SIFF Offers A Delicious Slate of Queer Film For Final Week

June 2, 2014• bySeattle Gay Scene

Yes…it’s an internationally enforced law that a zexy Brazilian sex comedy/drama must screen at every film festival! This “Chariots of Fire-y” option is called “Futuro Beach” and screens at SIFF 2014 this week.

SIFF, aka the SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is turning 40 this year (along with Seattle Pride…how queer!) and while I’m guessing that they’re a tad cross about all this nice weather, (who the hell wants to watch movies when it’s 75 degrees and sunny?), there’s still a lot worth checking out including gobs of queer films. Docs, dramas, comedies…they got’em all.

I already crabbed about this year’s Gay-La, happening Wednesday, June 4 at the Egyptian including my grouse that they’re having the after party at Q Nightclub, the formerly gay friendly disco that decided to market to a less queer crowd…The movie is “Helicopter Mom” and it looks “cute”, like most Gay-La offerings. Get tickets here…if you don’t care to hang at Q, then you can buy “movie only” tickets. And, if you do want to go to the after party…no skin off my large behind. I just think there are better places to throw an event for a queer audience…like venues that are either gay owned or very gay supportive.

Here are some more interesting LGBTQ options for the final week of SIFF 2014.

AND, you can save $2 off the ticket price for all the films listed below. Here’s how:

Use promo code LGBTQ2014 when ordering tickets. Redeem this promo code online, over the phone, or at the box office. Promotion valid for regular priced screenings only (not valid on already-discounted matinees and special presentations). Cannot be used with other promotions or discounts.

SWEET!!!

The Way He Looks

(Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho)

This savvy debut feature from Brazil highlights the emotional intelligence of teenagers, evoking a gay take on John Hughes’ teen classics. Blind from birth, teenaged Leonardo is ready for independence—and love. When new kid Gabriel arrives in class, he soon replaces Leonardo’s loyal female bestie.

Schedule
May 30, 2014 Friday	9:30 PM	Harvard Exit	Date has passed
June 4, 2014 Wednesday	4:00 PM	Egyptian Theatre	Buy Add to My SIFF

With The Way He Looks, promising young Brazilian director Daniel Ribeiro has fleshed out his award-winning 2010 short I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone with the same storyline and actors, whose affectless performances ring true in this (also award-winning) teenage love triangle. Ribeiro’s debut feature is an awkwardly sweet window into the world of Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a boy leaning toward independence and first love. Blind from birth, Leo dreams of riding a bike unassisted down the streets of Sao Paulo, but his childhood friend Giovana (Tess Amorim) gently holds his arm as they walk home from school each day. Although they’re 16 and 17, neither one of them has been kissed yet. The time seems just right for those spin-the-bottle pool parties to begin. And when Gabriel (Fabio Audi), with an easy smile and a mop of curly hair, arrives as the new kid in school, things start to get really complicated. How can shy Giovana hint at her romantic interest when Leo can’t visually read her body language? And how can Gabriel captivate everyone, sighted or not, so thoroughly? Ribeiro’s savvy film highlights the emotional intelligence of teenagers, evoking a gay take on John Hughes’ teen classics. Fun music from artists including Marvin Gaye, Belle and Sebastian, and One Direction realistically soundtracks these kids’ lives: the ups and downs of coming into your own.

Boys

(Jongens)

15-year-old Sieger, who has recently lost his mother, contends with the heat and hormones of one long, sweltering summer when he discovers he has feelings for Marc, his new track-and-field teammate.

Schedule
June 2, 2014 Monday	9:30 PM	Egyptian Theatre	Buy Add to My SIFF
June 3, 2014 Tuesday	4:00 PM	Egyptian Theatre	Buy Add to My SIFF

First-time summer love is something most people never forget. Teenager Sieger (Gijs Blom), however, is doing his best to not even acknowledge his first crush. During his summer school break, the 15-year-old is training to make the team for the National Relay Championships with his best friend, Stef (Stijn Taverne). During his running workouts, Sieger meets another runner named Marc (Ko Zandvliet), a more free-spirited and outgoing person, and the two strike up a friendship. Before long, Sieger realizes his feelings for Marc are deeper than he imagined. Things get even more complicated when Marc reveals that he shares the same longing for Sieger. Terrified of being found out by his father and his rebellious, intimidating older brother Eddy (Jonas Smulders), Sieger begins to make moves on one of the girls in his school while also attempting to curry favor by showing Eddy the location of a hidden motocross track, an activity their father has forbidden. But with each of Sieger’s attempt to mask his true feelings, his intense attraction to Marc only grows stronger. Director Mischa Kamp, known for her Dutch television work and award-winning family movies (Where is Winky’s Horse?), creates an authentic and tender love story about two young people trying to cope with emotions they don’t quite understand but can no longer deny.

