Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-02-22
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Views: Culture as activism
by Tracy Baim
2009-09-23

This article shared 3331 times since Wed Sep 23, 2009
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


I have always been a fan of "the movies." When I was 14 I snuck a TV into my room and watched In the Glitter Palace ( 1977 ) with Barbara Hershey playing a lesbian. Personal Best and Desert Hearts came out when I was a young adult, followed by other lesbian films: some good, many terribly bad. But even the bad ones provided at least some relief from the constant hetero beat of Hollywood.

As someone who has covered the LGBT community for 25 years, mostly from a news perspective, I have also seen how sometimes our issues can be further advanced by "culture" than by activism. We need it all, of course: People in the streets, people in the board rooms, and people getting a better understanding of us through TV and movies.

A few years ago I started working on a military love story movie, but that got sidetracked to a stage play, Half Life. In 2007, when I had just about given up hope that would become a film, I interviewed Claudia Allen for www.ChicagoGayHistory.org and suggested that her stage plays would make great films. And from there, less than 12 months later, we were shooting Hannah Free in my home on the South Side. Directed by Wendy Jo Carlton, adapted by Allen for film, and involving more than 400 people at some level, this was a labor of love on the scale of Gay Games for me, just in a more condensed timeline.

I served as executive producer, which is a fancy title for basically doing anything from running to the store for water to writing checks and raising money. I learned so much in such a short window of time, and was so lucky to have an amazing support team for everything we needed for the film. Whether it was Martie Marro doing the Web site, sound design and music; Sharon Zurek as editor and post-supervisor; or star Sharon Gless staying in the coach house during filming, everyone pitched in at an amazing level. It took a huge village to make this film, and now I know why there are not a lot of lesbian films—it is a very difficult and expensive process, one that also involves miracles and luck. And every favor you could ever call in with family and friends.

What is it about movies that change our lives? The stories can help society see us differently, but for me it is more important for our own community to see a wide range of stories reflecting our lives. Hannah Free is a "period" movie, told across 60 years in the lives of two women, ending in a 1990s Michigan nursing home. We see young lovers, and we see older women loving one another. How many Hollywood films show older people being intimate, much less two women? Sharon Gless and Maureen Gallagher steam up the screen with their screen chemistry, and it validates the lives of so many long-term couples of all kinds.

As the film has played the festival and theatrical circuit this summer, I have been lucky to attend some of the screenings. The emotions have been very high, with lesbians, gay men and straight couples all responding strongly to the message of love and who chooses a family. The topics are timely given the current healthcare end-of-life debate, and also with the same-sex marriage battles in Maine, California and beyond. Who gets to make decisions about our loved ones? Even the best legal documents have been challenged, and anything short of full equality will mean continued terrible circumstances for some couples.

So Hannah Free is just one offering in a long line of LGBT cinema trying to reflect a portion of our lives. I can't thank Chicagoans enough for the amazing support we received. We did all of our work here, including post-production. And we also received support from outside our city, from house parties and donors across the country. We have seen the tears, heard the laughter, and been proud to represent Chicago as part of a new lesbian film. Please show your support by seeing the film Sept. 25-Oct. 1 at Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. ( See www.hannahfree.com for other cities and countries. ) There are lots of great films to choose from this fall, and your support of this one will send a message to future LGBT filmmakers that our community can support not just the next Hollywood drama, but also independent cinema from us, by us, and for everyone.


This article shared 3331 times since Wed Sep 23, 2009
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Editorial: In praise of Drag Story Hour 2023-03-14
- Drag Story Hours have really come to the fore in our political consciousness in the last few years, as the radical right has strategically targeted events raising the visibility of individuals who are gender-nonconforming, transgender or ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT The scrutiny of Kamala Harris 2023-03-07
- President Biden had a cancerous lesion successfully removed from his chest last month, which was just now reported. At 80, questions continue about Biden's fitness to serve a second term. But questions also abound concerning Vice ...


Gay News

Patriarch Kirill: Darth Putin's Altar Boy 2023-03-01
- Christianity—based on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who preached love as the most important expression of religion—has often been co-opted and distorted to support wars, persecutions and ...


Gay News

Opinion: LGBTQ+ candidates are there as Chicago politics prepare to shift 2023-02-08
- The exhausting Chicago election cycle continues. Once the midterm and gubernatorial races were resolved this past November, the Windy City was already midstream in campaigning for the 2023 municipal elections Feb. 28 (with runoffs April 4). ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT The FBI, Loaves of Bread, Corruption, and Reform 2023-01-25
- When I was 13 years old I used to ride shot gun with my uncle A. on his Italian bread truck deliveries. My job was to enter the store with him and remove the old, stale loaves of bread while he ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Democrats and trans issues, political wins, gay bars, HIV drug 2023-01-08
- Republicans and Democrats differ widely in their views on gender identity and transgender issues—but there are notable differences among Democrats, too, especially by race and ethnicity, according to Pew Research. Overall, 60% of U.S. adults say ...


Gay News

Letter to the Editor: Pope Benedict XVI passes away 2023-01-02
- The Rainbow Sash Movement mourns the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Dec. 31 in the Vatican. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, known most recently as the pontiff who renounced the papacy—but who was situated squarely ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT It's The End...again and again and again ... 2023-01-01
- Jesus thought the end of the world would occur during his lifetime.* As Jesus hanged dying on the cross, he had to deal with the fact that the world had not ended. Paul thought he understood ...


Gay News

Dignity USA: LGBTQ+ Catholics recall Pope Benedict XVI's reign as causing LGBTQ+s tremendous damage 2022-12-31
-- From a press release - Dec. 31, 2022. The passing of former Pope Benedict XVI "marks what is, hopefully, the end of a long, painful era for LGBTQIA+ Catholics, our families, and the entire church," said Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of ...


Gay News

OPINION Remember the youngest victims of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination 2022-12-19
- On Dec. 13, the Ohio State Board of Education voted 10-7 in favor of a non-binding resolution opposing proposed changes to the federal government's Title IX protecting LGBTQ+ students. It was just one more blow for ...


Gay News

Respect for Marriage Act passage important step but not equity says LGBTQIA+/ally Catholic group 2022-12-09
-- From a press release - Dec. 8, 2022. DignityUSA, the nation's foremost organization of Catholics working for justice, equality, and full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in our church and society, is pleased that both houses of Congress have now passed the ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT What are the most banned books: take a guess 2022-11-18
- The Latin word for book is liber. It is also the Latin word for "free," as in not a slave but a person who enjoys freedom (liberty). The word library means a home for books, a place of liberation, a sacred ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT The geopolitics of being Brittney Griner 2022-11-18
- WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. On Feb. 17, the Russian Federal Customs Service detained Griner at Sheremetyevo International Airport for allegedly transporting cannabis-derived ...


Gay News

GUEST EDITORIAL The Workers' Rights Amendment is a vote for equality 2022-11-01
- It is the American Dream: Work hard and you can achieve a middle-class life. This narrative is a broken bargain for too many in today's workforce. A far worse bargain exists for the LGBTQ+ community, especially ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT The cults of Jesus, Putin and Trump 2022-10-21
- Originalist Christian nationalism. They say politics makes strange bedfellows. There is none stranger than the curious linking of Jesus to the cults of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in the faith and politics of an alarming ...


 




Copyright © 2023 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives. Single copies of back issues in print form are
available for $4 per issue, older than one month for $6 if available,
by check to the mailing address listed below.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transegender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS






Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.