Film Categories: sexuality

  • Films of Su Friedrich, The: Volume 2 – Damned If You Don’t

    “Damned If You Don’t” is Friedrich’s subversive and ecstatic response to her Catholic upbringing. Blending conventional narrative technique with impressionistic camerawork, symbols and voice-overs, this film creates an intimate study of sexual expression and repression. Featuring Peggy Healey as a young nun tormented by her desire for the sultry irresistible Ela Troyano. Languages: English, German PLUS BONUS FILMS: RULES OF THE ROAD 31 minutes, Color, USA, 1993, 16mm RULES OF THE ROAD is the story of a love affair and its demise through one of the objects shared by the couple: an old beige station wagon with fake wood paneling.…

  • Films of Su Friedrich, The: Volume 4 – Hide and Seek

    “Hide and Seek” tells the story of Lou, a twelve-year-old girl coming to terms with her budding sexuality in the mid 1960s. Her bittersweet tale is skillfully interwoven with clips from a wide array of scientific and educational films, as well as interviews with adult lesbians who recount their adolescent attractions to girls, how they felt when they first heard the word lesbian, where they fit in the butch/femme continuum, and their thoughts about how they became baby dykes. “Hide and Seek” is for every woman who’s been to a slumber party and every man who wonders what went on…

  • General Idea: Art, AIDS and the Fin de siècle

    “General Idea: Art, AIDS and the fin de siècle” is a humorous, informative and ultimately poignant documentary about the internationally acclaimed Canadian artists’ collective General Idea. Formed in 1969, they produced art that targeted and mimicked media, consumerism and celebrity, creating a revolutionary new spirit of art making. Interviews with AA Bronson, the sole survivor of the trio, lends personal relevancy to this poignant story of art and sexual politics. “GENERAL IDEA: Art, AIDS and the fin de siècle” is a tale of love, fame, overwhelming loss and, ultimately, renewal. Selected screenings: Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival, 2009; Hot…

  • Others, The

    Of Spanish, Scottish/Irish, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, and Cherokee ancestry actor Lou Diamond Phillips is an icon of difference and otherness due to the numerous ‘ethnic characters’ he’s played in Hollywood movies (primarily in the late 1980s and early 1990s) including Mexican, Navajo, Inuit, Lakota, Puerto Rican and Arab. “The Others” features found footage of Phillips’ numerous ‘ethnic characters’ and places them in dialog with each other, literally, by employing classic Hollywood editing style and storytelling tropes. Through these conversations comes an investigation of identity, ethnicity and authenticity. “The Others” is part of the Trinity Square Video Themed Commissioned Project: ICONS.…

  • Broken Telephone

    A surreal short film in which a young woman ponders the relationship she has with her own identity.

  • Faces West

    “Faces West” is a hand-processed dance film that explores the conflict between desire and inhibition, intimacy and distance. Created in collaboration between Rebecca Gruihn (Director) and Niomi Cherney (Choreographer/Performer), it takes the viewer to three city spaces that can be considered both public and private. The tensions of Cherney’s unique movement style are captured by Gruihn’s 16mm camera.

  • XY

    “XY” is a close up on souls behind bodies. How does one live and accept their differences in a world of chaos, where discrimination is still a fact and being LGBT is still a crime? A young man is having sex with a stranger, and other men, and will slowly lose all control of himself, submerged by the pleasure… The men’s hands navigate through the young man’s body in a sensual dance until they both reach a strong climax trans! Later, under the shower, the young men will be haunted by that sexual experience. This film is a quest for…

  • Boy

    “Boy” is a short film that touches on sexual orientation, homophobia and acceptance. An animated figure swings at the viewer while a robotic voice whispers so that no one around him can hear. Slowly descending into self-doubt, he questions his choices and what he has become.

  • Pat’s First Kiss

    The sad-but-hilariously-true story of the filmmaker’s first kiss with an undesirable stranger he met overseas. “The animation is bold and stylish, the writing hilarious.” – Glenn Sumi (NOW, May 14, 2009) Selected screenings: Toronto International Film Festival, 2008; Vancouver International Film Festival, 2008; Palm Springs International ShortFest, 2008

  • Stubblejumper

    In the fall of 1975, while attending the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, Doug Wilson placed an ad in the student’s newspaper, seeking to start a campus gay group. This seemingly benign action would serve as the catalyst for a dramatic unfolding of events, shaping the future of Wilson’s life. “Stubblejumper” is a 48-minute biographical docudrama on the life and work of gay activist Doug Wilson – a story filled with activism, poetry, performance, politics, and a touching yet tragic love story.