What Ever Happened to Queer Cinema?

But even if queer filmmakers aren't storming the gates of Hollywood, some feel the popcorn bucket is half-full and not half-empty when it comes to GLBT independent cinema.

“Look at the past few years,” says Rich. “We had Tarnation, we had By Hook or By Crook, both real high points, and now this year we have Itty Bitty Titty Committee, which I think is a whole new and exciting move by Jamie Babbitt to recapture that old energy and throw aside the current preconceptions.”

Carol Coombes, director of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, feels that GLBT cinematic offerings have always been a mixed bag: “There will always be films that are fluffy, entertaining, and light, but there will be other films which are provocative and questioning. Mysterious Skin, Time to Leave, Shortbus, and The Bubble are all excellent examples of filmmakers pushing envelopes and raising questions, as are the documentaries For the Bible Tells Me So and Red Without Blue.”

Two of the narrative films Coombes cite come from overseas, which reveals one of the hard truths about contemporary queer cinema: The bulk of the interesting, daring, sexy, and envelope-pushing movies are coming from other countries.

According to Olson, “Since cinema is actually viewed foremost as an art form in pretty much every country in the world outside of the U.S., I do find that your average international queer film is likely to be cinematically superior to any random U.S. queer film, where the film industry continues to be much more a realm of commerce, not a workshop of creativity.”

Hu agrees, noting, “The most interesting GLBT films seem to be coming from other parts of the globe. Europe, Asia, South America, Egypt, you name it, there are interesting, complex films coming from all parts of the world. The American experience has been floundering with mediocre films.”

“In many ways, international queer cinema has always palpitated with the most provocative and spirited heartbeat,” says Coombes. “From the earlier films of Jean Cocteau, [Rainer] Werner Fassbinder, Derek Jarman, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and increasingly with the new wave of queer directors such as François Ozon, Eytan Fox, Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau, and André Téchiné.”

This is not to say that U.S. theatrical audiences are embracing these great new movies.

“Without the festivals, forget it,” laments Rich. “The marketplace is not welcoming these films.”

Another aspect of this argument, however, is that queer audiences are getting the movies they deserve, both theatrically and at festivals. Did you buy a ticket to see Tropical Malady? Or Water Drops on Burning Rocks? What about Gasoline, The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveiros, Suddenly, Lan Yu, Yossi & Jagger, or A Thousand Clouds of Peace? If not, then you're part of the problem.

Case in point: Two of this year's most critically-acclaimed films are Tsai Ming-Liang's I Don't Want to Sleep Alone -- about a bizarre mute love triangle between an injured homeless man, his gay caretaker, and a waitress – and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century. Both directors are queer, but both films are arty, challenging, and not in English. And subsequently, both are getting the tiniest amount of theatrical distribution in the United States.

The lack of attention shown to foreign films isn't exclusively a problem among queer audiences, of course, but aren't we supposed to be cooler than our hetero brethren? Gay audiences in decades past would pack the house for the likes of Taxi zum Klo and Doña Herlinda and Her Son, mainly because there were no queer domestic films to be found. But now that a world of options has opened up to us, your average urban movie-going gay would rather spend his eleven bucks on the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie than on anything from the Asian New Wave.

While it's easy for gay and lesbian movie fans to lament the festivals' high-profile placement of glossy movies with mainstream stars, a little digging in any queer film festival schedule will always yield more challenging goodies. And festivals will always provide that little something extra that you won't get from Netflix.

“What's still great about the LGBT-whatever festivals,” says Rich, “is that we get to discover ideas, people, issues, and in the best of times, styles, that we didn't know before. And only some of what goes on is up on the screen, anyway. Those festivals are still all about constituting publics, constructing communities, and giving folks markers to live their, and our, lives by.”

While obviously a champion of film festivals, Coombes says that the fact that they are no longer the only venue for queer film has changed the goals of GLBT filmmakers. “While the New Queer Cinema of the '90s found its audience principally in GLBT domestic and international film festivals, today's exhibition market is very different. Filmmakers faced with a plurality of wider choices are looking for the best places to platform their own work from major mainstream festivals, cable outlets, and, of course, niche market LGBT festivals. There will always be films that will receive wider distribution, and there will always be films that will screen once or twice in your local queer festival and probably not be seen again. I think filmmakers are interested in making films that get seen by an audience first and foremost.”

But just because young gay and lesbian filmmakers can use queer features as a calling card for work in Hollywood, it doesn't necessarily mean that they should.

“The majority of filmmakers seem to be making more conventional work,” says Olson. “And that is indeed depressing to me as a movie-lover. It makes me want to weep when I see so many boring, conventional films being made. These films that are not cinematic but are merely using a camera, dialogue, and some actors to tell a moderately interesting gay story are just not enough anymore.”

It may be, however, that the most interesting voices in contemporary queer cinema are eschewing the big screen for other platforms. Both Rich and Olson cite Girltrash, the upcoming OurChart.com series from lesbian director Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S., Herbie: Fully Loaded) as one of the most exciting projects on the horizon, while Ehrenstein praises network TV shows like Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters for their interesting and groundbreaking queer content.

Olson goes on to admit, “I feel like I'm always whining about this or that, and being snobby about the mainstream, but honestly, the best thing I've seen lately is Q. Allan Brocka's animated Logo show, Rick & Steve, which is really brilliant.”

Duralde is the author of 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Alyson Books).