Lgbtq Film Festival, certainly does that. Joining me now is peter l. Stein, the senior programmer for frameline, who has had quite a career as a producer and presenter of film, theater, television, museums, and online media. And his awards include a peabody award for his documentary the castro and four emmy awards. Welcome to the show. Peter stein thank you, thanks so much for having me. Robert good seeing you. We overlapped a little bit at kqed. Its so good to see you again. Peter old times. Robert now, give me an idea, a lot of people hearing about this festival for the first time, give us a little bit of history of this festival. Peter sure, well, frameline started 41 years ago. And this is a thewere now gently in our 40s, mature enough to know better i suppose. And it still is the longest running and the largest Film Festival celebrating and centering on the lgbtq experience. Of course, weve added letters over the years, it originally was simply the gay Film Festival. And its quite an extraordinary line up of films dealing with the lgbt experience. We have 147 films this year. It runs in San Francisco, in berkley, in oakland spanning, you know, 11 days between june 15 and june 25 this year. And you know, its become truly an international festival. I think we have 19 countries represented this year. Filmmakers, and distributors, and film presenters from all over the world come to the festival because we present what we think of as the cutting edge lineup of films that explore now the growing diversity of the lgbt experience. Robert i think a lot of times when you see successful Film Festivals too, the early years, they are relatively unknown because the target audience is sort the community itself. When it starts to get successful, when it starts to become more aware, people become more aware of it is because it starts reaching out and hitting communities outside that core audience that it started with, huh . And thats whats happening now. Peter for sure. I mean, we welcome Something Like 65,000 attendees every year and across our cinemas. And we also see the growing acceptance and celebration of lgbtthemed media outside of just the gay sphere. I mean, you look at, you know, moonlight, an extraordinary film that won the best picture oscar this year, or a series like transparent. Were seeing a gradual acceptance in a way and interest in lgbt subject matter, and so we get to curate from some of the really, really finest media out there. Robert now, some of the people coming to the festival maybe the first time or havent been there too often, and they might be hearing names of people for the first time. Give us an idea to help them with their perspective. Who are some of the heroes and some of the icons that will be featured at this festival that you feel they should know about before they even get there . Peter we have an amazing line of films this year, both documentaries and feature films that celebrate lgbt icons. Our Opening Night film this year is called the untold tales of armistead maupin. Armistead maupin, of course, is the marvelous San Francisco chronicle serial writer from the 70s and 80s whose story, tales of the city, became really kind of a legendary celebration of San Francisco in all of its idiosyncrasy. And so, theres a new documentary that really helps put his writers life in perspective and traces him as aas a southern conservative guy who then came to San Francisco and really helped change the culture in a way. And on a very different side of the equation, we have a really, really compelling documentary called whitney, can i be me . This is the story of whitney houston, who we all know, an extraordinary singer, but this is really a very touching tale about the way that she was used and in some ways exploited by the people around her, by the music industry, and forced to be the kind of performer both in her sexuality and her racial identity that what was not even comfortable for her. So, its a lot about the pressures to conform that even she with all her talent faced. So, and then we have Unsung Heroes as well, an amazing film called, woman on fire, which celebrates the life and the extraordinary achievements of the new york Fire Departments first transgender trans feminine firefighter. And so, whats fun and interesting is both in documentaries and in fiction is to dive into lives that you wouldnt necessarily encounter, and realize the kinds of intersections of stories that filmmakers can introduce us to. Robert i think the intersections, that is a great way to describe it. Im glad youre coming back later on our show to talk about some more of these films. All right, good to see you. All right, well, again, frameline 41, the San Francisco international lgbtq Film Festival, runs june 15 through the 25th with theaters in San Francisco, berkeley, and oakland, as you heard. For more information, go to nbcbayarea. Com. And coming up, the director of a featured film, warning shot, Tina Takamoto joins us next. Mattress firmness . Fortunately theres a bed where you both get what you want every night. Enter sleep number and the semiannual sale going on now. Sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. She likes the bed soft. Hes more hardcore. So your sleep goes from good to great to wow only at a sleep number store. Oh, and right now, save 200 on our queen c2 mattresses now only 699. Ends sunday. Go to sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Robert now, one of the short films being featured at frameline 41 is warning shot. With me right now is Tina Takamoto, the director, as well as a multimedia artist who explores the intersections of race, queer identity, and memory through Performance Art and experimental video. And her work focuses on the hidden dimension of samesex intimacy and queer sexuality in asianamerican history. Welcome to the show. Tina takamoto thanks, thank you so much for having me. Robert now, i know its very difficult for a filmmaker to have to kind of capsulize, but give us sort of an overview in terms of what the storys about, and then well take a look at a clip. Tina sure. Yeah, so this