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There are many Chicano/Latino specific
films out there with queer overtones or undertones. This list will
not cover all of them, but is rather limited to full-length and some
longer shorts that I was able to find summaries for. Their division
is based on the summaries and what I perceived as the main interest
of the film, as lesbian, gay or transgender. For those that are non-specific,
or include gay, lesbian bi and/or trans, I have used the category
of queer. It is not my intent to confine to labels, but as there are
so many films, I have tried to categorize based on interest. In the
interest of time, all film synopsis have been copied directly from
PlanetOut’s PopcornQ http://planetout.com/popcornq/. In the future, I intend to further this project and create a separate list for films that I have seen and recommend.
Queer
Gay Cuba. Dir. Sonja de Vries. Frameline, 1995. 57 min, US/Cuba. Documentary.
Americans' view of Cuba is based more on the right wing's mythmaking
(a process they've become expert at) than on qualities inherent in
Cuban society. In some areas -- literacy levels, for example -- Cuba
has a better track record than we do. The situation for Cuban gays
is also awash in misinformation, which Sonia de Vries' level-headed
documentary goes far in countering. Gay Cuba combines interviews with
gay and lesbian men, government officials, and average citizens, with
musical performances and gay pride parades. Along the way, we get
a quick, painless lesson in Cuban history. --Gary Morris
The Hunting Season. Dir. Rita Moreira. Rita Moreira Producoes, 1992.
30 min, Brazil. Documentary.
The Hunting Season shows the deadly truth of what lies behind
homophobic language: Brazil's lesbian and gay population--"deers"--are
being keenly slaughtered in a ghastly series of hate crimes. Intercutting
images from Hollywood movies ( The Deer Hunter and Cruising ) director
Rita Moreira stops people on the streets of Saõ Paulo for a
quick health check on the state of the nation--"They should be
killed" is the most common reply. The Hunting Season then goes
behind the scenes to illustrate both the bureaucratic incapacity and
individual acts of courage that the spate of violence has exposed.
¡Viva 16th! Dir. Valentin Aguirre and
Augie Robles. 1994. 30 min, US. Documentary.
A raw and chatty celebration of the San Francisco's lesbian and gay
Chicano/Latino community.
Top | Queer | Lesbian | Gay | Transgender
Lesbian
Brincando El Charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican. Dir. Frances Negron-Muntaner. Women Make Movies, 1994. 57 min, US.
In Frances Negron-Muntaner's film Brincando El Charco, a young Latina artist serves seven years of exile in Philadelphia. When her father dies suddenly, Claudia copes with detachment. While she considers her obligation to a family who abandoned her because she is a lesbian, Claudia spends her days photographing and documenting other Latina/o gays. Her gay white publishing agent, however, discourages Claudia from pushing "the people-of-color issue" onto the rest of the community. Although she steers clear of becoming too involved in her lawyer girlfriend's political activism, Claudia copes inwardly with the effects of what has happened to her people politically since the colonialization of Puerto Rico. Race, language, birthplace, and economics surface as fractures in a culture as diverse as the world itself. As a light-skinned, island-born, mainland-living, bilingual lesbian Claudia struggles for a place on the spectrum.
Carmelita Tropicana. Dir. Ela Troyano. SubCine, 1993. 30 min, US.
Though staged in New York, Carmelita Tropicana draws on a cultural
history that encompasses much of Latina life. Ela Troyano's hilarious
film makes a sumptious stew of Puerto Rican lesbians, colonial betrayals,
tragic Spanish ballads, and contemporary class consciousness. In
Carmelita Tropicana , ethnic identity is improvised around loyalties,
affection, and the common burden of a morena among men. Winner of
the 1994 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Audience Award for Best Short Film.
Change the Frame. Dir. Cristina
Rey. Fearless Productions Inc., 1995. 94 min,
US.
Director/producer Cristina Rey's first feature film is a whimsical
and realistic portrayal of love, growing up, and life's direction.
Rey focuses her camera on the lives of a couple living in a small
college town in the Colorado Rockies. Angela (Stephani Shope), is
a college graduate working at a hot dog cart who one day realizes
she has put her art career on hold while waiting for her girlfriend
Rachel (Cristina Rey) to finish graduate school. Rachel, meanwhile,
is too busy with school to realize Angela has become frustrated
with her life and their relationship. The arrival of a flirtatious
singer from San Francisco helps to distract Angela from the reality
of her relationship, but she soon realizes that she must reassess
her life goals and priorities. Their relationship begins to suffer
under the intense pressure Angela is feeling to make changes in
her life.
Cruel. Dir. Desi Del Valle. Frameline, 1994. 20 min, US.
Cruel reflects on the agonizing conclusion of a Latina lesbian
relationship.
