Sonoma County student short films for the 15th annual student film festival to be held on Friday, March 31st, 2023, at 6:00 pm. Select films will be shown to the public and will be followed by a Q & A.
The Sonoma County Student Film Festival was initiated 15 years ago by the Student Government President, Amanda Swan, and launched at SRJC Petaluma. The Sonoma County Film Festival (SCSFF) encourages students to build academic and professional connections with their peers and community. The goal of the event is to connect and introduce student filmmakers within the community to our own Film Studies and Digital Filmmaking programs here at SRJC.
This program is the result of collaboration between the SRJC Petaluma Student Life and Communication Studies departments. Featured filmmakers receive passes to attend the Film Fest Petaluma, Sonoma County’s Premiere international short films festival.
Enter The Beauty Bubble Salon & Museum, a pastel dreamland of 3,000 vintage beauty artifacts in the desert community of Joshua Tree, California and meet its owner, proprietor, and “America’s hairstorian” Jeff Hafler. Inside The Beauty Bubble chronicles Hafler’s struggle to keep his roadside attraction afloat during a remarkable year that changed his life and those of his husband and son. In doing so, the film tells a story of family, fabulous-fness and folk art, and provides a reminder that sometimes strong people on the margins hold a community together.
Awards
Audience Award – Dances with Films ● Heart of Gold Award – Nevada City Film Festival ● Festival Favorites, Directors Choice – Cinema Diverse● Grand Jury Award – Sherman Oaks Film Festival ●Audience Choice Award – YoFi Fest ● Best Short Documentary – California International Shorts Festival ● Best Short Documentary – Long Beach Q Film Festival ●Most Viewed – MOM Film Festival ●Best Documentary Short – Studio City International Film & TV Festival ●Best Film – Yucca Valley Film Festival
Positive trends in filmmaking are hard to come by these days, so a recent wealth of documentaries uncovering lost chapters of queer history is cause for celebration. This year saw “Casa Susanna” and “Loving Highsmith,” two excellent entries in a growing canon that can always use more. While those films discovered a queer community ahead of its time and celebrated one of our most influential lesbian writers, the poignant documentary “Nelly & Nadine” uncovers an inspiring love story between two unsung queer heroes. Bolstered by gorgeous archival Super 8 footage of queer life in the 1950s, “Nelly & Nadine” offers a tender romance with a surprisingly vibrant slice of queer history.
Directed by Swedish filmmaker Magnus Gertten, “Nelly & Nadine” is told through the perspective of Sylvie Bianchi, a genial woman who lives with her husband on a farm in Northern France. Open-hearted and vulnerable, she is proud to share the story of her grandmother, even if the retelling makes her quite emotional. Her grandmother, Nelly Mousset-Vos, was a French opera singer who began working as a spy with the French resistance in 1940. The film follows closely as Sylvie learns more of the particulars of her grandmother’s life, and she is pleased to learn how early on Nelly enlisted.
Nelly was arrested in Paris in 1944 and sent to Ravensbrück, the largest concentration camp for women in the German Reich. It was there she met Nadine Hwang, who requested she sing a selection from Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” on Christmas Eve. “Emotion overflows my skin…delirious joy,” Nelly wrote of the moment. Though the film doesn’t delve too deeply into their experience in the camp, it’s clear they forged a strong bond under harrowing circumstances.
Times being what they were, Sylvie grew up knowing Nadine simply as the woman who lived with her grandmother. Though Nadine was always present in their lives, Sylvie’s mother did not approve of Nelly and Nadine’s relationship and kept it hidden from her daughters. Gertten makes the wise (perhaps necessary) choice of framing the film through Sylvie’s eyes, and we see her slowly putting the pieces together, as she gradually reshapes the image of her beloved grandmother. She holds no judgment, but there is a gentle innocence to the questions she asks — and the ones she never thought to. It’s hard not to want to shake the straight out of her when she wonders why Nelly and Nadine were never able to find a publisher for the manuscript they wrote about their story.
It’s through these painstaking writings that we learn that the lovers initially did not know each other’s fate after the war, though they eventually reunited. Shortly after, they moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where they lived for the next 20 years. These years bring the film’s most precious present: Glorious Super 8 footage of their friends and life in Caracas throughout the ’50s and ’60s.
These stunning home videos offer rare glimpses of midcentury queer life, radiating the joy of connection in crackling color. With her cropped hair, Nadine is the picture of a stylish butch, sporting impeccably tailored wool trousers and crisp pastel button-ups. Smoking and drinking at home, Nelly and Nadine are surrounded by laughing handsome young men, who frame and primp each other with familiar intimacy. Even without audio, it’s clear their parties were raucous.
