QDoc 2011

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When the legendary performance artist Joey Arias met the brilliant puppeteer Basil Twist, a one-of-a-kind magic happened on the New York stage. Lucky for us, their collaboration has been captured on film. The exhilarating beauty of Joey’s persona and voice combined with Basil’s elegant and outrageous puppet work is a jawdropping spectacle that makes Lady Gaga’s antics look like a picnic with Sandra Dee.

Fascinating archival material traces the history of both collaborators. From the barrios of L.A. to the New York performance art scene, Joey has been an enduring figure in queer arts and culture through three decades. Working with the likes of Klaus Nomi and Thierry Mugler, his performances broke boundaries around the world. Friend and colleague Ann Magnuson describes Joey as a “cosmic surrealistic psychedelic glamour clown,” making him the perfect collaborator for third-generation puppeteer Basil Twist, a queer visionary in his own right.

Director Bobby Sheehan’s film is a celebration of creativity and imagination. Basil’s sumptuous stagecraft makes Joey the star of his own fantasies, creating a dreamscape for the performer to romp through, from a gyroscopic alien exam room to a lush jungle alive with flora and fauna. Pretty twisted to begin with, Joey and Basil together reach new artistic heights in Arias with a Twist. −Corey Eubanks

From rock star to rock bottom, Patty Schemel has experienced both the highs and the lows of the music world. After picking up her first pair of drumsticks at age 11, she went on to join the predominantly female rock band Hole, whose 1994 album Live Through This is considered among the greatest of all time. But she also had her first drink at age 12, leading to years of substance abuse.

With a warm sense of humor and remarkable candor, Schemel shares her survivor story in Hit So Hard, which made headlines in March when its New York premiere brought together the members of Hole for the first time in 13 years. The film recounts Schemel’s childhood outside Seattle, conflicts with Hole singer Courtney Love and how she turned to drugs to cope with the deaths of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff. Hit So Hard features fly-on-the-wall footage of the Cobain family and interviews with a who’s who of women rockers from The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, Luscious Jackson and Veruca Salt.

Schemel, who came out in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, also explains how music helped her cope with feeling like an outsider: “I found other freakish people through music…androgynous icons like Klaus Nomi, David Bowie and Patti Smith who were playing with gender. That was interesting to me.” —Jimmy Radosta

It’s generally perceived that Genesis P-Orridge, legendary founder of industrial music with such bands as Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, underwent gender reassignment surgery as part of the ongoing creative project that is her life. The truth is that P-Orridge and partner Lady Jaye sought to experience the unification of their bodies as much as they had their spirits in what they consider to be “one of the great love affairs of all time.”

Director Marie Losier spent five years filming the day-to-day lives of P-Orridge and Jaye and their process to become the same pandrogynous individual. Intricately crafted with an array of experimental techniques and archival material, this intimate and charming film documents the history of the subjects’ creative lives along with their process of physically realizing the idea that bodies are prescribed cultural identities, “the suitcase that carries us around,” and not who we truly are.

Winner of the Teddy Award for best queer documentary at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival, Ballad is a playful work of intriguing depth as well as a captivating love story full of eccentricity, joy and unceasing devotion. −Wing Grabowski

With so much emphasis—and rightly so—on the events of the Stonewall riots, it’s easy to overlook the struggles and achievements of our community in other parts of the country. On These Shoulders We Stand counters that notion by exploring the early decades of the gay rights movement in Los Angeles through the eyes of 11 extraordinary individuals with firsthand experience of the city’s gay past.

Gay life in ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s Los Angeles was both a haven where lesbians and gays could find each other as well as a trial of social and legal homophobia and persecution. In particular, LGBT individuals faced threats, intimidation and humiliation from the Los Angeles Police Department through harassment, raids and arrest. Yet with each setback, new people found their way into the movement. Fear and shame slowly transformed into defiance and community building. In the wake of Stonewall, Los Angeles hosted the first Gay Pride Parade and the community came into its own. Social, health and political organizations were founded, and those who survived the earlier times became mentors and leaders to a new generation of activists.

On These Shoulders We Stand is an important reminder of how we got to where we are today, and a testament to the heroic contributions and triumphs of those who have come before us.

Returning to India to clean out her recently deceased mother’s home in Delhi, filmmaker Sonali Gulati regrets never having told her mother that she is a lesbian. Wondering if she would even have wanted to know, she imagines her mother’s possible reactions in a series of unreassuring vignettes. Compelled by this unresolved question, Gulati meets with out and closeted Indians and their parents in hopes of finding insight and understanding. What begins as a beautifully rendered personal journey transforms into a multifaceted portrait of families across India.

Citizens of a country where being homosexual was until recently against the law, parents and children grapple with social as well as familial pressure to conform to gender norms, marry and have children. While one family helps a couple solemnize their union with a religious ceremony, another breaks into a temple to reclaim their daughter, who had taken refuge with her lover. Stories of confusion, resignation and heartbreak are tempered with those of love, acceptance and pride in this moving and heartfelt film.

Against the backdrop of the Indian Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in a case challenging Penal Code 377 outlawing homosexuality (which dates from 19th century British colonial law), LGBT people begin to find solidarity and publicly claim their rightful place as
Indians—and family. –Beth Hutchison

Do looks matter? When it comes to the male physique in the gay community, the answer is a resounding YES. In this fascinating, thought-provoking documentary, filmmaker Christopher Hines turns his camera on guys of all shapes and sizes to explore how body image affects status among gay men.

Through intimate interviews with men across the United States, Hines uncovers the very common, often unsettling reality of how many gay men struggle to achieve and maintain a particular image in order to be accepted. One especially muscular guy admits that even though he knows it’s superficial, he “feels more respected and accepted” when people compliment his look. Hines explores how these issues trickle into other areas of our modern world by looking at everything from the gay porn industry to a naked yoga class in San Francisco that helps students feel more comfortable with their bodies.

The Adonis Factor deftly balances diverse viewpoints and voices to paint a picture of a complex world where beauty is too often considered skin deep.
—Brendan Peterson, courtesy of Frameline

Preceded by Crowned & Bound, a fun, front-row view of pecs and personality at the 2010 International Mr. Leather competition in Chicago.