Entwined. Dir. Raquel Cecilia Harrington. Corazón Productions, Inc., 1997. 118
min, US.
Attraction ignites true love between two women who realize they
must break their current relationships in order for theirs to unfold.
Despite the negative forces surrounding them, Elena and Julia's
love flourishes as they steal every moment they can to be together.
The lush tropics of Miami and the blending of the Cuban and American
cultures is the palate on which this sensuous love story takes place.
From dreams to reality, Elena and Julia must follow their hearts
and fulfill the desires of destiny.
I, The Worst of All. Dir. Maria
Luisa Bemberg.
First Run Features, 1990. 100 min, Argentina.
Based on the book The Traps of Faith by Nobel Prize-winning
poet Octavio Paz, Maria Luisa Bemberg's exquisite film tells the
remarkable story of 17th-century Mexican poet Sister Juana Ines
de la Cruz (Assumpta Serna), one of the greatest poets of the Spanish
language. Born with an intense passion to write and possessing an
incredible intellect, Juana enters the convent in order to avoid
marriage and to continue her writing. As the Inquisition rages around
her and the politics of the church becomes more and more repressive,
Juana begins to attract much attention for her free-thinking, controversial
plays and poems. A new and liberal-thinking viceroy takes power
and his beautiful, educated wife, Maria (Dominique Sanda) takes
an interest in Juana. The two are immediately taken with each other
and begin an intimate relationship that is at first intellectual,
but soon becomes much more. Juana begins to write many tortured
love poems to Maria that amuse her husband, but anger the woman-hating
archbishop. Maria uses her husband's power and influence to protect
Juana, but the viceroy is eventually sent back to Spain with his
wife and Juana is left alone to battle against the Machiavellian
plots of the Catholic church.
(In)Visible Women. Dir. Ellen Spiro and
Marina Alvarez. Video Data Bank, 1991. 26 min, US. Documentary.
Focuses on the heroic and empowered responses of Latina women who
are HIV positive. Winner of the 1992 San Francisco International
Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience Award for Best Video.
Kim. Dir. Arlyn Gajilan. Frameline, 1987. 27 min, US. Documentary.
Kim is the candid personal testimony of a young Puerto Rican lesbian's
coming out and coming of age in New York City. An intensely personal
story unfolds as Kim takes us through the bar scene, the life of
an exotic dancer, and the finding of feminism, which plays an important
role in Kim's developing perspective on sexuality, love, and her
relationship with her mother.
Top | Queer | Lesbian
| Gay | Transgender
Gay
Adios, Roberto. Dir. Enrique Dawi. Altermedia, 1985.
Argentina.
A witty entertaining comedy about the initiation into homosexuality
of a young man with a macho reputation. Recently separated from his
wife, Roberto moves in with Marcelo, who eventually reveals his homosexuality.
His first experience with gay sex occurs (as it so often does) after
a drunken night out. Afterwards, Roberto feels the shame and guilt
expected of him in a Catholic society. Despite his concern for his
young son and the reactions of those around him, Roberto soon begins
to realize that he did enjoy his encounter with Marcelo and to question
the damnations of his ex-wife, former fiancée, and priest (who
punches Roberto after hearing his confession). Seeking analysis to
help sort things out, Roberto begins to experience a barrage of ghosts
past and present intertwining in revealing and amusing ways. Finally,
he realizes that a choice must be made.
AIDS in the Barrio. Dir. Peter Biella and
Frances Negron. The Cinema Guild, 1985. 30 min, US. Documentary.
An X-ray of social conditions in Philadelphia's barrio.
Al Margen del Margen (Beyond Outcasts). Dir. Ivan Arocha and Hernandez, David. 1992. 35 min, Cuba. Documentary.
An expanded version of a 13-minute short screened in 1991, Beyond
Outcasts (Al Margen del Margen ) has since been labeled "counterrevolutionary"
by the Cuban government. It is a shocking critique of Cuba's AIDS
policy.
Aqueles Dois. Dir. Sergio Amon. Embrafilme, 1985. 85 min, Brazil.
Raul, extroverted and funny, has just left a frustrating marriage
and spends his time playing sad music in the small flat he shares
with a pet canary. Saul is shy, bitter and relentlessly critical of
the world around him. He recently attempted suicide. Both men are
very lonely and very heterosexual. But when they meet on the first
day of work at a government agency, they become drawn to each other
and develop a deep, very close friendship. While there is nothing
overtly sexual about their relationship they soon discover the extent
of their society's homophobia when their colleagues decide that they
are gay.
A Brazilian Dream (Asa Branca). Dir. Limongi Djalma
Batista. Embrafilme, 1982. 90 min, Brazil.
