Cinema Q Film Festival - July 14th - 17th

Opening Night Film:
PHOTOS OF ANGIE
7pm - Thursday, July 14th
This haunting yet hopeful documentary tells the story of Angie Zapata, a transgender teen who was murdered in rural Greeley, Colorado in 2008. The film moves between the trial of her killer, Angie's brief life and self-discovery told through family and friends, and the fruition of national hate crime legislation with Angie's case very much in the foreground as it was the first time that a transgender murderer was successfully prosecuted under hate crime laws.
Told in five movements, one per day of the trial of Angie's killer, the film features a classical score by Mackenzie Gault of the national touring band The Flobots and additional music by L.A.-based band Ozomatli. The film reveals Angie's simple life in the context of a complicated struggle juxtaposed with her violent death at the hands of a man whose true nature is finally revealed. This film was made entirely with the cooperation from Angie's family.
Presented by The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
Director Alan Dominguez and various subjects from the film IN-PERSON for a post film discussion.
Open night party concludes the evening at X BAR (629 E. Colfax)


ROMEOS
4:45pm - Friday, July 15th
Lukas, 20 is right in the midst of male puberty - medically triggered - for he was in fact born a girl. Full of the zest for life, he enters big-city life but even upon arrival encounters a major screw-up: recruited for his community service, he is the only male quartered in the female nurses' residential hall. What would be a dream for any other boy is acute, everyday stress for Lukas: being transgender means always finding yourself trapped in the wrong social compartment. Fortunately, his best friend Ine sticks by him and sweeps him into the scene of homosexuals in Cologne, where she is very well integrated. Here Lukas experiences his first real flirt - with the cheeky, daredevil and outwardly attractive Fabio. Fabio embodies all that Lukas lacks: disproportionately positive self-confidence and highly erotic masculinity. But Lukas, whose female attributes are still unaltered, is just about to express his desires.


WE WERE HERE
7PM - Friday, July 15th
We Were Here is the first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco. It explores how the City's inhabitants were affected by, and how they responded to, that calamitous epidemic. Though a San Francisco-based story, We Were Here extends beyond San Francisco and beyond AIDS itself. It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.


AUGUST
9:30PM - Friday, July 15th
August tells the story of two former lovers, Troy and Jonathan, who reunite after a long ago painful breakup. After spending several years in Spain, Troy returns to Los Angeles and decides to phone Jonathan and meet for coffee. A seemingly innocent rendezvous turns into an attempt to revive passions past. Only this time it's not that simple as Jonathan has a new beau, Raul, and is trying to make the right decision a second time around.


THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM
11:30AM - Saturday, July 16th
In 1995, Andy Blubaugh-then a curious and lonely fifteen-year-old-began a sexual relationship with Peter, a successful, deeply closeted man who was nearly twice his age. In 2010, Andy now a filmmaker and teacher, revisited this complex relationship in a hybrid documentary film and how it informed his own sense of boundaries with his teenage students. The film combines re-enactments of their troubled romance through the recollections of a now wiser Andy and interviews with relationship columnist Dan Savage, educators and social workers to explore this thorny issue of adolescent sexuality and the relationships that make us who we are.


20th Anniversary Presentation:
POISON
2PM - Saturday, July 16th
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, Todd Haynes' controversial masterpiece
Poison is returning to the screen for a 20th Anniversary re-release in a new 35mm print
The second feature directed by Haynes-the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of Far from Heaven, I'm Not There and the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce-this groundbreaking American Indie was the most fervently debated film of the 1990s and a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema. A work of immense visual invention, Haynes' spectacular follow-up to his
legendary Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is audacious, disturbing and thrillingly cinematic. Inspired by the writings of Jean Genet, Poison deftly interweaves a trio of transgressive tales-"Hero," "Horror" and "Homo"-that build toward a devastating climax. "Hero," shot in mock TV-documentary style, tells a bizarre story of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice; "Horror," filmed like a delirious '50s B-movie melodrama, is a gothic tale of a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague; while "Homo" explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates. A runaway hit which made national headlines when it was attacked by right-wing figures including Dick Armey, Ralph Reed and minister Donald Wildmon, Poison is unsettling, unforgettable and thoroughly entertaining.


HEARTBEATS
4:45PM - Saturday, July 16th
Xavier Dolan's sexy and stylish Heartbeats is a comic exploration of a romantically obsessed menage-a-trois. Heartbeats
was a hit at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Youth Prize, and an official selection of the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Part farce, part exploration of the complexity of love and desire, Heartbeats centers on two close friends, Francis (Xavier Dolan) and Marie (Monia Chokri), who find themselves fighting for the affections of the same striking young man (Neils Schneider). The more intimate the trio becomes, the more unattainable the object of their infatuation seems, sending the friends' obsession into overdrive.


