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August 17, 2007
Conflicting cultures
Judaism, homosexuality collide in fest films.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
Interviewed about his Jewish identity last year for the book Stars
of David, American playwright Tony Kushner said, "I think
that being Jewish was invaluable experience for being gay."
Kushner has publicly noted that his impulses towards social activism
stem from the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam (repairing
the world). Many of his creative works have featured Jewish themes,
from plays about the Holocaust and Old World migration to a book
about legendary children's illustrator Maurice Sendak. And yet,
the two facets of his identity have frequently clashed over the
years, as evidenced in the feature-length documentary Wrestling
with Angels, which screens Monday as part of the 19th annual
Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
The film, directed by Frieda Lee Mock, follows Kushner back to his
roots in the Jewish community of Lake Charles, La., exploring his
development as an artist and his conflicted relationship with his
father. Kushner has become known, particularly since 9/11, for his
political activism, and the film also focuses on the vocal stands
he has taken on AIDS, race, class struggles and the conflict in
the Middle East, punctuated by performances of his work from actors
such as Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Harden and Emma Thompson.
The film screens Aug. 20, 7 p.m., at the Emily Carr Institute of
Art and Design on Granville Island. It will be followed by a panel
discussion on art as a catalyst for social change. Local community
member and artist Sima Elizabeth Shefrin is among those on the panel.
Opening this year's festival was the Israeli feature The Bubble,
which has a second screening on Aug. 18, 5 p.m., at Pacific Cinémathèque.
The film tells the story of an Israel Defence Forces reservist,
Noam, who meets Ashraf, a Palestinian living in Nablus, at a checkpoint
in the West Bank. The two fall in love and set up a new life together
in Tel-Aviv – one that involves changing Ashraf's identity
into that of an Israeli and organizing peace protests.
The End of Second Class features interviews with three Canadian
gay couples from British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario (including
Toronto lawyer and activist Michael Leshner and his partner), as
it traces the debate on same-sex marriage in Canada, leading up
to the passage of equal-marriage legislation in this country in
2005. The film screens on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 9:45 p.m., at Vancity
Theatre.
As well, there will be the world première of the short film
The Love That Won't Shut Up, the first in a series of creative
partnerships that draw out Vancouver's "forgotten" queer
histories, on Friday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m., at Vancity Theatre.
For more information and tickets, visit www.outonscreen.com.
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