Cinema Q Film Fest rolls in

Just as your PrideFest sunburn has healed, it’s time for more exposure. The 2012 Cinema Q Film Festival, presented by the Denver Film Society at the Denver FilmCenter, presents four days of documentaries, world culture, comedy and drama that reach into LGBT experience, subculture, history and freaky fringe. The films share common overriding themes: identity, creativity and understanding.

Here are capsule synopsis of several films, but not the complete line-up by far:

Opening Night: Gayby

(Post-film reception) Making a pact with your college BFF is a common rite, whether it involves marriage, pulling the plug, or wardrobe (“If I ever wear anything like that, slap me!”). Matt and Jenn are in their 30s and neither has found Mr. Right. It’s time for “Plan B:” each other. They’re going to make a baby! This warm-hearted comedy is about friends, frustration and fashioning the family that happenstance didn’t deliver.

United In Anger

Long before you could log-on and sign a dozen petitions with the click of a mouse, AIDS ravaged the nation and politicians ignored it because of homophobia. Before “Occupy Wall Street” or the “Arab Spring,” there was ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power); a small and diverse group that demanded attention and action through electrifying acts of civil disobedience.

Spend The Night With Christeene

(Christeene and DJ JJ Booya perform IN PERSON!) The perfect descriptor for this delightfully vile performer is “drag terrorist.” Christeene’s music videos include Fix My Dick, Tears From My Pussy and African Mayonnaise. Her (b-r-o-a-d license taken) nimble rap would make the toughest gangsta blush. The visual/verbal onslaught is arresting to the uninitiated. Christeene’s crackwhore aesthetic reminds one of a feral child raised in a damp basement on a steady diet of Vaseline, torture porn and X-rated comics. Observe her journey in this 70-minute crotch-forward psychic teabagging.

Trans

The group most likely to face ridicule and bias from society around the world — including many gays and lesbians — is the Transgender Community. Trans addresses this issue through the story of Dr. Christine McGinn, a transgender surgeon. If you ever wondered WHO you are, Trans poses the question: “Are you brave enough to find out?”

Mosquita Y Mari

When 15-year-olds Yolanda and Mari first meet, all they perceive are differences. Living in an L.A. community of mostly Mexican immigrants, Yolanda is focused on attending college, street-wise Mari hustles to keep her undocumented family above water. When Mari runs into trouble at school, Yolanda intercedes. As they grow closer, the young Chicanas are faced with taking control of their own lives.

I Want Your Love 

Leaving San Francisco isn’t easy, but after years of not making headway in one of the nation’s most expensive cities, perhaps it’s time to move. As critic Marke B. of the San Francisco Bay Area Guardian sums it up: “Beautifully shot, edited, paced, and true to life … a West Coast boho version of last year’s UK indie hit Weekend with more fog and condoms.”

Jack & Diane

What happens when a teenage girl’s body changes in unpredictable nobody ways? The results can be monstrous! Jack and Diane, two teen girls, meet and click like crazy. Tough-as-nails Jack begins opening up to Diane’s charms, but pulls away when she learns Diane is leaving at the end of summer. Diane’s powerful new feelings manifest physically and violently. Can love survive? Featuring animation sequences by the Quay Brothers and new music by Mum with Kylie Minogue.

Go Fish

(Post-film discussion on the state of Lesbian film with Lisa Kennedy, Film Critic for the Denver Post and Keith Garcia, Programming Manager for the Denver Film Society.) This beloved 1994 film follows a diverse group of Chicago lesbians, centering on the unlikely match of stylish Ely and Max, a crunchy granola type.

Jobriath A.D.

(Ticket includes brunch.) Philadelphia’s Bruce Wayne Campbell was THE first rock star to be gay and out, but it was the 1970s and glam-rock fans and gays resisted “The True Fairy of Rock & Roll.” Rolling Stone magazine heralded his first release on Elektra Records, but the public didn’t bite. A 10-year contract lockdown prevented him from recording with any other labels. An early casualty of AIDS, Jobriath is heralded as a groundbreaking influence by the Pet Shop Boys, Siouxsie Soux and Morrisey.

Closing Night: Cloudburst

Academy Award-winners Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker star as Stella and Dot, an elderly couple who escape from a nursing home in Maine and drive to Nova Scotia to be legally married. Together for 31 years, Stella is hard-of-hearing (and has a hilariously filthy mouth) and Dot is legally blind. A prudish granddaughter decides the best situation for Dot is a nursing home that provides everything, separating the women. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker who has much to learn from the women.

The Cinema Q Film festival is here from July 19 through July 22 at the Denver FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. Online at http://denverfilm.org.