LGBTQ historian and filmmaker Jenni Olson follows up last year’s massively popular “Masc: Trans Men, Butch Dykes and Gender Nonconforming Heroes in Cinema,” a program she co-curated with journalist, critic and author Caden Mark Gardener, with another exceptional selection of features that explore gender identity. The Berkeley resident’s “Masc II: Mascs plus Muchachas,” running Jan. 17 through Feb. 23 at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, is expected once again to play to sell-out crowds.
Certain to be one of its biggest draws is “Stranger Inside” by “The Watermelon Woman” director Cheryl Dunye. The rarely seen 2001 prison drama about a butch woman searching on the inside for her mother screens for free at 5 p.m. Jan. 19. Dunye is slated to appear in conversation with Frameline Executive Director Allegra Madsen. (Tickets will be available at the BAMPFA’s box office starting at 4 p.m. Jan. 19. A word of advice, though: Arrive early to score your ticket.)
Olson’s seven-film program is cosponsored by the Frameline San Francisco International LBGBTQ+ Film Festival and the Department of Gender and Women Studies at UC-Berkeley. For a complete schedule and to order ($12-$18) tickets, visit bampfa.org/program/masc-ii.
Paul B. Preciado’s inventive, high-spirited documentary/visual essay “Orlando, My Political Biography,” which uses Virgina Woolf’s landmark gender-bending novel “Orlando” to create a vibrant immersive experience about trans identity (including reimagining key passages in the book), screens at 7 p.m. Jan. 17. Often funny and always insightful, this vibrant feature opens with Preciado, a Spanish writer-philosopher who is trans, writing a letter to the late Woolf. It then branches out with illuminating vignettes wherein trans people reflect on their experiences and “act” in scenes inspired by (and often use) Woolf’s artful prose. What distinguishes Preciado’s one-of-a-kind film is that it’s joyous, celebratory and real. It acknowledges the fullness and robustness of being trans, but also how trans people around the globe often encounter cultural ignorance. It’s one of the most buoyant, applause-worthy and meaningful explorations of the trans experience. The screening also includes a conversation with Olson, Susan Stryker, author of “Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution,” and archivist Ellis Martin. Visit https://bampfa.org/event/orlando-my-political-biography for more.
Equally adventurous but on its own surreal terms is Shusuke Kaneko’s atmospheric “Summer Vacation 1999.” On the verdant grounds surrounding a remote school (its hallowed corridors echo from an absence of students and teachers), four boys contend with their attractions to each other, jealousies, and anxious uncertainties. Kaneko’s mood piece settles sensually on one breezy, sexual awakening summer. When one of the four boys (all played by girls) jumps off a cliff to his presumed death, another, who’s a dead ringer for the dead boy, appears later. While the scenario has all the earmarks of a traditional thriller, Kaneko—who directed four kaiju films (“Gamera: Guardian of the Universe,” “Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion,” “Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris” and “Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack”)—is uninterested in this film as an ordinary whodunnit or why done it. He uses the manga “The Heart of Thomas” (this caterpillar-to-butterfly-like film is based on it) to create a dreamy voyage into young desire and examination of the inherent dangers that come when people deny who they truly are. Olson and UC Berkeley professor Karen Nakamura discuss this gorgeous film, showing in a 35mm archival print, at 7 p.m. Feb. 14. For more, go to bampfa.org/event/summer-vacation-1999.
Body swaps and body-change movies were all the rage for a while. Lily Tomlin accidentally inhabited the body of Steve Martin in the pratfalling Carl Reiner comedy “All of Me.” Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis traded places in the “Freaky Friday” remake. And in 1984’s “Just One of the Guys,” a 20-something Joyce Hyser played a highschooler who went undercover as a guy. Some of these movies fell flat, others didn’t withstand the test of time, and a few were downright offensive. But the little-seen “Something Special (Willy/Milly)” lives up to its title. It’s a special, frisky and funny surprise on gender identity and gender roles that earned mostly negative reviews upon its blip of release in 1986. Yet director Paul Schneider’s feature is indeed a cut above, perhaps because it’s based on a story by the late Alan H. Friedman, who got his doctorate in English literature at UC Berkeley. In the story, 14-year-old astronomy-lover Milly Niceman (Pamela Adlon) awakens one day to discover she has a penis. Her very gender-specific dad (John Glover) is shocked, as is mom (Patty Duke). But then he embraces Milly as the boy he always wanted and Milly presents as Willy at school. The sitcom-level premise leads to new guy friendships, questions about sexuality and so on. While it does cop out with a far from daring ending, “Something Special” avoids cheap, crude jokes and offers a sweet story. Watch for a brief appearance from Seth Green as a young character who provides Milly with a substance that leads to her transformation. The movie screens at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 with Olson and “Gender Queer” author Maia Kobabe in a conversation after. Visit bampfa.org/event/something-special.
Over at the Roxie in San Francisco, former programmer and film noir expert Elliot Lavine responds to the political winds of the presidential election with “The Resistance Film Festival.” Featuring four classic films, the weekend series “presents a reinvigorated vision of democracy.” Lavine will appear at all the screenings. These are the films:
“Casablanca”: The iconic swoon-worthy 1942 wartime classic with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman screens at 1 p.m., Jan. 18.
“None Shall Escape”: In a brisk 85 minutes, Andre DeToth’s 1944 B-pic movie does something other films of its time didn’t: It addressed the Holocaust and the Nazis’ evil reign. It achieves its goal in a foreshadowing way, making it a must-see. It screens at 3:40 p.m. on Jan. 18.
“The Mortal Storm”: Director Frank Borzage’s acclaimed 1940 drama isn’t often featured on the in-theater movie circuit, but it should be. Set in 1933 Germany, the pertinent film is based on a novel of the same name that depicts how Hitler’s ascendancy affects the lives of one family and two men (one who supports the Nazis, one who doesn’t) vying for one woman’s affection. Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young and Frank Morgan star. It screens at 1 p.m. Jan. 19.
“To Be or Not to Be”: The Ernst Lubitsch World War II comedy starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny is about a couple in an acting troupe who befuddle Nazis in an attempt to stop a list of members of the Polish resistance from getting into the wrong hands. It screens at 3:45 p.m., Jan. 19.
For tickets and ticket prices, visit roxie.com/series/the-resistance-film-festival.
The post Pass the Remote: More gender-nonconforming cinema at BAMPFA, resistance films at Roxie appeared first on Local News Matters.