ALL ABOUT LOVE
7PM - Saturday, July 16th
A sharp and funny exploration of the complex world of adult relationships, All About Love takes a rare look at the lives of queer women and their specific challenges when it comes to creating a family. Known for her cleverly observed societal dramas, Ann Hui is one of Hong Kong's most respected filmmakers. Here, she balances the serious themes of motherhood, sexuality and discrimination - topics rarely addressed in Hong Kong cinema - with wit, humour and compassion. Macy (Sandra Ng), a bisexual lawyer with a fear of commitment, is frustrated by the judgemental attitudes of lesbians, but wants to get back in the female dating game. Urged by her good friends and their life partners to settle down, Macy runs into Anita (Vivian Chow), an ex-girlfriend who is pregnant after a one-night stand with Mike (William Chan). Macy, who is also unexpectedly pregnant with her neighbour Robert (Eddie Cheung), rekindles her romance with Anita, but her fear of commitment threatens to derail their plans to start a family together. Anita is devastated when her co-workers ostracize her after discovering that she'll be a single mother, and this intensifies her thoughts of giving up the baby. Chow, who returns to the big screen after a fourteen year absence, is radiant as Anita, developing irresistible chemistry with Sandra Ng, who brings her great comic and dramatic timing to her performance. While All About Love is structured as a commercial romantic comedy, its themes are radical in scope. By presenting queer relationships as the norm and deconstructing the idea of a nuclear family, Hui has expertly crafted a film that dispels stereotypes on what constitutes a family. Hong Kong, for all its modernity is, at its core, still extremely conservative and traditional in terms of gender roles and family values, with no civil rights for same-sex couples. Hui subtly challenges such ideas and reminds the audience that the most important aspects of any relationship are not gender and convention, but love and commitment.


SPORK
9:30PM - Saturday, July 16th
Junior high isn't easy for anyone-especially if you're a frizzy-haired, pink-cheeked hermaphrodite like Spork. Neither a spoon, nor a fork, but rocking elements of both utensils, Spork could use a little smidgen of magic to make her life sparkle. Raised in a trailer park by her well-intentioned white trash older brother after her mom's death, she is relentlessly taunted by the antics of Betsy Byotch's gaggle of mean girls. But when her new-best-friend neighbor Tootsie Roll breaks her leg and can't compete for the cash prize in the junior talent show, Spork gets schooled in the freshest of early '90s booty-poppin' moves by Tootsie and her pals. A litany of fellow outcasts step it up along the way to give Spork the edge she needs, including a girl named Chunk and Justin Timberlake-obsessed Charlie.
Littered with colorful dialogue from a tween cast with mouths beyond their years, this '80s-inspired, candy-coated black comedy and its cast of misfits prove that anyone can fit in as long as you make a place for yourself. Breakout performances by Savannah Stehlin as Spork and Sydney Park as the electrifying Tootsie Roll are the cherry on top of actor J.B. Ghuman, Jr.'s directorial debut.
Preceded by a "booty-poppin" dance party in Henderson's lounge starting at 8:30pm!


FLORENT: QUEEN OF THE MEAT MARKET
2:15PM - Sunday, July 17th
For 23 years, Florent, the legendary all-night eatery in the city's Meat Packing District, was prime stomping ground for a surprising mix of A-list celebrities, tourists, families, and club kids and it played an important role in LGBT activism and culture. This wildly entertaining documentary chronicles the history and final days of this outrageous icon! Featuring Julianne Moore, Isaac Mizrahi, Diane Von Furstenberg, Michael Musto, Joey Arias and a parade of other famous (and infamous) faces!
Preceded by a fabulous Drag Brunch starting at Noon in our Henderson's Lounge (included in ticket price)!


GUN HILL ROAD
4:30PM - Sunday, July 17th
After three years in prison, Enrique (Esai Morales) returns home to the Bronx to find the world he knew has changed. His wife, Angela (Judy Reyes), struggles to hide an emotional affair, and his teenage son, Michael (Harmony Santana), explores a sexual transformation well beyond Enrique's grasp and understanding.
Unable to accept his child, Enrique clings to his masculine ideals while Angela attempts to hold the family together by protecting Michael. Still under the watchful eye of his parole officer (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), Enrique must become the father he needs to be or, once again, risk losing his family and freedom.
Can a father's fierce love for his family overcome his street-hardened ideas about manhood and end the vicious cycle controlling his life? Writer/director Rashaad Ernesto Green's first feature film is an intricate portrait of a family divided told with sensitivity, gentle humor, and a deep understanding of the environment that shapes its people.


Closing Night Film:
3
7PM - Sunday, July 17th
Hannah and Simon have been a couple for 20 years. They live in Berlin, side by side in combative harmony. They are attractive, modern, mature, childless, cultivated, down-to-earth. Affairs, wanting children, moving in together, miscarriage, fleeing and returning; this anchorwoman and art technician have put a lot behind them, but they don't have so much ahead of them anymore. That is until both, without knowing about the other's actions, fall in love with the same man, Adam.
The new film from Tom Tykwer, the visionary director behind Run Lola Run, Heaven, The Princess And The Warrior and
The International.
Followed by a Closing Night reception in our Henderson's Lounge (included in ticket price)