and you’ve already exhausted your options at the Little Theatre and Dryden, you’re in luck. Rochester is having one of its many film festivals.
The ImageOut Film Festival started Oct. 3, and continues through Oct. 12.
Focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender- themed cinema, 12 of the total 40 films left can still be seen, and the ones screened thus far have been a pleasant change of pace from the norm.
Ranging from “Latter Days,” by the screenwriter of “Sweet Home Alabama” but having none of the cheerfulness and quite a bit more bare ass and male-male kissing, to shorts featuring the poetry of Walt Whitman, there is some variety here.
While you’ve missed great films such as “Madame Sata” and “Bulgarian Lovers,” there are still films to look for.
“No Secret Anymore” – showing at 6:00 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Little Theatre – chronicles the lives of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.
These women started the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955, well before lesbian was a common word in the American lexicon and were instrumental in having California’s sex laws changed in the 1960s.
Friday’s films focus on youth with “You’ll Get Over It” and “My Life on Ice,” both in French with English subtitles at Cinema Theatre starting at 5:15 pm.
Of course, closing the festival is Charles Busch’s – of “Psycho Beach Party,” “Lesbian Vampires of Sodom” and “Oz” fame – “Die Mommie Die!” which is a consciously campy take on 1950s and ’60s women’s flicks. Basically Busch excels at one-liners and witticisms that fans of “No more wire hangers, ever!” will be all over like coke on a $20 bill.
The one place the films tend to get bogged down is their hyperfocus on self-discovery, whether it be coming out, realizing one’s sexuality, meeting their first boy or girl, etc. Gay cinema seems to have not moved past this stage for the most part.
Regardless, if you’re looking for something a bit different to do with your evenings, give the ImageOut festival a chance.
You obviously don’t have to be gay to go and enjoy the movies and it’ll give you another excuse to get off campus to some of Rochester’s more interesting theaters – the Dryden, the Little and Cinema Theatres. A full listing of the films can be found at www.imageout.org.
Paris can be reached at tparis@campustimes.org.
