by MATTHEW HAYS

It was a few years ago when a spate of authors and pundits declared that we were in a post-gay world. Devoid of any roadblocks to freedom, some said, gay people were no longer identifying as gay, as that identity had always been a direct result of oppression.

Critics were quite right to point out that this perspective was pretty astonishingly Western-centric; though gays have achieved a solid legal equality in a country like Canada, the same could hardly be said for gays, lesbians and transgendered people living in other parts of the world.

The film fest Walking in the Spirit of My True Self offers a thoughtful collection of films which comprise a series of glimpses into life for queers of African descent. Phillip Pike's Songs of Freedom, which will close the festival this Sunday, is a poignant and extremely important documentary feature about the lives of a number of queer people struggling to live in Jamaica - the first film ever of its kind. Pike has chosen a wonderfully charismatic and appealing group of people here, and as their stories unfold, the film hearkens back to the 1978 documentary Word Is Out - Stories From Some of Our Lives, the seminal oral-history doc of queer life in America.

Though ostensibly a series of talking heads, Pike has carefully and subtly structured his film. Early on, we hear of people's personal experiences and their coming out tales. Later, we get a bit of a history lesson from an activist who helped to form Jamaica's first gay-rights group and wrote the country's first queer paper, The Jamaican Gaily. Finally, the film then delves into the inevitable: Jamaica's reputation as what one gay man says is arguably "the most homophobic civilization in the world." Alarmingly, another gay man says that "most of all, I fear for my life. I've seen people killed or stabbed right in front of my face because they were gay." During some of the interviews there's a constant reminder of the anxiety many are forced to live with; even when the film's subjects are discussing sweet romantic recollections, the distortion masking their identities makes it clear they can't be fully open about who and what they are. Songs of Freedom is both a breakthrough and a beautiful film, a tribute to the rich lives of a few very brave Jamaicans.

Also screening this weekend is Dakan, Mohamed Camara's same-sex version of the Romeo and Juliet story. The film drew loud protests when it was being shot in Guinea due to the same-sex relationship which formed the story's basis. Kali's Vibe is Shari Carpenter's feature about a bisexual woman who's torn between the love of a man and a woman. Also screening will be Isaac Julien's The Darker Side of Black, which explores homophobia in the dance-hall and hip-hop club scenes.

Walking in the Spirit of My True Self screens this Saturday and Sunday, May 3 and 4, at Concordia's de Sève Cinema (in the Library Building at 1400 de Maisonneuve W.). See repertory listings for details

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