The Mostly British Film Festival: A Unique Festival to Save a Theater

Festival director Ruthe Stein with board members Jack Bair and Andrew Woodley

The Mostly British Film Festival surpassed their three previous years and dozens of other film festivals with two superb films at the historic Vogue Theatre in San Francisco on Feb. 8 when "Glorious 39" and "Dorian Gray" were screened for large turn-outs of film fans.

Festival director Ruthe Stein joined festival board members Jack Bair and Andrew Woodley and superb volunteer coordinator Ninfa Dawson to present a quality event in the restored 1910 theater in Presidio Heights. Stein is a popular film critic and Bair promotes the preservation of older single-screen theaters. Woodley is a refreshing young Englishman who gave a colorful and descriptive outline of "Dorian Gray" and its inventive director Olive Parker. The intriguing festival is presented by the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation and the California Film Institute.

The opening night party was at British Motors where guests indulged in drinks and hors d'oeuvres and wandered among the spectacular new Jaguar XJ luxury sedans.

The award-winning film"The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls," a documentary about amazing yodeling lesbian sisters from New Zealand, was popular and also a big hit at the 2010 San Francisco LGBT Film Festival.

Murderous aristocratic ruling class Nazi collaborators in the pre-World War II British government? That was a big surprise in the film "Glorious 39," with the stunning, freckled Eddie Redmayne and iconic Julie Christie.

Sexwork palace orgies and opium pipes were on display in rich, glorious color in "Dorian Gray." Everything that was suggested in an earlier black-and-white film version and Oscar Wilde’s notorious book is intensely blatant in this new celluloid treat starring Colin Firth from "The King’s Speech" and overwhelmingly handsome Ben Barnes from the "Narnia" movies. Outstanding 19th century paneled interiors were the backgrounds for the Dorian Gray character played by sultry Barnes to hunt and debauch Victorian girls, women, boys, and men, all in extravagant suits and gowns that were yanked off for Gray’s pleasure and ruin. The Egyptian cat god that Gray prayed to for his miraculously ageless face was missing from this film, but the notorious painting disintegration sequences were modern and spellbinding with their high-tech computerizations.

The Mostly British Film Festival is a well-regarded addition to the dozens of such festivals in San Francisco and hopefully funds raised during the event will help to save the Vogue Theatre for future generations of film-lovers.

The AEF/BCEF Volunteer Appreciation Party: Volunteers, Competitive Bowling, and Awards

Honoree Joanie Juster with Volunteer Manager Sean Greene

The AIDS Emergency Fund (AEF) and the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund (BCEF) presented a volunteer appreciation party at Yerba Buena Bowl on Feb. 7 for a couple dozen people who dedicated themselves to the charities throughout the year. The AEF and BCEF provide life-saving financial support and measurably improve their clients’ quality of life.

Yerba Buena Bowl has some of the few bowling lanes left in San Francisco. It is modern and well-maintained, like the ice skating center next door. A treasure of the bowling center is the attentive catering by Tammy Cessna of Mo’s Grill, which is also located in the Yerba Buena complex. While much of the cuisine in America that is in close proximity to bowling balls is an abomination, that is not the case at Yerba Buena where three varieties of fluffy gourmet pizza and wonderful roast beef and ham sandwiches were eagerly loaded onto party plates by the hungry volunteers.

Guests were greeted by BCEF Client Services Associate Suzy Goldsmith and hardworking double-jobbed BCEF Communication Manager and Volunteer Manager Sean Greene, and between them they knew everyone entering the party.

The party’s excitement level was noticeably lower than last year’s because Suzan Revah and her energetic crew were on an Atlantis cruise. Revah hosts the monthly Nasty party that benefits the AEF at the Powerhouse bar. Her party has brought electro-torture and unusually primal go-go dancers in jockstraps out into the SOMA mainstream.

