LGBTQ onscreen

QDoc, Portland’s all-documentary queer film festival, rolls out this evening with an assortment of films ranging from the emotional to the just plain fun.

And if they hurry and register, students under 23 have a chance to get into the screenings of their choice for free.

The seventh annual QDoc Film Festival opens tonight at McMenamins Bagdad Theater on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard with a reception and a screening of director Jeffrey Schwarz’s I Am Divine before moving to McMenamins
Kennedy School Theater for screenings throughout the weekend.

Festival co-director and filmmaker David Weissman is no stranger to the documentary. His own works, The Cockettes (2002) and We Were Here (2011), have garnered critical acclaim in their own right. But he pointed to fellow festival co-director Russ Gage as the film festival’s starting point.

In addition to organizing QDoc, Gage has spent years organizing festivals for Portland’s Northwest Film Center.

“Russ had the brilliant idea of an all-queer, all-documentary festival,” Weissman said. “There’s really nothing like it out there. It’s for people [who] want real substance.”

Weissman also pointed to the selection process, noting that QDoc’s annual curation of documentaries leads to a lineup that offers something for everyone.

“We scope out what’s out there in a given year,” he said. “We do our own scouting, and we ask some filmmakers to send us screeners. We try to have as broad a range of material as possible.”

The festival’s scope is wide, with films touching on many aspects of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. Friday offering Goodbye Gauley Mountain: An Ecosexual Love Story (2013) tells the personal story of activists Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle as they struggle against mountaintop-removal mining in Stephens’ West Virginia birthplace.

Festival opener I Am Divine tells the story of the notorious drag queen and actor who came to fame in a host of John Waters films like Pink Flamingos (1972) and Hairspray (1988).

“This film offers an incredible amount of fun, but also an important cultural icon,” Weissman said. “Waters and Divine both have an extensive fan base, so we’re hoping to reach out to them as well.”

Other films reach a larger scale, touching on the larger cultural struggles going on across the globe as members of the LGBTQ community strive for acceptance.

Deb Tullman and Shaun Kadlec’s 2013 film Born This Way tells the story of an LGBTQ community struggling to survive and find acceptance in the intensely homophobic nation of Cameroon, where homosexuality is currently illegal and punishable by five years’ imprisonment.

Co-director Tullman, who will attend the QDoc screening, explained that it was the community’s courageous activism that drove her and Kadlec to travel to Cameroon and film.

“These stories about the people who were really active really drew us in,” she said. “Their courage was simply phenomenal. As documentary filmmakers, we found their story intriguing.”

In order to film, the directors explained to authorities that they intended to film a documentary about AIDS. On the streets, they were forced to conceal their activities and film in secrecy.

But within the safety of a local HIV/AIDS clinic, the filmmakers found a sanctuary for not only their own work but also for the LGBTQ community at large.

“There’s…a big green gate, and behind that gate people can be who they really are,”
Tullman said. “In this common place, everyone has come together for an outstanding level of support. Here, everyone gets it.”

Tullman acknowledged the difficulty and fear of the filming but pointed out that it wasn’t even close to the risk felt daily by members of Cameroon’s LGBTQ community.

“Not only could we get in trouble, but if [authorities] got a hold of the footage, it would be hard evidence of what the people were doing,” Tullman said. “Risk was happening on a number of levels. For me, it was difficult to feel the gravity of what we were doing. But they were courageous. They were tired of hiding and wanted to tell their story.”

But, despite the hardship, Tullman was moved by the strength and unity of the people whose stories they captured.

“One thing we tried to get at was the sense of community, of like minds coming together,” she said. “The collective social energy that comes out of that gives people strength to open up to family, to authorities and to others.”

Tullman will introduce her film and will also be available to take questions after the screening. This format is common to most of the films, many of which have directors and subjects in attendance.

Weissman explained that it’s an important aspect of the QDoc experience.

“Part of our objective was we really wanted to give a sense of community,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity for people to sit down and talk with the filmmakers. The filmmakers love being there, too. Because these are documentaries, they get a special sort of attention by telling real stories.”

Weissman said that QDoc has something for anyone who’s interested, and he suggested people consider trying out films that seem outside of their personal experience.

“I always think it’s great for people to choose the films that don’t seem similar to their own experience. Young straight guys should go see a film about old lesbians. Look at the less obvious choices, because all of the films are great.”