Queering the Night - Friday, October 9
FEATURING TWO FILMS
Homecoming & A Girl Named Kai
Friday, October 9, 2009
7 to 9 PM
The Center for New Possibilities
1505 W Morse Ave
Homecoming (Youth Documentary, 5:30 mins)
Directed by Brian Schirber and Kirstin Nelson. Produced by Listen Up! and Perpich Center for Arts Education. Winner of the Peter Yarrow Peace in Our Classrooms Award. Sponsored by Frank Marshall
Synopsis: Homecoming evolved over four months beginning with the concept of hatecrimes against youth in rural Minnesota. Six seniors from the Arts HighSchool at the Perpich Center for Arts Education interviewed severalyouth in small towns that had been discriminated against at theirschools for their sexual orientation and lifestyle. As the projectprogressed, one individual’s story stood out from the rest specificallybecause this student attended the Arts High School, which is in itselfa unique environment conducive to creativity and learning.
Although four students dropped the project, Kirstin Nelson and BrianSchirber where determined to see the project completed and to see thatRon Everson’s story was told. Half the film was shot in Lakeville,Minnesota where the discrimination took place. This was juxtaposed withfootage from Perpich where Ron flourished. Ron, a Creative Writingmajor, graduated in 2004 and is currently living in Chicago. His storyconfirms how essential a school20environment is to the well-being ofyoung adults and how this setting should be supportive of students ofall backgrounds and orientations.
A Girl Named Kai (Experimental, 8:00 mins)
Directed and Produced by Kai Ling Xue. Winner of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights Award
Synopsis: Three years in the making, shot in four countries, A Girl Named Kai isa brave and honest autobiographical vignette in three chapters aboutKai Ling’s relationships, self discoveries, passions, secrets anddreams.
Using digitally-edited Super 8 and 16mm, this experimental short willtake you through a true life journey from the highs of love to the lowsof loss, delicately threaded together with original music. A Girl NamedKai sets out to challenge our society’s preconceptions of people whoare considered “outsiders” while empowering the audience to continue toexamine contemporary notions of internal and external social identities.
Featured films will follow open mic. At the open mic, artists/writers/performers may share work that deals with race, class, gender, immigration, and other serious issues that contextualize a queer identity, but may also talk about family, love, relationships, sex, and other experiences that make for a full and exciting existence in a terribly homophobic world.
CENTERFOR NEW POSSIBILITIES at 1505 W Morse Avenue, ia a safe andqueer-friendly space coordinated by Insight Arts, a contemporary artsorganization dedicated to increasing access to cultural work thatsupports progressive social change. Our unique organizational modelallows us to engage in community based, regional and national work.
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