Board VP Neil Figurelli, Volunteer Manager Sean Greene, and Board President Cynthia Hester

AEF/BCEF Board President Cynthia Hester, who is a Senior Marketing Director at Hewlett-Packard, graciously thanked the volunteers for being the “heart and soul” of the organizations, and BCEF manager Sean Greene announced several awards, including a well-deserved award to the "Every Penny Counts" program coordinator, Kelly Rivera Hart.

Executive Director Mike Smith

AEF/BCEF Executive Director Mike Smith revealed that the popular annual AEF County Fair would not be happening in 2011, but board president Hester said that another big spring event would take its place.

Board VP Neil Figurelli, who is the charities’ Senior Event Planner, is employed at Winslow & Associates public relations and the board is lucky to have secured his talents. He has been successful at providing superior entertainment at the County Fair and the charities’ annual December holiday dinner.

Volunteer Manager Sean Greene interrupted the bowling to introduce former volunteer manager Joanie Juster, and gave her a floral bouquet, saying that she is the reason that most of the attendees were at the event. Jester thanked him and said that the volunteers are now in good hands. Jester is touring the country promoting her award-winning documentary "Alaska Far Away: The New Deal Pioneers of Matanuska Colony."

Then the bowling started up again and Troy Brunet outscored his team and partner John Kiltinen. Paul Soto (who is Mr. Golden State Gay Rodeo Association) and Chris Benson furiously competed against each other as did a lot of the other volunteers with their partners.

Volunteer appreciation parties are a terrific way for charities to say “thank you” and it has worked well for the AEF and BCEF to retain the people who make the organizations’ work possible.

IndieFest Week One: Extreme Obsession and a Standing Ovation

Filmmaker Gregg Araki

The San Francisco Independent Film Fest continued to shock and surprise audiences with well-chosen, remarkable films during its first week at the Roxie Theatre.

"Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires)," shown on Feb. 6, is an tale of extreme obsession that seems subtle at first, but then it causes some movie watchers to yell out in disgust and shock. A gay man and his best friend, a straight woman, become obsessed with a younger, curly-headed blond man who somewhat resembles Michelangelo’s David statue. They project their assumptions onto him and desperately compete for his attention. Audience outrage came pouring out at the ending, after the two had been spurned by him and seemed to have escaped his mind twisting grasp. The horrible, anguished scream that comes out of the gay man when the blond approaches at a party has only been heard previously in horror films when an alien masquerading as a human is exposed and is killed. And then the best friends do something that shocked and surprised the audience and caused outcries heard throughout the theater.

Opening night film "Kaboom" received a standing ovation on Feb. 3, which greatly pleased director Gregg Araki. He told the audience how shocked he was at the Cannes Film Festival when the film received an unprecedented 15-minute standing ovation. He and his cast were prepared for the opposite reaction. This was inconceivable for the filmerati who feel that he is irresponsible and just into making movies for his own sadistic shock values. His fans in the audience yelled out and laughed loudly at scenes that are unseen elsewhere and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. A pungent odor engulfed the tight group around Araki later in the lobby, and when the door was opened a cute boy with his hot dog and onion stand was revealed. This is a manifestation of the unique culture of the Mission that condo-ization and other gentrification could end.

The National Black HIV/AIDS March: Activists March for Awareness

Jonathan Bent and Tony Bradford from Black Brothers Esteem

More than a hundred people rallied at San Francisco City Hall and marched to the African American Art & Culture Complex in the Fillmore District for a program to commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Feb. 7.

Vincent Fuqua addressing the crowd on City Hall steps

Coordinated by Vincent Fuqua, Health Educator with the HIV Prevention Section of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), there was a series of inspirational speeches and meeting-and-greeting of AIDS activists.

