What's a Boy To Do

Reel Skin

These very different documentaries all dig into the euphorically transformative properties of skin and the way you adorn it--be it with animal hides, the sweetly painful vibrancy of ink, or even changing your gender representation to be comfortable in your own body. In XXWHY (Manjula Bharati, India, 2008), an FTM from India navigates life in a world where it seems there's no one else--publicly--like him. A gay man with full-body flower tattoos plans on preserving his skin through human taxidermy in Skin (Rhys Graham, Australia, 2008). And The Rise of Leathermen (Kim Munro, Australia, 2008) looks at the elaborate leather daddy subculture. Total: 85 min.

Flirting with Danger

Danger lurks as the male characters in this shorts program are pushed to the edge in search of any sort of connection. Whether that place is a steam room or high school classroom, these lost boys find companionship in people whose name might as well be Disaster, as they linger on the precipice long before plunging headfirst into the unknown. Warning: Some of the images in this program may be too graphic for more sensitive viewers. James (Connor Clements, Northern Ireland, 2008), Steam (Eldar Rapaport, USA, 2009), Weak Species (Dan Faltz, USA, 2008), My Name is Love (David Färdmar, Sweden, 2008). Total: 86 min.

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Fruit Fly
H. P. Mendoza (USA, 2009, 95 min.)

H. P. Mendoza, writer and composer of Colma: The Musical, returns with his directorial debut, Fruity Fly. In this upbeat and sassy musical, Bethesda, a performance artist, has just arrived in San Francisco. Though straight, she moves into a communal house with gay inhabitants. As she searches to find a theater for her one-woman show about being adopted, Bethesda bonds with her new roommates and gets labeled a "fag hag." Budding friendships, a potential love interest, and her search for her birth mother's identity are portrayed in a series of musical numbers. Comical phone calls from her aunt in the Philippines and cunningly crafted scenes of the San Francisco skyline add to the charm of this film about planting roots and life being a work in progress.

Not Fade Away
Susan Boyer (USA, 2008, 85 min.)

Not Fade Away is an authentic and moving family drama that explores unconditional love. Angie--a short-tempered, thirty-something, aspiring photographer--is struggling to balance a daytime job, photography deadlines, and coping with her mother's rapidly ascending Alzheimer's. Frustrated with her life, Angie is forced to move back home to care for her ill mother and deal with their love-hate relationship. The only person she finds comfort in is her girlfriend, whose own patience begins to wear thin with Angie's intolerant attitude. When a dark family secret is unveiled, Angie is faced with a heart-wrenching decision that gives her both inner peace and a new inspiration for her photography.

Fish Out of Water
Ky Dickens (USA, 2009, 60 min.)

There is hardly an issue more divisive in this country (short of abortion), than gay rights. People have lost their lives, elections have been defined and determined, and families have been torn apart. While the religious right holds onto the Bible and its "interpretations" in a near death-grip, some spiritual gays and lesbians fight to reconcile their own sexuality with their faith. Fish Out of Water, a documentary written and directed by Chicagoan Ky Dickens, mixes animation with community and scholarly interviews to explore the Bible verses used to condemn homosexuals. The film presents facts and appeals to logic in a succinct, fresh way, while remaining personal and poignant.

Night Fliers
Sara Lynne (USA, 2009, 81 min.)

Writer-director Sara Lynne brings us a touching, high-spirited, coming-of-age film with Night Fliers. Metal-mouthed, trucker hat-wearing Jesse unapologetically does her own thing, whether it's collecting bugs or wearing boy clothes. New to her rural town, with a distant, neglectful father, a nosy little sister, and a mom that's not anywhere in the picture, she is hesitant about making friends. With the constant encouragement of one of her teachers, and in spite of the non-stop bullying by one of her classmates, Jesse begins to form her own little band of quirky social outcasts. Jesse's fascination with the transformative nature of crawling critters works as the perfect metaphor for her own self-discovery and sexual identity, as she comes into her own like a moth coming out of a cocoon.

Homewrecker
Paul Hart (USA, 2009, 102 min.)

Boyd has only one thing on his mind as he's doing pushups in his prison cell: to wreck the lives of Derrick Hardy and Collin Lawrence, an unsuspecting couple that had him fired from a popular sitcom pilot. Once paroled, Boyd changes his look and weasels his way into the couple's inner circle in order to destroy their lives and the lives of their friends. A comical, gay parody of Lifetime Channel movies, Homewrecker uses all of the usual devices of the addictive, women-oriented genre--psychological manipulation, silly coincidences, sabotage, illicit sex, betrayal, and backfiring plots.

To Faro (Mein Freund aus Faro)
Nana Neul (Germany, 2008, 90 min.)
In German, with English subtitles

Melanie Wandel, a cute German boi, leads a quiet and uneventful life. Driving down a dark road one night, Melanie accidentally hits a young girl, Jenny, with her car. Melanie and Jenny begin a sweet courtship, with each misrepresenting herself--Jenny about her age and Melanie, both her age and her gender. With Jenny thinking Melanie is a Portuguese boy named Miguel, Melanie's life becomes even more complicated when she asks a coworker to pose as her boyfriend to her family. As her double lives begin to crash in on her, Melanie must find an inner strength to be true to herself.

American Primitive
Gwen Wynne (USA, 2008, 93 min.)

In 1973, after the death of her mother, Madeline moves to Cape Cod with her father  (The OC's Tate Donovan) and younger sister Daisy. Also living with the family is Mr. Gibbs, their father's ruggedly handsome business partner. Friendly and outgoing, Madeline is able to quickly transcend her status as an outsider, finding herself the object of attention for the high school heartthrob and the scruffy son of a fisherman. But, when Madeline visits a wild gay bar on a lark with her new friends, she discovers a secret that threatens her first sense of normalcy since her mother's passing.

Homo, Mi Amor

Secret loves, hidden fetishes, calls for affection, a cry for help: the characters brought to life in these beautiful Spanish language films all have something urgent to communicate. Some are able to reveal what they need through actions, some through words, and others need only touch to convey the message. Their lives are defined by what they say, and for some, the things they don't. Almas Perdidas (Julio de la Fuente, Spain, 2008), El Amor 2 (Santiago Tabernero, Spain, 2008), Toy Soldiers Soup (Cristopher Carballo Lerma, Mexico, 2008), I've Got Something to Tell You (Ana Torres-Álvarez, Spain, 2009), Frequent Traveler (Patricia Bateira, Portugal, 2007), ¡¡¡Todas!!!  (Jose Martret, Spain, 2007), El Mueble de las Fotos (Giovanni Maccelli, Spain, 2008). Total: 77 min.

Pornography: A Thriller
David Kittredge (USA, 2009, 113 min.)

In this sexy, trippy, psychological creep show, a gay porn star named Mark Anton mysteriously disappears after he decides to leave the business at the height of his fame in 1995. Rumors of murder and blackmail swirl for years, until Michael, a young writer researching a book about, decides to investigate the strange events. An underground video is unearthed that might be a snuff film capturing the missing star's bizarre--and perhaps supernatural--vanishing act. Michael's sleuthing brings back the same paranormal energy that destroyed Mark, turning his own life into a surreal, voyeuristic nightmare.