The intersection of faith and sex through art at Gender Fusions 6

by Kevin Sparrow

Photos by Jon Mathias

What do a priest, a vampire and chocolate syrup have in common? This is not a set-up to a joke–although if you answered “things that prey on little boys,” we would accept that; these are a few subjects of Gender Fusions 6, an annual celebration of alternative gender identities and sexualities. As part of Columbia College Chicago‘s LGBTQ Office of Culture and Community and a project developed from the school’s Critical Encounters program Fact and Faith, this year’s program cast its gaze at the intersection of religion and sexual politics with “Our Temple of Transgressions.” The sacred and the profane came together in a variety of acts by Columbia students, faculty and members of Chicago’s artistic community with proceeds from the event going to benefit the Broadway Youth Center.

Performer and oracle for the evening Guillermo Gomez-Peña

As professed by Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence Lott Hll and LGBTQ Office Coordinator K. Bradford, Gender Fusions was fortunate to have performer and “border artist extraordinaire” Guillermo Gomez-Peña as the master of ceremonies. Gomez-Peña began the night’s festivities clad in a tassled skirt of metal-studded belts, a skeleton glove and spangled gauntlets, and a black-booted leg paired with a bare, high-heeled one. The dichotomies evident in Gomez-Peña’s wardrobe were expanded in his presentation “Strange Democracies,” mixing political outrage, sexual aggressiveness and personal strife by discussing the role of the artist in modern society. Gomez-Peña’s vision of “hope not connected to God, country or economy… [but] in small communities” versus the current “communities of sameness” is one that resonates with queer audiences who hope that their diversity becomes recognized as a preferable mode of society.

The parade down South Wabash leading to the “temple of transgressions”

Gomez-Peña led audience members and performers in a parade down Wabash to the “temple of transgressions,” where a series of 21 performers presented their songs, poems, dance, drama and selves. Two-time National Poetry Slam competition finalist Tristan Silverman, who wrote and performed a piece specifically for the event, said, “What I think makes Gender Fusions so essential is that it… has the backing and the funding from an academic institution, so you fund [artists] to be here… for people in the crowd who might want to do something similar or might have been doing some things similar, it’s almost an education in itself… Things like live performance art are important because it’s extra risky, it’s extra vulnerable. The potential is increased in terms of the reward.” The serious nature of many of the pieces was met with levity in the form of burlesque by Hot Tamale and Hot Toddy, a humorous magician and sidekick riff by Donnell and Kandy and a hilarious take on a conversation between Kanye West and Jesus by Columbia students Erica Quinn and Nicki Butler.

Burlesque artist Hot Tamale reinterprets “Not an Addict” for chocoholics

The night ended with a bang–nearly literally–with a performance by La Pocha Nostra and students from the year-long Critical Encounters workshop. The unscripted and interactive performance was a study in tableaux; performers slowly approached the stage, some in different stages of undress, and tasked themselves with a multitude of actions. Gomez-Peña acted as ringleader and stopped the performers every so often, soliciting audience input on the image before them before allowing those on stage to proceed. The audience was invited to participate more intimately by joining those on stage and subsequently being stripped of their clothes. The ease with which many people abandoned reservations about being disrobed in public–a pretty common nightmare theme–while the audience watched, some in shock and some in admiration, was proof that queer systems of sexual identity are beginning to be viable for many people and and reveal that we all can afford to be a little more open when it comes to our sexual expression.

by Kevin Sparrow

Our regular weekly news briefs are being replaced by a different look at the world around us: we’re anticipating the opening of the 28th Reeling Film Festival here in Chicago this Thursday, November 5 with a preview of some of the films that will be playing on screens throughout Chicago, from The Music Box to the Landmark to hosts Chicago Filmmakers. Cul de sac’s three-day pre-play begins with a nod to a handful of documentaries that will be screening this year.

City of Borders inundates us in the lives of Palestinian, Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli LGBTs and their struggles with acceptance, especially in proximity to the holy land of Jerusalem. Those taking part in the documentary have found their own having in Shushan, an LGBT bar owned and operated by the first openly gay Israeli council member Sa’ar Netanel. The engaging ensemble story features Palestinian Samira and Israeli Ravit, a lesbian couple who struggle not only with typical problems such as deciding to have children and how working together affects their relationship, but with the present feeling they are sleeping with the enemy; flamboyant Boody is a sometimes drag queen whose mother wants to marry him off to his cousin from America and who is constantly receiving death threats; and Adam and Amit are working to live in the settlement in which Adam grew up and rebuild after a hate crime in which Adam was stabbed during a Pride ceremony. The unquestioning acceptance shown between members of the Palestinian and Israeli LGBT community highlights the doubly compounded hatred they receive from the outside world as identifying as both queer and culturally other. (City of Borders screens at the Landmark Cinema on Tuesday, November 10 at 9 PM).

Two short documentaries focus on the strides made by the LGBT community in the U.S. Out in the Silence is filmmaker Joe Wilson’s response to growing up silently queer in small-town Pennsylvania. After running the announcement of his marriage to another man in his hometown paper and receiving an expected backlash, Wilson is sent a letter by a distraught mother whose son came out and is facing violence and discrimination at school. Wilson takes his camera to Oil Town, PA and connects with 16-year-old C.J., trying to provide him guidance about being out and revisiting his own fears from when he was a teenager. Wilson also interviews Rox and her partner Linda who are battling against zealous Focus on the Family radio host Diane to keep their business restoring an old theater afloat. Wilson captures a good deal of the socioeconomic factors that can lead to a community rejecting LGBT members or denying their existence outright. (Out in the Silence screens at Chicago Filmmakers on Friday, November 13 at 7 PM).

