© 2024 Milwaukee Public Media is a service of UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

2015 LGBT Film Festival Offers More International, Transgender Perspectives

Cinema Management Group
"Liz in September" is one of many international films presented at this year's festival.

It’s a milestone year for Milwaukee’s LGBTFilm Festival - 30 years.  The festival, presented by UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, opened last week and runs through Sunday.

Carl Bogner, the festival’s director, says one of the major changes in its existence is just how many more choices now exist in finding quality films to present.

"As someone who has been involved in selecting the films for the festival, I can say there's been a real flowering of choices from which to craft the festival," says Bogner.

Bogner shares some of his favorite films from over 30 programs:

1. Summer of Sangaile

"The main character finds resolution by achieving some of her vocational dreams...Often (LGBT) narratives are about the finding and resolving of a relationship or being in a couple. Sure, the girl gets to be in a couple by the end of the movie, but she also gets to achieve something beyond that. So that felt drastically different. I like the emphasis of the film."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P8cgY5vOtE

2. From This Day Forward

"The movie is sort of shaped around the preparations for the filmmaker's wedding...and there's some concern about what Trisha will wear to the ceremony - whether she'd be in a dress or a tuxedo. And I like the way the documentary didn't overplay that, it was more of a string on which to hang the narrative of the family. It makes sense when you're making a film about your own family that you're not going to be exploitational, and I think that was the pleasure of it that the subject matter wasn't sensationalized...You're in the company of this remarkable family."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNDtJqKWVX0

3. Deep Run

"Cole lives a more hard-scrabble existence living (as an out trans-man) in the Bible belt. He himself is a Christian and he uses his Christianity to counter a lot of the bigotry that he faces from members of his community and members of his church."

4. Stories of Our Lives

"I was expecting something like a collection of really earnest public service announcements, but it is a beautifully made, wonderfully acted, really artful collection of narratives."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDr1ue-lHc

5. Liz in September

"The movie is very satisfying in that it's emotionally really rich, it has a fantasy element in that it takes place on the beaches of Venezuela - one of the most beautiful places imaginable. There is this optimistic suggestion at the end...it's just full of personalities and keeps one engaged and laughing and surprised."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwgwYIrUMh0

The Milwaukee LGBT Film Festival runs through Sunday October 25th at the Oriental Theater and the UWM Union Theater. 

Audrey is a WUWM host and producer for Lake Effect.