Out On Film Virtually Opens September 24

The 33rd annual Out On Film Festival, September 24–October 4, will be heavily featured in our September 25 issue, but we wanted to fill you in on opening weekend now so you can plan ahead.

Although most of the festival will be virtual, that doesn’t mean there will be unlimited “seating.” Distributors show films in festivals to relatively small audiences to build anticipation for when they are released later in more lucrative formats.

One advantage of a virtual festival is the ability to bring in more special guests to interact with audiences. It takes much less time and money for an actor or filmmaker to sit in front of their computer for an hour than to fly to Atlanta from another city or country and spend a night or two in a hotel here to have that interaction in person.

As Festival Director Jim Farmer says, “While we miss the feel of a traditional film festival in a movie theater and an event that celebrates community, we hope to duplicate that in a virtual arena. Going virtual does give us access to more filmmakers and we fully plan to utilize that.”

Margaret Cho will be a special guest on Saturday, September 26, to receive the festival’s Icon Award in conjunction with a 20th anniversary screening of her film, “I’m the One that I Want.” She’ll stay for a chat afterward.

Beginning at noon on the 27th, you can see a benefit reading of Topher Payne’s play, “Perfect Arrangement,” with an all-star cast directed by Chad Darnell.

For full information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website at outonfilm.org.

Following are reviews of most of the opening weekend features, which will become available at noon on the date indicated and stay up for 72 hours. Ratings are on a four star scale, but I’m a tough grader. For full reviews, visit thegavoice.com.

Clockwise from top: “Dry Wind,” “Surviving the Silence,” and “Ahead of the Curve.”

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

DRY WIND

**1/2

At a swimming pool in a small Brazilian town, there are a number of scantily clad males. Sadly, the least attractive of them — 50-ish, hairy, chunky Sandro (Leandro Faria Lelo) — is our main character, and he’s involved in some of the graphic sex we see (in his head or in real life?) over the next hour or so before the plot thickens. His co-worker, Ricardo, is a friend-with-benefits who wants

to be more. Sandro doesn’t, until a hot new guy in town rouses his jealousy. Not cheap porn, “Dry Wind” features multiple locations, some interesting fantasy lighting and splendid work with a voyeuristic camera.

SURVIVING THE SILENCE

***

If you know of Col. Margarethe “Grethe” Cammermeyer, who was discharged from the Army, after 26 years of exemplary service, for being a lesbian, it’s probably from Glenn

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Close playing her in the 1995 TV movie, “Serving in Silence.” Atlanta’s Cindy L. Abel goes deeper into the story by introducing Col. Patsy Thompson, the fellow nurse and fellow lesbian who, making the best of a bad situation, chaired the board that discharged Grethe (who was later reinstated by a court). Both women tell their own stories, as does Pat’s wife, activist Barbara Brass. There’s much to admire here, including some fine women.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

AHEAD OF THE CURVE

***

Three films in one: a course in modern lesbian history; a biography of Curve magazine founder Frances “Franco” Stevens, directed by her wife, Jen Rainin; and a questioning of whether glossy magazines are still relevant today, and if not, what should replace them? Curve began 30 years ago as “Deneuve,” but changed in the mid-1990s after a certain actress sued over the use of her name, just as they were getting celebrities on their covers and national advertising. Melissa Etheridge, Jewelle Gomez, Lea DeLaria and others stop by to reminisce, helping a good story — or several — to be very well told.

CICADA

**1/2

This very festival-y movie is frustrating for a viewer who just wants to be told a good story. Since it’s “based on true events,” we can assume writer-director Matt Fifer is playing himself as Ben, who has sex with men, women and himself, until he meets Sam (Sheldon D. Brown) and pretty much settles down. But Sam, who is Black, isn’t out to his father or the world, and Ben is still traumatized from being molested as a child. There’s no chemistry between the lead actors, as Fifer might have known if he hadn’t tried to do too much himself.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

BREAKING FAST

***

Breaking Fast provides much insight into Islam, including the wide range of reactions among Muslim parents to their sons’ coming out. Set in West Hollywood, this “rom-com” is really more of a drama, but it does have some comic relief, including a major character who’s the kind of flaming stereotype we rarely see anymore. A year after his partner marries a woman to please his father, Mo (Haaz Sleiman) meets Kal (Michael Cassidy), a white American familiar with Muslim culture. It’s Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. What develops is one of the better gay romances I’ve seen lately.

THE CAPOTE TAPES *** Truman Capote (1924–1984)

Clockwise from left: “The Capote Tapes,” “Breaking Fast,” and “Monsoon.”

himself as well as Philip Seymour Hoffman did in his Oscar-winning role in 2005’s “Capote,” but he does okay in recordings, talk show clips and paparazzi photos. People who knew him are as eager to talk about Capote as he was to talk — and write — about them. His final novel, “Answered Prayers,” was never published, except for three chapters that caused him to lose his friends in New York society for revealing their secrets through thinly disguised fictional characters. The rest has never been found. This is an entertainingly gossipy look at the King/Queen of Gossip.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

CURED

***

This clear, concise course in the history of the LGBTQ movement since the 1950s focuses on efforts to change the perception of us as mentally ill by getting the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its list of mental

disorders in 1973. Barbara Gittings and Franklin Kameny, shown over the decades, are among the faces we should all be familiar with. Activist Richard Socarides is the gay son of one of our fiercest opponents in the APA. This film will be an eye-opener for those who don’t know what our life was like in America half a century ago.

MONSOON

***

My favorite festival film so far, “Monsoon” is slow and subtle, leaves basic questions unresolved and makes you fill in much unspoken dialogue — usually negative qualities for me, but they work here. Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians”) plays Kit, visiting Vietnam 30 years after his parents fled to London when he was six. His sightseeing provides a virtual travelogue photographed for maximum impact, with little explanation of what we see in Saigon and Hanoi. A distant cousin and other people Kit meets,

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including Lewis (Parker Sawyers), an African American with romantic potential, provide different political perspectives, raising Kit’s awareness and ours.

THE STRONG ONES (LOS FUERTES) **1/2

I couldn’t watch Samuel González and Antonio Altamirano make love for more than three weeks … without a lunch break. That’s good, because there’s little else of interest here. Lucas (González) is visiting his sister in southern Chile before leaving for Montreal to study architecture. He meets Antonio (Altamirano), who works on a fishing boat when he’s not taking part in historical reenactments. Lucas’s sister is having marital problems and each man has his own issues, but writer-director Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo stretches the plot pretty thin, with little development. This review would be far more negative if the leading men were less attractive.