Djalma Limongi Batista's first feature is a sensual, simple story
full of provocative ideas and imagery that have met considerable resistance
in Brazil, a country where there are no greater idols than soccer
players. Asa Branca is the story of a young, handsome, champion athlete
who is gay. While this film of homosexual repression and attraction
has been publicly condemned by Brazil's soccer establishment, it has
nevertheless won major Brazilian film awards as well as a special
prize at the 4th Festival des Trois-France.
Buscando un Espacio: Los Homosexuales en Cuba (Looking for a Space). Dir. Kelly Anderson. Filmmaker's Library, 1993. 38 min, US.
Director Kelly Anderson steers a thoughtful course between the myths
and stereotypes about Cuban culture.
Cities of Lust. Dir. Raul Ferrera-Balanquet.
30 min, 1993. Documentary.
Cities of Lust addresses issues of relationships, desire, and
ethnicity among African-American and Latino gay men. Filmed on location
in Merida, Chicago, and at the San Francisco International Lesbian
and Gay Film Festival, the tape works best of all as a vivid description
of racism and of the social obstacles to romantic fulfillment.
Dona Herlinda and Her Son (Dona Herlinda Y Su Hijo). Dir. Jaime Humberto Hermosillo. Cinevista, 1985. 90 min.
A sophisticated social comedy directed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo,
one of Mexico's most daring, original filmmakers. Dona Herlinda is
a wealthy, fantastically manipulative widow living in Guadalajara
who quietly accepts her son Rudolfo's affair with a handsome young
music student, Ramon. After she invites Ramon to live with her family
("Rudolfo has such a big bed," she says) the situation becomes
hilariously complicated by Rudolfo's marriage of convenience to Olga,
a feminist and employee of Amnesty International. Dona Herlinda's
comedy lies in watching Dona Herlinda flawlessly manipulate the people
in her life while maintaining a Nancy Reagan-like facade of cool detachnent.
Despite all the possibilities for disaster the characters in this
film react to unbelievable situations with deadpan nonchalance.
Improper Conduct (Mauvaise Conduite). Dir.
Nestor Almendros and Orlando Jiminez Leal.
Cinevista, 1984. 110 min, France. Documentary.
Improper Conduct breaks an uncomfortable and unnecessary silence
by exposing the oppression of gays that has accompanied Castro's Cuban
Revolution, now 25 years old. By documenting victims (artists and
homosexuals scattered around the world) Improper Conduct creates
a uniquely challenging film experience. One that asks the politically
sophisticated as well as naive to recognize the ugly truth: The persecution
of homosexuals exist even when other forms of persecution have been
condemned. Winner of the 1984 San Francisco International Lesbian
& Gay Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.
Latin Boys Go To Hell. Dir. Ela Troyano. Strand Releasing, 1996.
75 min, US.
Adapted by Ela Troyano and Andre Salas from Salas' novel of the same
name, Latin Boys Go To Hell tells the story of Justin Vega,
who falls in love with his cousin Angel, who in turn is in love with
Andrea, whose best friend heads off on a murder streak when his boyfriend
dumps him.
Mala Noche. Dir. Gus Van Sant. Edison Salzgeber, 1985. 85 min, US.
Filmed on the streets of Portland, Oregon, Mala Noche is a stunning,
ultrarealistic look at a younger gay man's unrequited love for a 16-year-old
illegal alien from Mexico. Walt, who is openly and happily gay, lives
and works among the transients, winos, and migrant workers that make
up Portland's skid row. When he meets Johnny he develops a hopelessly
doomed passion that he seems to know is pointless and unrealistic
but can't seem to shake.
Ray Navarro Memorial Tape. Dir. Catherine Saalfield, John Greyson, Jean Carlomusto, and Gregg Bordowitz. 1990. 30
min, US. Documentary.
Ray Navarro was a key video maker and AIDS activist who died while
making a work about Latino gay male assimilation into white gay culture;
Ray Navarro Memorial Tape is a tribute to him and his activism.
Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate).
Dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio. Swank Motion Pictures, 1993. 110 min, Cuba.
Taking place in 1979, before the Mariel boatlift, the movie charts
the unlikely friendship of Diego, a flamboyant gay artist, and David,
a rigid political science student and Communist party stalwart. Diego
wants sex. David wants to be a good revolutionary and uses the friendship
to spy on the evidently subversive and "antisocial" gay
man. When he realizes how profoundly Diego is committed to Cuba and
its culture, hard-line dogma and personal prejudices melt in the film's
climactic embrace. Jorge Perrugoria's initially campy turn as Diego
grows more complex as he's forced to choose between who he is and
the country he loves. Vladimir Cruz's David stands in for the Cuban
Everyman, yet reveals the humanity behind the communist companero.