Conversely, Switch: A Community in Transition, focuses much of its attention on the smaller community of family, both blood and chosen. Filmmaker Brooks Nelson’s transition from female-identifying to more masculine is the topic of conversation among his friends and his partner Jeannie’s family, and for good reason: Brooks has asked them to talk about it for the camera. Although it mostly focuses on dialogue and can be a little too intimate to connect to at times, this film is a great conversation starter on why we hold gender identity so close to us and having trouble identifying people gender-neutrally. Even Brooks and Jeannie’s friends, who are predominately butch lesbians, have some discomfort with Brooks’ transition, and a great dialogue about privilege unfolds over the shift in perception of Brooks as a white woman to Brooks as a white man and Brooks’ friend who transitioned from black woman to black man. The film does a great deal to show that people going through transition should not be characterized as “changing;” the perspectives of the people around them should be. (Switch screens at Chicago Filmmakers on Saturday, November 14).

Finally, Fig Trees uses mixed modes to tell the tale of AIDS activists Zackie Achmat of South Africa and Tim McCaskell of Canada. A blend of opera, parody, palindromes and live footage–not always successfully combined but often enthralling–showcases the symbolism of HIV both as a commodity and a commonality between people. You’ll probably never see a better Gertrude Stein impression, and the refreshing perspective that AIDS is something one learns to live beyond rather than learns to accept as a death sentence is especially resonant. (Fig Trees screens at the Landmark Cinema on Wednesday, November 11 at 9 PM).

Split Pillow’s third annual fundraiser is a spooky affair

by Kevin Sparrow

You couldn’t ask for a gloomier night to enter a haunted house than this past Thursday. After weathering bracing winds and a deluge that had been ongoing all day, we rode to the top of 400 East Randolph to be greeted with the ominous message, “You’ll have to go through the haunted house first to get to the party.” Passing through an opaque fog, glimpsing a sink full of blood, being offered organs by a mad surgeon, and observing Abe Lincoln in a screening room rather than the Ford Theater were just a sample of the tableaux we witnessed. The haunted house tour ended with a meet-and-greet with Dr. Spalanzani and his son, Olympio, characters from non-profit production company Split Pillow‘s upcoming feature Eye of the Sandman. For $50-$60 a ticket to benefit the organization’s new season, guests were treated to a wonderful spectacle of spookiness, previews of Split Pillow’s films and programs, a silent auction, and some very interesting yet tasty hors d’ouvres:

Founded by Jason Stephens, Split Pillow has been a Chicago staple for eight years, growing from a production company promoting collaborative projects with local filmmakers to working with the community to perpetuate media literacy. Board president Andrea de Fraga explains, “This organization tries to get new filmmakers’… messages across, [so] a lot of other voices can be heard.” This commitment to diversity is evident in the films produced. “The fifth feature we did was with all-gay filmmakers in 2007,” creative director Jeff McHale says of the film soulMaid. “It’s hard because you don’t want to be a ‘gay’ organization, but… there are a lot of straight people who… are getting exposed to something they aren’t aware of.”

The feature presentations Split Pillow develops are typically collaborations between various directors and depict people from a wide range of backgrounds. The same is true of the innovative Chicago360 documentary project, now preparing for production on its fifth volume, Aliens in the City. When it comes to showcasing diversity, “[w]ith Chicago360, it’s great because you’re already getting a great mix of people… Chicago is a character front and center,” says McHale. The city’s own cultural diversity is pivotal in the individual short docs that are chosen for presentation in Chicago360, combining into a rich feature-length mosaic.

Additionally, Split Pillow works with the local community to promote media literacy and keep Chicago a vibrant locale for filmmaking. Marketing director Brooke Blocki describes her outreach in spreading the word of MediaStart!, SP’s educational program: “I contact folks in the non-profit industry, and some people I know in Chicago schools. I go to connections I know, trying help other non-profits.” “After School Matters hosted [a program] at Center on Halsted,” says McHale. “We went… and worked with youth there on a daily basis for six weeks. We were able to develop kids’ skills much better than in other programs. We’re trying to cultivate youth, and [then] with Chicago360, seeing what they turn into as adults. ”

Split Pillow is currently preparing for the screening of Eye of the Sandman at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Friday, November 20. Tickets are $10; a second screening will be held on Monday, November 23. The documentary feature Life as Lincoln is another project about which Blocki is especially excited. “It’s dear to my heart because, growing up in Illinois, I knew a lot of Lincoln impersonators. We can go to a lot of educational organizations–[such as] the Chicago History Museum. We’re celebrating Lincoln’s bicentennial.” Life as Lincoln will premiere on President’s Day 2010. If you are interested in learning more about Split Pillow or purchasing DVDs of their films, check out their contact information here.

How the democratization of pornography through blogging and video hosting sites has paved a path for diversity in adult entertainment (LINKS NSFW)

by Kevin Sparrow

In the 1970s, exploitation films became a commercially successful enterprise by offering low-budget movies to expanding theater audiences. These films not only exposed consumers to violence and sex, but also represented diverse markets for minority communities. With the advent of VHS in the late 70s, the dissemination of every sort of film flooded the market, and for porn entrepreneurs, this was a perfect time for low-budget, high-grossing videos. In many instances, pornography has led the way as a model for how to use new technology. Many of the preliminary sites to utilize the internet were pornographic; how they marketed and expanded in their use of media preceded the efforts of many other sites. Jonathan Coopersmith, Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University, states in his article The role of the pornography industry in the development of videotape and the Internet, “Pornographic products have served to stimulate initial interest in these new technologies, despite their higher initial costs. The attractions are greater perceived privacy and easier access. As each of these technologies matures and prices drop, the role of pornographic products diminishes relatively, but not absolutely. Another pattern is the elimination of the distinctions among producers, distributors and consumers as do-it-yourself video and computers have permitted a ‘democratization’ of pornography.”

