From June 27-30, the Walker Art Center presents Queer Takes: Standing Out, a series showcasing daring films which feature stories of those who oppose homogeneity. While some members of the GLBT community relish the acceptance they receive from society through assimilation (marriage, children, and white picket fences), others embrace the freedom their difference gives them.
With few social constructs, the queer community can also redefine traditions, relationships, and notions of what makes a family.
Queer Takes opens on Wednesday, June 27, at 7 pm, with Zero Chou's Spider Lilies, winner of the Teddy Award for Best Feature film at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival, followed at 9 pm by Tsai Ming-liang's I Don't Want to Sleep Alone. On Thursday, June 28, at 7 and 9 pm, as part of the Walker's Target Free Thursday Nights, are two free programs of shorts which show the work of gutsy emerging filmmakers and their unique stories. Queer Takes continues on Friday, June 29, at 7 pm, with Itty Bitty Titty Committee, directed by Jamie Babbit, followed by Pratiba Parmar's Nina's Heavenly Delights at 9 pm.
The final day of the series features a new 35mm print of Jean Genet's influential 1950 film A Song of Love (Un Chant d'amour) at 2 pm, screened with Frêdêric Moffet's Jean Genet in Chicago, a queer rewriting of the events surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as told from Genet's perspective; the touching documentary For the Love of Dolly, directed by Tai Uhlmann, at 4 pm; Brooke Sebold, Benita Sills, and Todd Sills' Slamdance sensation Red without Blue at 7 pm; and Extracted: Recent Films by William E. Jones, showcasing the director's short works that use archival footage from queer erotic media to reclaim gay culture.
Unless otherwise noted, all films are $8 ($6 Walker members) and are presented in the Walker Cinema. -- www.walkerart.org
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