Frameline32, week 1.

"After all the angst and hoopla, the first full day of same-sex marriage in California on Tuesday turned out to be almost placid, if you discounted the whoops of celebration or the courthouse crushes of brides and brides, and grooms and grooms," reports Barbara Davidson in the Los Angeles Times. "The weight of history, the sense that this was a signal moment in the decades-long battle for gay rights, was lightened by joy and relief as couples - some of whom had waited decades to marry - took their vows amid smiling friends, proud relatives and beaming government officials."

The mood at this year's Frameline, opening tomorrow and running through July 29, just might be a bit more festive than usual.

Updated through 6/24.

"So why appeal for terror?" asks Matt Sussman. "To put it simply, there is pleasure in being scared. And to put it more complicatedly, there can be empowerment in that pleasure.... Luckily for all the rainbow-colored Fangoria fans still bloodthirsty after catching local director Flynn Witmeyer's Imp of Satan earlier this year at Another Hole in the Head, late June is bearing an unexpected slasher crop of queer horror films. It includes Dead Channels' one-off presentation of Sean Abley's Socket (2007) and some scary fare at Frameline's SF International LGBT Film Festival."

Also in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Frameline32 package: Maria Komodore and Jason Shamai both review Iranian director Tanaz Eshaghian's Be Like Others (site); Komodore on Barbara Hammer's A Horse Is Not a Metaphor and Johnny Ray Huston: "Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell [site] is like an audiovisual kiss from Russell to those who loved him, and to a greater audience who has yet to discover him."

And at the SFBG's blog, Pixel Vision, you find a collection of "fast reviews" of nearly a dozen more Frameline32 offerings.

Earlier: Talks with retiring artistic director Michael Lumpkin: Michael Guillén and Marcus Hu.

Update, 6/19: "[T]he continued currency of 'New Argentine Cinema' stems from the Argentine film industry's tenacity as well as the uncompromising intelligence shown by so many of the directors who continued to get yoked under the banner. The term seems less a temporal designation than something whispered to ensure continued good fortune: If you say it, the films will keep coming." SF360 looks into this year's crop at Frameline.

Update, 6/24: Michael Guillén interviews Woman in Burka director Jonathan Lisecki at the Evening Class and Tongzhi in Love director Ruby Yang at SF360.

Posted by dwhudson at June 18, 2008 9:56 AM