Reeling: The Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary as the second-oldest LGBT film festival in the world, showcasing innovative gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender films from around the world. This year, films are featured at six different Chicago area theatres. The festival runs Thursday, November 3 through Saturday, November 12, 2011 and will include 65 screenings, including some gendertastic films (film titles link out to its info page)! The rest of the film schedule can be found here.
Community Action Center - The artists worked with performers to create complex gender and performance pieces that are both real and fantastical, set to a soundtrack of music and original compositions.
Tomboy - The film vividly portrays Laure’s (age 10) ambivalence towards her gender identity and the subdued glee she feels when accepted as one of the boys.
(A)Sexual - The film combines verite footage and animation with fearless humor and pop culture imagery as it grapples with the question, how can someone have a sexual orientation if they don’t want sex? This one is not necissarily gender-related to my knowledge, but I still think it'll be pretty interesting.
Names, Planes, and... James Dean - Young people begin to question their identities and adults explore the intimate complications of theirs. These short films tackle gender identity, fully and sensitively addressing its complexity.
Gigola - Gigola, Gigola, Gigola – who wouldn’t love to be in her (men’s) shoes? She’s butch, sexy, has the pimp world at her feet, money in her pocket, and the ladies lining up.
Romeos - Romeos is the story of 20-year-old Lukas (formerly Miri) a pre-op transman whose carefully controlled life turns topsy-turvy when he is assigned to the girl’s dormitory for his compulsory term of civil service.
Photos of Angie - This haunting documentary tells the story of Angie Zapata, a transgender teen who was murdered in rural Greeley, Colorado in 2008.
Pariah - African-American teenager Alike juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family, vacillating between being a proud butch among her openly gay friends and being the feminine, obedient girl that her strict Christian upbringing dictates that she be.
- NFS