Wild Life. Dir. John C. Goss. 1985. 40 min, US. Documentary.
A video portrait of two 15-year-old gay Latinos. The piece combines
documentary-style interviews with fictional segments in which the
young men act out their fantasized day in Los Angeles. As they talk
about their lives, we see scenes of them changing into wild style
clothes on the street, cruising around "Gay City," meeting
their friends at the park, and "throwing attitude." They
are questioned about the nature of being gay, relationships with friends
and lovers, style and image, and their use of gay language.
Top | Queer | Lesbian
| Gay | Transgender
Transgender
Boys from Brazil. Dir. John Paul Davidson. 1993. 69 min, Brazil/Great Britain. Documentary.
Boys from Brazil is an amazing, moving, and in-depth diary
of a small group of Rio drag queens and "travesties."
Mi Pollo Loco. Dir. Andrew Durham. Victor Vargas, 1995. 35 min, US.
An over-the-top drag spoof of Mi Vida Loca , with drag queens sporting
nine-inch nails and hot cholo boys from the `hood.
Paris Is Burning. Dir. Jennie Livingston. First Run Features, 1990. 78 min, US.
Documentary.
Paris is Burning is a giddy celebration of this subculture
[New York drag balls, gay life], these contradictions [gender and
sexuality]. And if you're not interested in these questions, there's
always the superglamorous costumes. -- Michael Lumpkin Winner of the
1990 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience
Award for Best Documentary.
The Place Without Limits (El Lugar Sin Limites).
Dir. Arturo Ripstein. Instituto Mexicano de Departamento de Eventos, 1977. 110 min, Mexico.
La Manuela is a drag queen living with his daughter in the whorehouse
they own on the edge of a dying town in rural Mexico. Both are drawn
to, yet fearful of, Pancho, a brutal man who has never been able to
accept the attraction he feels for La Manuela. When Pancho's violent
behavior surfaces (and it does so regularly) and he begins to torment
the young daughter, demanding that she strip in the brothel's saloon,
La Manuela comes to her rescue, boldly seducing the raging Pancho
with a dance that leads to a passionate kiss.
The Salt Mines. Dir. Susan Aikin and Carlos
Aparico. Third World Newsreel, 1990. 47 min, US. Documentary.
Lesbians and gays from around the world have created a variety of
housing situations that reflect their lifestyles, as well as their
social and political status. Alongside the Hudson River with a magnificent
view of the towers of lower Manhattan is a secluded area where the
sanitation department stores its out-of-service trucks. Here a community
of homeless transvestite prostitutes has gathered. The place is called
the Salt Mines, the street name for an adjacent shed covering a huge
gray mountain of road salt, used to melt snow from the streets.
Stonewall. Dir. Nigel Finch. Strand Releasing, 1995. 93 min, US/Great Britain.
Loving and ribald, if a bit clunky, this tribute to the Stonewall
uprising follows the fortunes -- or misfortunes as the case may be
-- of a cadre of participants, notably a spunky queen named LaMiranda
(Guillermo Diaz) and the clean-cut, budding activist, Matty Dean (Frederick
Weller), who romances him. Taking as its inspiration the celebrated
Martin Duberman book of the same name, Stonewall is always
a riot if never quite transcendent: it plays like a glam-spackled
rehearsal for some well-meaning community stage play. Still, the film
has energy, spunk and a reverent feel for the era when modern gay
rights came of age. Like Duberman, Finch and Blair take care to announce
that the stories they tell are but a few of the many histories embodied
by Stonewall -- the disclaimer is a bit self-evident, an obvious hedge
against imagined criticisms. While Matty and LaMiranda are engaging
lovebirds, the film is best when trolling in the peripheries, as in
its depiction of a compromised mob liaison called Skinnie Vinnie (Bruce
MacVittie, who nearly runs away with the picture). Meanwhile, the
high-heat, '60s-beat soundtrack keeps things kickin', just as it ought
to. --Elizabeth Pincus
Vera. Dir. Sergio Toledo. Kino International, 1986. 87 min, Brazil.
Vera is the story of a young woman who is convinced that she
is a man. Vera does not identify herself as a lesbian (she believes
she is a man in a woman's body). The film addresses issues of particular
importance to f-to-m's--but also to butch lesbians--especially in
relation to gender identification, transgender relationships, and
internalized misogyny. Vera grows up in an orphanage, and on being
released when she is 18, takes a job at a research center where she
meets Clara, with whom she falls in love. Vera's insistence that she
is a man becomes gradually problematic in their relationship, leading
up to a painfully intimate love scene where she refuses to remove
her undershirt. The relationship between Clara and Vera is seriously
jeopardized as they both struggle with Vera's gender dysphoria.
Top | Queer | Lesbian
| Gay | Transgender
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