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Screening as part of “Reel Pride” at Enzian!
This June, celebrate the power of queer representation through a collection of bold, groundbreaking, and deeply human films. From enduring classics to emerging voices, REEL PRIDE showcases a rich tapestry of experiences that reflect the diversity, resilience, and creativity of the LGBTQIA+ community. Join Enzian for an unforgettable series of films, designed to generate conversations and foster community through the lens of great storytelling.
Tongues Untied:
***WINNER – Best Documentary Film – 1990 Berlin International Film Festival
***2022 Selection for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress
Made, in director Marlon Riggs’s own words, to “shatter the nation’s brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference,” this radical blend of documentary and performance defies the stigmas surrounding Black gay sexuality in the belief that, as long as shame prevails, liberation cannot be possible. Through music and dance, words and poetry by such pathbreaking writers as Essex Hemphill and Joseph Beam—and by turns candid, humorous, and heartbreaking interviews with queer African American men—Tongues Untied gives voice to what it means to live as an outsider in both a Black community rife with homophobia and a largely white gay subculture poisoned by racism. A lightning rod in the culture wars of the 1980s that incited a right-wing furor over public funding for the arts, the film has lost none of its life-affirming resonance.
1989, 55 minutes, USA, Directed by Marlon Riggs, Not Rated
Preceded by “Cashing Out”
Florida premiere! Featuring a Zoom Q&A with director Matt Nadel!
***WINNER – Best Documentary Short – 2024 Out on Film: Atlanta LGBTQ Film Festival
At the height of the AIDS crisis, many gay men—unable to work and with few months to live—sold their life insurance policies to investors for quick cash. CASHING OUT charts the rise and fall of the hundred-million-dollar industry that grew from their desperation, and spotlights one of its earliest investors: the filmmaker’s father. A gay man, director Matt Nadel connects with survivors who help him understand the “AIDS profiteering” that is his inheritance.
2023, 40 minutes, USA, Directed by Matt Nadel, Not Rated
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“A Black gay time capsule. It is Marlon Riggs’ gift to our community, and the culture it embodies is our collective gift to the double brothers of tomorrow.”
– Cary Alan Johnson, GAY COMMUNITY NEWS -
“A bracing statement of self-identity and a towering work of self-expression and self-reflection, beautifully capturing a time and place yet reverberating through the decades as a work by an artist boldly stating his Black queerness.”
– Mattie Lucas, FROM THE FRONT ROW -
“At heart, it's a celebratory film which buzzes with intelligence, unashamed emotion, adrenalin, and that strange tenderness forged in suffering.”
– Wally Hammond, TIME OUT -
“The film acknowledges the lives, dignity, and complexities of gay black men. But the subject matter, and the fact that it was created by an African American man living with AIDS, are hardly the only reasons for the significance of Tongues Untied, which makes vibrant, shattering art from its essential political cause: putting front and center those who have been historically erased in American culture.”
– Michael Koresky, FILM COMMENT
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