For nearly a decade, these new technologies had clung to marketable representations of mostly white, groomed and toned or surgically enhanced models. Sites predominantly featuring minorities, more natural body types or kinks and fetishes went largely unnoticed. Then, as with much of the rest of the internet, amateur video sites and blogging gave users more control and interaction with the web community. “Media in general has become a lot more home-grown—online video is going to soon antiquate television, and it’s closing fast,” states Jack, an administrator for video site GayTube. “These days, anyone can get a video up for absolutely nothing, and with minimal skill. People are… a lot more empowered by the technologies and massive audiences that are for the first time freely available to them… Profitability and professional status are no longer the great equalizers they once were.” Having a demand for consumer-created video opens the door for more diverse representations on these sites. Anyone who has an internet connection is an audience member, and the low-cost nature of amateur video allows every type of person to post clips of themselves, provided they have the fortitude for it; more people are able to find representations of people like them, especially in pornography. DudeTube founder Matt identifies that “[i]t does seem that there’s a site out there for everyone these days. You might not see these guys featured in a Falcon Studios video, but they’ll have their own amateur site. The bottom line is pornography is a business, and if there’s an audience to support material, it will survive. The other alternative is a user-generated site like XTube, which probably features the most diverse content online.”

Matt is also part of the new wave of online pornography that values consumers over studios. Blogging has exploded in popularity, and is no stranger to the porn world. Blogs like Fleshbot cover a range of sexual expression for straight, gay and bi audiences, while DudeTube focuses on gay men (and some of Matt’s other interests). As he has found, this cross of popular culture and sex can feed back into the larger media culture in positive ways. “A lot of my non-video posts are dedicated to half-naked celebrities and TV stars. I think entertainment producers have become much more savvy about their use of sexuality. They know that a blog post about their half-naked star can generate more consumers.” The stigma of sexual activity is gradually being reduced as readership grows on sites like these, incorporating its expression into daily life in a natural way. This is a boon for diversity, which Matt says is “… something that’s in the back of my mind. I get excited when I find a hot video starring a non-typical guy. I’m more than happy to share them with my readers. Ultimately, there’s only so many videos out there, so my main focus is just finding the hottest.”

For all its moral ambiguity, pornography is changing from a reflection of the status quo in society to a purveyor of diverse images of attractiveness. Many consumers are influenced in their expectations for sexual intercourse by the porn industry, so making these diverse portrayals accessible to responsible adults is a healthy way to counteract the effects mass standards of what is beautiful and sexually arousing. If pornography is as successful in conveying acceptance of differences into new generations as it has been with promoting new technology, it may help change the way we perceive others.  

Diva Kai is currently working on her first album release. Diva has performed for small venues and is beginning to build an audience that appeals to the broad range of emotion and vocal stylings that make Diva’s music great to listen to. As a native Iowan and frequent Chicagoan, Diva Kai’s music bridges rural sensibilities with a contemporary voice.

Cul de sac Magazine: What music have you been listening to, Diva?

Diva Kai: Maria Taylor, Jose Gonzalez, Kaki King, Iron and Wine… I don’t really listen to the radio much. I feel like a lot of songs are overplayed. I appreciate pop music, but it’s not really my style. I enjoy public radio… Pandora, too. I enjoy listening to a more underground radio, being able to find artists you might not otherwise know about.

CM: You now call Iowa your home once again; could you walk us through the transition of moving from Chicago, a big city, back to America’s heartland?

DK: Well, a lot of it had to do with, I love Chicago, but I really was needing a break from all the hustle and bustle. I wanted to go back to my roots, I felt overwhelmed (in Chicago). I’m very impulsive, I’d like to go back to Iowa for just a little bit, and I want to live in Chicago again. I will someday. It’s a good experience, a good time for healing, and I’m able to do a lot of the things I enjoy—like music, yoga, and relaxing. I like the stimulation of the big city. When I move into a city again, I’d like to find a balance between nature and relaxation and the excitement of a big city. I’d like to feel calm within myself.

CM: What do you miss about Chicago?

DK: I miss my friends a lot. That’s probably the biggest thing. I miss the trains—how good the public transportation is. There’s a lot of freedom in having a car, but there’s freedom in taking the trains, too. You can get anywhere on the bus and trains.
There’s something going on all night… so much music and art and people who are really working toward a goal. It’s stimulating being around it all.

I felt, when I was there, I learned equivalent to what it’s like living somewhere for 6 or 7 years. Everyday is something new and exciting, and everything was so spontaneous.

CM: What do you love about Iowa?

DK: Dubuque has a lot of hills and bluffs, right alongside the Mississippi River. Iowa is great in the summer. I like the nature here and being really close to my family. I also have really good friends here. I like that Iowa just legalized gay marriage.

CM: Do you at all find it strange that Iowa would openly allow same-sex marriages before Chicago and Illinois?

DK: Yeah. I was shocked. I found out through a text message. I was just in shock; “Are you joking?” I can’t believe that Iowa was the third state to legalize gay marriage.

CM: What do you think this will do for Iowa and the region?

DK: I think that it might draw more people to live here because it’s becoming so much more open-minded. I think that people will look at it in a different way. A lot of people who hear me say I’m from Iowa say, “Oh, Idaho? Ohio?” It’s not really acknowledged much, and now people will be able to see it in a different light. Hopefully, it’ll bring more people to live here and start families here.

CM: Have you ever written stuff and thought, You know what, actually, that’s too personal to share?

DK: Yeah. I have definitely, and I remember when I first started writing songs I was a sophomore in high school, which was also the time I was coming out. I had all these feelings about girls and I couldn’t share them with anyone. I wrote my feelings on a small piece of paper in very vague words. I was afraid people would find it. It allowed me to express what I felt without being straightforward, something that could be interpreted. I’ve gotten a lot more straight-forward about the message I want to get across, but I have written songs that I didn’t necessarily want people to know were about them.

CM: What was the first song you ever wrote?

