13th Annual NCGLFF - Featured Films

Tootsie meets Victor/Victoria in this outrageous comedy! Jamie Klein is an out-of-work butch lesbian actress who’s willing to try almost anything for a role. Not being a traditionally feminine woman, Jamie dresses up for auditions as "Femme Jamie," but has no success in landing roles. Jamie's best friend convinces her that the way to get cast in movies is to simply be herself, which in Jamie's case, is short hair spiked up with gel, Doc Martin boots, a studded belt, and a neck chain. Unfortunately, this transformation tips Jamie's perceived gender in the opposite direction, and she gets offered a role in a film…as a man! On set, Jamie confronts a whole new set of hoops to jump through as a male imposter and ends up unintentionally peaking the interests of Jill, a straight woman on location. Despite Jamie's better judgement, she and Jill begin a hilariously complicated and sexy affair in this quirky, gender-bending comedy about struggling for success in Hollywood.

Overweight and uninspired Millie finally attempts to reconcile with her gay father, but his half-naked male companions keep getting in the way! Starring openly gay actor, Christopher Bradley (Leather Jacket Love Story, Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss).

From the maker of last year’s Spider Lilies, the quietly affecting Drifting Flowers tells the interconnected stories of three Taiwanese women living in different times but all seeking themselves. The first segment opens with a fragile domestic bliss cobbled together by Jing (Serena Fang), a beautiful, blind nightclub singer, and her younger sister Meigo (Pai Chih-ying). Butch accordionist Chalkie (the striking Chao Yi-lan) upsets the balance by falling for Jing and inspiring Meigo’s first big crush. To offer Meigo a more secure future, Jing is convinced to place her in foster care with a wealthy family, causing Meigo to rage with jealousy and betrayal and risk losing both of the women she loves. The middle story belongs to Lily (Lu Yi-ching), an Alzheimer’s patient endlessly searching in her disintegrating memory for her lost lover, Ocean. When Yen (Sam Wang), her sham husband from long ago, leaves his unfaithful boyfriend and comes to visit with his own suitcase of troubles, Lily often mistakes him for the butch Ocean returned, and the two wounded friends build on a sympathy they’ve always shared. The final segment follows Chalkie, coming of age with best pal Yen and coming to terms with her repulsion at her own budding body and her complicated feelings for girls. She meets the young Lily and both claim their futures, which arrive in unexpected ways.

After seeing these seven hilarious shorts, you might find yourself inspired to watch some very bad lesbian romance flicks in order to stop laughing. Jersey Dyke is the uproarious tale of two Catholic-schoolgirl lesbian lovers who are torn apart by family pressures. The makers of last year’s Menopausal Gals Gone Wild are back with Weimar House, a comedic horror short that mocks the mockery of the gay marriage debate! And in the comedic documentary Ready or Not, three women face their fears and find happiness in unexpected places. Human Potential is about a gay Development Associate in her 30s who attempts to bring order to a disorganized non-profit organization. Love is Love is a poignant yet funny look at what life might be like or how life might be like if the world was predominantly gay and straight people were the queer ones. Members Only is about Amy, the new kid in town, who can't seem to get a date...or even a woman to look in her direction until she meets a power lesbian. And an outrageous soap-opera drama from Down Under, The Vicious and the Delicious, explores the shocking scandals of the powerful Cassamento family and their lovers. Hair-pulling catfights, countless illicit affairs, flamboyant fashion statements and bizarre story twists…all this and more!

Love is Love (US, 2007, 7 min); Human Potential (US, 2007, 19 min); Weimar House (US, 2008, 12 min); Members Only (US, 2007, 10 min); Jersey Dyke (US, 2008, 11 min); Ready or Not (Australia, 2008, 17 min); The Vicious and the Delicious (Australia, 2008, 12 min)

In the Gaze of the Butch Goddess is an electrifying collection of short features about femmes, butches, and drag kings! Eddie tells the story of a young Latina girl who is forced to deal with her sexuality as a result of an embarrassing mishap during a summer afternoon kickball game. Godpseed features a speed freak bike messenger who passes as a boy to win the love of a stripper, but instead finds his own heart on the way. Always an outsider, a young woman finds her niche when she lands a job at a kooky drag bar and assumes the new identity of Prada Handbag. Using borrowed clips from three films about gender bending, a personal gender landscape is created in The Role I Was Born to Play. An office worker daydreams of wide open spaces and a certain cowgirl in the deliciously entertaining Cubicles and Cowgirls. What more could any butch ask for in Mechanic’s Daydream: an homage to perfection with high femmes, aerialists and vintage motorcycles. And witness the escapades and philosophy of a professional pimp daddy in Who Is Sterling Maxwell, PPD?

