PDX Gay Guide: Portland Queer Film Festival

Written by JosephSeptember 21, 2015

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The annual Portland Queer Film Festival takes place October 2 – 8, 2015. The festival annually showcases feature, documentary and short films from all over the world that are made by, about or of interest to the lesbian, gay, bi, trans and questioning community. Film is a dynamic medium with the power to educate, inspire, […]

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The annual Portland Queer Film Festival takes place October 2 – 8, 2015. The festival annually showcases feature, documentary and short films from all over the world that are made by, about or of interest to the lesbian, gay, bi, trans and questioning community.
Film is a dynamic medium with the power to educate, inspire, intrigue and bring people together. Now, Portland Queer Film Festival continues to bring thought-provoking and entertaining queer cinema to Portland.

All screenings takes place at Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave. Portland
Genreral Admission – $10
Opening Night – $15 film only. $20 film/party
Closing Night – $15 film only. $20 film/party
Full Festival Pass – $100 – PURCHASE HERE
Gains holder admission to all screenings and parties.
Not valid for Web Series 101 workshop.

OPENING NIGHT
EISENSTEIN IN GUANAJUATO
OCTOBER 2 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by PETER GREENAWAY • 105 minutes • English
In 1931, at the height of his artistic powers, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to Mexico to shoot a new film to be titled Que Viva Mexico. Freshly rejected by Hollywood and under increasing pressure to return to Stalinist Russia, Eisenstein arrives at the city of Guanajuato. Chaperoned by his guide Palomino Cañedo, he vulnerably experiences the ties between Eros and Thanatos, sex and death, happy to create their effects in cinema, troubled to suffer them in life. Peter Greenaway’s film explores the mind of a creative genius facing the desires and fears of love, sex and death through ten passionate days that helped shape the rest of the career of one of the greatest masters of Cinema.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS
MILLIONAIRE MAN
OCTOBER 3 • 2:30 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by AARON GREGORY AUSTIN • English
A work-in-progress by local filmmaker Aaron Austin. A screening of the first cut of a drama about a man looking back on his life regretting the mistakes he’s made.  In attendance director Aaron Gregory Austin and stars Adam Syron, Jon James, Geno Romo, Jon Branch.

IN THE TURN
OCTOBER 3 • 5:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by ERICA TREMBLAY • 91 minutes • English
In the Turn follows Crystal, a 10-year-old transgender girl growing up in rural Canada, as she navigates the difficult and complicated world that surrounds her. Tormented at school by teachers and peers alike, she faces daily assaults in the form of insults and physical altercations. The pain she endures at school takes a toll on not only her self-esteem, but also on the emotional stability of her family.

IN WITH THE NEW OUT
OCTOBER 3 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Various directors • English
Collection of episodes from popular web series. Filmmakers Kieran Turner, Rick Coop, Tina Ward and Wes Hurley in attendance.
Frustrated LGBT filmmakers faced with fewer and fewer funding and distribution options have turned to the internet as a means to bring their stories to a wider audience, and the opportunities (along with budgets and production value) have grown in leaps and bounds in a very short time.
The internet has become the best place to find diverse, well rounded portrayals of LGBT characters. The web series featured below are the best and brightest the internet has to offer in diverse LGBT storytelling. Watch a sampling of these massively popular series, then join the creators and stars as they share their insights and stories behind the scenes and advise aspiring creators on their own projects one-on-one.
Featuring episodes of Wallflowers, Where the Bears Are, Producing Juliet, Capitol Hill, The Transgender Project and Kelsey.

FOURTH MAN OUT
OCTOBER 3 • 9:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by ANDREW NACKMAN • 86 minutes • English
A comedy about a car mechanic in a small, working class town who comes out of the closet to his unsuspecting, blue-collar best friends. Twenty-four year old Adam (Evan Todd), is an attractive yet mysteriously single garage mechanic in rural New York. Adam has decided that he will unveil the secret to his singlehood and come out to his best friends. Adam has always fit in with his friends perfectly — that is until he becomes the odd man out thanks to the revelation of his sexuality. Thus begins the awkward post-coming out dance of Adam still trying to be one of the bros while his friends try to undertand and suport him.

WEB SERIES WORKSHOP
WEB SERIES 101 (AND BEYOND)
OCTOBER 4 • NOON • CINEMA 21
So you want to make a web series? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Episodic web programming is still in its infancy, but is expanding at a head-spinning rate. It’s not enough to just go out and make a show, there are several steps you need to take to make sure your creation doesn’t get lost in the sea of content. No matter what stage of planning or production you’re in, get the answers to your questions from those who’ve done it! These content creators have made some of the most popular and lauded web series of recent years. Come hear their success stories, offer group advice, and then meet with them one-on-one for more intensive guidance.
Workshop topics include:
For beginners:

  • Practice your pitch! Every series starts with a great idea. What’s yours?
  • How to make your series stand out among the pack
  • Scheduling/budgeting
  • Advice on crowdfunding
  • Paperwork 101. How to deal with SAG, insurance, permits, etc.

For those who’ve already started out on the path…What’s next?

  • How to market your series & garner an audience
  • What’s the best platform for your series
  • Web Festivals
  • Branding

DEEP RUN
OCTOBER 4 • 3:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by HILLEVI LOVEN • 75 minutes • English
Executive produced by LGBTQ supporter Susan Sarandon and shot by first-time filmmaker Hillevi Loven, Deep Run is a powerful verité portrait of trans life in rural North Carolina. Exiled by her family and rejected by an ex, 17-year-old Spazz has no one to lean on for support. But when Spazz falls in love again and summons up the courage to become Cole, a strong-willed trans man, his candid humor and steadfast, all-inclusive Christian beliefs counter the bigotry he experiences daily. This exquisite documentary reveals rebirth and courage within America’s deeply conservative Bible Belt.