film is inspired by james wakasa. Hes a 63yearold japaneseamerican bachelor who was incarcerated during world war ii in concentrationamerican concentration camp. And he was shot to death by military police. And this story is pretty wellknown in japaneseamerican history partly because so many versions of the story exist. So, according to the newspaper account, wakasa was trying to escape, and he was shot while crawling through the fence, so it implied that he was shot in the back while crawling through the fence. The military policeman who shot him claimed that he accidentally shot him, and it was a warning shot that just happened to shoot him directly through the heart. And by other accounts, including an investigative report, it appears that james wakasa was actually 5 feet within the fence, walking a dog. So, i chose a strategy sometimes known as the rashomon effect, where you tell a story from multiple points of view. And one of the points of view is the only eye witness, which is the point of view of the dog. So, the film opens with a scene of a dog sort of wandering around. And you hear the voice of a character from the film bad day at black rock. And he talks abouthe makes a comparison between japaneseamericans being suspicious and as bad dogs. Robert i got it. Okay, and thats sort of like the narration well be hearing as we see the dog in the opening part of this clip, right . Okay, lets take a look at it and then well talk about it. Male the japanese make you mad, dont they . Male well, thats different. After that sneak attack on pearl harbor, loyal japaneseamericans, thats a laugh. Theyre all mad dogs. Theres a law in this county against shooting dogs, but when i see a mad dog, i dont wait for them to bite me. Robert now, it is a very compelling story, but why pick his story . What was significant as far as you were concerned and important for the japaneseamerican history . Tina yeah, i mean, i think its interesting because even though almost immediately they disproved the idea that he was crawling through the fence, partly because his body was found so far within the fence, but nevertheless it was the officials, the newspapers, they continue to print the same story that is the story of him trying to escape. So, this circulation of misinformation continues to appear in the official record, so its interesting that even when you have facts that point to another narrative, that is the idea that he was actually facing the shooter when he died and he was shot directly through heart, that by many historical accounts, you might think that he was trying to escape. So, i just thought, you know, this is a story that also resonates with our own time period. Robert yeah. One thing about rashomon though, all the events were sort of the same and it was your point of view that was different. Somebodys lying in one of these, right . Tina well, yeah. I mean, the evidence would suggest that. Robert yeah. Tell me something, though. How does this film fit into this Film Festival . Tina yeah, great question. So, ive made a lot of films that are about the queer experience, and im specifically interested in what the lgbtq experience of adult japaneseamericans during the war time era wouldve been like. When i first started this project, i intended to make it a sort of queer in spirit, meaning that it was an experimental film, its a mashup film, it includes popular music, but i didnt actually know if james wakasa was gay or not until i started doing the research, and then realize that he was 63 years old, single, and his most significant intimate relationship was with a man named who he met in 1915. And they traveled around the country for 3 decades working at different restaurants as professional chefs. So, that suggests to me that robert its interesting, though, its an aspect, but not necessarily the focus, which is what i think you want to make sure is probably part of it, right . Its part of the story, its not the story, huh . Tina yeah, absolutely. Robert tell me, how difficult is it to get a film like this together, to do it . I know itsyou know, creatively, theres not much better than being a director, but it also has its challenges. How is it for you . Tina well, theresive done a lot of archival research. I went to the topaz incarceration camp in central utah and just sort of looked at the site. I was able to get the Court Martial transcripts of the actual trial, so a lot of that information is in the film. But because its an experimental film, also my motivation is to actually capture some of the emotional quality of the incident rather than every single fact that i found. Robert you are trying to put together a very unique way of storytelling. I thinki hope people go to see it because i think that thats important; thank you for being here. Tina yeah, thanks so much. Robert all right. Well, again, warning shot is screening in the portraits of resistance Shorts Program at frameline 41 on tuesday, june 20 at the castro theater at 1 30 p. M. For more details, you can go to nbcbayarea. Com. And coming up, well look at the strong lineup of south asian films, thats next. Robert now, we have been talking a little bit about the strong south asian films this year at frameline 41, including strong films about the queer immigrant experience. Rejoining us is peter l. Stein, the senior programmer for frameline. Now, before we Start Talking about the southasian films, so that people dont misunderstand, it is a big element to the festival, but overall the elementthe festivals geared to who . Peter its absolutely open to the public, open to all filmmakers. We look at Something Like 900 films every year to winnow down to the 150 or so that we select. And this year, they happen to be from 19 countries. Of course a great representation of american films, but this year, we were thrilled to find a very strong lineup of both features and documentaries that showcase the south asian experience. Its not something that we solicited for, its not something that we planned for, but there it was kind of likeyou know, that was the vintage of this years, you know, crop. Robert thats