The collaboration between “sixth generation” director Liu Bingjian and openly gay screenwriter Cui Zi’en has resulted in a picture of homosexuality rare for Chinese cinema in its sympathy and realism. A shy young man arrives in Beijing to work in a clothes shop owned by the repressed wife of a boorish man. Meanwhile, the flamboyant host (Cui Zi’en) of a lonely hearts talk show on a pirate radio station is asked out by the editor of a fanzine that publishes graffiti from public toilets. At first nothing happens–feelings are hidden under a cloak of normalcy. When passions finally erupt, they are violent, unexpected, liberating and subversive.

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Winner of the Audience Award at lesbian & gay film festivals in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere, Bezucha’s feature film debut tells the romantic tale of a New York City artist, Henry Hart, who returns home to Big Sky country to care for his ailing grandfather. When he arrives, Henry is reunited with Dean, his first love, who has also recently returned home—separated from his wife with two sons in tow. To further complicate matters, the town’s general store has a sexy, enigmatic new owner. This heartfelt film explores long-simmering passions and the beauty and heartache of love.

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Neither sensational nor sentimental, the remarkable Southern Comfort is a documentary about 52-year-old female-to-male transsexual Robert Eads who, dying of cervical and ovarian cancer, is neglected by doctors uncomfortable with treating him. “A hillbilly and proud of it,” Robert cuts a striking figure in his home in the Georgia black hills, where he falls deeply in love with male-to-female transsexual Lola Cola. Director Kate Davis functioned as a one-person crew in order to intimately capture this rare blend of humor, romance, and tragedy. Even though Southern Comfort (the title refers to a support group peopled by Eads and his transgender friends) is as much about generosity, courage, and tolerance as it is about a potentially discomfitting subject, the film sent shock waves through the Sundance Film Festival where it won the award for Best Documentary Film. As Eads tries to find help for his condition, his resolute kindness, dignity and compassion in the face of adversity help him build a community of friends and gives Southern Comfort its punch.

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