Armistead Maupin returns by MATTHEW HAYS No, you haven't been seeing things. That was Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis and Genie-winner Jackie Burroughs about town, and yes, they're here filming the next entries in the ongoing popular miniseries by the celebrated American gay author Armistead Maupin. Titled Further Tales of the City, these episodes find many of the same gang from the previous volumes again caught up in various bits of melodrama. And the cast is excellent, including indie queen Parker Posey, Joel Grey (Cabaret), Henry Czerny (Mission: Impossible, The Boys of St. Vincent), ace stand-up comic, singer and actor Lea DeLaria, Mary Kay Place (Being John Malkovich and the greatest cult TV series of all time, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch (both of Kids in the Hall). Quebec wunderkind Pierre Gang directs again, with cinematographer Serge Ladouceur lensing the series. When the first series aired four years ago, some dumbass U.S. congressmen complained so loudly about the show's honest depiction of gay characters that the show's original producer, PBS, pulled out. Interestingly enough, this series has since relied heavily on the kindness of Canadian strangers (or producers, as they're sometimes referred to). Of course, it would be a bit much to expect Armistead to change the locale of the Tales series, so Montreal is doing a bit of San Francisco drag, sitting in for the west coast gay capital. But that's okay--as long as he keeps this most excellent series coming. The National Film Board is trying to pump up its cultural diversity quotient, and has thus created the Reel Diversity East project, which will hire two documentary filmmakers in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces this fall. The project will allow the winners to complete one doc film with digital equipment provided by the NFB. The deadline for applications is September 29, 2000. For more info, go to the NFB's Web site (www.nfb.ca/reeldiversity) or phone 283-9537. Local filmmaker Barb Doran has picked up a camera once more and this time she's gazing into the world of romance fiction with the NFB doc The Perfect Hero, which airs this Sunday, June 25 at 7 p.m. on CTV. With typical dimension and humour, Doran carefully explores the wonderful world of Harlequin, from who reads them to why. So this has utterly nothing to do with film, but it's my column so I can write whatever I like. Dr. Laura, that bastion of open-minded thought, just might be part of CFCF-12's exciting new fall season of TV. If this pisses you off as much as it does me, be sure to give the folks over there a call at 273-6311 and ask for the programming department. We get enough homophobic bile over the airwaves as it is. And for those who think this is a "free speech issue," you're right: Dr. Laura can say whatever she wants. And we have the right to boycott, if we so choose. : COMMENTS: matt_hays@babylon.montreal.qc.ca