When it comes to gender, there is a truly Samoan way of seeing the world. Paradise Bent tells the story of the Samoan fa’afafine: boys who are raised as girls and play an important domestic role in traditional Samoan culture. The film explores the traditional roles of the fa’afafine, the anthropological records of this phenomenon, and the impact of westernization on Samoa, particularly the threat posed by the infiltration of the western drag scene.

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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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Audience award winner at five festivals, Crush by Phillip Bartell (2000, 29 min) is set during a long hot summer in a (very) small town in rural Illinois, as 12-year-old Tina bonds with 16-year-old Robbie over their favorite TV show. Tina soon develops a major crush on Robbie. Robbie, however, develops a crush of his own… The Mountain King by Duncan Tucker is a sensuously photographed film that depicts a relationship between a persuasive hustler and a quietly closeted young man at the beach. …lost by Dan Castle was made in response to growing complacency about the continuing threat of AIDS and captures a day in the life of a young man foundering in a world of drugs, anonymous tricks, and AIDS. When Joseph asks his lifelong partner, Caesar, to send for a priest in The Confession by Carl Pfirman, it leads to a dramatic struggle in this moving exploration of love, faith and commitment.

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