QFest LGBTQ Sidebar - Four films dealing with LGBTQ issues
Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement
Greta Olafsdottir & Susan Muksa, U.S., 2009, 61 min. Sunday, Nov. 15, 1 p.m., Tivoli 3 “Edie & Thea,” from the directors of “The Brandon Teena Story,” provides an affectionate but clear-eyed portrait of a longtime lesbian couple, who after 42 years together are finally able to marry legally. Through Edie and Thea’s personal story – they became activists after
leading closeted lives in the harshly judgmental ‘50s and early ‘60s – the film also presents a revealing social and political history of the gay-liberation movement. The lively relationship between the two women remains center stage, however, and their continuing love is movingly evidenced by the now-elderly couple’s dancing despite wheelchair-bound Thea’s multiple sclerosis. “Edie & Thea” won LA’s Outfest Audience Award as Best Documentary. Shown with the documentary short “Pride 2009” (Joseph Olesh, U.S., 2009, 7 min.), which chronicles this year’s Pride parade in San Francisco.
Pop Star on Ice
David Barba and James Pellerito, U.S., 2009, 85 min. Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7 p.m., Tivoli 1 “Pop Star on Ice” offers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of always outspoken, frequently outrageous Olympian Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. Figure Skating National Champion. The inspiration for Jon Heder’s character in “Blades of Glory,”
Weir seeks to balance his larger-than-life persona with the constraints of competitive figure skating. The film explores Weir’s complicated relationship with his longtime coach, Priscilla Hill, and his struggles to reach the top of his sport, traveling from small-town Delaware – his training home – to competitions, shopping sprees, fashion shows and personal appearances around the world. Looking through the prism of its most controversial athlete, “Pop Star on Ice” reveals surprising new facets of the graceful, athletic, cutthroat and melodramatic sport of figure skating.
Prodigal Sons
Kimberly Reed, 2008, 86 min. Sunday, Nov. 15, 4 p.m., Tivoli 1 An endlessly astonishing personal documentary, “Prodigal Sons” explores the complicated relationship between filmmaker Kimberly Reed and her troubled brother Marc. Adopted as an infant, Marc was held back in preschool, failed to graduate high school and suffered a traumatic head injury at 21. By contrast, the film’s director served as her high school’s class president and valedictorian. But not everything about her life was quite so simple: The transgendered Kim was once Marc’s younger brother Paul. And that’s scarcely the only surprise that “Prodigal Sons” offers, as Marc and Kim return home to their small Montana hometown to confront their mutual past. Winner of the FIPRESCI critics award at Thessaloniki, “Prodigal Sons” was the sensation of last year’s Telluride festival. The Oxford American says Reed “is warm and smart and utterly beguiling as she leads us through her family’s sad and strange history, which gathers a Shakespearean momentum, and which could make even the stoniest among us weep.”
XXY
Lucía Puenzo, Argentina, 2008, 86 min., Spanish Friday, Nov. 13, 9:30 p.m., Frontenac 6 Sunday, Nov. 15, 1 p.m., Frontenac 6 Winner of the Critics Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, “XXY” deftly examines the ways in which an intersex teenager’s physical and sexual developments affect the dynamics of family. After raising their child as a girl for 15 years, a marine
biologist and his wife invite a gifted surgeon and his family to visit them on their secluded island in order to allow Alex (Inès Efron) the freedom to explore her options in terms of gender identification. However, the mutual attraction between Alex and the surgeon’s teenage son intensifies the already difficult concerns of the two families. “XXY” was awarded Best Picture, Actress and Adapted Screenplay by the Argentinean Film Critics Association and won the top prizes at both the Athens and Bangkok film festivals.
Ticket Prices
- Individual tickets are $10 each or $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with current and valid ID.
- Advance tickets for programs at the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac are available at those box offices beginning Thursday, Oct. 15. Box-office hours are 5-10
- p.m. Monday-Friday and 2-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. No phone sales. For tickets online, visit tickets.landmarktheatres.com.
- Advance tickets for Hi-Pointe Theatre are available at Tivoli box office from Oct. 15 until Nov. 12. Day of show at Hi-Pointe after that.
- Six Before Six: Weekday screenings from Nov. 16-20 before 6 p.m. at Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac are specially priced at $6. No other discounts are valid for these tickets.
