Photo: Korean Cinema Today - koreanfilm.or.kr
A Distant Place
A Distant Place
The MKE Film Festival, opening April 21 running through May 5, once again offers a marquee of GenreQueer films. Sprinkled through the course of the festival and screened at its major venues that include Times Cinema, Oriental Theater and the Avalon as well as virtually, the 19 programs span the spectrum of foreign and U.S. produced films.
Some share crossover billing with other festival categories like Teen Screen and Worldviews. There’s romance, of course, but also documentaries, drama and comedies. Just like in the good ol’ days of the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival, there’s also a program of GenreQueer shorts. All programs encompass the range of topical themes from discovering identity to exposing sexual exploitation and from confronting religion and discrimination to coming of age.
Sponsored by Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Richard M. Kaul LGBT Arts Endowment Fund, this year’s roster of nearly 20 films is curated by Milwaukee Film GenreQueer & Shorts Programmer Jack Feria. “The program is highlighted by 10 major films plus another nine,” says Feria, who immediately pointed to Keep the Cameras Rolling: The Pedro Zamora Way, a Spanish language documentary about AIDS activist Pedro Zamora. “It’s a really good example of what we’re trying to do with GenreQueer. The film deals with the misrepresentation of viruses, power of truth and science and relevancy and someone we lost too soon and the tragedy of AIDS which is still on going,” Feria said. This film has been given a “strong recommendation for Shepherd Express readers.”
Also given a “strong recommendation” rating is GendreQueer Shorts, a program of eight films. Feria describes the queer collection as a range from drama to zany comedy celebrating diversity, while bringing out voices that haven’t been highlighted before as presented by exciting new filmmakers. “If you only have time to see one program of GendreQueer, see this one,” Feria said.
The opening film of the GendreQueer category is A Distant Place, a South Korea production. Winner of Outfest’s 2021 Grand Jury Award, the film presents a “spellbinding family drama” in which the life of pair of lovers, one from the countryside and the other an urban dweller, takes a dramatic turn with the surprise visit of an estranged mother.
The Milwaukee Project
Of particular local interest is The Milwaukee Project. Years in the making, this work spotlighting a diverse group of kids coming into identity whether queer or otherwise while confronting issues of race, sexuality, health and poverty. Their stories begin with their time at Alliance School, an MPS charter school founded to accommodate LGBTQ students and others who seek out a safe, affirming and positive learning environment.
Meanwhile, for the rest of the program, a pdf version of the MKE Film Festival Program Book may be downloaded at mkefilm.org.
Speaking with Feria on the matter of nostalgia and the memories of temps perdu, I asked about the idea of a grand opening night at the Oriental Theater to celebrate GenreQueer as in the days of the Milwaukee LGTQ Film/Video Festival. There was a buzz back then, with the queer literati and glitterati assembled for that mutual cinematic experience. We’ll see what the future holds, I suppose, but I hope the idea is taken to heart.
Feria did, however, address the idea of bringing back the cinema experience, one lost to some whose primary entertainment resource is an iPhone. “We have amazing community partners to reach out to a younger audience to get that next generation to continue the love of film in the theater... and to break popcorn together. It’s the best,” Feria said.