DK: I guess my early songwriting days I’m kind of disconnected with. I was more practiced after a song-writing class. The first song I completed was called “My Intuition.” It was about a girl who I was falling for (who was actually my best friend at the time… big surprise, right?) and I felt that she felt the same way about me. She was the first person I played it for… going back to writing songs and not wanting someone to know it’s about them. I didn’t tell her it was for her. Her intuition did.

CM: Are there songs that you like to play more than others?

DK: I like to play “Tears from the Moon;” that’s also what I want to call my album. Also, “It’s Not Over,” “(You Can’t Have) All of Me,” “The Island of Bare Feet,” “Fancy Town,” “Laced with Music.” Just to name a few…

CM: Are there songs you prefer not to play on stage?

DK: Some songs are more sad or more personal than others, and in some places slower songs are just better for a more intimate crowd.

CM: Do you get tired of people asking if Diva is your real name?

DK: I don’t really get tired of it. It’s always an interesting topic of conversation. When my parents were dating, they saw a French film called “Diva.” It’s a story of an opera singer who didn’t like to have her voice recorded, and this guy follows her around trying to record her voice. Do people become something they are called so much? Or did my parents just know that I would be a performer? I think I represent my name in the sense that I’m a singer/performer, and a musician, but I’m not a “diva” in the sense of being a drama queen.

CM: Who does music belong to?

DK: The universe. Sometimes, I’ll just go through these phases where I’m writing and playing constantly, and then I’ll stop for a while. I think it’s a natural cause and then people can appreciate having that inspiration. I get down on myself sometimes, but the source is totally unlimited, and it’s available to all of us. If you ask for inspiration and know that it’s available, it will come. I think music comes to me from a higher power, a higher source. I’m like a vessel I think.

CM: What can we expect to hear next from you?

DK: I would really like to explore a more classical approach, more finger picking, maybe more music like Spanish guitar. I would like to get better at solos and lead guitar skills. I might want to do a one-woman band. But I would also like to play with other musicians more. Expect more layers.

by Marcus Simmons

Mondays are “reset days.” Last week is over and a new week has begun. It’s hard waking up. If you’re like many, you know the right song to get you going again. Fortunately, CM finds artists like Kristen Ford who understands that all work and no play makes work meaningless. For those who don’t know about Kristen Ford, her music is a blend of rock, folk and reggae with sexy sprinkles on top. I talk with Kristen about her debut album, Filthy Nasty, and interstate gay marriage in this week’s Musician Mondays.

CM: So, you recently came out with Filthy Nasty. Talk to me about your latest.

Kristen Ford: FN is my debut album, ten tracks and a bonus. Basically, it’s the best of what I’ve written in the past 6 years. I tried to jump genres a lot, show I like all kinds of music, like folk, country, rock, reggae, but I think the whole record retains that individuality that makes me me.

CM: The album definitely comes together well, and for those who don’t know, we can find it on iTunes, right?

KF: Yes. iTunes, CDBaby, KFo Music and Digstation, and it’ll be available at all my shows. Basically, we whore this record out.

CM: That’s great. So, tell me why your album is especially “filthy” … “nasty?”

KF: Coming up with the name was pretty hard. I didn’t want it to be “Kristen Ford Kristen Ford.” Filthy Nasty is something that I think would stick out if you were scrolling through someone’s library on iPod or whatever. Filthy is like dirty awesome…like dig in. Nasty is “ew,” you want to look, but in bed you want somebody to be nasty. Filthy, nasty, just so wicked awesome.

CM: Would you suggest this is good music to listen in the shower, then?

KF: Yes, while touching yourself, especially the nipples. Don’t put your CD player in the shower, though.

CM: Great advice. You just finished touring the Midwest and are back in Massachusetts. I can’t spell your state without Google.

KF: Ha ha. People call it mass-a-two-shits in Illinois. That’s just wrong. Do you know “Connecticut?”

CM: They have gay marriage, too. What is with the liberal debauchery of New England?

KF: Ha ha. No morals.

CM: Would you like to be gay married?

KF: Hmmm… I don’t know, but I have a girlfriend, and she is pretty. Maybe married by Thom Yorke on a beach in New Zealand, and everyone would have personal joints for the after-party, and Erykah Badu would do an acoustic set in our honeymoon suite, and there would be a champagne hot tub and lots of breakfast foods available.

CM: That doesn’t sound like a traditional gay marriage. Coffee or orange juice?

KF: Breakfast is my favorite meal. Both, but fresh squeezed. That pure shit they sell isn’t even pure; its concentrate and corn syrup.

CM: What song gets you laid the most? “Hey Girl”’s pretty sensual.

KF: Ha ha. I think they all get me laid

CM: That must be great. What music makes it to your bedroom?

KF: Erykah Badu is nice. I like Telefon Tel Aviv… the Kill Bill soundtrack. Hi-ya. I don’t listen to me; that’d be gross.

CM: Could you talk a little bit about being a musician, and how being a (sexy) lesbian has an effect?

KF: Lots of playing in bars for gross men with partial teeth. I guess that’s my choice because I like rock music. I want to play with a band; I want it to be loud. I’ll do the occasional coffee shop, but that personally was always boring—my words aren’t that important.

I have always tried to make my songs to “you.” “I love you… you are so hot.” I don’t know if it’s gay music or straight music, but I don’t get on a pedestal. I don’t say, “I’m gay, so fuck you men… you are the problem.” I can’t stand the intellectual, hoity-toity lesbian man-hater, but if somebody asks me do you munch carpet, I will say, “Yes, and what’s it to you?”

CM: There does seem to be an attraction gay females have for the guitar and for music.

KF: Yea, it’s weird.

CM: Do you think the gay gene is especially musical or that there is a gay gene?

KF: Artsy, maybe.

CM: Are the arts nature or nurture?

KF: Both. My dad is a singer, and my mom used to paint, but neither aspired to be a professional musician. It’s kind of great. No shoes to fill. If I had a kid and they turned into a lawyer or scientist, I would be like, “Dammit kid… you suck. Why aren’t you into drawing or something cool?”

