Adventure of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
(Australia, Dir: Stephan Elliot, Casts: Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp, 98 min)
Two drag-queens (Anthony/Mitzi and Adam/Felicia) and a transexual (Bernadette) contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. En route, it is discovered that the woman they've contracted with is Anthony's wife. Their bus breaks down, and is repaired by Bob, who travels on with them.
Aku Perempuan dan Lelaki Itu
(Indonesia, Dir: Aria Kusumadewa, Casts: Nurul Arifin, Unique Priscilla, 45 min)
--In Indonesian, No English Subtitle--
A young woman is confused between the man she loves and the feminist boss she has. She gradually is convinced that she doesn't need a man in her life.
All Over Me
(USA, Dir: Alex Sichel, Casts: Alison Folland, Tara Subkoff, 90 min)
Claude and Ellen are best friends who live in a not-so-nice area of New York. They are involved in the subculture of 90's youth complete with drugs, live music, and homophobia. All is changed one night when a violent and meaningless death rocks their lives.
Bishonen
(Hong Kong, Dir: Yon Fan, Casts: Stephen Fung, Daniel Wu, 101 min)
Jet is the star gigolo in Hong Kong. Arrogant, sexy, everyone falls in love with him, but he falls in love with no one... until one day he meets Sam, the hunkiest policeman to ever pound a beat on Hollywood Road. From then on, Jet changes himself into somebody he is not: innocent, sweet, clean, pure. It's way of setting a trap to catch Sam. But unknowingly Jet falls into the trap himself. Things begin to get out of control when it turns out that Sam's past is part of Jet's present.
Better than Chocolate
(Canada, Dir: Anne Wheeler, Casts: Wendy Crewson, Karyn Dwyer, 101 min)
Two attractive young lesbians, Maggie and Kim, meet in Vancouver, develop a passionate romance, and move in together. Meanwhile, Maggie's well-meaning but naive mother Lila gets divorced and decides to move to Vancouver and join the household. Soon after, Lila is befriended by Judy, a transsexual about to undergo a sex-change operation. Complications ensue as the conservative Lila learns the truth about Maggie, Judy, and their diverse group of friends.
Drift
(Canada, Dir: Quentin Lee, Casts: Reggie Lee, Greyson Dayne, 86 min)
At his agent's party, Ryan, a young screenwriter, and Joel, Ryan's boyfriend, meet Leo, an aspiring novelist and a college student. During an intense conversation about serial killers, Ryan feels viscerally connected to Leo as if everyone in the party has vanished. Out on a limb, Ryan leaves Joel's apartment on the fateful morning and drifts into three different possibilities of a love triangle.
Duniaku, Duniamu, Dunia Mereka
(Indonesia, Dir: Nugroho Adi Susilo, 28 min)
--In Indonesian, No English Subtitle--
The ups and downs of a transvestite's confession in Yogyakarta.
The Einstein of Sex
(Germany, Dir: Rosa Von Praunheim, Casts: Friedel von Wangenheim Ben Becker, 100 min)
The life story of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German Jew, who as a physician established the field of sexology, and fought militantly against German anti-sodomy laws in the late 19th century. The script reveals main characters in Hirschfeld's life including impossible love interest Baron von Teschenberg, and Hirschfeld's aids- young Karl Giese and guardian angel, the transvestite Dorchen, as they establish the First Institute of Sexual Sciences in Berlin in 1920, and follows their struggles to keep it open, up to the rise of the Third Reich in the mid 1930s.
Farewell My Concubine
(China, Dir: Chen Kaige, Casts: Gong Li, Leslie Cheung, 171 min)
This is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. It is the story of two performers in the Peking Opera, stage brothers, and the woman who comes between them. At the same time, it attempts to do no less than squeeze the entire political history of China in the twentieth century into a three-hour time-frame.
Fleeing by Night
(Taiwan, Dir: Chi Yin, Li-Kong Hsu, Casts: Rene Liu, Lei Huang, 123 min)
Set in China in the 1930s, the film is about the unsettling relationship between three characters. Ing'er, the daughter of a theatre-owner, welcomes the return of Shao-dung, her fiancee and a fine cellist from America. Shao-dung soon finds himself captivated by the opera "Fleeing By Night" and its celebrated actor, Lin Chung, whose voice seems to articulate something within himself. While Shao-dung attempts to blend eastern and western music, Ing'er becomes torn between her affection for both men, and an awareness of the growing intimacy between them.
