Friday(and Tuesday)FLICS @ ArtRage!

ArtRage will show six films in June celebrating Gay Pride. Three of them will be on a Tuesday night so check our schedule and plan on attending the last month of FridayFLICS until Fall!

THE CELLULOID CLOSET (1996)

Directed by Jeffrey Friedman & Rob Epstein, Narrated by Lily Tomlin

A comprehensive, compelling reflection of depictions of gays and lesbians in mainstream American movies, from Hollywood’s earliest days. Best Documentary, Berlin International film Festival, Emmy, Outstanding Informational Special.

“Funny and informative…perceptive”-NY Times

“Eye-opening and entertaining”‘-DVDjournal.com

“Impeccably chosen clips, illuminating, often witty interviews”-Variety

$5 suggested donation.

ArtRage Gallery, 505 Hawley Avenue, 315-218-5711. ArtRage is Handicapped accessible. Off-street parking at 408 & 414 Lodi Street.

On the 11th annual National Day of Silence (April 18, 2007), Erin Davies was victim to a hate crime in Albany, NY. Because of sporting a rainbow sticker on her VW Beetle, Erin’s car was vandalized, left with the words “fAg” and “u r gay” placed on the hood and driver side of her car. Despite initial shock and embarassment, Erin’s decided to embrace what happened and film a documentary about her 58-day cross country tour around the US and Canada in her car known worldwide as the fagbug. The film follows Erin’s quest to drive her vandalized car over the course of one year.

Erin’s mission is to raise awareness about hate crimes and homophobia in our society, to give a voice for those who are silent, to inspire others to take a stand against bullies and to be an example of how to overcome obstacles in bringing a creative project to life.

Tickets $10 at the door or advance sale. For ticket information visit www.fagbug.com

• January 2009 – Stick Shift Palme D’Or for Best Gay Car Movie of 2009, Vanity Fair
• January 2009 – Official Finalist at the 2009 Canada International Film Festival
• December 2008 – Silver Lei Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the 2009 Honolulu International Film Festival

ArtRage will show six films in June celebrating Gay Pride. Three of them will be on a Tuesday night so check our schedule and plan on attending the last month of FridayFLICS until Fall!

The Wedding Banquet (1993) Directed by Ang Lee.

A gay, Taiwanese-American man goes to some lengths to pull the wool over the traditional eyes of his family visiting from overseas. Oscar, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Film, Asia-Pacific Film Festival, GlAAD Media Award, Berlin Film Festival

“Top notch” -Leonard Maltin

“Sharply observed madcap comedy … examines the primacy of the individual within a culture that worships authority and rewards conformity” –EmanuelLevy.com

“Thoughtful, ultimately deeply moving comedy about family ties, tradition, and acceptance-fimcritic.com

$5 suggested donation.

ArtRage Gallery, 505 Hawley Avenue, 315-218-5711. ArtRage is Handicapped accessible. Off-street parking at 408 & 414 Lodi Street.

ArtRage will show six films in June celebrating Gay Pride. Three of them will be on a Tuesday night so check our schedule and plan on attending the last month of FridayFLICS until Fall!

COMING OUT UNDER FIRE (1994) Directed by Arthur Dong, from book by Allen Berube

A historical account of military policy regarding homosexuals during World War II. The documentary includes interviews with several gay WWII veterans. Best Documentary, Berlin Film Festival, GLAAD Media Award, Outstanding Documentary, Peabody Award, Sundance Film Festival Recognition

“Quietly devastating”-NY Times

“Informative and intelligent…provides a comprehensive historical context for the debates of gays in the military”- Chicago Reader

“Much needed historic perspective… the emotional restraint of the filmmakers is a blessing”-Washington Post

$5 suggested donation.

ArtRage Gallery, 505 Hawley Avenue, 315-218-5711. ArtRage is Handicapped accessible. Off-street parking at 408 & 414 Lodi Street.

Directed by Dalton Trumbo

“Johnny Got His Gun” presents the story of 18-year-old Joe Bonham (Timothy Bottoms), who brushes off the urgings of his girl-friend Kareen (Kathy Fields) to “just run away” rather than ship out (WW1). Once in the French trenches, he quickly loses his own company and throws in with some British troops. One fearsomely rainy night, he’s sent out to bury a German soldier who had died caught in the barbed wire above their trench and whose rotting body had begun to stink. A direct shell hit on the way back from this errand injures Bonham horribly and irreparably. A military doctor, Col. Tillery (Eduard Franz) declares Bonham “completely de-cerebrated” by his injuries but worth keeping alive, secretly, for research purposes. But Bonham’s in there, walled up in the remnants of his body. Tillery later reappears – white-haired now and a general – the only mark of how much time has passed before Bonham’s breakthrough Morse Code communication with the “fourth nurse” (Diane Varsi), who first inscribes a message on his chest with her finger as he frantically nods his head.

There are plenty of Trumbo films out there to sample – critical and box office successes alike – including a couple Oscar-winners (ironically both of those scripts credited to “fronts” during the 13 years Trumbo spent black-listed and couldn’t work openly in Hollywood films). But “Johnny Got His Gun” was part of Trumbo for a long time. Based on a news clip he’d seen about a British soldier with devastating injuries from the trenches of World War I, Trumbo’s 1939 novel kept the time frame but shifted young recruit Joe Bonham’s story to the US military. And after he’d published the novel, Trumbo saw combat intimately in the South Pacific as a war correspondent. Trumbo’s son Christopher says that making the film was “the best response he could manage to the carnage of the war in Vietnam.”

Trumbo was a young man when he wrote “Johnny Got His Gun,” just 33. It’s nice to have this film back at a time we still need it, along with the knowledge that he didn’t come to think better of his youthful excess.

Full Review by Nancy Keefe Rhodes at http://www.cnylink.com/blogs/nrhodes/view_blog.php?blog_id=1243362185