Out From the Underground

When Outfest ‘97, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, opens with a gala premiere Friday of Brian Sloan’s “I Think I Do,” a screwball comedy with a modern twist, at the landmark Los Angeles Theater, it marks the 15th anniversary of the festival’s founding.

Launched by producer Larry Horne, then a staffer at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, which became the festival’s first sponsor, Outfest has grown into a major film event with 85 sponsors, widespread entertainment industry support and a lineup of 200 features and shorts.

“It’s not a time for patting ourselves on our backs,” said Outfest programmer John Cooper in a recent interview with him and the festival’s executive director, Morgan Rumpf, at a West Hollywood cafe. “We need to reflect upon where we are and where we’re going, and how the festival has changed to meet the way gay-themed films have exploded in the mainstream marketplace. The festival serves a purpose in connecting gay film to the marketplace. It used to be a more underground thing.”

“The festival also reflects the changing interests of the community which we serve,” added Rumpf. “Think of that warning message on the trailer for ‘Making Love’ about how it may offend some people. It’s almost laughable now. We’ve become a part of the fabric of films. Look at Rupert Everett in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding.’ ”

“It’s so great to see this,” said Horne, whose initial festival involved 10 features and a few shorts. (He left the festival to move into producing four years ago.) “It makes me feel so happy and proud to see the festival continuing in such good hands. It’s so vital and such a big part of the community. And it’s not easy to keep these things going either.”

Horne had a hard struggle in getting film industry participation and support. Today the only major studio to hold out is Disney--and Rumpf couldn’t resist commenting, “This is not the moment for Disney to join the festival,” referring to the Southern Baptists’ current boycott of the studio, in large measure for its gay-friendly policies.

Outfest ‘97’s 20-page program confirms what Rumpf and Cooper said. Every aspect of the gay and lesbian experience you could think of, including its complex relationship to straight society, will be reflected in the festival’s offerings, which will unspool through July 20 at its usual venue, the Directors Guild of America’s Theaters I and II, with the addition of the nearby Harmony Gold Preview House.

Outfest ’97 is bringing back for a second edition “Guilty Pleasures,” in which such gay celebrities as writer-director Clive Barker, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s Chastity Bono, singer-songwriter Phranc and Andy Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn will present favorite films. (Woodlawn’s is the campy Lana Turner biblical epic “The Prodigal”; Barker goes for the Elizabeth Taylor “Cleopatra.”)

The festival will present its first Outfest lifetime achievement award to director John Schlesinger when it screens Schlesinger’s 1984 film on British spy Guy Burgess, “An Englishman Abroad,” Saturday at 4 p.m. at the DGA.

Other special programs include a sneak preview of singer-songwriter Gigi Gaston’s work-in-progress on the life of singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, “The Cream Will Rise,” (Sunday at 6 p.m. at DGA I) and “Hercules in the American Underground 1958-1965” (Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the DGA), a compilation of film clips from Italian-made spear-and-sandal epics featuring Steve Reeves and other renowned bodybuilders.

There will be five panel discussions, dealing with such subjects as bisexuality in the ‘90s, the experiences of lesbians of color, constructing the lesbian short film, challenges for gay and lesbian directors and “pride divide,” delving into the differences that both separate and bond gays and lesbians within a common cause. “Five at Five,” a new event, will present five first films at 5 p.m. at the DGA, July 14-18.

The Sunset 5, two blocks west of the DGA, will host two midnight screenings, “Wizard of Darkness,” a Japanese horror picture screening July 18, and the comedy “Butch Camp,” on July 19. Seven official parties will be held throughout the festival, which will close July 20 with Deepa Mehta’s New Delhi-set lesbian drama, “Fire.” Another category new this year is the Festival Centerpiece, highlighting a work of special interest, which will be launched with Richard Spense’s love story, “Different for Girls” (July 17 at 7 p.m.).

“Gays and lesbians on the screen don’t have to serve the needs of the entire gay community anymore,” said Rumpf. “They can just be a character in a story; they no longer need to be role models. There’s a note of irreverence, edginess in gay films now.” Added Cooper, “We’re much more willing to laugh at ourselves.”

“The documentaries we’re seeing don’t pull any punches,” said Rumpf, who cited Baillie Walsh’s “Mirror, Mirror” (July 19 at 1:15 p.m. at Harmony Gold), about Consuelo Cosmetic, a drag revue star “and HIV hermaphrodite hustler.” “You think you’ve seen films like this many times before, but you cannot imagine how compelling this documentary is. Then there’s ‘Out at Work’ [July 19 at 5 p.m. at DGA II], about three case studies of discrimination in the workplace and how three individuals deal with it.”

Rumpf said one goal of the festival is to introduce younger, and older, audiences to gay film culture. “When we do our demographics we find that only 7% of our audience is under 25, and 75% is between 25 and 50. We want to reach out to seniors and to young people just coming out. We’re working with approximately 24 community organizations involved with youths and seniors. But then so many different kinds of gays and lesbians will be able to see themselves reflected on the screen.”

“We’re trying to represent both quality and diversity,” said Cooper. “We now have enough entries into every category that we say no to a lot of films [this year there were 600 entries, from which the 200 films shown were selected]. At first I felt badly about that, but then I decided that was a good sign. Once, gay content was enough. Now, more people are willing to take the risk of putting money into gay films, and more quality actors are willing to be in gay films.”

In the three years Rumpf and Cooper have assembled Outfest, they’ve seen an increase in straight audiences attending. “And of course they all want to come to our great parties! Straight people are always wanting to discover what trends are coming out of the gay community.”

* A CLOSER LOOK

For mini-reviews of many of the Outfest ’97 films, please see Screening Room by Kevin Thomas on Page 14.