Gia
(USA, Dir:Michael Cristopher, Casts:Angelina Jolie, Faye Dunaway, 120 min)
Fact-based story about supermodel Gia Carangi follows her life from a rebel working in her father's diner at age 17 to her death in 1986 at age 26 from AIDS, one of the first women in America whose death was attributed to the disease. In between, she followed a downward spiral of drug abuse and failed relationships.
Heavenly Creatures
(New Zealand, Dir: Peter Jackson, Casts: Kate Winslet, Melanie Lynskie, 99 min)
Based on the true story of Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, two close friends who share a love of fantasy and literature, who conspire to kill Pauline's mother when she tries to end the girls' intense and obsessive relationship.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
(USA, Dir: John Cameron Mitchell, Casts: John Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Martin, 95 min)
--This film is going to be screened again at Jiffest 2002--
Hedwig, born a boy named Hansel in East Berlin, fell in love with an American G.I. and underwent a sex-change operation in order to marry him and flee to the West. Unfortunately, nothing worked out quite as it was supposed to - years later, Hedwig is leading her rock band on a tour of the U.S., telling her life story through a series of concerts at Bilgewater Inn seafood restaurants. Her tour dates coincide with those of arena-rock star Tommy Gnosis, a wide-eyed boy who once loved Hedwig... but then left with all her songs.
I Am My Own Woman
(Germany, Dir: Rosa Von Praunheim, Casts: Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Jens Taschner, 90 min)The life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berflede. Miss Charlotte survived the Nazi reign and the repression of the Communists as a transvestite and helped start the German gay liberation movement. Documentary with some dramatized scenes. Two actors play the young and middle aged Charlotte and she plays herself in the later years.
I Am Not What You Want
(Hong Kong, Dir: Kit Hung, Casts: Chet Lam, Nicky Hung, 49 min)
Rick was kicked out of his home because of his homosexuality, and takes refuge in the home of his friend Mark. Living under the same roof, these youths realize they have more in common than they thought. I Am Not What You Want is a fresh and original look at teen love and sexuality in Hongkong.
If These Walls Could Talk 2
(USA, Dir: Jane Anderson, Martha Coolidge, Casts: Vannessa Redgrave, Sharon Stone, 96 min)
1961: When Abby dies of a stroke, her surviving partner of 50 years, Edith, must silently face heartbreak and the denial of her status as "family" by the hospital and Abby's heirs. 1972: Linda, a feminist, out, college student is ousted, along with her lesbian cohorts, from the on-campus womens' group: the cause of feminism comes first, apparently. In an attempt to forget their troubles, the friends go to the only lesbian bar in town, where Linda meets Amy, who is too butch to pass muster with Linda's friends. Intrigued, despite her friends' disapproval, Linda comes to understand and fall in love with Amy while learning about her own prejudices. 2000: Fran and Kal want to have a baby. But they want the baby to be theirs and theirs alone, so to the sperm bank they go. But the decisions to be made! Ordering over the internet? Which donor? What race? What gender? And what if the sperm bank is out of that particular perfect donor? And above all, is it right to bring a baby into a world that will undoubtedly be prejudiced? Or will love and laughter see them through?
Ignorant Fairies
(Italy, Dir: Ferzan Ozpetek, Casts: Stefano Accorsi, Margherita Buy, 106 min)
Anna discovers her deceased husband (with whom she was truly in love) had a gay lover. She traces this man, and discovers a whole world she had not dreamed of - just a few kilometers from home. She mourns her marriage for the second time, and is both repulsed and attracted by the former lover and his friends.
I Shot Andy Warhol
(USA, Dir: Mary Harron, Casts: Lili Taylor, Stephen Dorff, 104 min)
Based on the true story of Valerie Solanas who was a 60s radical preaching hatred toward men in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he continued to ignore her. So she shot him. This is Valerie's story.
Lan Yu
(Hong Kong, Dir: Stanley Kwan, Casts: Liu Ye, Jun Hu, 86 min)
--This film is going to be screened again at Jiffest 2002--
Beijing, 1988. On the cusp of middle-age, Chen Handong has known little but success all his life. The eldest son of a senior government bureaucrat, he heads a fast-growing trading company and plays as hard as he works. Few know that Handong's tastes run more to boys than girls. Lan Yu is a country boy, newly arrived in Beijing to study architecture. More than most students, he is short of money and willing to try anything to earn some. He has run into Liu Zheng, who pragmatically suggests that he could prostitute himself for one night to a gay pool-hall and bar owner. But Handong happens to be in the pool hall that evening, and he nixes the deal. He takes Lan Yu home himself and gives the young man what turns out to be a life-changing sexual initiation. Handong and Lan Yu meet often, and the boy is soon very secure in his love for the man. But Handong insists that he wants a play-mate, not a lifelong companion, and warns Lan Yu that they will eventually break up.
