From a numbers perspective, it’s a lighter week for LGBTQ films at the 45th Seattle International Film Festival this week but what we have to see offers a terrific variety of queer film including a trio of Spanish language films: sexy Spanish lesbian romance (Carmen y Lola); a moody gay coming out tale from Guatemala (Temblores); and your last chance to see the sexy, based on a true story Argentinian crime thriller, (El Ángel).
There’s also a couple of documentaries to check out, the femme specific #Female Pleasure which looks at women from five cultures, (Hasidic Jew, Muslim, Shinto Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu) as they battle systematic repression to express female sexual autonomy. And, on the cuter (but no less empowering) side, there’s We Are the Radical Monarchs, a documentary about the founding of an Oakland California based alternative to the Girl Scouts for young women of color.
More below including ticket links but also be aware there’s a whole other week to go for SIFF 2019 after this week and another half dozen films to debut including TROOP ZERO starring Viola Davis and Allison Janney, and HALSTON the eagerly awaited documentary about the legendary fashion designer of the 70s and 80s.
Temblores
d. Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala/France/
Luxembourg
Earthquakes are the central metaphor in this drama as a just-out gay man faces brutal pressure to conform from his family and from the church in intensely Catholic Guatemala.
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#Female Pleasure
d. Barbara Miller, Switzerland
Hasidic Jew, Muslim, Shinto Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu: The five repression-battling women profiled in this doc come from different religious backgrounds but find that patriarchal fear of female sexual autonomy is universal.
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We Are the Radical Monarchs
d. Linda Goldstein Knowlton/USA
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El Ángel
d. Luis Ortega, Argentina/Spain
Alluring, angelic and completely amoral, baby-faced robber Carlos Robledo Puch, aka “Blondie,” quickly moves from breaking and entering to murder, alongside handsome career criminal Ramón, soon becoming Argentina’s most wanted, feared, and infamous outlaw.
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Tags: #Female Pleasure, Carmen & Lola, El Ángel, SIFF 2019, SIFF 2019 LGBTQ Films, SIFF Gay Films, SIFF Queer Films, Temblores, We Are the Radical Monarchs
As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.
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