But this was not just another happy couple; both women led fascinating lives before meeting each other. While Nelly’s singing career offered her entrée into interesting parts of French society, Nadine was the daughter of the Chinese ambassador to Spain and spent her youth cavorting with the Parisian lesbian literati of her time. A visit to the late historian Joan Schenkar, who authored an acclaimed biography of Patricia Highsmith in 2009, is particularly illuminating. After Schenkar giddily peruses the previously unseen photographs full of “so many lovely ladies” that Sylvie brought her, she reveals Nadine was chauffeur and lover to Natalie Barney, an American writer who hosted a highly influential women’s literary salon in Paris for over 60 years.
In an instant, a portrait of vibrant queer life snaps into focus, as Nadine’s handsome face peers out from behind Djuna Barnes at a rollicking seaside picnic. There are still too many pieces missing, some we may never know about. But there’s enough here to make a life, a home, a love. We must thank “Nelly & Nadine” for showing us the way.
Director Mercedes Kane’s touching and surprisingly expansive feature documentary Art and Pep, which received its world premiere at the 40th anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, introduces us to two Chicagoans, Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña, who’ve been at the centre of the city’s queer community together for nearly fifty years. Partners in life and in business, they’ve owned and run the popular Boystown’s bar Sidetrack since April 1982. Signless and windowless, the bar first opened with homophobic spray-painted graffiti on the front door that read, ‘fag bar’. At least its patrons knew where to come. That first night was such a success that Art and Pep had to borrow beer from a neighboring bar after they’d run out.
The line to get into Sidetrack in the 1980s; a scene that’s echoed later in the film when patrons lineup to show their Covid vaccination records and ID to get into the bar in summer 2021. Courtesy of Outfest.
Over the decades, Sidetrack has thrived and become a vibrant and inclusive LGBTQ+ community space, with its absence deeply felt during the pandemic-induced shutdown of 2020 as the film documents. There may not have been a “sip-in” there like at Julius in 1966, or a riot like at Stonewall in ’69 or the Black Cat Tavern two years before that, but Art and Pep makes a strong case for Sidetrack’s place among the nation’s most significant queer bars; a watering hole that’s helped to sustain the community through its gains and losses and aided with activism fundraising. With Sidetrack, Art and Pep have not only created local jobs, but a sense of family among their many employees, with several contributing interviews throughout the film, including one barman who tearfully recalls the owners offering to adopt him if he couldn’t successfully apply for US citizenship.
An archive photograph of Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña as featured in Art and Pep. Courtesy of Outfest.
With a wealth of archive video footage and photographs (including the bar’s opening night), and stylish comic strip style animated sequences (by Dom Soo, Jackie Chand, and Bobby Sims), Kane engagingly chronicles the entwined narrative of Art and Pep’s love story and the history of Sidetrack. It’s a history that inevitably leads to the height of the AIDS crisis, with countless members of the community and the bar’s staff lost, while Art stood at the forefront of the fight for the city to take action.
An archive photograph of Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña as featured in Art and Pep. Courtesy of Outfest.
Through Art and Pep’s story, Kane traces the history of LGBTQ+ activism in Chicago, including ACT UP, leading to the formation of Equality Illinois, co-founded by Art, and the continuing fight for equal rights for all. Many of the demonstrations in the late 80s and early 90s targeted the city’s then Mayor Richard Daley, who eventually began to listen and take action. One surprising detail is the support that queer activists found among the city’s Catholic nuns. When it comes to documentaries and narrative features, the focus has generally been on ACT UP in New York and Los Angeles, so it is refreshing to see Chicago’s chapter receive attention here, along with recognition for the city’s key activist figures such as Laurie Dittman, Jon-Henri Damski, Rick Garcia, and Danny Sotomayor, who died of AIDS in 1992 aged 33.
A behind the scenes shot of Anna DeShawn interviewing Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña for E3 Radio. Courtesy of Outfest.
As Art and Pep take part in Chicago’s 2020 pride march, they’re moved by its refocused, less corporate, more grassroots and political purpose, and its centering of Black trans lives; reminding them of the AIDS activism that they’d been such a vital part of. Art has clearly been an admired mentor and inspiration to many, including two current Black queer community leaders, State Senator Mike Simmons (Illinois’ first openly LGBTQ+ state senator) and Anna DeShawn, founder of E3 Radio. As we see them interact there’s a sense of the baton being passed on to a new generation.