Futuro Beach

(Praia do Futuro)

Two breakneck motorcycle rides bookend a tactile gay romance, told over three chapters and in the contrasting locations of sexy Brazil and frigid Berlin. Karim Ainouz’s latest feature is an astonishingly colorful and intimate look into the complexities of human relationships.

Schedule
June 6, 2014 Friday	9:30 PM	SIFF Cinema Uptown	Buy Add to My SIFF
June 7, 2014 Saturday	11:00 AM	Egyptian Theatre	Buy Add to My SIFF

Two breakneck motorcycle rides—one on the sand dunes of a Brazilian wind farm and one on the German autobahn—bookend a tactile gay romance told over three chapters and in the contrasting locations of sexy Brazil and frigid Berlin. Karim Ainouz’s fifth feature regales with visions of male beauty not so appreciated since Claire Denis’ Beau Travail, while revealing much about relationship despite a script as skimpy as the attire on Fortaleza’s beaches. In the opening chapter, Donato (Wagner Moura) is a lifeguard on Praia do Futuro who’s taken aback by the first drowning that occurs on his watch. The victim’s companion, Konrad (Clemens Schick), is an Afghanistan war veteran visiting from Germany, who looks to Donato first for comfort—and then love. Chapter two downshifts from the dazzling bright colors of South America to the steely shades of industrialized Berlin, while never losing its forward momentum. Donato has joined Konrad to settle there, embracing his sexuality but missing his adoring younger brother Ayrton and the beaches where he grew up. In the final third, Ayrton is now an 18-year-old thrill-seeker himself, looking for Donato in Berlin. Director Ainouz imparts Donato with the expats’ dual mentality of excited anxiousness. Cinematographer Ali Olcay Gözkaya expresses psychological states with dramatic shifts in light and palette, while Hauschka provides a dreamily melancholic, ambient score, in this story about losing yourself in the city, in the sea, and in love.

The Circle

(Der Kreis)

In the 1950s, Zurich group Der Kreis (“The Circle”) blossomed into an internationally renowned gay liberation community. Schoolteacher Ernst Ostertag and drag performer Röbi Rapp fight for their love, made taboo by society, with inspiring courage, in this hybrid documentary/narrative.

Schedule
June 3, 2014 Tuesday	9:30 PM	Harvard Exit	Buy Add to My SIFF
June 8, 2014 Sunday	12:00 PM	SIFF Cinema Uptown	Buy Add to My SIFF

Based on a true story, The Circle tells the story of Ernst, a young teacher in 1950s Zurich who lives an existence that forces him to choose between expressing his true devotion to the man he loves, and hiding his secret from those around him in order to maintain his successful career. Motivated by the freedom that comes with standing up for who you are, Ernst nurtures his intimate relationship with his lover Robi, an entertainer by night, and the two of them participate in what has been called the very first gay rights movement. The inclusive self-help organization “The Circle” remained a beacon for the gay community in Switzerland until 1967, when the government’s relentless raids successfully shut them down. In this love memoir, filmmaker Stefan Haupt weaves together present-day documentary footage of Robi and Ernst in which they recount their experiences living in a dangerously homophobic and oppressive culture, with fictional reenactments of their journey—poignantly expressing what it’s like to fight for forbidden love.

YAY! It’s George Takei in his very own documentary. He’s also the celebrity Grand Marshal of the 2014 Seattle Pride Parade on Sunday, June 29, 2014!!!

To Be Takei

From a World War II internment camp to “Star Trek” to online celebrity, George Takei’s journey has been filled with the unexpected. A crowd-pleasing peek into the public and private lives of equal rights activist and gay icon Takei and his husband, Brad.

Schedule
June 6, 2014 Friday	7:00 PM	Egyptian Theatre	Buy Add to My SIFF
June 7, 2014 Saturday	4:00 PM	SIFF Cinema Uptown	Buy Add to My SIFF

As Sulu on TV’s “Star Trek,” he boldly went where no man had gone before—and now, George Takei is on a new mission. Years after becoming one of the first Asian-American actors to appear on primetime television, Takei is the subject of Jennifer Kroot’s documentary, which follows the actor and his husband, Brad, as they fight for and promote equal rights. Kroot traces Takei’s rich and complicated past, from spending time in a WWII internment camp to breaking stereotypes as one of “Star Trek”’s most beloved characters. But To Be Takai also explores George Takei as the social media icon—after leading the starship Enterprise, he now guides over five million Facebook fans in his rally for equality. Firmly believing homosexuality to be an “orientation” (as opposed to a “lifestyle”) in his civil rights advocacy, Takei graces cyberspace with his quirky humor and abundance of heart, in his signature voice. Kroot’s documentary is a funny and moving film about how a beloved actor has taken advantage of his celebrity to fight for the liberty and love that matters to so many of us.