It’s an old joke: What does a lesbian bring on a second date?
This weekend, the punch line — a U- Haul — will park right in the lesbian community’s driveway and unload boxes brimming with stereotypes, innuendo and camo pants onto the front lawn.
Yes, lesbians do have a sense of humor.
Don’t look so surprised.
“U-Haul Rap” is a music video by a comedy duo from Los Angeles. Films come from all over the world and represent many genres, asking questions like what’s gay culture like in other countries? Do younger lesbians face the same discrimination as their older counterparts did at their age? What about the less-talked-about issue of being transgender in America?
At the 11th Annual Spokane GLBT Film Festival, “[You’ll] see a community at ease that [you] don’t always see,” says festival founder Barbara Lee — a community that can publicly hold hands at a movie and laugh at jokes straight people might not find funny.
Lesbian, gay and transgender people (and their straight friends) will fill up an auditorium to laugh, cry and examine “GLBT” from all angles. There’s no single, generic gay experience, and the festival is a celebration of the variegation.
It’s at once uncomfortable and unifying, says Lee, to represent people of such disparate age groups, ethnicities, gender identities and so on. “Everybody has to see everybody’s issues across all those lines,” Lee says, and confront their preconceptions and biases, whatever they might be.
WHEN TO GO
“Gravitá” | Italian musician Paulo Ferrarini depicts a gay priest’s erotic dream. • 4 mins
“License” | What if we practiced traditional marriage — stoning non-virgins and all? • 4 mins
“Tools-4-Fools” | Comedienne Julie Goldman in the infomercial from hell. • 8 mins
“The Island” | The filmmaker’s interpretation of a “fan’s” suggestion that “all you faggots” be shipped to an island. • 6 mins
Spokane’s Jill Malone will host the evening, speaking about A Field Guide to Deception, her newly released novel.
NOV. 7 AT 3 PM
“On the Bus” | A teenager daydreams about his crush. • 6 mins
“My Lesbian Friend” | A most unique way to find friends. • 4 mins
“Thirteen or So Minutes” | Two dudes have a roll in the hay — then an awkward talk. ‘Cuz neither of them is gay. Right? • 13 mins
“Downstream” | After three decades together, what will life be like without you? • 6 mins
“A Domicilio” | Two women reconsider their judgments of themselves and each other. • 25 mins
“Benefit of the Sponsor” | When she joins Fred’s congregation, Mrs. Williamson opens doors he’d rather leave shut. • 15 mins
“Wig” | A bald, dead woman, her wig stolen, and a family that needs to find it before her burial. • 21 mins
NOV. 7 AT 7 PM
Mississippi Queen | Paige Williams was raised a good Southern Baptist. A decade after coming out, she returns home, where her parents run Mississippi’s only ex-gay ministry. • 63 mins
“Defenders” | What if we voted on your marriage? • 4 mins
“Japanese Sandman” | Cocaine snorting in Panama and post-prom antics — one take on a 1953 letter William S. Burroughs wrote to Allen Ginsberg. • 12 mins
“U-Haul Rap” | What does a lesbian bring on a second date? • 5 mins
Mississippi Queen director Paige Williams will host the evening.
NOV. 8 AT 3 PM
Diagnosing Difference | Transgender and genderqueer scholars and activists explore the implications of gender identity still being considered a mental disorder. • 6 5 m i n s
Operated by Invisible Hands” | Two antique dolls confront their secret feelings for one other. • 7 mins
“To Comfort You” | Daily phone calls between a woman and her daughter, who’s living with HIV/AIDS. • 15 mins
“Teddy” | An old teddy bear determines a relationship’s fate. • 13 mins
The GLBT Film Festival is downtown at the Riverpoint EWU Auditorium at 668 N. Riverpoint. Tickets for adults are $8 for evening shows, $5 for matinees and $21 for an all-festival pass. All shows are $5 with a student discount, or $16 for an all-festival pass. All films are unrated.
