SASOD’s 9th Painting the Spectrum Film Festival opens on Sunday, June 2 with the documentary You Are Not Alone, produced by NYABJ Award winner, Guyanese, Antoine B Craigwell.
According to a release from SASOD, You Are Not Alone is a little more than a run-of-the-mill film. While containing the basic elements of its genre – interviews with subjects telling their stories and mental health professionals placing these experiences and anecdotes in perspective, and at the same time presenting relevant statistics to support their respective positions; it nudges the envelope of understanding and acceptance a little further along.
Using his creativity, skill and expertise, Stanley Bennett Clay listened to the interviews, wrote a script and directed re-enactments of those interviews.
He moved the film from being a staid production of “talking heads” into, as he says, “some Hollywood thrown in”, the release said.
While the film maintains the hard hitting edge of a documentary, it gently blurs the line between what is and what could be, moving into the realm of a docu-drama, and illuminating through examples, many of the underlying issues Black gay men are dealing with, but never talked about.
The film breaks a taboo in the Black community; it exposes the raw truths behind the silent pain many Black gay men experience and live with, SASOD said. Its resounding message is that a Black gay man who feels as though he has no place in the world, has value and purpose; all he needs to do is reject the denials of who he is, accept himself and he could realise and achieve his potential in life.
On Monday, SASOD screens the short film A New Flavor along with My Normal. A New Flavor tells the story of a young woman who decides to give up on men and forget about love because of many failed relationships. Then a best friend suggests a new quest to find love, but with women.
My Normal is the story of a young lesbian dominatrix who dreams of becoming a film maker. But just when her dreams begin to be realised, her life starts to fall apart.
Tuesday’s film is Born This Way, a documentary set in Cameroon. It follows Cedric and Gertrude, two young Cameroonians, as they move between a secret supportive LGBT community and an outside culture that, though intensely homophobic, is in transition toward greater acceptance.
The film festival continues on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays only until June 25. As usual the venue is the Sidewalk Café, Middle Street and admittance is free and for adults – 18 years and over.