Godspeed (US, 2007, 16 min); The Role I Was Born to Play (Canada, 2007, 10 min); Cubicles and Cowgirls (US, 2008, 2 min); Mechanic’s Daydream (US, 2008, 9 min); Eddie (US, 2007, 10 min); Prada Handbag (US, 2007, 22 min); Who is Sterling Maxwell, PPD? (US, 2008, 20 min)

From the director of But I’m a Cheerleader and the producer of D.E.B.S. comes Itty Bitty Titty Committee, the new film by Jamie Babbit which updates riot grrrl culture and breathes new cool into feminism. Our heroine, wide-eyed young dyke Anna has just been dumped by her first girlfriend. She works a miserable job at a breast augmentation clinic and suffers her parents' and coworkers' efforts get her to pad her own inadequate chest. But her plunge into self-loathing is arrested when she is swept into a guerrilla feminist cell by the enticing Sadie (blond bombshell Nicole Vicius.) The group (acronym C(I)A; see the movie and you’ll know what it stands for) embarks on an anarchic rampage with a riotous glee rarely granted to women in movies: they run from cops, hop fences, spray-paint over sexist billboards, shout feminist slogans, and graffiti everything with their acronym. Soon, however, they run afoul of the same problems that have beset activist groups since the 1960s: sexual drama, a dependence on an older and stodgier generation for money, and heated debates over the use of violence. But Itty Bitty reminds us that just because these problems always crop up, that doesn't mean they're insurmountable—and that actually, looked at in the right light, they're kind of funny. Itty Bitty is a rockin’ love song to the heady rush of sex, freedom and rebellion that happens when an everyday girl discovers her own strength and the righteous indignation needed to take action and change the world.

From beginning to end, this collection of women's shorts spans the range an average lesbian's life experiences: from youth to maturity, sexual awakening to romantic love, as well as heartbreak, defiance, individualism, and everything in between. A young girl defies convention during her summer swim class in No Bikini. 8-year old Kristy is a feisty tomboy who absolutely loves a particular T-shirt of hers. But on the day of her grandmother's birthday party, Kristy learns that her mother has thrown it away and wants her to wear a dress! Why?  Because grandmother always confuses Kristy with her cousin, Johnny. Tokens is an experimental documentary that explores the intersection of sexuality and Mormonism at a pivotal moment in a young woman's life. In Just Me?, the only lesbian in a large, extended family discovers her great-grandmother's photo album and begins to suspect she is not alone. In Long Ago, a hairstyle that won't go away mirrors the difficulty of moving on after a romance has ended. And finally in the dark drama Congratulations, Daisy Graham, seventy year-old Daisy is having a hard day. There's a ceremony in her honor tomorrow at the local high school, but Daisy has more important things to think about. She's dug out her old rifle, now all she needs is a box of bullets.

Tokens (US, 2008, 18 min); Just Me? (US, 2008, 11 min); Long Ago (US, 2008, 13 min); No Bikini (Canada, 2008, 9 min); Kristy (US, 2008, 7 min); Congratulations Daisy Graham (Canada, 2007, 15 min) Official sites: www.juliecasperroth.com (Tokens); www.justmethemovie.com (Just Me?); www.longagothemovie.com (Long Ago);

In this fresh comedy on lesbian parenthood, things go awry right from the beginning. Lucie accidentally announces her need to have kids with her girlfriend Marion... via microphone to a karaoke club. When Marion agrees, they go through one train-wreck of a sperm donor after another. And when they tell their families, the real fun begins. Lucie's neurotic hippie parents worry that her desire to have kids means she's becoming "too normal". Marion's pathologically homophobic church-lady mom refuses to call Marion a mother, only because she's not the one giving birth. Just as things start to stabilize, the dyke-parent couple find that is their role models goes down in drunken messy flames. And their donor Hugo, whom they're hoping will take interest in the pregnancy, seems more interested in a poker game than an ultrasound. All this before the final trimester! Amidst the pile-up of trouble, The New World has plenty of warmth and humanity, as well. These wide-eyed mommies-to-be may have no idea what they're doing, but they're in it together.

