Chocolate Babies (1996)

Chocolate Babies, dir. Stephen Winter, 1996, USA, 83 min. 👎

Monday, June 19, 1:00 pm, Castro + streaming encore

🌐 World première (of the 4K restoration)

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.

• IMDb page • trailer • Frameline Distribution •

All Man: The International Male Story

All Man: The International Male Story, dir. Bryan Darling & Jesse Finley Reed, 2022, USA, 84m. 👍

Friday, June 24, 2022, 8:30pm Castro

+Streaming

I’m much more of a “jeans and t-shirt” kind of person than a fashion plate, so the International Male catalogue (almost a magazine, but always with ordering details on every page) wasn’t a major part of my life, but for millions of gay men, especially in small towns far from the coasts, it was a rare glimpse of the possibility of a very different world. It showed muscular, masculine men wearing colorful foofy clothes, including the skimpiest of underwear. It began with the simple premise that “gray suit with a white shirt and a tie” wasn’t the only option for a man who wanted to dress well, but it capitalized on the wave of sexual liberation, too, though without ever directly saying so.

All Man traces the origins of International Male through to its demise in the early 2000s, with interviews with the founder, staff, photographers, and models, interspersed with commentary from present-day queer fashion icons like Carson Cressley and clips from contemporary popular media. It’s well organized, with a clear chronology underpinning the story. I highly recommend it for all audiences, but it is definitely a Must See for anyone who ever kept a couple of International Male catalogues under the mattress for those “private moments.”

• IMDb page • Official website • screens at Outfest July 17, 2022

Transfinite

Transfinite, dir. Neelu Bhuman, USA/UK/​India, 70m, in English, Spanish, Swahili, and Navajo, with full open captions in English throughout 😐
Tuesday, June 25, 6:45 pm, Victoria Theatre • Bay Area première •
Thursday, June 27, 2019, 9:15 pm, Landmark Theatres Piedmont

Transfinite

Seven short sci-fi films by a diverse group of writers, but with a few threads uniting them, particularly trans/​queer char­ac­ters and magical wish fulfill­ment, but unfor­tu­nate­ly also clunky performances (despite the SAG/​AFTRA logo in the credits) and disappointing production values, reminis­cent of Frameline a quarter century ago. It’s a labor of love, clearly, but the best I can give it is tepidly recommended.

• IMDb • official: TransFiniteFilm.com (links to trailer and to the full film) • fully open captioned for the hearing impaired

Sid & Judy

Sid & Judy, dir. Stephen Kijak, 2019, USA, 100m 💖
Wednesday, June 26, 6:30 pm, Castro Theatre • WORLD PREMIÈRE •
also screening at Outfest, Saturday, July 27, 8:30 pm, Ford Theatres 

Sid Luft & Judy Garland

What new can be said about Judy Garland that hasn’t already been said? In a word, plenty! Filmmaker Stephen Kijak had unprecedented access to family archival material, including audio tapes of both Judy and her third husband Sid Luft, as well as the manuscript of Luft’s recently published memoir, giving a much more personal view of her ups and downs (and uppers and downers) than you’ve seen before. Whether you have seen every film and tv appearance she ever did, or you only know Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, this film is defi­nitely a MUST SEE.

Showtime Documentary Films is the distributor, so presumably this will be coming to premium cable in due course, but if it pops up near you, go see it! • IMDb • official: StephenKijak.com •