Screenings for the groundbreaking film festival begin TODAY, Thursday, May 13 at the Capitol Hill Library. Films continue through Sunday at Northwest Film Forum and the Erickson Theatre (behind the Egyptian Theater on Harvard between Pike and Pine).
Who says you can have too much of a good thing? In Seattle, that good thing would have to be film festivals, and we have a lot of them, much to the delight of cinephiles in the Puget Sound area. One of the most innovative and exciting festivals is Translations: The Seattle Transgendered Film Festival, now in its fifth year and brought to you by Three Dollar Cinema. The four day festival starts tonight with a screening of Reality TG, a FREE screening event at the Capitol Hill Library, 425 Harvard Ave East, that starts at 6:15pm. Reality TG is a documentary that examines the sudden rise of transgendered people being featured on television programs including talk shows, dramas and reality television. Following the film there will be a discussion hosted by tv critic Sara Michelle Fetters and Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Executive Director Rachael Brister.
The Degenerettes, one of the musical acts featured in the documentary Riot Acts which screens Friday at The Erickson Theatre
The Festival’s official opening gala presentation is Riot Acts a documentary feature chronicaling the careers of such transgendered musicians as The Clicks, Coyote Grace, Katastrophe and The Degenerettes. Following the screening, Riot Acts director Madsen Minax and featured musician Adhamh Roland will perform at the After Party. The film will screen Friday, May 14 at the Erickson Theatre.
The festival kicks into high gear on Saturday and Sunday with screenings of Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight, a documentary about Vicki Marlane a fascinating San Francisco performer who is still working into her 70’s and whose career stretches from carnival sideshows to SF nightclubs (Sat, May 15/3pm/NWFF); Mainstay is a drama from director Elliot Montague about Fischer, a FTM young man who returns to his rural Maine home after the death of his ex-lover, Hannah, who must rebuild his relationships with his family and friends, (Sat, May 15/5pm/NWFF); a blast from the past is Gene Nash’s 1970 film, Dinah East, a campy cult classic that examines the urban legend that Mae West was actually a man. Starring Warhol Superstar Ultra Violet as the West stand-in, Dinah East, the film is a sexy Hollywood potboiler about a girl who becomes a huge star, but must hide some very damaging skeletons in her closet or risk ruin. The film screens Sat, May 15 at 9pm at NWFF.
A scene from Jake Yuzna’s film Open, the closing night film of the Translations Film Festival
Sunday screenings include My Buddy Claudia, a look at a transwoman who became a big media star in Brazil with a career that included musical performances, acting in soft-core porn, rock stardom in the 80’s and a life of activism and political activity, (Sunday, May 16/5pm/NWFF). And, the closing feature of the festival will be Open, winner of the Special Jury Award for LGBT film at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. Open is a “visually striking” look at New Millennium relationships:
When the young hermaphrodite Cynthia meets Gen and Jay, a couple recovering from plastic surgery, she learns of Pandrogeny, in which two people merge their facial features in order to reflect their evolution from separate identities into one unified entity. Inspired by this, Cynthia abandons her husband and suburban life to embark on a road trip with Gen through anachronistic America. A young transman, Syd, meets a young punk, Nick, and after a sexual encounter they find themselves falling in love. But are Syd and Nick ready to deal with the implications and consequences of their unique romance?
Open closes the festival at 7pm on Sunday, May 16 at Northwest Film Forum.
For more information on these and the other films in the festival, check out the website at Three Dollar Bill Cinema. Under the curation of Cresdan Maite, Translations has become one of the preeminent transgendered film festivals in the world…Check it out, regardless of your gender identity!
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
Thank you for the great line up on last year's Translations film festival. Although I work on the programming of Translations as well, I would like to point out that the strength of Translations programs is lead by Translation's Program Director, Jason Plourde from Three Dollar Bill Cinema.