Monday, June 19, 1:00 pm, Castro + streaming encore
🌐 World première (of the 4K restoration)
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| Chocolate Babies (1996) |
Frameline, in connection with the National Film Preservation Foundation, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the Outfest Legacy Project, commissioned a 4K digital restoration of the 1996 film Chocolate Babies, with its world premiere big-screen presentation at Frameline47.
A small group of self-described queer terrorists in New York City fight against government apathy towards AIDS, combining direct action calculated for shock value with schemes, including a plan to kidnap a local politician to get their hands on a list the city is supposedly compiling of everyone in the tri-state area who has HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, the group members also fight a lot, almost incessantly, among themselves, and there is about three hours of dialogue, since there is seldom only one person speaking. Each character is so involved in asserting their own power and voice that they don’t have time to listen to the others in the group, let alone anyone outside.
Chocolate Babies is an important time capsule from the mid-1990s, a testament to unapologetic Queer Black power in the face of the AIDS crisis (even after Reagan and Bush I were replaced by Clinton). As such, it is a must see for historians, but I can’t really recommend it for general audiences. The bickering is tremendously off-putting, making it difficult to hear any of the characters or see them as anything more than foils for each other’s arguments. If you’re going to see it, though, definitely see it in the new 4K restoration.
Content advisory: there is a scene of graphic gun violence.
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