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| Juchitán de las locas/Juchitán, Queer Paradise Courtesy photo |
7pm opening reception
8-10pm screenings
Gertrudis Blues (dir. Patricia Carrillo Carrera, 10 min.) A contemporary reminder of the African presence in a Mexican community framed through the storytelling of Gertrudis Vásquez, an 80-year-old Afro-Mestizo.
Thorn Grass (dir. D. Robin Hammer, 8 min.) A work of creative fiction that is based on the life and death of 16-year-old Fred C. Martinez Jr., a transgendered, "two-spirited" Native American youth who was killed in a hate crime in 2001 in Cortez, Colorado.
In the Life: Anatomy of a Colorado Murder (documentary, 11 min.) Documentary covering the brutal murder of Fred C. Martinez Jr.
A Time for Drunken Horses (dir. Bahman Ghobadi, 80 min.) This Iranian film follows a group of orphaned Kurdish children forced to grow up in order to survive in the midst of war.
Saturday 8|23
6-10:30pm screenings
The Trials of Henry Kissinger (dir. Alex Gibney & Eugene Jarecki, 80 min.) Is Henry Kissinger a war criminal? Featuring newly declassified U.S. government documents and interviews with key insiders from Kissinger's White House years, the film sheds light on a career shrouded in secrecy.
Lumumba (dir. Raoul Peck, 115 min.) The first prime minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, had a vision of a united Africa that gained him powerful enemies such as the Belgian authorities and the CIA. With several conspiracies occurring at once, Lumumba met a brutal death in 1961.
Juchitán de las locas/Juchitán, Queer Paradise (dir. Patricio Henriquez, 65 min.) "What if the world understood you are queer and the world accepts you?" Marínez asks while thinking of this hour-long documentary which looks at a Mexican community where a wide range of sexualities exist and are celebrated.
Sunday 8|24
2pm brunch and live music
2:30-7pm screenings
Waiting for Happiness (dir. Abderrahmane Sissako, 95 min.) Set in a West African community, Happiness is, on its surface, a film about how people exchange and pass information from one generation to another as they undergo transitions resulting from cultural imperialism.
The Edge of Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde (dir. Jennifer Abod, 60 min.) This video, filmed two years prior to Lorde's death from cancer, addresses the complexity of who she was and how we can accomplish the difficult - but not impossible - work of bringing diverse communities across race, class, gender, and sexuality to work together.
La Gloria: La Buena Gente de Esperanza (4 min.) This video explores issues of cultural genocide through the use of poetry and archival footage of the 73-year-old historic San Antonio building, La Gloria.
Division and Western (dir. Rachel Rinaldo, 28 min.) Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood welcomes visitors with two gigantic steel Puerto Rican flags, a symbolic affirmation of the community's cultural composition, as well as a visual reminder of their sense of pride. Is it enough to combat the gentrification of their community? Coupled with this experimental documentary are two shorts about La Gloria, the West Side dancehall that was demolished last year.
Blue Vinyl (dir. Judith Helfand & Daniel B. Gold, 96 min.) A quirky documentary which faintly echoes Roger & Me in the filmmakers' search for answers, this is a very personal account on how PVC plastic affects the director, her family and her community.
The three-day Other, Out, & Beyond film festival opens Friday, August 22 at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center at 922 San Pedro. Tickets are $7 each night; a sliding scale is offered. Call 228-0201 for more information, or go to check out the Esperanza's Web site at www.esperanzacenter.org. •