CM: Art’s more fun, and life is short… Before you go, talk about your ideal type, femme or butch?

KF: My type changes a lot. More femme. Somebody different from me. In the past (ahem), I dated a chick who played guitar, smoked pot, hung out with the boys, climbed trees. It didn’t work out.

CM: Your interests, your passions, your hopes for the future?

KF: I hope to do music all the time, get really great at singing and playing and writing songs, play 100 shows in 2009 (I think I’m well on my way), get 75 people to my show at Harper’s Ferry tomorrow.

As for my hopes: world peace, jeans that don’t slip off my ass constantly and to get laid constantly.

Some other great places to find Kristen Ford’s music:
Myspace
LastFM
PureVolume

by Aharona Ament

Tony Breed is always in a good mood; at least, every time that I have seen him. He is always smiling, and  today is no exception despite the biting cold. I’ve known Tony for a while. I was a fan of his radio show on WLUW, and we are both volunteers with the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP). I met Tony at a local coffee shop near his home in Chicago to talk about his web comic “Finn and Charlie Are Hitched,” gay marriage, and why every gay man must own a Madonna album.

Cul de sac Magazine: One aspect I really liked about “Hitched” is that you show scenes of domestic bliss between Finn and Charlie. You show them being affectionate a lot. A lot of heads on laps.

Tony Breed: Well, I’m trying to convey what to me just normal life is, which is a gay couple that’s affectionate and in love and just sort of the things that you do when you are in love with someone, which is that you sit around together and cuddle.

CM: “Hitched” is a catchy name for a comic.

TB: The reason I call it “Hitched” is because I wanted it to be about marriage, and Hitched says marriage. I was trying to find a way to say marriage without saying marriage. I wanted it to be short, one name, and I ended up not being happy with that so I started using the longer name which is “Finn and Charlie Are Hitched.”

CM: Because it is a web comic about (gay) marriage.

TB: Right, exactly. And I wanted it to say these people are not “just friends,” not just in a relationship; they are hitched.

CM: They’re not “roommates,” they’re not–

TB: Friends with benefits, fuck buddies.

CM: Right. They are married and committed to each other.

TB: And yet they are not married because it is not legal, but they are hitched.

CM: How long have Finn and Charlie known each other?

TB: I think I put it at 17 years once.

CM: Wow, that’s a long time!

TB: That is a long time. I’ve been in my relationship for, well, I guess it has been 17 years now. Since I was 20. I really don’t want the characters to be stand-ins for me and my husband. I don’t really want them to be us. I sort of consciously tried to have them have their own personalities, but at the same time the relationship is a parallel to my own.

CM: So, who wanted to wear the macaroni jewelry? That was one of your first comics.

TB: The macaroni jewelry story never really happened. There are things in there that really did happen. Sometimes there is an element of autobiographical-ness to it. But I was trying to take some personality traits that I have being sort of the goofball and my husband being the misanthrope, but in most cases it ends up being both me, my misanthropic side and my goofy side. The macaroni jewelry was building on an idea. I do make my own jewelry, but they are not made of macaroni.

CM: You had a wedding. Seeing as how gay marriage is not yet legal in the US, do you consider yourself married, or “married”?

TB: We had considered ourselves married since 1997 when we had a wedding! It is confusing at times because I would say to people that I am married, but I would still have to put that I am single on my tax forms. A lot of people are not following the issue because it doesn’t matter to them, and they will say, “Oh yeah! You can do that somewhere right?” And I would say, “Well, you can do it in Sweden, but you have to be Swedish.” I can’t even remember what the state of the world was in 1997, but you couldn’t do it here.

CM: What about Vermont?

TB- Vermont you can have a civil union. In New Jersey, you can have a civil union. In Connecticut and Massachusetts, you could get married, and up until recently, you could do it in California, too. But it was Canada that said you can come in from anywhere and get gay-married. We were in Canada and met this older man in his 50’s saying that h[e] and his boyfriend were thinking about getting married and asked if we were getting married.  I had to tell him that we, meaning me and my partner, can’t get married because we’re Americans, and we don’t have the same rights in our country that you have in yours, which is a weird feeling because you usually don’t experience going to another country and realizing that they have freedoms that you don’t have. As an American, we are not supposed to have that experience. This is the land of the free. The upshot of it all is when it became legal in California and we were planning a trip to California, and I said, “Hey, while we are here let’s get married again.” So now we have a piece of paper which may or may not be annulled by the government, and it is all a mess with what is going to happen with Proposition 8, but we have a copy of it, and I have that piece of paper and I can say now that I have legal marriages that are not recognized in my home state or in my country, but it is recognized somewhere.

CM: Wow, that sounds frustrating.

TB: The thing about getting married is that you can only do it once, unless you get divorced. You can’t get married after going to Vermont to get a civil union, you can’t get a marriage after a civil union. You have to dissolve the civil union and then get married, and it is supposed to be the same thing, so you don’t get  a second chance at it.

CM: In the very first “Hitched,” Finn asks Charlie if he ever wonders if our culture—and I am assuming he means queer culture—is heading towards collapse. I have heard gay people oppose gay marriage because they feel that the progress might mainstream the culture so much that our ideals and history will disappear along with the progress. It was a sponge that a female coworker refused to touch after she spilled some coffee that brought this question on. What was the significance in the sponge, and is our culture on the verge of collapse?

TB: That is an interesting question, partly because I had not read the comic that way. The “our culture” was meant to be American culture and the idea that we live in a culture where a person is not willing to clean up after themselves because they don’t like to touch sponges or whatever reason. If they are letting their manias get in the way of them being a good citizen, then are we on the verge of collapse? That’s sort of a joke there, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, meaning sometimes the joke is a lot simpler than you think.

