Reel Pride Film Festival plans award-winning lineup [The Fresno Bee, Calif.]

Sept. 12--The mission of the Reel Pride Film Festival, over its 21-year run, has been to find the best gay and lesbian films available. Some years have been tougher than others because of the selections available.

Jon Caroll, chairman of Fresno Reel Pride, says the lineup for The 21st Annual Fresno Reel Pride Film Festival is one of the best.

"Most every feature film we are showing has won some major award along the way whether it be at the Sundance Film Festival, another festival or an audience award. The quality overall is something spectacular," Caroll says.

The festival opens with "A Marine Story," winner of the audience and grand jury awards at Outfest and closes Sunday with "Undertow," winner at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

Caroll credits the festival's programing committee for working so diligently since May to put together this year's lineup, which reflects a wide variety of subject matter from faith to fashion.

More than 10,000 tickets are expected to be sold for the 50 films and shorts to be shown Wednesday-Sunday at the Tower Theatre, 815 E. Olive Ave., and the Starline Lounge, 831 E. Fern Ave.

Several filmmakers and actors are expected to attend, including "A Marine Story" director Ned Farr and star Paris Pickard, plus "Elena Undone" stars Necar Zadegan and Traci Dinwiddie.

Individual screening tickets are $10-$20 but festival passes are available. For more information go to reelpride.com or call (559) 999-7971.

Here are a few of this year's selections:

WEDNESDAY

"A Marine Story." Grade: A-

--Showing: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Tower Theatre

--Director: Ned Farr

--Cast: Dreya Weber, Paris Pickard, Anthony Michael Jones

--Bentley's review: Amazing performances by Weber and Pickard make this a warm and textured character study.

Weber, who plays a Marine officer forced to resign when a past lesbian relationship is revealed, handles the difficult task of playing a character who struggles with a variety of loyalties: country, military, friends, family.

She plays the role with enough strength that she's believable as a Marine, and she shows the vulnerability needed to come across as caring enough to help a teen headed for trouble.

THURSDAY

"We Are the Mods." Grade: B

--Showing: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Tower Theatre

--Director: E.E. Cassidy

--Cast: Mary Elise Hayden, Melia Renee, Lance Drake.

--Munro's review: This first feature from Cassidy has a sort of shimmering, timeless feel -- as if you're in a hazy netherworld somewhere between 1960s "Mod" London and present-day Los Angeles. Sadie (a spare, affecting Renee) is the focus of a coming-of-age tale that can't help but swirl around the attention-grabbing Nico (a subtly riveting Hayden), whose fashion sense and prowess at being sullen make you think you're watching some early clip of a '60s movie star in her snug houndstooth miniskirt.

The transformation of Sadie is pretty standard, but the draw of the film is the way Nico wavers between smug and self-conscious. The ending seems unrealized, but the film emerges as a tender, timeless glimpse into teendom.

FRIDAY

"Elena Undone." Grade: B

--Showing: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Tower Theatre

--Director: Nicole Conn

--Cast: Necar Zadegan, Traci Dinwiddie, Gary Weeks

--Bentley's review: A minister's wife realizes she's never felt true love until meeting an attractive writer. Zadegan and Dinwiddie are magical together as the relationship starts, stutters and then explodes.

Conn disrupts the story with a monologue by Sam Harris about the nature of love that plays like a commercial interruption. And there is a three minute-plus kiss that's too gimmicky for this wonderful love story. Otherwise, it is a sweet and powerful story.

SATURDAY

"Violet Tendencies." Grade: B-

--Showing: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Tower Theatre

--Director: Casper Andreas.

--Cast: Mindy Cohn, Marcus Patrick, Jesse Archer.

--Munro's review: I've pretty much torn apart director Andreas in the past, and for good reason: Last year's "Big Gay Musical" sullied the reputations of all three of those respective words. I'm happy to report that Andreas' latest, a chirpy comic romance, is much, much better in terms of the fundamentals of putting a movie together. Solid basics such as framing, continuity, decent pacing, editing and character development -- not to mention some pretty witty lines -- are all in evidence.

A lot of the credit should go to Cohn, whose most famous TV-sitcom stint (as Natalie in "The Facts of Life") seems to have given her the comic chops to deal with Jesse Archer's silly script about a 40ish straight single gal who finally decides that hanging out with all her gay friends might not be the best way to find a mate. Andreas knows his audience well -- he throws in the requisite eye candy and raunchy shock-jokes guaranteed to evoke a buzzed roar from happy festival patrons -- but also has a pretty good handle on the predictable but amusing story- line. And the skinny co-worker who doesn't eat is just plain funny.

SUNDAY

"Undertow" Grade: A-

--Showing: 8 p.m. Sunday, Tower Theatre

--Director: Javier Fuentes-Leon

--Cast: Manolo Cardona, Cristian Mercado, Tatiana Astengo

--Bentley's review: Fuentes-Leon's powerful film looks at love, loss and faith. A Peruvian fisherman (Mercado) struggles with a secret love that, if revealed, will hurt his wife. He must make a tough decision about revealing his true feelings to give the ghost of his lover (Cardona) peace.

The director blends the sweetness of the love story with the emotional turmoil the fisherman faces. It plays out against a brilliant background of the small fishing village.

Reel Pride Film Festival Schedule

Wednesday

--"A Marine Story": 7:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

Thursday

--"The Last Summer of Boyita," 5:30 p.m. Starline

--"We are the Mods," 6:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"Rivers Wash Over Me," 8:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

Friday

--"Howl," 5:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"Bandaged," 5:30 p.m., Starline

--"Elena Undone," 7:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"Strapped," 10 p.m., Tower Theatre

Saturday

--"Out in the Silence," noon, Tower Theatre

--"Is it Just Me?" 12:30 p.m., Starline

--"Sasha," 2:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"Girls Shorts," 3 p.m., Starline

--"Four Faced Liar," 5 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"Boys Shorts," 5 p.m., Starline

--"Violet Tendencies," 8:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

Sunday

--"Adults in the Room," 1 p.m., Starline

--"Eyes Wide Open," 3 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"My Normal," 3:30 p.m., Starline

--"Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister," 5:30 p.m., Tower Theatre

--"From Beginning to End," 5:30 p.m., Starline

--"Undertow," 8 p.m., Tower Theatre

TV and movie critic Rick Bentley can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6355. Donald Munro can be reached at dmunro@fres

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