great. And the fact that you werent deliberately looking for it shows a lot of the evolution there. Peter exactly. We noticed some kind of trend in which very talented south asian filmmakers or south asian writers, both from the south asianamerican experience, as well as films from india and pakistan in particular, were coming forward with both documentaries and features with fantastic stories about negotiating multiple identities, identities in family, in tribe, in community, in sexuality, and crossing borders as well. Robert and of course, theres many featured this year, but give us an idea of the clip were about to look at this morning. Peter yeah, so we have a very strong documentary called abu, which means father. And its made by a canadianpakistani Young Filmmaker named arshad khan, and its a very personal documentary about his negotiation a difficult relationship with a very loving but very critical family, particularly a conservative father. So, theyre from pakistan, they moved to canada when he was only 16 years old, and its one of these films that you think youve heard every possible coming out story, but heres one in the hands of a really talented documentary filmmaker who mixes animation and personal storytelling, home movies, and quite a gift for telling the nuances of what its like to negotiate a very difficult coming out in his own family. Robert very interesting. Okay, lets take a quick look at a clip of it, then well talk about it afterwards. Female from my point of view, its just a rebellious thing. And i always expected him to change himself for the better. Male abu once told me that there are no gays in pakistan. For years, i was so angry at him for failing to protect me, for failing to nurture my strength to fight back. Robert you know, the interesting thing about this is that its about so much. Can it really be put into kind of a specific category or the type of film it is . Peter well, i think of it as something that iti think of them as sort of personal documentaries. A bit like tinas film that you talked about in the earlier segment, it has an experimental aspect to it in terms of mixing media and approaches to storytelling. Of course, it is primarily something where the filmmaker is trying to come to terms with being an open gay man in a culture and in a family where that iswhere that is difficult. And thats some of the intersections that we were talking about that makes some of these lgbt films cross over into aspects of immigration, or aspects of what its like simply to be out in your full self, whether its sexually or racially. In terms of economic equality, we see this thing called intersectionality, which is more and more a prominent aspect of films these days. Robert yeah, having done documentaries as well as news magazine and news stories, the one thing about documentaries is those nuances that youre talking about. When a filmmaker can include those and add those, thats actually where you really start to touch in on the storytelling and making it something that relates to you as opposed to being just informational and youre learning something. Peter exactly, and it works in fiction as well. We have a beautiful feature film this year called signature move, which is set in chicago. Again, in a Pakistani Community where a young woman is trying to get her mother to accept her as a lesbian. Its a fictional story. Amazingly, the mother is played by the actress who originally starred 20 years ago in deepa mehtas fire, and here now shes playing a mother, very traditional, but trying to sort of in a way come out along with her daughter, not as lesbian herself, but as an accepting mother. Robert yes, and that also sort of drives home the point that theres a lot of people with stories that they want to get out. And thats a culture and thats an area where we havent heard too many stories from, huh . Peter no, its true. You know, particularly when youre talking about female filmmakers and filmmakers of color, this year were very proud that 40 of our films at frameline are directed by women or codirected by women. Fiftytwo percent of the documentaries are from women. And this is way above the industry average, and it still is a place where, at least in Film Festivals, you can see a much closer representation of who america is, who american and International Artists are, than if you are just going to the cineplex and seeing what the industry is putting out for you. Robert thats right. And also too, when people go there, they do see new things, but they suddenly realize how universal some of the things, some of the conflicts, and some of the barriers, and some of the things that people are encountering in the films are to them. Peter exactly. And thats also our job as programmers is to make sure that the films, of course theyre sometimes for the community, but we also want towant to present films that can cross boundaries and cross barriers, and that we make sure that our cinemas are very welcoming environment. Its a fun time at the festival no matter how you identify. Robert now, one of the things about the festival to me, though, is its gotten so successful, its a logistical maze to try to figure out where everything is. Now, you showed me this program. Can you go ahead and hold that up . Because this is nowwhere can peoplepeople are able to see this and itll help them, right . Peter right. I mean, you can pick these up at cinemas, at cafes, and coffee shops, and so forth. This is just the cover of our catalogue. Its a really nice keepsake. And of course, all the information about all the 147 films is also maybe more easily accessible on your phone or tablet or online ati know you have the link at your website and its at frameline. Org. Whats fun about this thing is we find that people really go to this big spread. And it really does, it really is a bit like a checkerboard. But whats fun is you see people in line and in cafes circling things and saying, how am i going to plan my day to see two, three, or four different films . And thats the kind of experience that for years people thought, oh, you know, festivals must be, y