Editor’s Note: This official QFest 2018 preview is brought to you by Mystiq.
By Megan Smith
We will never achieve real progress unless we move beyond our own, often limited, perspectives. It is only when we open our eyes and minds to identities, cultures, and relationships different than our own, that we can find true strength in our togetherness, both as a community and as a force to be reckoned with. On July 26-30, QFest, Houston’s annual international LGBTQ film festival, will bring those stories and experiences to audiences across the city as it celebrates its 22nd year.
The festival kicks off on July 26 with the Opening Night screening of The Miseducation of Cameron Post at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The film follows the story of Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz), a closeted high school senior, who is caught making out with her female best friend during prom. Embarrassed and shocked by her niece’s homosexuality, Cameron’s conservative aunt sends her to an isolated religiously-based conversion therapy camp in the woods.
Based on Emily M. Danforth’s young-adult novel of the same name, The Miseducation of Cameron Post depicts a narrative that drastically differs from those presented by other LGBTQ YA films, such as the recent box office hit, Love, Simon. “The difference is in the subject matter and how each film approaches it,” Kristian Salinas, QFest executive director, says. “In a film like Love, Simon, you have a portrayal that is very positive, but perhaps is leaning towards the overly idealistic—a very positive, happy outcome for a teenager who is coming out to his friends and family. It’s what anyone in that age range who is in the closet wants their coming out experience to be—where they’re accepted unanimously and everyone goes about their lives. That’s not to say that doesn’t happen, but I also feel like the portrayal is limited in that it’s focused on a white, upper-middle class character living in a background where issues like poverty and race are never addressed. There’s also no sexual tension in that film, it’s all very innocent. In The Miseducation of Cameron Post, it’s about the sexual tension, the hormones, and that’s eventually what leads to her getting caught and, as a result, ending up in this conversion therapy camp. It allows the narrative, at that point, to invest in other characters who don’t fit certain body types, who are different races, a mixture of people.”
Although the film is set in 1993, Cameron’s coming out experience is far too common today, Salinas point out, noting that only 13 states—none of which are in the South—have laws banning conversion therapy for minors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. “This is a young woman who may have had some level of confidence in herself—knowing who she was, but not yet ready to share that—that is now in a situation where that’s all anybody thinks of her. Her family, her ex-friends, her now ex-girlfriend, all think that she is this thing that she should be ashamed about,” Salinas says. “And she’s dealing with that in an environment that is encouraging her to convert. But what I like about this film is that it avoids labeling those that run the conversion camp as strictly bad guys. It may not be entirely deserved when you think of what a conversion therapy camp is, but it does allow for more depth to those characters. It gives an audience of all persuasions so much more to think about.”
‘Call Me sis’ (2018). Photo courtesy QFest.
Veteran director Lee Sang-woo’s Call Me sis, screening on July 27 at the Asia Society of Texas, also provokes a deeper level of thought from audiences, pushing viewers to transcend preconceived notions of love and connection. “This film is really about the idea of love, especially first love” Salinas says. “This is a character who is a middle-aged woman who is going through her version of a mid-life crisis and the realization that her marriage is unfulfilling, that her role as a mother has not led to a close, meaningful relationship with her sons—they’re disrespectful to her, they don’t see her as intelligent, they just see her as their maid, their cook, their servant. And she comes to this realization, but has no way to express her frustration. It’s not until she meets a young woman, who may or may not be the girlfriend of her youngest son, that she feels a connection that she has yet to feel with anybody. That exploration in and of itself is what makes this film so beautiful and so rare because it’s about the notion of loving someone for who they are, that love is universal, and that love is genderless. This connection makes her a more complete person.”
‘Sidney & Friends’ (2018). Photo courtesy QFest.
QFest’s 2018 lineup embodies the full gender spectrum as well, boasting films that depict international trans identity (Señorita María, La Falda de la Montaña), an adolescent’s non-binary gender journey (They), and intersex experience (Sidney & Friends). “There were a lot of documentaries [submitted] from all over the world that were dealing with trans issues,” Salinas says, noting that the festival received 1500 submissions in total, over 350 of which were features. “There were so many submissions on this topic that [narrowing it down to] these three was a challenge. But I really felt that these three spoke to so many bigger issues.”
“Señorita María and Sidney & Friends present us with trans and intersex communities in way that we don’t see in Western society,” he continues, explaining that Señorita María follows a trans woman in the mountains of Colombia, while Sidney follows intersex and trans individuals in Nairobi. “This is a response to their specific circumstances, to the environment in which they must thrive with all the odds stacked against them. I really feel that we, as Westerners, really need to understand what others in our expansive family go through in their own cultural environments and to be more sensitive to that and not necessarily always impose our own ideologies upon them. The circumstances these people are living through are so intense, and yet, they’ve found a way to be happy and to live a life of dignity—and that’s really beautiful.”
‘They’ (2017). Photo courtesy QFest.
They, the debut feature from Iranian director Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, presents a rare depiction of non-binary identity on the silver screen, as audiences are introduced to 14-year-old J, who is in the process of taking hormone blockers while they explore their gender identity. “For a certain generation, it’s the use of ‘they/them’ pronouns that feels unusual,” Salinas says. “Addressing someone as ‘they’ just doesn’t fit with the meaning of ‘they’ that we were taught in school. But this film presents that concept in a way where you see it used as certain individuals want it to be used in describing themselves, and you begin to appreciate that. I also appreciated the sense of uncertainty that is expressed in depicting this character—the idea of ‘Who am I?’ ‘How old am I?’ Society wants them to choose [male or female], but the suspended state that they’re in may actually be the character’s most desired state, where they don’t have to make that choice.”
The festival’s expansive program comes to a finale on July 30 at Rice Media Center with the Closing Night screening of director Yen Tan’s 1985, followed by a reception presented by Spectrum South. The stirring drama, set during one of the most intense periods of the AIDS crisis, follows Adrian (Cory Michael Smith), a young man recently diagnosed with AIDS, as he returns to his rural, conservative Texas hometown for the holidays. “That was 33 years ago, yet there’s something about this film that makes it feel like it’s happening today,” Salinas says. “For people who did not live through that, in many ways, it’s hard to imagine. But every time you have forces that are trying to push back progress, you need to understand what that looks like. And that’s why it’s important to be engaged in activities that impact your community, and not just your community, but other vulnerable communities. That’s where we were at that time—we were a vulnerable community subject to the abuses of those in power. I look at what we’re going through now, and this film should be a wake up call to anybody who has not really considered the consequences of elections or of attacks on vulnerable communities. That’s what this film represents to me in the broader sense.”
‘1985’ (2018). Photo by Dutch Rall.
A first in the festival’s history, the Closing Night celebration will also include an awards presentation where QFest’s juried awards, the Houston Film Critics Society’s award for best feature, and an audience award will be announced. Salinas, who previously managed the jury for Outfest Los Angeles and served as a juror for Austin’s All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF), was inspired by these experiences to transform QFest from a curated to a competition festival. “We’ve been a curated festival since the beginning, but after I came back from Austin, I felt [changing the festival to competition] was something we really needed to do,” he explains. Salinas compiled a panel of 12 jurors, both LGBTQ and allied, to lead this year’s premiere competition. “This will be the start of something new for us, and, in looking at the variety of programming, this really has changed the look of the festival, the tone of the festival, and I think this is why we’re seeing a broader spectrum of subject matter. All the films are just incredible, and I hope people will try to see as many as they can.”
For ticket information and to view QFest 2018’s full film lineup, visit q-fest.com. Click here to RSVP to the festival’s Closing Night screening, awards presentation, and reception, presented by Spectrum South.
