SFIFF 2014: LA DUNE



Hanoch (Lior Ashkenazi) Vardi (Niels Arestrup) in La Dune.



Buried hearts

By Miranda Inganni

Writer-Director Yossi Aviram’s French/Israeli film, La Dune, tells the tale of men lost – and needing to be found.

Middle-aged Hanoch (Lior Ashkenazi) likes cats, kids and chess, but mostly from a distance. When a chance at fatherhood arrives, Hanoch leaves Israel for France.

Meanwhile outside of Paris, soon-to-be-retired Detective Reuven Vardi (Niels Arestrup) locates the missing writer Moreau (a small, but impactful part played by Mathieu Almaric), who does not respond well to being found.

Upon returning home, Reuven begins to pack up his professional life while he and his partner, Paolo (Guy Marchand) pack up their personal lives for a new apartment and a much needed vacation. But one last missing person’s case calls his name.

Local lass Fabienne (Emma de Caunes) has found a man washed ashore in the South of France who either cannot or will not talk. He has no identification on him, so the man found is yet a man unknown. He does, however, have a small clue to his identity on him -- a newspaper clipping about the Moreau case. Seemingly unbeknown to the characters, this silent man is in fact Hanoch.

As Reuven delves more into Hanoch’s case, he is forced to reflect on his own life choices. Hanoch seems to have deep secrets and carries a great burden. Sadness? Shame? Guilt? All of the above and more? But Reuven is weighted by his own past – the buoy of his current love and life cannot forever keep him afloat. As the two men spend more time together, Hanoch seems desperately to want Reuven to uncover his identity, but not by Hanoch revealing it. It is imperative to Hanoch that Reuven figure this out on his own.

Aviram’s feature debut is a touching, understated look at a long-estranged duo. The exceptionally talented cast contributes excellent performances of these characters that quietly exude complex lives. Director of Photography Antoine Héberlé captures a warm, rich softness that effectively enhances the story. Lacking unnecessary dialogue, La Dune speaks to the heart about loves lost and found again.

FILM REVIEW: CALL ME KUCHU

A scene from Call Me Kuchu.

The ugly and the undeterred in Uganda

By Don Simpson

Like the Nazi propaganda machine, the Christian fundamentalists of Uganda (and some American Evangelicals) worked hand in hand with the popular Ugandan newspaper (that functions more like a gossip tabloid), Rolling Stone, to effectively communicate to the Ugandan population that the LGBTI community was a bunch of disease-carrying rapists who were actively recruiting others to undermine Christianity and destroy the country's moral fibre.

The Ugandan LGBTI community -- otherwise known as kuchus -- was left three options: go back into the closet, emigrate to a more queer-friendly environment, or stand up for their personal freedoms.

Like good documentarians, directors Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall had the premonition to document a group of Ugandan LGBTI activists who took a stand against their government. Wright and Zouhali-Worrall conducted a series of interviews with both sides of the issue; without injecting their own opinions and judgments, they admirably allowed everyone to freely speak her or his mind.

Outed by Rolling Stone and under constant threat of being turned in by their own family or neighbors, these activists had to walk the fine line of staying safe while inciting change. In most cases, it is the influx of vigilant human rights activists from around the world and the presence of video cameras that serves as the most effective protections for the LGBTI community. Call Me Kuchuserves one of the rare examples of cameras having a (mostly) positive influence on the subjects they seek to capture.

The documentary also captures the loss of one of its primary subjects.

An emotional tsunami, Call Me Kuchu is about sticking together and not conforming to popular opinion despite the ever-present dangers of not abiding by the government's tyrannical rules, looking forward into the future and making sacrifices for the greater good. While it is impressive to see so most of the Western world stand up to Uganda on this issue, sometimes it can be easier to criticize the follies of others than to point out one's own faults.

It is not that I am complaining that the United States took such a firm stand against Uganda's gay death penalty bill, but it does seem a bit hypocritical, since in most U.S. states the LGBTI community is still not permitted the same rights as everyone else; and, in many areas of the U.S., the LGBTI community is still the recipient of hatred and violence.

So, while watching a documentary about the hardships of the kuchus may seem a bit foreign, it is actually a very relatable topic for Americans to contemplate.

DVD REVIEW: INSPIRED THE VOICES AGAINST PROP 8

A scene from Inspired: The Voices Against Prop. 8.

Frogs out of hot water

By John Esther

Exactly four years and one month ago, a majority of California voters passed Proposition 8, thus revoking the short-lived marriage rights for same sex couples. As a result, members of the GLBT community who, often, widely overestimated the intelligence of the California voter, were galvanized to action.

Days and weeks later, the community, along with their non-gay allies, took to the streets throughout Los Angeles County -- from Long Beach, Pasadena, East Los Angeles, West Hollywood -- and beyond to protest this dismantling of civil rights.

Capturing the lives of these activists -- both old and new -- in the wake of Prop 8., director Charlie Gage's Inspired: The Voices Against Prop 8 is a sweet and speedy jaunt through a small piece of California history pro-civil rights viewers will enjoy.

Although unified in their opposition of "Prop H8" different factions along geopolitical grounds took different approaches. West of downtown Los Angeles, protests consisted of predominately white people occupying the streets of largely GLBT-friendly communities or stayed indoors to do a little phone banking. Meanwhile, the predominately "Sí, se puede" pro-GLBT Latino elements east of Los Angeles took on a different approach in considerably more difficult terrain where race played a factor, albeit not the way mainstream media reported. (Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly, as usual, comes of as ill-informed jerk in one segment.)

These different approaches caused quite a bit of friction amongst like-minded people. There is also a segment where people debate whether the boycott against El Coyote restaurant in Los Angeles was a good thing (it was), thus illustrating that the GLBT community is not some monolithic entity but consists of people with various points of views.

Featuring talking heads mixed with foot-age footage, the film interviews several important Los Angeles activists, such as noted protester Jimmy Chen, political whiz Sergio Carrillo, L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center Activities Coordinator Dahlia Ferlito, Los Angeles attorney Tim Lykowski, and Vanessa Romain of Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Inc., today's release of the DVD and VOD of Inspired: The Voices Against Prop 8 coincides with many Californians (and Americans) waiting to hear if the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments on Prop. 8.