MQFF 2009 diary part the first

The 19th Melbourne Queer Film Festival kicked off at the Astor on Wednesday night with the usual speeches, sparkles and not-entirely-fantastic opening night film.

This year we were served up the sweet confectionery of Were The World Mine, which two unforgiving friends described as "a trainwreck". They were a bit harsh, I thought. True, the festival does prefer to open with a party-friendly feel-good film rather than a movie of real quality (the year they opened with Infamous was a pleasant exception to the rule; usually we're lumbered with the likes of last year's Breakfast With Scot (ugh) or But I'm A Cheerleader), but I honestly didn't think Were The World Mine was that bad. Yes, its first 30-odd minutes dragged rather badly, but once the actual plot (gay student discovers secret love charm hidden in the pages of A Midsummer Night's Dream and uses it to make all the homophobes in his town walk in his shoes for a while) really got underway, there was some real charm displayed in this low budget cross between Shakespeare and High School Musical.

That said, the entire viewing experience would have been far more enjoyable if a 35mm print of the film had been available; watching a poorly lit, washed out video copy of the film on the big screen at the Astor, accompanied by distorted and muffled sound, definitely did not do the film justice.

The after party was certainly good fun, though unfortunately as I had to present a three-hour radio program the next morning, I didn't kick up my heels as much as I would have liked. For an impression of the party, I refer you to this review by my homosexually-challenged friend Andrew at the damn fine website The Enthusiast, over here.

On Thursday night I chose to limit myself to two sessions. First up was lo-fi indie US indie charmer, The Art of Being Straight, one of several films in this year's program that really is queer in that it explores the mutability of contemporary sexual identity. Written and directed by Jesse Rosen, who also stars as the film's male protagonist, John, the film is a remarkably astute and affable tale of 20-something self-discovery, featuring a straight boy who is starting to realise he might not be a Kinsey Zero, and a charmingly foul-mouthed lesbian, Maddy (Rachel Castillo) whose insecurity about moving in with her girlfriend expresses itself as a crush on the new man next door. Its 77 minute running time was just enough to establish the film's tone and milleu thanks in part to clean, simple cinematography and strong performances, and never outstayed its welcome. A friend disliked the lack of a clearly articulated ending, whereas I felt the open-ended nature of the narrative suited the film's questioning tone just perfectly. Like its protagonist, The Art of Being Straight is a definite charmer. If you missed it at the MQFF, keep your eyes peeled for a DVD release through FQ Films later this year.

Screening with The Art of Being Straight was the US short film The Young and Evil (directed by Julian Breece), about an African-American youth who wants to be infected with HIV and does everything in his power to achieve that goal. Strong performances and production values but not especially memorable.

Next was was the men's shorts package, Cocktales; a collection of five short films from around the world. The moving Auld Lang Syne (dir. Joon-moon So) was a Korean film depicting the belated, awkward reunion of two elderly men who were lovers in their youth; and other example of an open-ended narrative, as well as a rare exploration of the lives of LGBT seniors. Next up was the Turkish film Lot's Wife (dir. Harjant Gill and Koray Durak), a simple but elegant portrayal of the conflicting demands of family and sexuality (pictured, right); followed by an excellent Israeli film with a similar theme, Tryout (dir. Nimrod Rinot), in which a gay man struggles to be true to his lover while being the father he thinks his son needs. This theme - and again, the same ambiguous ending displayed in all the films I'd seen so far on Thursday night - was echoed in US short Traces (dir. Rachel Zisser), in which a father learns the truth about his son's life only when it is too late. Alan Feinstein as the father, Sydney Kessler, gave an admirably wounded yet internalised performance in this quality short.

Last up was the unfortunately jarring stop-motion animation Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World, a trite, shallow stop-motion animated comedy which featured a couple of funny lines, but which was otherwise tedious, and quite at odds with the tone and quality of the rest of the Cocktales package.

So far for MQFF 2009, so good. I was supposed to see another three films tonight, but having had a shit night's sleep I really wasn't in the mood; and after hearing a mate's flat-out loathing for one of the films I'd planned to see, Dog Tags, I'm actually rather glad I stayed home to blog instead...