A gay old time

>> Urban myths, take-out chicken and WWII lesbians at the Image&Nation film fest

by MATTHEW HAYS

Jon Shear's much-praised film, a highlight at the Toronto International Film Fest, opens this year's Image&Nation. And it's almost a pity, seeing as the fact that Urbania features gay characters turns out to be one of the film's numerous surprises.

But there are many other revelations in this unpeggable feature, a surreal dreamscape of life in an urban jungle, revelations I won't ruin for you here. The film is also bolstered by the excellent performances of Dan Futterman, Alan Cumming and Quebec vet Lothaire Bluteau.

An award-winner at the Berlin Film Fest, Aimée & Jaguar recounts the story of two women, one Jewish, one gentile, who fall in love in Germany during WWII. The film has received an onslaught of rave reviews and made history as the first queer film to open the Berlin Fest. Take-out is Montreal filmmaker Jean-Francois Monette's take on a chicken delivery boy and his lust for one of his drop-off clients. The 50-odd minute film stars Toronto actor Daniel MacIvor and proved a hit at this year's Toronto Fest.

A religious highlight will undoubtedly arrive with The Bradfords Tour America, in which the queer filmmaking team of U.B. Morgan and Jann Nunn pose as a conservative Christian couple and tour the main stages of America's religious Right: Pat Robertson's 700 Club, the Jesse Helms Centre and Jerry Falwell's church, among others. Their undercover status allows them to hear--and record on camera--the extreme homophobic rhetoric that emanates from this faction of America. In other transformations, A Boy Named Sue profiles one lesbian as she takes the transsexual plunge and become a biological man. Filmmaker Julie Wyman includes interviews with Sue's close friends and her lesbian lover.

Deep Inside Clint Star is a bizarre but gutsy little NFB entry, a short from a native-Alberta filmmaker named Clint Alberta. In this first-person doc, he creates a persona, Clint Star, who takes us on a tour of his small home town in rural Alberta. There he interviews many of his young native friends who discuss their sex lives, their personal stories and their attitudes. It's a funny and deeply personal film and Alberta, as Star, has a great deal of onscreen charisma. :

The Image&Nation Gay and Lesbian Film Festival begins today, Sept. 21 and runs until Oct. 1. See repertory listings for showtimes. Info: 231-films or www.image-nation.org