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 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Knight at the Movies: Kink Crusaders DVD; film notes
by Richard Knight, Jr., for Windy City Times
2012-02-29

This article shared 4924 times since Wed Feb 29, 2012
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


When International Mr. Leather founder Chuck Renslow describes his almost 35-year-old pageant, ostensibly a contest for members of the leather community, as being "all-inclusive," he isn't kidding. In documentary filmmaker Mike Skiff's Kink Crusaders, a record of the 2008 IML pageant, the parade of tattooed and pierced humanity dressed in their finest kink wear —everything from leather to rubber accessorized with dog collars, the usual chaps, leashes, harnesses, belts, whips, etc.—is enough to titillate anyone interested in this wide-ranging aspect of queer culture. The film, which played at last fall's Reeling Film Festival, is now out on DVD from Breaking Glass Pictures with a raft of special features.

Seemingly, everyone in the Chicago queer community knows that IML weekend—a three-day celebration of all things kinky—happens over Memorial Day. It's been that way since 1979, when Renslow's Mr. Gold Coast pageant outgrew the confines of his leather bar and moved to roomier quarters at a series of large hotels mostly catering to business conventions and tourism. However, city officials and the hospitality industry quickly learned to not only tolerate but actively court Renslow and pageant officials, thanks to the lavish revenue the contest's popularity and enormous attendance guarantee city coffers. (Renslow now cites a figure of $18 million dollars a year.)

Acceptance for the once admittedly fringe community, with its extreme uniforms and far-reaching sexual components, have taken longer to reach mainstream approval. Skiff's breezy, entertaining tour of the pageant's festivities (including the infamous, eye-popping fetish market and something called the IML Pup Party, in which participants act out their doggie fantasies) incorporates interview footage that touches on this with Renslow who relates its history along with former IML winners accompanied by archival footage.

Glimpses of the actual pageant and backstage interviews with several of the unique 2008 contestants—a South American hunk representing Palm Springs (the eventual winner), a paraplegic, a Viet Nam war vet and senior citizen, and even a straight guy—round out the footage. The film concludes with yet another triumphant assertion of Renslow's "all-inclusive" mantra. This was the crowning of the 2010 winner—a wheelchair-reliant, female-to-male transgender who exclaims with delight, "I'm going to Disneyland!" At that moment, the ironies inherent in this once completely fringe culture as it has increasingly become familiar to the mainstream (coming this year to Chicago—it's Kinky Boots the musical!) are palpable.

Of related interest: A complete biography of Renslow and his impact on queer history in Chicago and beyond is detailed in Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow by Windy City Times' publisher Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnan. The 414-page book is available at www.amazon.com, Women & Children First Bookstore and Unabridged Bookstore. It is also on Kindle and Apple iBooks.

Film notes:

—Cinema Q II—the free, LGBT-themed, weekly mini-film series—returns for the second year on Wednesdays in March at the Chicago Cultural Center with screenings at 6:30 p.m. in the Claudia Cassidy Theater. Admission is free.

This year's series, focusing on queer youth, kicks off March 7 with a screening of lesbian director Jamie Babbit's hilarious 1999 black comedy But I'm a Cheerleader; it's about a notorious "ex-gay" camp for teenagers and stars Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, RuPaul, Melanie Lynskey and Michelle Williams.

Subsequent installments in the series include 2003's Blue Citrus Hearts, a gritty, coming-of-age/coming-out tale (March 14); 2009's I Killed My Mother, the funny, moving dramedy of a 16-year-old gay teenager and his daily battles with his single mother, from French Canadian queer auteur Xavier Dolan (March 21); and Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, about the early struggles and later triumphs of the civil-rights pioneer who was also openly gay.

Documentary filmmaker Bennett Singer will attend the screening and dessert reception (courtesy of Ann Sather) following a post-screening discussion (March 28). The series is a joint presentation of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Center on Halsted, the Legacy Project, Queer Film Society and Chicago Filmmakers (presenting organization of the Reeling Film Festival). Windy City Times is one of the series' media sponsors. www.queerfilmsociety.org

—The Talking Pictures Festival kicks off on Thursday, March 8 and continues through Sunday, March 11. Now in its fourth year, the festival, organized by the non-profit Percolator Films, celebrates the diversity to be found in indie cinema.

The opening-night screening is Pink Ribbons, Inc., a documentary examination of the breast cancer movement by Canadian filmmaker Lea Pool. It will take place at NEXT Theatre at the Noyes Cultural Center (927 Noyes St., Evanston) at 7:30pm. The film will screen in honor of International Women's Day and many of the fest's entries are selections by women filmmakers.

Performance artist and former Chicagoan Paula Killen, starred, wrote and produced Fully Loaded, the tale of two feisty, single moms who hook up with a sexy loner (Dweezil Zappa) on a rare night on the town. Killen and the film's director, Shira Piven (of the Piven theatrical family), will attend the Saturday, March 10 screening (also at NEXT Theatre), taking place at 7:15 p.m. Another highlight of the fest includes Joffrey: Mavericks of Dance, about dance mavens and onetime couple Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino (which I reviewed recently for WCT). It screens Friday, March 9, at 8:15 p.m. at Northwestern University-Medill School of Journalism/McCormick Tribune Center, the other venue for the festival (1870 Campus Dr., Evanston). Director Bob Hercules will be in attendance. Complete film line-up and schedule at www.talkingpicturefestival.org

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitymediagroup.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.


This article shared 4924 times since Wed Feb 29, 2012
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem' 2024-03-29
Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...


Gay News

WORLD Israel court, conversion therapy, death sentences, Georgia bill, fashion items 2024-03-29
- Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Population Authority must register female couples as mothers on the birth certificates of their children they have together, The Washington Blade reported. The decision was made following a petition ...


Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22
- series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

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 Transgender 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







Sponsor


 



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.