QFest Roars: Houston’s LGBTQ Film Fest Becomes One of the Hottest Tickets in the City

By Catherine D. Anspon // Jul 24, 2015

1/0

What more can you say about "Grey Gardens"? It put the Maysles Brothers on the map; nearly 40 years later, the antics and mother-daughter relationship of Big and Little Edie Beale — Jackie O's aunt and cousin — are better and truer than anything the Kardashians ever cooked up. Screening Sunday, July 26, at MFAH.

"Death in Buenos Aires," screening Saturday, July 25, at Rice Media Center, is an international offering featuring a crime drama set in 1980s Buenos Aires; Oscar-nominated Demian Bichir stars as Detective Chavez, who falls for a young cadet during a murder investigation.

"Eisenstein in Guanajuato," directed by the acclaimed Peter Greenaway, is presented on Sunday, July 26, at Rice Media Center. The film recounts filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's first homosexual love affair with a professor during a game-changing trip to Mexico.

"Eisenstein in Guanajuato," directed by the acclaimed Peter Greenaway, is presented Sunday, July 26 at Rice Media Center. The film recounts filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's first homosexual love affair with a professor during a game-changing trip to Mexico.

At MFAH on Saturday, July 25, "Nasty Boy" follows a single lady and her attempts to get pregnant by one of the members of a gay couple.

The tale of "Tangerine" — screened on closing night, Monday, July 27, at Rice Media Center — was a recent Sundance highlight, for its riveting story of two working trans ladies in Tinseltown who seek revenge on their errant pimp.

Frédéric Nauczyciel's bold, yet lyrical "A Baroque Ball," 2015, screens at FotoFest on Saturday, July 25.

"Paris Is Burning, directed by Jennie Livingston, screens on Saturday, July 25, at FotoFest's Matinee program, unfurling the 1990 classic that pulled back the curtain on the pageantry of drag balls and earned a Sundance Grand Jury Prize back in the day.

Kudos and happy 19th to Houston’s once under-the-radar film festival, which has most decidedly come out of the closet — and reigns as one of the hottest cinematic weekends in town, as well as being the city’s only LGBTQ-themed film festival.

Cue QFest 2015, sensitively curated – with a bold splash of drama and bigger-than-life drag queens and smoldering leading men such as Tab Hunter — by Houston-based cinematist Kristian Salinas, festival director. Spilling from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to Rice Cinema, 14 Pews and even Alamo Drafthouse, the cinematic roundup features seven centerpiece films, with other additions organized by participating partners. (You don’t need to be gay to enjoy QFest: I’ll never forget the screening several years ago of the Divine biopic at the MFAH — a campy-to-poignant film that brought out a diverse audience and packed every seat.)

Also, highly recommended — perhaps the best biographical documentary of all time — the beyond-classic Grey Gardens, a look into the decaying grandeur and strange eccentric world of two women (an aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), an absolutely riveting piece of film-making co-directed by the late brothers Albert and David Maysles (Albert of Iris fame).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijPIfZt72vc

Follow our slide show for a few of the must-see moments from this weekend, including Saturday, July 25’s big matinee bash, set for 4 pm at FotoFest and coinciding with the ground-breaking exhibition “I Am A Camera,” curated by FotoFest executive director Steven Evans.

All that’s missing — a personal appearance by Caitlyn Jenner. Maybe QFest 2016?