In the tradition of Bound, NightDragon is a dark suspenseful thriller about love and forgiveness overcoming violence and betrayal. A small cabal of professional criminals attempt to extort information from a beautiful but naive lawyer, but are betrayed from within when Liz, one of their number falls in love with the victim. Now, the two women are on the run from the ruthless killers. But who is friend and who is foe? And what is the dangerous drug cocktail known as…nightdragon?

Here’s a collection of eight dramatic short women’s films that attempt to shed light on why modern relationships can be so difficult. Billie, the heroine of Dandelion Fall, is a guitar-strumming cowgirl from the sticks who must choose to stay or move on from a destructive relationship with a wealthy Manhattan socialite. Twilight’s Shadow introduces the adventure of a female vampire, caught between two worlds. But when the leader of her Coven takes revenge against the mortal she loves, Carlisle is summoned to face the creature that lurks within. In The Insomniacs, Bell can’t sleep, so she goes to a nightly Insomniacs Anonymous meeting and discovers the girl of her dreams. A woman whose thoughts and actions are controlled by a 100 year-old code of social etiquette struggles to attract the attention of a potential female suitor in Fine and Dandy. Innocent dumpster diving becomes a mood-changing experience for a woman and her friends in Mood Swing. In Trophy, a teenager’s routine visit to her father’s vacation home turns steamy when she finds herself unexpectedly attracted to her father’s fiancé. Set in 1908, The Touch is based on the true story between a well-known poet and a married Islamic woman. In Last Exit, Cody returns to her hometown and discovers that old flames still burn.

Last Exit (US, 2007, 14 min); Dandelion Fall (US, 2008, 14 min); Mood Swing (US, 2008, 4 min); Fine and Dandy (Australia, 2007, 15 min); The Insomniacs (US, 2007, 11 min); In Twilight’s Shadow (US, 2008, 12 min); Trophy (US, 2008, 11 min); The Touch (US, 2008, 8 min)

Finally a plucky high school heroine who's neither pregnant nor a cheerleader! In this delightful second feature from Stewart Wade (Coffee Date), Tru is the new girl in a conservative suburban California high school. If she seems a little aloof and way too grown-up, ask her more about her name and you'll find out why. Tru as in Gertrude as in Gertrude Stein, so named by her two overprotective Moms. That's right, two Moms, as in... exactly. But contrary to school rumor, Tru's not a lesbian herself. In fact, in a hilariously hetero high school cliché, she's falling for the quarterback Lo. The only catch is... well, let's just say Lo takes Tru to a musical on their first date, and he doesn't even try for a goodnight kiss. See, Lo's on the Down Low, and this is just the beginning of Tru's romantic woes. This romantic comedy abounds with wry humor, gentle warmth and it has universal appeal. The cast's older generation is full of faces you know and love from TV and film, including comic legend Bruce Vilanch, Jasmine Guy (A Different World), Jane Lynch (Best In Show, The L Word) Marcia Wallace (The Bob Newhart Show) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from the original Star Trek!).

In this beautiful 1950s South African set drama, an unexpected love develops between two Indian women against the backdrop of the beginnings of apartheid. Rebellious café owner Amina, in her trousers and male shirts, makes her own rules. Her café harbors those who are most affected by the new racial laws. When she meets the more traditional (and stunningly beautiful) Miriam, a pretty young wife and mother, she is immediately smitten. Strait-laced Miriam, stuck in a loveless marriage, is fascinated by Amina’s unconventional ways. Their immediate mutual attraction surprises them both. Seeing such a self-possessed Indian woman makes Miriam think and feel things she hasn’t before. She discovers just how imprisoned she is in her traditional marriage and starts to look for ways to have her own voice and enter the larger world. As the two women get to know each other through a series of driving lessons, passion ensues, and events soon force them to stand up to the ever-vigilant and volatile apartheid police. But in a system that divides white from black and women from men, what chance is there for an unexpected love to survive?