THEY fluttered. The butterflies of America! On a Saturday evening they came and hovered on the Little Theatre where the second day of the week-long 14th ImageOut Lesbian and Gay Film Festival was held. It was my first time to attend such event. I was greatly honored.
It was also the day where my stamina was tested. "A glorious day!" as my sponsor, David Smith, would put it. The leaves of the trees started to turn yellow. It is autumn. One tree in the backyard has already lost its leaves. Three weeks from now I would be able to see the houses from the kitchen window. The seminary in front of our house has started to pull down their blinds. They must be resisting temptation as I strut in the house in my birthday suit. The trees are getting naked. A glorious Saturday! And Mr. Smith just cannot help but flap his wings and take a tour at the countryside. What can you expect from a man who is a world traveler? He has gone to Switzerland, London, France, Germany, Asia, Latin America and most parts of America. If Mr. Smith says, "get ready in 10 minutes" it means "get ready for a day tour." Destination: Letchworth State Park. It is located on the western part of New York 's Finger Lakes Region at Livingston County. It is called the " Grand Canyon of the East." The only difference is the luscious trees adoring the 15,000 acres of land. It also has its own falls, rapids and creeks, too. It is a great weekend hideaway. After a good three hours of sightseeing we head back home. Mr. Smith had braved driving miles from Pittsford to the park, which he had not visited for some 20 years. At 6 p.m. the line outside the Little Theatre in downtown Rochester snaked until the curb. We came to watch "A Love to Hide". It is a film from France, which was released last year. I failed to watch a film directed by a Filipino-American the night before because of school. Q. Allan Brocka's "Boy Culture" gained a rapturous success. The director is the nephew of the late Lino Brocka, the Philippine's National Artist for Film. A Love to Hide, on the other hand, proved to be a powerful film. It accounts atrocities against the gay men during the Nazi occupation in Paris, France. I envied Mr. Smith as he speaks French, I had to scrutinize the subtitles. Jean (Jeremie Renier) is living in the dark. He has to hide his relationship with Philippe (Bruno Todeschini) from his family, especially his father and brother, Jacques, who adore him. The brothers' and lovers' lives started to turn around when Jean's childhood sweetheart, Sarah, showed up, after escaping the Nazis who massacred her Jewish family. Jean and Philippe took her under their care, providing her shelter and a job in Jean's family business as a laundress. She, however, had to take another name. Jacques, who just came out of prison, on the other hand, got madly in love with her. He stalked her until he found out his brother's secret affair. The brothers' relationship was torn but Jacques later on yielded so as to gain Sarah's love. Sarah, however, has her eyes only to Jean. She has come to accept his sexuality but did not give up in loving him. This got the ire of Jacques, who secretly collaborates with the Nazis, and planned to have his brother arrested and save him to win Sarah's heart. It turned out that his brother was spotted by the Nazi officers in a benefit dance getting intimate with a ranking officer. The officer committed suicide, making it impossible to bail Jean out. Jacques and Sarah have exhausted all means to get Jean put of prison to no avail. He was later transferred to a concentration camp where they were forced to hard labor and humiliation. Philippe was killed by the Nazi. Director Christian Faure did not fail to touch the audience. At the end of the film they were wiping their eyes. No wonder it won a multitude of awards. Gay bashing and discrimination is an age-old problem. We cannot help it. But the public has to be informed. One way is to hold an event such as this. However, in a conservative country such us ours such event is treated with constricted views. It's a shame.
It was also the day where my stamina was tested. "A glorious day!" as my sponsor, David Smith, would put it. The leaves of the trees started to turn yellow. It is autumn. One tree in the backyard has already lost its leaves. Three weeks from now I would be able to see the houses from the kitchen window. The seminary in front of our house has started to pull down their blinds. They must be resisting temptation as I strut in the house in my birthday suit. The trees are getting naked. A glorious Saturday! And Mr. Smith just cannot help but flap his wings and take a tour at the countryside. What can you expect from a man who is a world traveler? He has gone to Switzerland, London, France, Germany, Asia, Latin America and most parts of America. If Mr. Smith says, "get ready in 10 minutes" it means "get ready for a day tour." Destination: Letchworth State Park. It is located on the western part of New York 's Finger Lakes Region at Livingston County. It is called the " Grand Canyon of the East." The only difference is the luscious trees adoring the 15,000 acres of land. It also has its own falls, rapids and creeks, too. It is a great weekend hideaway. After a good three hours of sightseeing we head back home. Mr. Smith had braved driving miles from Pittsford to the park, which he had not visited for some 20 years. At 6 p.m. the line outside the Little Theatre in downtown Rochester snaked until the curb. We came to watch "A Love to Hide". It is a film from France, which was released last year. I failed to watch a film directed by a Filipino-American the night before because of school. Q. Allan Brocka's "Boy Culture" gained a rapturous success. The director is the nephew of the late Lino Brocka, the Philippine's National Artist for Film. A Love to Hide, on the other hand, proved to be a powerful film. It accounts atrocities against the gay men during the Nazi occupation in Paris, France. I envied Mr. Smith as he speaks French, I had to scrutinize the subtitles. Jean (Jeremie Renier) is living in the dark. He has to hide his relationship with Philippe (Bruno Todeschini) from his family, especially his father and brother, Jacques, who adore him. The brothers' and lovers' lives started to turn around when Jean's childhood sweetheart, Sarah, showed up, after escaping the Nazis who massacred her Jewish family. Jean and Philippe took her under their care, providing her shelter and a job in Jean's family business as a laundress. She, however, had to take another name. Jacques, who just came out of prison, on the other hand, got madly in love with her. He stalked her until he found out his brother's secret affair. The brothers' relationship was torn but Jacques later on yielded so as to gain Sarah's love. Sarah, however, has her eyes only to Jean. She has come to accept his sexuality but did not give up in loving him. This got the ire of Jacques, who secretly collaborates with the Nazis, and planned to have his brother arrested and save him to win Sarah's heart. It turned out that his brother was spotted by the Nazi officers in a benefit dance getting intimate with a ranking officer. The officer committed suicide, making it impossible to bail Jean out. Jacques and Sarah have exhausted all means to get Jean put of prison to no avail. He was later transferred to a concentration camp where they were forced to hard labor and humiliation. Philippe was killed by the Nazi. Director Christian Faure did not fail to touch the audience. At the end of the film they were wiping their eyes. No wonder it won a multitude of awards. Gay bashing and discrimination is an age-old problem. We cannot help it. But the public has to be informed. One way is to hold an event such as this. However, in a conservative country such us ours such event is treated with constricted views. It's a shame.
(Published in Sun.Star Bacolod Nov. 01, 2006 under my column, The Mango Generation)
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