Pride Month Doc Corner: The newly restored 'Gay U.S.A.'

Doc Corner is celebrating Pride Month with a focus on documentaries that tackle LGBTIQ themes. This week we are looking at a classic that has been recently restored by the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.

By Glenn Dunks

Pre-AIDS accounts of queer life and pride that aren’t about the Stonewall riots are rare. Understandably, the violent anti-police uprising of 1969 by (primarily, at least at first) drag queens, lesbians and transgender individuals was the most significant moment in the public’s understanding of LGBTIQ people until the epidemic (gosh, a lot of these things sound familiar, don't they?). But while there is a lot to be found about the queer experience through films that interrogate both Stonewall and AIDS, just as vital to the fabric are films like Gay USA from 1977.

Directed by Arthur J. Bressan, Jr., this compendium of gay pride wraps itself in a rainbow flag of its own making and sets out to celebrate the experience of nation-wide parades and marches that for many were once an unimaginable dream. 

Bressan, who died of AIDS in 1987 after his glorious fictional feature Buddies, assembled camera crews across the country to capture the (pun intended) gaiety of pride when the future looked hopeful.

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Curio: Nomi & Cristal 4ever

Curio is our fan art series, curated by Nathaniel R

I found myself seething with jealousy yesterday when Joey from Awards Daily received a Nomi Malone pin (left) in celebration of the release of the documentary You Don't Nomi (now available on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play and we'll have an interview about that movie soon.)

Today on the inimitable Gina Gershon's birthday,  I am more zen about the injustices of being denied Showgirls swag. Life is not fair. And I'm getting too old for that whorey look, anyway.

Nevertheless I was one of the original champions* of the movie's trash brilliance, and I am programmed to celebrate it every time it comes back around to public attention. After the jump some tees, crafts, and artwork honoring the iconic characters from that classic film...

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OUTStream Film Festival - It's Happening Right Now

by Nathaniel R

Last night we told you about the Cannes selection. While that's glitzy information it's not particularly useful since none of the films are available and Cannes isn't actually happening. But there is a festival happening right now. It's called OUTStream and 2020 is its inaugural outing. The queer festival runs through this weekend (Sunday, June 7th) if you wanna have a mini queer film adventure over the next few days. You purchase virtual "tickets" to the movies and watch (if you want to see the Q&As though you have to watch at the alotted times, otherwise it functions like a normal rental). 

HERE ARE SOME OF THE HOT TICKETS

Song Lang is a Vietnamese drama from debut filmmaker Leon Le. It's about the romance between an opera performer and a debt collector in 1980s Saigon. We've heard nothing but good things about this one on the festival circuit but we haven't seen it yet. Leon Le won Best New Director at the Beijing Film Festival for this. There's a livestream Q&A on Friday June 5th...

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Doc Corner: 'Rewind' and 'On the Record'

by Glenn Dunks

To put one’s own story to film often takes some form of personal courage. To not allow any sort of emotional distance between the traumas and the pains of life and the audience will always be a tough line for many to cross. It is why documentaries are so often labelled as merely grim or depressing and placed in a metaphorical too-hard basket. It’s true that many are indeed an emotional trial of sorts, but to watch survivors speak directly to us is one of the things I most cherish about non-fiction filmmaking.

As I watched and listened to the stories of Sasha Joseph Neulinger, Drew Dixon and others unfold in two new documentaries, Rewind and On the Record, I found myself captivated and angry. Angry that this happened in the first place and angry that these films aren’t being spoken about as important works of film...

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Doc Corner: 'Asian Americans' and 'First Vote'

By Glenn Dunks

Some facts will be long remembered.

Others won't be much remembered.

And then will be forgotten.

These are words spoken at the end of Rithy Panh’s stark 2011 documentary Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell. Not a happy film by any stretch, but these words at least partially explain why we need documentaries about the traumas of the past and why we should watch them.

I thought of this quote when I sat down to write about the new five-part PBS documentary series Asian Americans. Every five-minute stretch of this remarkable series comes with a story or anecdote or remembrance that could be lost to the greater history. It all but stunned me. Every episode ought to be a veritable blueprint to smart Hollywood producers and entrepreneurial independent film financiers.

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