BOY MEETS GIRL
OCTOBER 4 • 5:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by ERIC SCHAEFFER • 95 minutes • English
Boy Meets Girl is a poignant, sexy, romantic coming of age comedy about three twenty year-olds living in Kentucky. Robby (Michael
Welch, Twilight) and his best friend since childhood, Ricky (Michelle Hendley), a gorgeous transgender girl, have never dated. Lamenting the lack of eligible bachelors, Ricky considers dating a girl. In walks Francesca (Alex Turshen), a beautiful young debutante waiting for
her Marine fiance to return from the war. Ricky and Francesca strike up a friendship, and maybe a little more, which forces Robby to face his true feelings for Ricky. This is a sex/human positive modern fable and identification with its story crosses all gender and sexual orientation lines.

S&M SALLY
OCTOBER 4 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by MICHELLE EHLEN • 90 minutes • English
When Jamie finds out her girlfriend Jill has spent time exploring BDSM, her insecurities about falling behind in the bedroom push her to propose that they start going to underground clubs. Jamie decides to use the pseudonym Sally so she can stay anonymous but still look like she’s using her real name, which apparently she thinks makes her look cool. Identifying as the butch one in a traditional butch/femme couple, “Sally” assumes she will take the dominant role in their escapades, with Jill as her submissive, but Jill has ideas of her own.
Director and star Michelle Ehlen in attendance.

GUIDANCE
OCTOBER 4 • 9:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by PAT MILLS • 80 minutes • English
Hailed as a “GRADE A” comedy by the Los Angeles Times and a Critic’s Pick by The New York Times, Guidance is a riotous comedy that follows former child actor, David Gold, as he makes one bad decision after another. Recently unemployed and with nothing left to lose, he fakes his resume and gets a job as a high school guidance counselor. Quickly winning over the students with his bad behavior, David forms a friendship with Jabrielle, a teenage outcast and they hit the road as an unlikely pair of outlaws on the run. At once a touching comedy that reveals the inner child in us all, GUIDANCE is filled with fast-paced comedic timing, witty dialogue and a winning performance from writer/director/actor Pat Mills.

TWO 4 ONE
OCTOBER 5 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by MAUREEN BRADLEY • 77 minutes • English
When transgender Adam helps his baby-crazy ex-girlfriend Miriam artificially inseminate, they wind up in bed together— and they both get pregnant. Now Adam must reconcile his identity and gender with his biological reality, grapple with his feelings for Miriam, and try to figure out what it means to be a man.

STORIES OF OUR LIVES
OCTOBER 5 • 9:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by JIM CHUCHU • 61 minutes • English subtitles
Stories of Our Lives is a Kenyan film, created by the members of
The Nest Collective, a Nairobi-based arts collective. The film is an anthology of five short films dramatizing true stories of LGBT life
in Kenya.

WHILE YOU WEREN’T LOOKING
OCTOBER 6 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by CATHERINE STEWART  • 76 minutes • English
The changing landscape of post-Apartheid South African politics and lifestyles is portrayed through two central relationships a successful black real estate woman who is cheating on her white wife, and their bohemian daughter dating a gender non-confirming woman in the Khayalitsha township.

UPSTAIRS INFERNO
OCTOBER 6 • 9:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by ROBERT CAMINA  • 96 minutes • English
Forty years ago, on June 24, 1973, a gay bar in New Orleans called the Upstairs Lounge was fire bombed, resulting in the largest gay mass murder in U.S. history. Despite that, few people know about the tragedy. Thirty-two people were killed and some bodies were never identified because their families were ashamed that the victims were gay. No one was ever charged with the crime. Robert Camina’s full length film aims to tell the story primarily through emotional interviews of survivors, families of victims and key players involved with the aftermath.

CENTERPIECE SCREENING
FREEHELD
OCTOBER 7 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by Peter Sollett • 103 minutes • English

Diagnosed with terminal cancer, decorated New Jersey Detective Lt. Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) wishes to leave her pension benefits to domestic partner Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). Denied by local county officials, Laurel receives help from hard-nosed colleague Dane Wells (Michael Shannon) and activist Steven Goldstein (Steve Carell). Together, they unite to rally fellow police officers and ordinary citizens to support the couple’s fight for equality.


THOSE PEOPLE
OCTOBER 7 • 9:15 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by JOEY KUHN • 89 minutes • English
On Manhattan’s gilded Upper East Side, a young painter, Charlie, finds the man of his dreams in an older pianist from across the globe. If only Charlie weren’t secretly in love with his own manipulative best friend, Sebastian, who is embroiled in a financial scandal. In the wake of Sebastian’s notoriety, their tight-knit group of friends must confront the new realities of adulthood.

CLOSING NIGHT
OUT TO WIN
OCTOBER 8 • 7:00 PM • CINEMA 21
Directed by MALCOLM INGRAM • 99 minutes • English
Out to Win is a documentary feature that examines the lives of queer athletes. The film features sports icons like Jason Collins, Brittney Griner, Billie Jean King, John Amaechi, Martina Navratilova, Billy Bean, David Kopay, Billy Bean, Conner Mertens (photo below) and many amazing journalists, activists, emerging young athletes, fans and sports professionals about their experiences and the past and present state of things for professional gay and lesbian athletes.
Conner Merten, Billy Bean and director Malcolm Ingram in attendance.

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