Susan Phillip, the SFDPH Medical Director of the STD Prevention and Control Services, was the first speaker. She was followed by Jonathan Bent, who is involved with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s (SFAF) Black Brothers Esteem (BBE). Bent said that after he became ill with AIDS he paid attention to his health and diet. He told the audience that he had learned from BBE that everyone should be tested and if infected, to be treated as soon as possible. The most important thing he said that he had learned was to love himself. BBE Program Director Tony Bradford looked on smiling, as did Michael Huff, Jonathan Batiste, Alfred McGugin, Frances Broome, and Derrick Mapp. Bent was given a floral tribute and thanked for his helpful comments.

San Francisco City Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi spoke about Black History Month and AIDS in the African American community. Marsha Herring, the SFDPH’s Contract Compliance Officer, spoke about prejudice against people with HIV/AIDS. Then a list of important African American activists who had died while battling AIDS was read, including Brandy Moore, who had helped to found the Black Coalition on AIDS while he worked for San Francisco City Supervisor Doris Ward and consulted with California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown on AIDS issues and funding.

Kyriell Noon with his sons Ziad and Junaid

Positive Resource Center Executive Director Brett Andrews and SFAF Executive Director Neil Giuliano were there and Stop AIDS Project Executive Director Kyriell Noon brought his sons Junaid and Ziad.

The rally ended after coordinator Fuqua thanked everyone for coming and supporting each other, and said that people positive and negative for HIV are not separate, but they are together in fighting AIDS. Then candles were distributed and the march set off in the fading light toward the Fillmore.

Kyriell Noon and his sons Junaid and Ziad

"Riding While Black 1955, Walking While Black 1999": An Historic Moment in Civil Rights Remembered

Civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin

Small children and teenagers dressed for church joined their families, political activists, and academics to see and hear civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin at San Francisco’s Main Public Library on Feb. 6 as part of Black History Month.

Colvin was a 15-year-old student on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 who refused to give up her seat to a white person, and she was kicked and dragged off the bus by police. A local law demanded that African Americans vacate their bus seats when a white person wanted them, but when she was arrested, handcuffed, and jailed there was a furious groundswell of outrage that ended up in the courts. Nine months later activist Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her bus seat and eventually the case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned discriminatory bus riding laws nationwide.

Colvin was transformed from a schoolgirl, whose teachers told her that she had a constitutional right to sit on the bus seat she chose, into a civil rights activist who yelled that fact to the police as they arrested her. She still is assertive and knowing about some of the more disguised racism that occurs now. She smiled and said that she objects to the overly polite and lavish attention that she encounters from some Southern white people, and that drew nervous laughter from the audience.

Civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, moderator Enid Lee, and performer Bryonn Bain

Storyteller Awele Makeba performed a striking scene from her show "I’m Not Getting On Until Jim Crow Gets Off" which told of the abuse faced by Colvin. Performer Bryonn Bain was so overwhelmed by Colvin’s presence that he canceled his show sequence and sat at a table with her and moderator Enid Lee to interact with the civil rights legend and discuss the prison experience. Bain spoke about prison for African American men and how it fits into the five categories of slavery, which noticeably shocked many audience members.

It was an historic afternoon that commemorated the turbulence and eventual victories of the civil rights movement that inspired the later LGBT, women’s, and anti-war movements.

The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony January Performance: A Tenor and a Symphony Together for a Good Cause

Tenor Brian Thorsett performing with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony

The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony's inspirational performance "A Tenor in Winter: Benefit Concert & World Premiere" on Jan. 30 was a collaboration with the Calvary Presbyterian Church’s ConcertConnect program to benefit Larkin Street Youth Services and the Symphony's drum drive for timpani and percussion.

Almost every seat at the Upper Fillmore church was filled, and the acoustics and sound equipment were finely tuned. The musicians are paid at these concerts, but on Sunday night they generously volunteered their earnings to raise money.

The evening’s featured performer was extraordinary tenor Brian Thorsett, who was given quite a workout as he sang almost continuously with different configurations of the musicians. Thorsett’s carefully enunciated and vivid singing in English and German is in great demand all over the U.S. and in Europe, and he will be on stage in the near future at San Francisco’s Davies Hall.

