There are several films in IndieLisboa’s program which offer new visions of themes closely related to the gay community and which give their own perspectives about sexuality and gender issues.
In The City of the Future, Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes join the story of the biggest migration in Brazil after the second world war with the fiction of an out of the ordinary family. Three young people, two gay men and one pregnant girl, are the focal point of this documentary film about the mechanisms of change. The screening will happen at Cinema São Jorge (May 12th) and Cinema Ideal (May 13th).
To talk about sexuality, desires, fantasies, frustrations and fears was the main challenge of the open-call launched by Mette Carla Albrechtsen and Lea Glob. A casting which was meant to give birth to a different film but, due to the quality of the captured material, gave birth to Venus: a confessional look on female sexuality, with no shame or inhibitions. The story of more than a hundred women on May 5th and May 14th at Culturgest.
Benjamin Smoke is an unusual portrait of the drag queen lead singer of Opal Foxx (later known as Smoke). Renegaded, ethereal and accelerated, homosexual, addicted to drugs, with HIV and Hepatitis C. Directed by Jem Cohen, in collaboration with Peter Sillen and Patti Smith, this documentary follows a person’s path to his death, after a life without inhibitions. A film which will be screened on May 13th at Cinema São Jorge.
Once More was the first French film which showed the reality of AIDS in the gay community. Directed by Paul Vecchiali, the film uses extraordinary sequence shots to tell the story of a man in his 40s who leaves his wife, children and job for the freedom which he never had. This screening will take place at Cinemateca Portuguesa on May 10th and 12th.
In terms of short films, there are several to discover. Jan Soldat proceeds with his portraits of sexuality and fetish: in Protocols, he talks to men who want to be put down and eaten. Mark Rappaport continues to come up with fictitious biographies for some of cinema’s most important figures. This time, Sergei/ Sir Gay. Chaos can be heard outside but, indoors, freedom comes first: The Care One Takes of the Care Others Must Take of Themselves is a queer manifest by Brazilain director Gustavo Vinagre. Billie is heartbroken but, fortunately, her friends are there to help her: Your Young Year Will Dry Your Tears, by Alexis Langlois, is an irreverent queer-punk musical.