And you bring up a really good point because the moment I began to admit to myself that I was gay, I was in college and I was like, “Okay, I have to admit that this thing that has been bugging me for years is that I’m gay.” That this is how I am, and I had to admit it because I had a date with a guy the night before. But bringing it back to the actual question, we don’t have to define ourselves by our “otherness.” I think that drag queens and leather daddies and open relationships are all fabulous, and everyone should do what they want, but I don’t feel like I should be pressured to be that if I don’t want to. So, no, I don’t think we (gay culture) are on the verge of collapse. In a way, I guess its like an integrating, and there is always an element that you feel like you are losing a special outsider identity if you integrate too much, but it doesn’t bother me.

CM: You have been writing “Hitched” for almost three years.

TB: Wow.

CM: Right?  What progress has the strip made since you have been writing it?

TB: Progress is a complicated word. I would say that there have been changes. If you keep things exactly the same, it doesn’t make for a good comic. On the other hand, it is only three panels once a week, so things could move slowly and no one would know. There have been changes recently. I started to bring in more outside characters and to try to really create these characters because I felt that I am reflecting a little bit of my own life.

CM: How do you do that?

TB: I went to the Windy City Comic Con last year and I thought that maybe I could be broadening the comic a bit and making it not just about gay marriage, but having that be a component, and like Joe Solmonese, the President of the Human Rights Campaign, said, “You show your relationships to people and so it becomes more and more normal to them,” and I thought that maybe I should shift the strip and make it more public interest and I am not sure if I really should  do that, I’m thinking now that maybe the people who read it, what they really like about it is the sweet depiction of a gay marriage, so maybe I should keep it that way. But anyway, what I am writing now is that Charlie is going to start volunteering at a radio station, bringing a little more of my own life in to it. And meanwhile, Finn just got fired and that is what is going on in my office right now, and that is what is going on with some of my friends. I was debating on whether or not to do it, and I thought I can’t ignore this giant issue in the world.

CM: There are so many issues to be explored. Do you feel that you can express everything you want to in a three-panel strip?

TB: No, and that’s what makes it interesting. I could properly express more of what I wanted to in a three-panel strip if I were writing more often.

CM: Do you think you’ll expand the length?

TB: I think about it. Right now, working in three panels is a limitation, and it’s like writing a sonnet or a haiku. More like a haiku, except a funny haiku because your are constraining yourself to a format, and you have to work within that format, and you [need] to remind yourself that if someone comes in and reads the joke and they don’t know the background, is it still funny? Did you put in enough to make it clear that there is some kind of background there?  You have to cut out so much text. I’m writing smaller now so I can fit more in, but still you really have to edit down. You have to be  concise there are a lot of little verbal text and stuff like that that I have to pull out unless I think it is absolutely vital to the pacing of the joke or the characterizations.

CM: So, you have to be your own editor.

TB: And I do find that interesting. If I had more time in my life, I would produce more comics in a week. I have an immense amount of respect for the web cartoonists who do even three comics a week because it’s a lot of time. You have to write it and then you have to draw it, and both of those are difficult processes.

CM: A lot of cartoonists talk about how time consuming the process is…

TB: I would like to do a graphic novel someday. It wouldn’t be a Finn and Charlie graphic novel properly, but who knows?

CM: What cartoons, web comics, graphic novels do you like?

TB: I have a fondness for obscure and intelligent humor. I like Goats, which has long, epic stories. It’s obscure, it’s bizarre. There’s like a homicidal chicken who worships the devil. I just discovered a web comic called Nedroid. I’m a big fan of Cat and Girl, which is an intelligent comic. I could go on for hours about what I like, but I have to say that the best graphic novel that I have read in a long time was Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.

CM: Totally. That is one of my favorite graphic novels to date. Are there any gay-specific web comics that you like?

TB: I haven’t found any gay web comics that really speak to me.

CM: Do you identify as a gay comic creator or a comic creator who is also gay?

TB: I identify first as a cartoonist. Someone asked me about creating gay comics and asked if I wanted to ghettoize myself. I said no, but that is exactly what I did. Finn and Charlie were created because of a friend of mine, Justin Hall, who is a gay cartoonist. He was trying to put together a book that got me going. He said “Hey have you thought about getting back into making comics?” And I said, “Yes! Okay! I’ll do it!” Then I had to try and come up with something, and of course it seemed like it should be a gay topic, and I felt like I had to address that. I put together all these weird ideas of a morbid comic that was going to be called Gay Bunny and the Walrus, which is a really awesome name, and I enjoyed drawing the walrus, but it just didn’t work and I was like write what you know. On that principle, I came up with [Hitched]. But the problem with writing what you know is that people always ask or people don’t even ask, they just assume that it is autobiographical. My roommate in college wrote a short story that was made into a book that was made into a movie

CM: What was that?

TB: Boy Culture. And the main character in Boy Culture in the original version, not the movie, was a student at the University of Chicago and put himself through by being a prostitute, and people always ask him, “So, were you really a prostitute?” And it’s like, “NO! I’m just a guy who wrote a story!” So, I am constantly aware that when I write this comic that if I put anything too weird in it that my parents are going to be like “Did this really happen?”

I got involved in the Windy City Comic Con last year, and I wasn’t thinking, “Hey, I want to do a gay cartoonists panel. I want to do a web comics panel.” It wasn’t like I want to be with my people, the gay cartoonists. It was like I want to be with  my people…the web comics!

CM: What about the gay web comics panel?

TB: You know, there are millions of web comics out there. I keep finding new stuff. But if you try to find big names in gay web comics, you wouldn’t get very far, so I don’t think anyone is a big name yet except for Alison Bechdel, in the sense that you can read her online.

CM: She started in print and then moved her strip Dykes to Watch Out For online. She also shows her characters going to real life events like pride or the Dyke march or whatever is going on that she sees relevant. Do you think Finn and Charlie will go to a DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) protest in the near future?