Paris is Burning
(USA, Dir: Jennie Livingston Casts: Andre Christian, Dorian Corey, 71 min)
This is a documentary of 'drag nights' among New York's underclass. Queens are interviewed and observed preparing for and competing in many 'balls'. The people, the clothes, and the whole environment are outlandish.
Peony Pavilion
(Hong Kong, Dir: Yon Fan, Casts: Joey Wong, Rie Miyazawa, 120 min)
Jade is a beautiful courtesan of 1930s China, marrying into a noble house. She soon develops a close and frowned-upon relationship with a family cousin, who is also involved with a charismatic Nothern official. When both women find themselves questioning the love of their men, they only have each other to rely on, which may have consequences in itself.
Priest
(UK, Dir: Antonia Bird, Casts: Linus Roache, Robert Carlyle, 105 min)
Father Greg Pilkington is torn between his call as a conservative Catholic priest and his secret life as a homosexual with a gay lover, frowned upon by the Church. Upon hearing the confession of a young girl of her incestuous father, Greg enters an intensely emotional spiritual struggle deciding between choosing morals over religion and one life over another.
Queens Don't Cry
(Germany, Dir: Rosa Von Praunheim, Casts: Ichgola Androgyn, Bev Stroganov)
Four headstrong transvestites who met in West Berlin in the mid-eighties. These four queens have been busy fertilising the cultural scene in both Germany and the rest of the world ever since. Time and again, Director Rosa Von Praunheim has been fortunate enough to work with each one of them in various films. Something they all share is the fact that they are not mere performers but also politically active - in AIDS awareness, events against anti-gay violence, the prostitutes' movement, the struggle against the extreme Right and racism.
Rocky Horror Picture Show
(USA, Dir: Jim Sharman Casts: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, 100 min)
After Janet accepts Brad's marriage proposal, the happy couple drive away from Denton, Ohio, only to get lost in the rain. They stumble upon the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite who is holding the annual convention of visitors from the planet Transsexual. Frank-N-Furter unveils his creation, a young man named Rocky Horror, who fears the doctor and rejects his sexual advances. When Frank-N-Furter announces that he is returning to the galaxy Transylvania, Riff Raff the butler and Magenta the maid declare that they have plans of their own.
Sex Warriors and The Samurai
(Phillipines, Dir: Nick A. Deocampo, Cast: Nick A.Deocampo, 25 min)
The filmmaker examines the life of a Filipino transvestite who is about to seek employment in Japan as a prostitute.
Ternyata
(Indonesia, Dir: Azhar Lubis, 12 min)
--In Indonesian, No English Subtitle--
Vina is asked by her boyfriend, Rudi to pick up Rudy's friend, Edwin at the airport. Vina has to accept the bitterness to know the reality behind the two boys' friendship.
Torch Song Trilogy
(USA, Dir: Paul Bogart, Casts: Harvey Fierstein, Matthew Broderick, 120 min)
Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein re-creates his role as the unsinkable Arnold Beckoff in this film adaptation of the smash Broadway play TORCH SONG TRILOGY. A very personal story that is both funny and poignant, TORCH SONG TRILOGY chronicles a New Yorker's search for love, respect and tradition in a world that seems not especially made for him. From Arnold's hilarious steps toward domestic bliss with a reluctant school teacher, to his first truly promising love affair with a young fashion model, Arnold's greatest challenge remains his complicated relationship with his mother. But armed with a keenly developed sense of humor and oftentimes piercing wit, Arnold continues to test the commonly accepted terms of endearment--and endurance--in a universally affecting story that confirms that happiness is well worth carrying a torch for.
The Wedding Banquet
(Taiwan, Dir: Ang Lee, Casts: Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein, 106 min)
Simon and Wei-Tung are a gay couple living together in Manhattan. To defer the suspicions of Wei-Tung's parents, Simon suggests a marriage of convenience between Wei-Tung and Wei-Wei, an immigrant in need of a green card. When Wei-Tung's parents come to America for the wedding, they insist upon an elaborate banquet, resulting in several complications.
Wilde
(Dir: Brian Gilbert, Casts: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, 118 min)
The story of Oscar Wilde, genius, poet, playwright and the First Modern Man. The self-realisation of his homosexuality caused Wilde enormous torment as he juggled marriage, fatherhood and responsibility with his obsessive love for Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed Bosie. After legal action instigated by Bosie's father, the mad Marquess of Queensberry, Wilde refused to flee the country and was sentenced to two years at hard labour by the courts of an intolerant Victorian society.
