Lovers of noncommercial cinema dealing with LGBT themes can rejoice. This week's 23rd annual Milwaukee LGBT%uFFFDFilm/Video Festival marks a new start, as the yearly fete becomes a monthly event.
The festival's turn into%uFFFDless intensive, more frequent monthly%uFFFDscreenings doesn't mean%uFFFDthe usual, longer visual feast%uFFFDhas been scrapped.%uFFFDWhat has become one of the nation's longest-running LGBT celebrations continues Thursday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct.%uFFFD24, with all but one screening at%uFFFDthe UWM Union Theatre (2200 E.%uFFFDKenwood Blvd.).
The festival kicks off elsewhere on the East Side%uFFFDas the%uFFFDOriental Theatre (2230 N. Farwell Ave.) hosts the fest's opening salvo. And a cheery opening it is, as the%uFFFDdocumentary Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls%uFFFDchronicles the%uFFFDrise%uFFFDof two New Zealand sisters who have become major TV comedy stars in their country while simultaneously involving themselves in sociopolitical causes such as%uFFFDthe fight for LGBT rights, the struggles of the nation's indigenous Maori people and the effort to keep New Zealand a nukes-free zone.
Festival director Carl Bogner cites Out in the Silence as another of his favorites on this year's schedule. Out in the Silence is a bracing documentary about being lesbian and gay in a small town. This documentary, unfortunately, is most timely as it presents “the case of this remarkable teenage boy who is a victim of bullying in his high school," Bogner says of the film that plays as part of the fest's Documentary Salon.
Plenty of dramatic films make their Milwaukee premiere this year as well. Among those that caught Bogner's eye is Undertow. "This beautiful film from Peru is about a man in a small fishing%uFFFDvillage who dares to declare his%uFFFDlove," he explains.
The festival is one of the city’s only showcases for LGBT-oriented films and videos. But Bogner says that scarcity actually eases the challenge of running the festival.
"I think, in some ways, Milwaukee makes it easier. There are not that many competing venues for these films, so the films we'd like to show are still in need of a Milwaukee venue," he explains. “And the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival has the best audience imaginable: loyal, independent, savvy, good-looking."
The expansion of the festival to a monthly exploration of LGBT themes was%uFFFDborn of a%uFFFDsimple premise: “A desire to bring more LGBT films to Milwaukee%uFFFDyear-round,” Bogner says. “The new format will allow us to bring even more queer film to the city, as%uFFFDwell as to showcase more variety of LGBT filmnot just the new%uFFFDfestival fare, necessarily, but maybe more revival screenings."
The full schedule can be found at www4.uwm.edu/psoa/programs/film/lgbtfilm.