TB: When the whole Prop 8 thing was going on, I did send Finn and Charlie to California to get married and also because I had done it in September. And then I had Finn and Charlie do it in October as soon as we got back. I couldn’t wait until after the election because what if it went the wrong way, which it did. So I wanted to write it because I knew it was going to be a weird story, because Justin Hall performed our ceremony in front of City Hall in San Francisco dressed as the Green Lantern. It was awesome, and if you’d ask me if I would do a goofy wedding, well I don’t think I would ‘cause you know you only get to do it once. But hey, I got to do it twice! I had the church wedding, pastor, family, the exchanging of rings, lighting the unity candle.

CM: Unity candle? What religion are you?

TB- I don’t have one, so we can do anything we want. Oh, but the politics of it all! I have been to a DOMA protest, but I am not going to send Finn and Charlie to the DOMA protest. It’s not that there isn’t a political angle because the personal is political when you show people living a normal life, which i[n] gay married life is political enough in itself.

CM: You are also involved in the local music scene. What kind of music do Finn and Charlie like? If you made a Finn and Charlie mix, what would that sound like?

TB: Oh god, I should totally do that! Man! I did make a mix! I used Finn and Charlie as a fundraiser for CHIRP (The Chicago Independent Radio Project) on my website. I did commission drawings of Finn and Charlie with a mix for CHIRP. I kind of think they would like what I like, but I did think that I should have relationship songs. If I could be incredibly sappy for a moment, the song by The Magnetic Fields—“Sweet Lovin’ Man!” It’s about how great it is to be in the arms of your sweet loving man! Other than that, just songs about relationships and more stuff that I like…The indie rock, the show tunes, the vocal jazz…

CM: Anything that your husband would like?

TB: Oh, we like the same stuff!

CM: Awwwww!

TB: It’s useful because you don’t have to fight about what to put on. I think that Finn and Charlie have a few Madonna albums.

CM: Isn’t that like a gay male ordinance?

TB: It is kind of like an ordinance!

CM: Any advice you would give to other comic artists gay, straight or other?

TB: I would say just do it. It’s a discipline, and if you are putting it out there on the web, you will get a small audience eventually, even if you don’t publicize. I told myself that I needed to draw more with a sketch book, and I never did that. But when I told myself that I needed to do a comic once a week, I did that and now I am sketching more often, and I’m thinking I have to draw this next week and what are the people going to look like and I have to start thinking about what a squirrel holding a fork would look like.

CM: Like The Sea and Cake t-shirts with the squirrel holding the bottle opener?

TB: Oh, I should be so lucky to do a T-shirt for The Sea and Cake.

CM: I’d buy a Finn and Charlie Sea and Cake T-shirt!

You can keep up with Tony Breed and “Finn and Charlie are Hitched” at http://hitched.tonybreed.com/comic/

The Academy Award nominations were announced on Thursday, January 22, and Gus Van Sant’s Milk delivered with eight nominations, trailing in third place behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s thirteen nominations and Slumdog Millionaire’s ten nominations. In addition to Best Picture, director Van Sant, actors Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, and writer Dustin Lance Black are all being recognized for their work.

This ties the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain’s record 8 nominations for an LGBT-themed film, and it almost mimics that film in categories nominated. Though a busy year for director Van Sant—he released his excellent Paranoid Park in March 2008—Milk’s supreme achievements and historic impact should prove a profound reward.

Milk is still playing in theaters across the U.S., so try to see it before the February 22nd airing of the Academy Awards on ABC.

by Kevin Sparrow

Due to increasing advancements in technology and the popularity of the internet, we live our lives in the open more than we used to. OMG/HaHaHa ties together vlogging, digital video and personal stories to create an emotionally revelatory work about today’s youth and the meaning of family. Director Morgan Jon Fox discusses his vision with Cul de sac Magazine in a recent interview:

CM: The actors come across as very natural; in fact, the film has a documentary feel. What was the workshop process like in order to present character in the way the film does?

MJF: The way I look at creating films at this level, with not much money involved, stripped down and bare, is that I really want to maximize what resources I do have. To me, since I’m making films that aren’t trying to emulate what processes that usually cost lots of money, i.e. special effects over load, big production design, etc…. what matters most to me before all things is that the acting must, absolutely MUST be authentic and come across as naturalistic as possible. I was heavily inspired by the Dogme95 filmmakers Lars Von Trier (Dancer In The Dark, The Idiots) and Thomas Vinterberg (Celebration). [T]hey were previously more traditional or even studio-centric filmmakers who made a pact to create films that were centered more around the actor and strong, organic performances. The way we created OMG was this way from the start.

CM: What was the development process in the script stage of OMG/HaHaHa?

MJF: [M]e and my assistant director, John Tom Roemer, wrote scene ideas back and forth via email. He was a freshman in film school in NYC at the School of Visual Arts. Being from Memphis, he would come back and forth for his breaks and we’d work more on the script and we’d have auditions. We eventually developed a 40-page outline that was mostly a blue print. There were some scenes that had dialogue scripted, but mostly, it was detailed descriptions of scenes. From there, we created even more detailed descriptions for each character…this is a process I value highly…In some cases, a character who may even only be in one scene may have had a 5 page character description that was given to the actor who was cast for the role. Once we assembled the entire cast, we decided that everyone who was cast would have to agree to not know what the story was about, or whom was cast in any particular role, unless they were supposed to have had a history with this person. So, if two characters were supposed to know each other, then of course we’d introduce them, and we’d hold several workshop sessions with improv and basic character building techniques often guided by the Meisner Technique. That’s an acting technique a long-time collaborator, and in the case of this film, actress, Amber O’Daniels introduced me to. Amber played Autumn, the girl who was pregnant. She taught me everything I know about Meisner…. it’s a technique that’s very simple and practical, yet intense and rooted in finding one’s emotional core. So, we’d workshop with everyone separately, and make sure any characters who were supposed to have relationships would have ample time to dig into their character, so that when the time came, basically whatever they did on screen would be from the place of an understanding their character possessed. For characters who weren’t supposed to know each other, we’d make sure they weren’t introduced to each other until the very moment, on screen, that they were supposed to meet. This also applied to the entire outline of the story. No one was allowed to see what the fate of their character would be, or what they were going to face. This was a part of our plan to keep things real and not have the actors get too caught up in pre-determining their outcome, unless this also was a trait of the character’s personality.

