2003



Karla Rosales | Mind If I Call You Sir?

As a femme-identified dyke and scholar who has taken a lead role researching the gender identity formation of Chicana and Latina self-identified butch dykes, Karla Rosales has become increasingly aware of the need for community dialogue about gender identity. A documentary video, Mind If I Call You Sir? explores the fluidity of gender identity and a varied spectrum of sexuality from a queer Latina perspective. Rosales, an educator, researcher, and performer, along with collaborator Veronica Majano, a filmmaker, videographer, and scriptwriter, document the oral histories of two local narrators whose lives are representative of the current trend among young Latina butches and "old school" butches who have historically played a crucial role in queer activism in San Francisco’s Latino community. The project addresses the complexities of queer gender expression and serves to educate as an effort against the increasing waves of homophobia nationwide.

Pireeni Sundaralingam | Interrogating the Foreigner

What does it mean to be different in America? How is “other” defined? Interrogating the Foreigner aims to address these questions by bringing together musicians and poets from diverse ethnic communities across the Bay Area to work on the production of a CD and a series of three performances in San Francisco, Oakland, and Marin County. By interrogating the idea of “The Foreigner” through original composition and performance, the project seeks to address the current climate of racism in post-September 11 society, in which the number of local racist hate-crimes have risen dramatically and governmental policy has resulted in a climate of fear and mistrust of diversity. Artistic collaborations include: twinning hip-hop with Klezmer, bringing together local Filipino and South American poets with Flamenco guitarists, juxtaposing African American jazz poetry with Brazilian percussion, and exploring the common structure of Irish and Indian musical scales within the joint context of famine and irrigation. It is hoped that the production of the CD and the series of performances will demonstrate the underlying commonalities of experience that bind individuals together as Americans, strengthened and united by diversity.

Paul VanDeCarr | NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER is a 25 minute-long documentary video of a month that violently shook San Francisco. On November 18, 1978 over 900 Americans living in Jonestown, a settlement in remote Guyana—most of them African Americans and most from San Francisco—killed themselves and other residents with a mix of Kool-Aid and cyanide. Nine days later, former Supervisor Dan White shot and killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in City Hall. However violent the end these people suffered, they lived lives crowded with the dreams of community. NOVEMBER uses this tragic month as a portal into this world of dreams and into the city and time that inspired them. Interviews, archival news footage, historical photographs, home movies and photographs, and cultural artifacts place viewers in the context and spirit of the time. NOVEMBER pays special attention to unheard voices in the story, particularly African Americans. At least three public screenings will be hosted in November 2003, the 25th anniversary month of the documentary’s events, in the city neighborhoods where these events are most deeply felt—the Castro, the Fillmore, and Bayview/Hunters Point. NOVEMBER also will be submitted to festivals nationwide.

JURORS for this year were: Summi Kaipa, poet and author; Joel Shepard, Film and Video Curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Gay Outlaw, visual artist; Gigi Otlavaro-Hormillose, performer and activist; Christine Pielenz and William Laven, co-directors, Potrero Nuevo Fund.

images (l to r): Photo: Pireeni Sundaralingam (2003; Video still: Paul VanDeCarr (2003)