In a town packed with every kind of filmfest imaginable, Inside Out, Toronto’s gay and lesbian video and film festival, stands out (no pun intended) with its diverse programming and fun approach. Many don’t realize that the festival has been around for fourteen years, and this year’s edition, which ran from May 20-30, boasted dozens of world premieres and sold-out shows, and included 291 films from 31 countries.
Audiences were treated to panel discussions, installations, giveaways, free screenings, and all-ages films. Festival parties featured performers like local faves the B-Girlz and DJ Zahra. Not all the film selections were instant classics, but a few are definitely destined for the DVD collections of any self-respecting queer. The Varsity was there to check out the best and the worst.

Sugar
Director: John Palmer

The only film so much in demand that it got a second screening, Sugar was a festival highlight, not to mention the hands-down audience favourite. 18 and unhappy, Cliff seeks to escape suburbia by getting lost in the bright lights of Toronto (a city that gets to play itself in a film for once). He meets hustler Butch, and begins following him around. But Butch is less than the ideal boyfriend, since sex for him means quick cash, and he’d rather be getting high anyway.

Supporting female characters sparkle here, especially Cliff’s 12-year-old sister Cookie (Haylee Wanstall), who doesn’t smoke pot (“I only give it to other people”). Sarah Polley is convincing as a pregnant drug dealer-she doesn’t need to hide her odd teeth for this role. Sugar is practically a showcase of queer Toronto talent: ex-hustler and T.O. writer Todd Klink helped write the clever, darkly hilarious script, and it’s based on the short stories of filmmaker/writer/infamous gadabout Bruce LaBruce that first appeared in his legendary ‘zine, J.D.’s.

Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis
Director: Craig B. Highberger

Doing a documentary on a talented and legendary personality, especially from the celebrated Warhol era of the ’60s and ’70s, seems like it would be a good idea. But somehow, even with such interesting material, this film sadly fell short of being truly captivating. Through interviews with friends and collaborators, as well as rarely-seen footage of his performances, the story of playwright, actor, and drag queen Jackie Curtis is combed over in excruciating detail. Not one anecdote is left out, and this, combined with an almost nagging tone-Jackie was important, dammit! Important!- is the film’s sour point.

It would be unwatchable if not for the fact that Curtis really did have an amazing life. He was a gifted actor and writer back when theatre could still be done on the tiniest of budgets, and a glamourous star of the Warhol film Chelsea Girls. An icon of the gay and trans rights movements, Curtis is remembered as one of the first drag queens who didn’t try to be convincing as a woman: the whole point was that he was a man in a dress. Curtis’s drug-addled ways sadly caught up with him, but even sadder is this repetitive, amateurish doc in his name.

Proteus
Directors: John Greyson and Jack Lewis

The gem of the festival, Proteus is the dramatic story of the relationship of two criminals on a Dutch prisoners’ island in South Africa more than two centuries ago. Visually beautiful and as thematically varied as any literary work, it confirms John Greyson’s place in the ranks of Canada’s most important cinematic names, right up there with Cronenberg and Egoyan. The story is taken from a 1735 sodomy trial of two prisoners on the island, Khoi herder Claas Blank, and a Dutch sailor, Rijkhaart Jcobsz. The men transcend their cultural prejudices about each other and begin a steamy affair to which neither can give a name.

This does not go unnoticed by the head botanist on the island, Virgil Niven, who has taken a unusual interest in Blank. He avoids reporting the crime of the two men, only to find himself more deeply involved when it inevitably comes to light. The layered symbolism of flowers and plants runs through the film, as Niven struggles to cultivate South Africa’s national blossom, the protea.

The collaboration between Greyson and Lewis means that Greyson’s signature wackiness is toned down in the favour of more serious drama, but some of it sneaks in-parts of the narrative are shown to be imaginary, and jarring bits of 1960’s culture are inserted to draw a parallel to the Apartheid era.

Squirt (Shorts Programme)
Various

This irritating group of short films had a lot in common: nearly all of them were poorly edited, and showed a lot of contempt for their audience. Perhaps this programme (one of many shorts bills in the festival) was compiled based on the films’ “experimental” qualities, but it seemed like the main denominator was plain laziness. Remixed music videos were cut together with porn in a pointless (if cheaply entertaining) way, and 1000 Cumshots’ kaleidoscope of ejaculations was visually the best of these.

The films with a narrative were probably worse than the ones without them: Misguided Piss is the story of urinal romance with a predictable joke ending, and Rubber Is Natural was an endless homage to ’70s porn that wasn’t even hot, although the throbbing live soundtrack by Kids on TV improved the experience. Local queer scenester John Caffery premiered his cute film Eat Cake, where boys see how much candy they can eat off each other-but in general, the programme was a waste of time, a shame considering the possibilities offered by shorts.

Merci Docteur Rey
Director: Andrew Litvack

A murder mystery crossed with a camp investigation of ‘diva-ness’, this movie is a constant parade of witty one-liners, death humour, and psychiatric illnesses. The stylish and relatively high-concept story involves an opera singer whose gay son, Thomas, witnesses a murder. Running to a therapist, Docteur Rey, to get counselling, he finds Penelope, her patient, pretending to be the good doctor, who has just dropped dead.

That’s the least of Penelope’s problems, since she’s convinced she’s Vanessa Redgrave. She vomits whenever she meets a real diva, like Thomas’s mother, who may just be able to explain the murder. Dianne Wiest squeezes every grandstanding drop out of the role of the mother, along with a hefty supporting cast that includes Jane Birken, Jerry Hall, and yes, Vanessa Redgrave. This is a farce with substance, from renowned production company Merchant/Ivory.