The Rainbow Symphony’s prime directive is to challenge stereotypes about LGBT performing artists, composers, and instrumentalists, and to increase visibility. The Rainbow Symphony is also open to non-LGBT members who seek to express themselves musically, and like the players of the Gay Softball League, a sizable number of the musicians are bisexual or straight.

A leading composer of the evening was Franz Schubert, whose music is the height of Germanic Romanticism. Recent research suggests that he was gay and that he dedicated romantic songs to male musician friends. One of the most beautiful moments of the evening occurred when a lyrical text of Schubert’s music was read by flutist David Latulippe:

Oh Lovely Art, in how many grey hours,
When life’s fierce orbit ensnared me,
Have you kindled my heart to warm love,
Carried me away into a better world!
How often has a sigh escaping from your harp,
A sweet, sacred chord of yours
Opened up for me the heaven of better times,
Oh lovely Art, for that I thank you!

The other leading composer was David Conte, who was at the concert to receive appreciative applause and a floral tribute for the world premiere of his "Yeats Songs" — a musical setting of three W.B. Yeats poems for tenor and string quartet.

Tenor Brian Thorsett and composer David Conte

The evening’s music was dominated by the violins and a viola, but the marvelous cellos and wind instruments also made strong tonal statements.

Larkin Street’s Alexandra Horton spoke eloquently about how her agency’s youth service programs get at-risk and homeless youth off the streets, and she thanked the audience for their help.

The Rainbow Symphony’s next concert is on March 26 and their website is www.bars-sf.org.

Two-Spirits Native American Tribute to Two Worthy Leaders

Ruth Villaseñor, Miko Thomas, Dakota Kyber, and Derek Smith

Two worthy leaders of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) group received tributes from their fellow members on Jan. 29 at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. Chickasaw Indian Miko Thomas, who performs in drag as the outrageous Landa Lakes, and Chippewa Indian Derek Smith were stepping aside as group co-chairs after four years so that an intergenerational duo could take over the coordination of social and political activities. Thomas and Smith were given lavish, well-deserved praise and luxurious ceremonial blankets at a meeting that included a spiritual greeting, a craft class, and welcome refreshments.

Miko Thomas receives his ceremonial blanket

Thomas’ partner was there, and he performs as Miso Hornay when in drag in the Native American drag troupe The Brush Arbor Gurlz. The troupe has given much-needed visibility to LGBT Native Americans and funds have been raised when they perform at the Powerhouse bar and other venues.

Derek Smith

Smith’s partner of ten years, Lucius Bishop, was there and joined in when the group constructed drum sticks to encourage future drumming at events.

Ruth Villaseñor leads the group in making drum sticks

Two-Spirits are described in the BAAITS brochure and website as a balancing of both genders, but then there are the ultra-masculine brute men and feminine women who favor pink clothing that are not featured in that brochure. BAAITS was inspired by Gay American Indians, which was founded by activists Barbara Cameron and Randy Burns in 1975. Gatherings are sponsored throughout the year and they draw large crowds of LGBT Native Americans and their friends.

The event began with a passing around of burning sage in an oyster shell, meant to reach out to a higher power, and as a bonding ritual. New co-chairs Apache Indian/Mexican Ruth Villaseñor and Choctaw/Cherokee Indian Dakota Kyber were introduced and they thanked Thomas and Smith throughout the afternoon for their attention to detail and time while coordinating the group. Villaseñor was the greeter and Kyber was a server at the Native American AIDS Project Thanksgiving Dinner, which is just blocks from the LGBT Center. Both of the new chairs are high energy and resourceful, which is a good sign for the group in the years ahead.

Ruth Villaseñor (right) and friend

Ruth Villaseñor, Dakota Kyber, Miko Thomas, and Derek Smith