In celebration of Pride Month, this April the Carleton College Gender and Sexuality Center will screen a series of queer-related documentary films as part of its first ever Queer Documentary Film Festival. These films celebrate the diversity of experiences and identities within queer communities. Screenings will be held on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity and are free and open to the public.
April 10: “Paris Is Burning,” a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston that chronicles the ball culture in New York City and the Latino, African-American, queer communities that were involved in it.
April 17: “How to Survive a Plague,” a 2012 documentary directed by journalist David France that chronicles the often-overlooked history of the activism efforts of ACT UP and TAG. These two activist organizations were instrumental in creating a change around governmental policies about AIDS during the AIDS crisis in the 1990s. The film uses archival footage and interviews to capture the events.
April 24: “Celluloid Closet,” a 1995 film, written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and narrated by Lily Tomlin, is a history of how motion pictures (in particular Hollywood films) have portrayed LGBTQ folks. The film follows various people connected with Hollywood, and tracks their perceptions of how lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and other queer identities are represented on film.
May 1: “Orchids, My Intersex Adventure,” is a 2010 autobiographical Australian documentary that follows one woman's struggle to understand her own intersex identity, as she also interviews and looks to other people who are intersex to help elucidate her identity.
The Carleton College Queer Documentary Film Festival is co-sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Center, the Student Activities Office, and the Department of Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS). For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222- 5222. The Weitz Center for Creativity is located at Third and College Streets in Northfield.
