Frameline is thrilled to partner with guest bloggers from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire during this year's festival! We've invited students from the LGBTQA Studies: San Francisco Travel Seminar at UWEC to share their experiences of Frameline and their thoughts on San Francisco's queer community. As they attend Frameline and experience San Francisco, they will be creating LGBTQ-themed documentaries, as well as vetting films for their second Eau Queer Film Festival in the fall. For more information about the contributors, click here.
“Queertoons was a unique set of shorts focused around various forms of animation. However, after watching just part of the series it was clearly evident that the focus was around one's perception of self as well as others of them.
Great Expectations really exemplified the desire to become something different by personifying a handkerchief. I felt this very short short to be very poetic and almost dreamlike with the goal of wanting to be free and to experience a new way of life. This short had decent graphics and played with interesting angles as the handkerchief began to struggle to stay airborne. Watching this I could feel the sense of urgency of being able to escape the tether of the clothesline and to be a part of the flock of birds in the distance, just as an LGBT individual might want to be free and who they truly are.
What first struck me about The Treeworker was the abstract graphics and the use of lighting to intentionally direct the viewers eyes to only what the director wished to show. I really enjoyed the entire storybook feel that was portrayed in both the paper-like visual effects and the organization of “chapters” of the short. I thought it was very interesting how the writers portrayed the people being born through the destruction of trees. With the destruction of forests and the expansions of large cities all over the world, I was able to understand their unique take in over popularization. Also, as the tree shoots began sprouting from people, they would cut the foliage away, just as an LGBT individual might attempt to hide their “natural” self.
Truth Takes Time was comprised solely of drawings made to look like they’d been made by 8 year olds. This technique helped give insight into the perceptions of a young boy’s struggles in his body and later on gave insight into his self-respect issues that spawned from when he was a child. During the film I felt helpless as she described how her life was in limbo and could no longer see her true self. I really liked the choice to use a female voiceover for the film. By doing so, it establishes that a transitioning individual has a gender that is not by choice; and, by portraying their gender not until after they’ve had the surgery is disrespectful of their identity.” -Megan Chilman
“Another short that stood out to me was White Paper. This film dealt with issues of inequality that are affirmed by society. Of course this is a hard topic to address, but White Paper did this through the use of color to contrast with plainness- an interesting and creative idea. While the whole thing was very simple, it did a really good job of getting its point across through that use of color and music.
Truth Takes Time was another one of the overtly queer shorts. It used and emotionally charged voiceover to portray what the main character was feeling, since the animation was VERY basic. I’d say it did this well because the emotions that the main character experienced- the internal struggle, the feelings of entrapment, and the fear of the truth getting out were all very clear to me.” -Katy Cobb