Sidetrack patrons throw their napkins in the air at one of the bar’s long running Musical Monday show tune nights. Courtesy of Outfest.
Always at Art’s side, Pep is the quieter interview subject of the two, but becomes particularly animated when talking about the much-loved Musical Mondays night he created and has VJed at Sidetrack since 1983, which includes the tradition of exuberantly throwing paper napkins in the air. It’s moving to see this couple, often in intimate fly-on-the-wall footage shot by DP Sanghoon Lee, who’ve spent so much of their lives together navigate aging, the prospect of retirement, and the health issues that come along when Art is hospitalized with Covid. It’s also fascinating to get a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to reopen a bar in 2021 with severe restrictions still in place and their efforts are a testament to the resilience of queer bars across the nation that have managed to operate over the past two years. At its core, Art and Pep is an inspiring reminder of what the LGBTQ+ community can be at its best, and a tribute to the vital role that our cherished bars continue to have at the centre of it.
Saturday March 18 @ 7 pm. Wild Gypsy Dance Party with Dgiin and Barrio Manouche at Occidental Center for the Arts. Join us for an evening of French and Spanish Gypsy Flamenco music! Local favorite gypsy band DGIIN is joined by SF based Barrio Manouche for an energetic evening of revelry and dancing. The perfect pick-me-up as we await Springtime’s renewal! Each band will play a 75 minute set: Dgiin plays from 7:00-8:15 PM; Barrio Manouche plays 8:45-10:00 PM. Tickets are $35 GA, $28 for OCA members @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org; or at the door. Fine refreshments for sale, art gallery open during intermission. OCA is wheelchair accessible. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465.
In the cut-throat world of high finance, making the next billion is the name of the game – and whatever you need your PR team to do to spin it. But what is the human cost of getting the deal done? DRY POWDER is a razor-sharp, dark comedy about ruthlessness and greed and how the decisions made in America’s corporate boardrooms can impact us all.Directed by Jenny Hollingworth Written by Sarah Burgess
Saturday March 11 at 7 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts proudly presents Patrick Ball: Celtic Harp & Story.
Don’t miss the return of one of our most popular performers who will be visiting from his home in Ireland! World renowned modern day bard and premier Celtic harpist Patrick Ball weaves the marvelous old Irish tales of wit and enchantment together with ethereally gorgeous Celtic harp melodies into a warm and magical performance that will leave the audience spell-bound. $35 General/$28 for OCA Members. Tickets/Info @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. Fine refreshments including wine and beer available. Art Gallery exhibit will be open for viewing. OCA is accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts on event admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465, 707-874-9392.
Friday March 10 @ 7 pm.The Musers and Evie Ladin Band at Occidental Center for the Arts. Local favorites The Musers and Evie Ladin Band join forces for an energetic double-bill show that will lift your spirits and get your toes tapping! Don’t miss this great rescheduled show with two of our finest Bay Area bands.Tickets are $30 GA, $25 for OCA members at www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. Fine refreshments available, art gallery open during intermission. OCA is wheelchair accessible. Become an OCA Member and get discounted admission to all events. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465.707-874-9392
Tensions run high in this groundbreaking drama by Lorraine Hansberry.
Set in the 1950’s, three generations of a Black working-class family fail to thrive in a cramped apartment on Chicago’s Southside. A widow and her two grown children eagerly await an insurance payout they see as a means to escape their plight and achieve the American dream.Only each has their own idea of what that is and how to use the money to achieve it.
Lorraine Hansberry wrote this Pulitzer Prize-winning play, her first, at age 27. Her’s was the first play by a Black female to be produced on Broadway.She was also the first Black playwright to receive both the Drama Desk Award and the Critics’ Circle award for Best Play.
A Raisin in the Sun is a character driven play that, for the first time on Broadway, depicted Black Americans as realistic, complex individuals. This is a play for everyone. It is an important part of our history, and…it is theatre at its best. You’ll leave 6th Street Playhouse enriched by this classic American play.
A Raisin in the Sun
The American Classic of a Family’s ‘Dream Deferred.’written by Lorraine Hansberrydirected by Leontyne Mbele-Mbong
March 2-19, 2023
Opening Night features a champagne reception to celebrate the show with your friends, the cast and artistic team. Post-show Discussions Friday, Mar 10, Thursday Mar 16 & Sunday Mar 19 where you can learn more and discuss your thoughts with the cast and director.
Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
READ THE REVIEW HERE: https://thequeerreview.com/2023/01/10/film-review-all-the-beauty-and-the-bloodshed-neon/#more-101728