Usually, we’d show up for each shoot day with the actors and then explain to them what was going to go down… of course, we’d give them the info that was pertinent, such as, if they were supposed to be working in a clinic, we made sure they had their costumes, etc, and they knew what their job was and all that, but they wouldn’t know who was showing up to their clinic that day, or what was going on in their life… So, questions that would be asked, or info[rmation] that would be revealed would come across for the first time. After we’d do the first take, we’d give direction and end up shooting each scene anywhere from 3 to 5 times…never more than that…I’m big on that…I refuse to wear down an actor; it’s my opinion that if it’s not working after 5 takes, then you move forward and come back to that moment with different plans. It’s super important for me to make sure everyone is comfortable, and in a space where they feel safe, and at ease when we’re working. All the preparation is important for me, because when we get to the set, I want to be able to let the actors shine, and in that sense, we kind of are just there to then document what they’re doing. I don’t think I’ve ever given an actor staging cues…The last thing I want an actor worrying about while they’re performing is where to stand, or where they cannot walk or something as futile as that.

CM: The film utilizes current phenomena, such as MySpace and vlogging, to create an interesting visual palette. Is that specific to this film, or does this DIY style seem to be increasing in popularity in the film world?

MJF: I see more and more references to MySpace and YouTube in film, but not necessarily utilizing the actual formats such as webcams to tell the stories. This isn’t that original, of course; it’s more just a modern day adaptation of what films like Reality Bites did when they started using video cameras that were turned on actors by the characters as a part of their narrative. For me, it wasn’t really a creative choice, or a ploy, so much as it just made sense. This character lives through a different world view…he made it through j[unio]r high and high school by connecting and making friends and getting popular via his MySpace page and LiveJournal posts. So, it didn’t even cross my mind to film him filming himself while he was making his vlogs… people are so used to watching poor-quality video on YouTube anyways, so I figured it just made sense.

CM: Did you have other filmic influences in making OMG/HaHaHa?

MJF: [In addition to the Dogme95 films there are] many others: Harmony Korine’s Gummo and Julien Donkey Boy, as well as Gus Van Sant (Elephant, Last Days), and a newer filmmaker whose work I’m completely in awe of, Cam Archer, who made one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen, titled Wild Tigers I Have Known.

CM: Can you describe some of the benefits of working in the Memphis film scene?

MJF: I was born and raised in Memphis. It’s my home and I love it. The community of artists, and just people in general here that I’ve come to know, they’re my family by all means. There’s not a big queer community here, which to me is rather nice because instead of being separated into a specific community, I’m simply a part of a larger more diverse community of people that I work with in every way…and the whole being a homo thing has never been an issue. I feel very very fortunate to know all the incredibly talented and sincere people I work with here. It’s also very helpful that the city is extremely accessible, in that it’s very easy to shoot here without the hassle of worrying about permits and all that. There’s a lot of locally owned businesses here who are more than willing to help and allow us to use their facilities to shoot.

CM: How is the film being distributed after the festival circuit?

MJF: We are fortunate enough to have gotten a distribution deal through Water Bearer Films. They will be distributing the film sometime next year.

CM: What are some future projects you are working on?

I’m finishing up a documentary I’ve [been] working on for two years that follows a story that unfolded in Memphis in 2005 where a 16-year-old teenager was forced into an Evangelical Christian program that pledges to turn gay people straight. It should be completed in February.

The extended trailer for Fox’s upcoming documentary is below.

by Kevin Sparrow

In 1981, few films exploring queer themes had broken through to the mainstream. The exploitation flicks produced by Andy Warhol in the ‘70s were the purview of the high-art crowd, and directors like William Friedkin who were willing to tackle queer subject matter were alternately pioneering (The Boys in the Band) and frustratingly moralistic (Cruising). Amidst a burgeoning underground queer film scene, Chicago’s Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival began at Chicago Filmmakers, playing to a small but devoted crowd that has seen tremendous growth over the last 27 years.

To that end, Chicago Filmmakers’ Executive Director Brenda Webb sees Reeling as “the marriage of culture and community. We see this as an opportunity to reach out to new audiences that may not be on our radar.” Reeling reaches out to communities across Chicagoland with programming aimed at diverse viewers. A co-presenter program that works with local community groups, such as Asians and Friends, meshes with sponsorship organizations, like the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, to foster cultural diversity at all levels. Representations of Black, Latino and Asian lifestyles are a refreshing focus at Reeling. “You can see how significant that representation is for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of color who are not represented well in mainstream media,” says Webb.

While filmmakers from across the globe commit their personal stories to the festival to create a compelling tableau, this year’s theme is “All American Queer.” Traditionally, Reeling is held on the first Thursday of November, which means it has been preceded by many elections in its history. Following the election results of November 4th, many at the festival have responded that they “feel proud to be Americans.” This year’s festival features more American-made films than previous years, including a feature documentary from Chicago, Just as We Are, and two native short films—Dolls and Trophy—playing in the shorts programs. Submissions for a music video category were included this year for the first time, and the festival is also featuring the music program “Rock Reeling” in order to “try to reach out to new audiences and recognize that queer music is a burgeoning field,” according to Webb.

Starting at its roots as a venue for media-hungry queer audiences and building to a weeklong event that inspires numerous communities, Reeling shows no signs of slowing. Its history proves that this boutique festival has something to offer everyone.

The 27th Annual Reeling Film Festival is currently ongoing until Sunday, November 16th, with the closing night presentation of documentary Eleven Minutes. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ReelingFilmFestival.org.