LGBTQ historian and filmmaker Jenni Olson follows up final yr’s massively in style “Masc: Trans Men, Butch Dykes and Gender Nonconforming Heroes in Cinema,” a program she co-curated with journalist, critic and creator Caden Mark Gardener, with one other distinctive collection of options that discover gender identification. The Berkeley resident’s “Masc II: Mascs plus Muchachas,” operating Jan. 17 by Feb. 23 on the Berkeley Artwork Museum and Pacific Movie Archive, is anticipated as soon as once more to play to sell-out crowds.
Sure to be certainly one of its greatest attracts is “Stranger Inside” by “The Watermelon Woman” director Cheryl Dunye. The not often seen 2001 jail drama a few butch girl looking on the within for her mom screens at no cost at 5 p.m. Jan. 19. Dunye is slated to look in dialog with Frameline Govt Director Allegra Madsen. (Tickets will likely be obtainable on the BAMPFA’s field workplace beginning at 4 p.m. Jan. 19. A phrase of recommendation, although: Arrive early to attain your ticket.)
Olson’s seven-film program is cosponsored by the Frameline San Francisco Worldwide LBGBTQ+ Movie Pageant and the Division of Gender and Girls Research at UC-Berkeley. For an entire schedule and to order ($12-$18) tickets, go to bampfa.org/program/masc-ii.
Paul B. Preciado’s creative, high-spirited documentary/visible essay “Orlando, My Political Biography,” which makes use of Virgina Woolf’s landmark gender-bending novel “Orlando” to create a vibrant immersive expertise about trans identification (together with reimagining key passages within the guide), screens at 7 p.m. Jan. 17. Typically humorous and all the time insightful, this vibrant function opens with Preciado, a Spanish writer-philosopher who’s trans, writing a letter to the late Woolf. It then branches out with illuminating vignettes whereby trans individuals replicate on their experiences and “act” in scenes impressed by (and infrequently use) Woolf’s suave prose. What distinguishes Preciado’s one-of-a-kind movie is that it’s joyous, celebratory and actual. It acknowledges the fullness and robustness of being trans, but additionally how trans individuals across the globe usually encounter cultural ignorance. It’s one of the buoyant, applause-worthy and significant explorations of the trans expertise. The screening additionally features a dialog with Olson, Susan Stryker, creator of “Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution,” and archivist Ellis Martin. Go to https://bampfa.org/occasion/orlando-my-political-biography for extra.
Shusuke Kaneko’s gorgeously surreal “Summer Vacation 1999” particulars the lives of 4 boys (performed by women) in a principally vacant college in the course of the summer season. (Courtesy Berkeley Artwork Museum and Pacific Movie Archive)
Equally adventurous however by itself surreal phrases is Shusuke Kaneko’s atmospheric “Summer Vacation 1999.” On the verdant grounds surrounding a distant college (its hallowed corridors echo from an absence of scholars and academics), 4 boys deal with their points of interest to one another, jealousies, and anxious uncertainties. Kaneko’s temper piece settles sensually on one breezy, sexual awakening summer season. When one of many 4 boys (all performed by women) jumps off a cliff to his presumed demise, one other, who’s a useless ringer for the useless boy, seems later. Whereas the state of affairs has all of the earmarks of a standard thriller, Kaneko—who directed 4 kaiju movies (“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 on this movie as an odd whodunnit or why performed it. He makes use of the manga “The Heart of Thomas” (this caterpillar-to-butterfly-like movie relies on it) to create a dreamy voyage into younger need and examination of the inherent risks that come when individuals deny who they really are. Olson and UC Berkeley professor Karen Nakamura focus on this beautiful movie, displaying in a 35mm archival print, at 7 p.m. Feb. 14. For extra, go to bampfa.org/occasion/summer-vacation-1999.
“Something Special (Willy/Milly)” is an Eighties teen comedy that does a surprisingly bravura job in discussing gender roles and identification. (Courtesy Berkeley Artwork Museum and Pacific Movie Archive)
Physique swaps and body-change motion pictures had been all the craze for some time. Lily Tomlin unintentionally inhabited the physique of Steve Martin within the pratfalling Carl Reiner comedy “All of Me.” Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis traded locations within the “Freaky Friday” remake. And in 1984’s “Just One of the Guys,” a 20-something Joyce Hyser performed a highschooler who went undercover as a man. A few of these motion pictures fell flat, others didn’t face up to the check of time, and some had been downright offensive. However the little-seen “Something Special (Willy/Milly)” lives as much as its title. It’s a particular, frisky and humorous shock on gender identification and gender roles that earned principally destructive opinions upon its blip of launch in 1986. But director Paul Schneider’s function is certainly a minimize above, maybe as a result of it’s primarily based on a narrative by the late Alan H. Friedman, who obtained his doctorate in English literature at UC Berkeley. Within the story, 14-year-old astronomy-lover Milly Niceman (Pamela Adlon) awakens in the future to find she has a penis. Her very gender-specific dad (John Glover) is shocked, as is mother (Patty Duke). However then he embraces Milly as the boy he all the time needed and Milly presents as Willy in school. The sitcom-level premise results in new man friendships, questions on sexuality and so forth. Whereas it does cop out with a removed from daring ending, “Something Special” avoids low-cost, crude jokes and gives a candy story. Look ahead to a short look from Seth Inexperienced as a younger character who offers Milly with a substance that results in her transformation. The film screens at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 with Olson and “Gender Queer” creator Maia Kobabe in a dialog after. Go to bampfa.org/occasion/something-special.
Over on the Roxie in San Francisco, former programmer and movie noir professional Elliot Lavine responds to the political winds of the presidential election with “The Resistance Film Festival.” That includes 4 traditional movies, the weekend collection “presents a reinvigorated vision of democracy.” Lavine will seem in any respect the screenings. These are the movies:
“Casablanca”: The enduring swoon-worthy 1942 wartime traditional 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 film does one thing different movies of its time didn’t: It addressed the Holocaust and the Nazis’ evil reign. It achieves its objective in a foreshadowing manner, making it a must-see. It screens at 3:40 p.m. on Jan. 18.
“The Mortal Storm” with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan is featured in The Resistance Movie Pageant on the Roxie in San Francisco. (Courtesy MGM)
“The Mortal Storm”: Director Frank Borzage’s acclaimed 1940 drama isn’t usually featured on the in-theater film circuit, but it surely ought to be. Set in 1933 Germany, the pertinent movie relies on a novel of the identical identify that depicts how Hitler’s ascendancy impacts the lives of 1 household and two males (one who helps the Nazis, one who doesn’t) vying for one girl’s affection. Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Younger and Frank Morgan star. It screens at 1 p.m. Jan. 19.
“To Be or Not to Be”: The Ernst Lubitsch World Warfare II comedy starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny is a few couple in an performing troupe who befuddle Nazis in an try to cease a listing of members of the Polish resistance from entering into the unsuitable arms. It screens at 3:45 p.m., Jan. 19.
For tickets and ticket costs, go to roxie.com/collection/the-resistance-film-festival.
