Inside Out Film Festival: Shift Three and Four

Tonight's a time jump -- I came to the startling conclusion I neglected to post about the last couple shifts from May 29th with the Inside Out Film Festival.

*Shock and horror*

I cannot allow this to pass. And so, I invite readers to re-live this past Saturday and revel in a Wednesday weekend to boot.

***

Saturday, May 29, 2010

It was a rather posh affair as I relocated to various screening locations throughout Toronto. I made it a personal mission to volunteer at all the major host theatres for The Inside Out Film Festival and, lo -- it bottlenecked on one day. Nevertheless, it was a rush full of queer crowds and all-around cool kids.

The afternoon started off at the Royal Ontario Museum where I numbered among the front of house staff. I met a collective of fantastic volunteers and was whisked into the quiet conversation and cutting wit of all present. Ah -- at the major venues, volunteers are not invited into the film screenings. However, the lockout allowed me to mingle with the staff and talk with other folks dedicating their time to Canada's largest queer film festival. Quite a brilliant trade-off, if you ask me.

One girl was a self-published zine writer who went to the same university I did (we have some overlapping acquaintances as a result); our one representing guy just relocated to Toronto from Montreal and we almost had a major nerd meltdown after comparing notes on Doctor Who and our sharing out admiration for Russell T. Davies; and another girl was the founding member of a local knitting guild and focused her efforts on handcrafted items.

But, ooh -- no film festival is complete without a little panic. At 3 PM, the festival scheduled a multi-media lecture titled All The Young Dykes: Lesbians in Hollywood, 1990-2010. Film critic and Famous magazine deputy editor, Ingrid Randoja, was lined up to guide patrons through recent cinematic trends favouring portrayals of younger, queerer, and hotter on-screen women and how it has erased the presence of mature lesbians from film in general. It was designed as a fun-filled discussion, packed with images and clips, and it aimed to question the idea of a "youth movement" in modern representations of queer women -- alas, it also encountered severe technical difficulties. The lecture was meant to last an hour and the tech issues cut the presentation in half.

Yikes.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather and an animated ice cream truck driver nicknamed "Mister Softee," so the crowds flooding the ROM were in high spirits. You best believe we were the talk of the festival circuit what with the crisis we faced and I got to share stories from the front lines later on.

But oh, what an experience. I can't even consider it as "work," I had that much fun throughout the shift. With an adventurous high pulsing through me, I headed on over to Buddies in Bad Times to take in a film with one of the volunteer vouchers I've been stockpiling. There was a four hour gap between shifts, so I figured I'd wander over to the theatre to catch their 5 PM show. And girl, how glad I was to discover Saving Face (2004).

***

Saving Face (2004)

Winner of the Audience Award as the 2005 Inside Out Festival, Saving Face occupies a vital position in the collective consciousness of queer girls across North America. In terms of cinematic representations of lesbian lives, Saving Grace touches on the real issues of internalized homophobia and the pressure of familial expectations even as it allows its romantic leads to find love despite the odds.

It's classic rom com with a refreshing Sapphic note.

Wilhelmia 'Wil' Pan (Michelle Krusiec) is a taut thread stretched between two unmoving poles -- she is caught juggling a promising career as a surgeon and her responsibilities as a dutiful daughter even while she is expected to conceal her attraction to other women. She must endure the constant charades with her Ma (Joan Chen) and the endless stream of bachelors her Ma sets Wil up with.

Just as Wil settles into a monotonous and rhythmic existence, she meets Vivian Shing (Lynn Chen), a prima ballerina whose true desire to explore experimental dance threatens to overthrow the expectations placed on her by her own family. The women are pulled to one another through palpable desire, but Wil's internalized need to maintain appearances threatens to tear the couple apart.

Tensions between the old world's restrictive concepts of generational honour and North America's fluid and individualistic mentalities revolve around a real, beautiful tale of two women in love. It is breathtaking and gorgeous in its clarity and offers a change of pace from the typically tragic fare that marks queer cinema. If there is one film to define a genre of romantic comedies designed for queer women, this is it. It is universal in its appeal and it is delicate and humourous in its approach.

In a word, it is brilliant.

In four words, GO WATCH IT NOW.

***

That night, I headed over to The Isabel Bader Theatre to cover the last festival shift held at the venue. Hoo, talk about the crowds. The Isabel Bader functioned as the central headquarters for the entire film festival, hence, all the crowd favourites and big budget films rolled at this location.

How crowded was it, you ask?

We had at least five separate line-ups based on which ticket the patron held (a touch classist, I am aware) and, after the count I led, we came to about 450 viewers for the last film. Buddies in Bad Times pulled in a maximum of 80 viewers while the ROM tended to attract at least 100 audience members for the headliners.

Again, I was not privy to watch the films as I was needed for ticket processing and ballot counting. I met another energetic, boisterous group of volunteers and spent the evening in a haze of laughter and chat. I got the inside scoop on other Toronto-based film festivals and I might need to check out some of the other scenes in the near future. I will always feel most at home with Inside Out, but it could be fun to check out another event as well.

I had to kick myself later when I realized Saturday night marked a full evening of lesbian-based programming across the street at the ROM. I admit, I was calculated with the shifts I took -- I aimed to volunteer for lesbian films so I could connect with other queer girls in Toronto. When I signed up for the evening shift, I was at work and did not have the festival program with me. Regardless, the night was a glitzy one and I glided home with the buzz of volunteerism still fresh in the blood.

***

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Good gracious -- it was a sweet time to rest and compose myself. I'd been plotting to hit up Anime North this past weekend, but the heaviness throughout me would not dissipate. Based on the marathon volunteer session from the previous weekend, I thought I should ease up and relax a touch. I sat out on the deck with some white tea and chatted with the rents about various odds and ends and then hit up a local comic book store to check out their merchandise. Ha, alas, most of it had relocated to Anime North for the weekend. Confound. I plan to return soon to check out their titles then.

Meanwhile, The Advocate contacted me and invited me over for a long overdue Ladies Sunday Afternoon. Ship Sharp was already in attendance, however, a certain Moffatt girl was missing from the mix.

The ladies are lovely and we traded gossip from the past three weeks (I know, it was quite a lot to catch up on. I munched on popcorn and drank it all in). And, the ladies surprised me with some flawless birthday gifts for your truly. I realize once again I am a total nerd -- and I also realize I have awesome friends who encourage this behaviour. There was a Kate Beaton t-shirt, a collection of love poems to help me woo the ladies, manga editions of Shugo Chara and Ouran High School Host Club, and a book to help me make LISTS. Sweet honey marvel, I am in heaven.

We even rounded out the evening with a sushi dinner and later with a spot of pink champagne out in Ship Sharp's backyard.

I recommend that last bit for all those seeking a premium weekend experience.

***

So, there you have it -- the weekend on a Wednesday. I best sign off as I have been sitting for for at least an hour and a half now. I am that intense, I know.