Tag: Kanopy

#WinterWarmers Queer Film Fest 2020 Part Two- Features

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As International Pride Month draws to a close and the weather outside gets a little colder, there’s no better time to snuggle up, sip a warm beverage, and enjoy some excellent queer cinema from around the world.

Your WCL membership provides access to streaming video services, which host a cornucopia of cinematic delights. You can find out more about how to access these online video options on our eLibrary page.

In the first edition of our #WinterWarmers Queer Film Fest, our staff collated some of our favourite documentaries. Now, in part two, we share our picks of the finest fictional features from around the world. Part one, our selection of documentaries , is right here.

BPM (Beats Per Minute)

Year: 2017
Length: 143 Minutes
Directors: Robin Campillo



Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Winner of over 20 international film awards, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, BPM is the remarkable new film from Robin Campillo (They Came Back, Eastern Boys). In Paris in the early 1990s, a group of activists goes to battle for those stricken with HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish government agencies and major pharmaceutical companies in bold, invasive actions. The organization is ACT UP, and its members, many of them gay and HIV-positive, embrace their mission with a literal life-or-death urgency. Amid rallies, protests, fierce debates and ecstatic dance parties, the newcomer Nathan falls in love with Sean, the group’s radical firebrand, and their passion sparks against the shadow of mortality as the activists fight for a breakthrough.-Kanopy

Watermelon Woman

Year: 1996
Length: 86 Minutes
Director: Cheryl Dunye

Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Cheryl Dunye plays a version of herself in this witty, nimble landmark of New Queer Cinema. A video store clerk and fledgling filmmaker, Cheryl becomes obsessed with the “most beautiful mammy,” a character she sees in a 1930s movie. Determined to find out who the actress she knows only as the “Watermelon Woman” was and make her the subject of a documentary, she starts researching and is bowled over to discover that not only was Fae Richards (Lisa Marie Bronson) a fellow Philadelphian but also a lesbian. The project is not without drama as Cheryl’s singular focus causes friction between her and her friend Tamara (Valarie Walker) and as she begins to see parallels between Fae’s problematic relationship with a white director and her own budding romance with white Diana (fellow filmmaker Guinevere Turner).-Kanopy

52 Tuesdays

Year:2013
Length: 110 Minutes
Director: Sophie Hyde



Watch the full film here on Beamafilm.

Directed by Sophie Hyde (Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure), the Australian filmmaker who won the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, 52 Tuesdays is centered on the relationship between James (Del Herbert-Jane), a mother undergoing gender transition, and their precocious teenage daughter Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey). Looking forward to starting their gender transition but wary of how the process might affect their daughter, James asks Billie to move in with her father Tom (played by Beau Travis Williams). To make up for the abrupt separation, mother and daughter make a commitment to meet every Tuesday afternoon, no matter what. As the year progresses, James and Billie watch each other change in ways that sometimes threaten their once-unshakable relationship. As both individuals explore deep personal issues and struggle to remain connected, a complex tale of human desire and ultimately, physical and psychological transformation, emerges.-Beamafilm

Happy Together

Year:1997
Length: 93 Minutes
Director: Kar-Wai Wong



Watch the full film here on Beamafilm.

Yiu-Fai and Po-Wing arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong and take to the road for a holiday. Something is wrong and their relationship goes adrift. A disillusioned Yiu-Fai starts working at a tango bar to save up for his trip home. When a beaten and bruised Po-Wing reappears, Yiu-Fai is empathetic but is unable to enter a more intimate relationship. After all, Po-Wing is not ready to settle down. Yiu-Fai now works in a Chinese restaurant and meets the youthful Chang from Taiwan. Yiu-Fai’s life takes on a new spin, while Po-Wing’s life shatters continually in contrast.-Beamafilm

Circumstance

Year:2011
Length: 102 Minutes
Director: Maryam Keshavarz



Watch the full film here on Beamafilm.

Maryam Keshavarz’s lusty, dreamy take on the passionate teenagers behind the hijabs. Risking jail and worse are the sassy, privileged Atafeh and the beautiful, orphaned Shireen. They’re under constant, unnerving surveillance, in a country where more than 70 percent of the population is younger than 30. Nevertheless, within their mansion walls and without, beneath graffiti and undulating at intoxicating house parties, the two girls begin to fall in love with each other, as Atafeh’s handsome, albeit creepy older brother Mehran gazes on… Filmed underground in Beirut, with layers that permit both pleasure and protest.-Beamafilm

Geography Club

Year:2013
Length: 80 Minutes
Director: Gary Entin



Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Based on Brent Hartinger’s best-selling critically acclaimed novel, Geography Club is a smart, fast, and funny account of contemporary teenagers as they discover their own sexual identities, dreams, and values. While finding the truth too hard to hide, they all decide to form the Geography Club thinking nobody else would ever want to join. However, their secrets may soon be discovered and they could have to face the choice of revealing who they really are. -Kanopy

We hope you enjoy our selection of fine feature films! Part One, our selection of documentaries , is right here. Stay warm!

#WinterWarmers Queer Film Fest 2020 Part One- Documentaries

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A person holding a rainbow flag in front of their body and face.

As International Pride Month draws to a close and the weather outside gets a little colder, there’s no better time to snuggle up, sip a warm beverage, and enjoy some excellent queer cinema from around the world.

Your WCL membership provides access to streaming video services, which host a cornucopia of cinematic delights. You can find out more about how to access these online video options on our eLibrary page.

In this first edition of our #WinterWarmers Queer Film Fest, our staff have collated some of our favourite documentaries. Stay tuned for part two, later this week, when we will share our picks of the finest fictional features from around the world.

Georgie Girl

Year: 2002
Length: 70 Minutes
Directors: Annie Goldson and Peter Wells

Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Georgina Beyer is a transgender woman and former sex-worker who was elected to the New Zealand Government by a largely white, rural electorate. Georgie Girl traces Georgina Beyer’s colorful path — her rural past, born as George and raised on a farm, through periods of drug use and sex work, to her election in 1999 into national office under Labour Government headed by Helen Clark. Georgina, who is of Māori descent, has been an inspiration to many, an example of a courageous individual who overcame adversity, marginalization and discrimination.-Kanopy

The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye

Year: 1994
Length: 72 Minutes
Director: Cheryl Dunye

Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Vilified by conservatives in Congress, defended by major newspapers, and celebrated by audiences and festivals around the world as one of the most provocative, humorous and important filmmakers of our time, Cheryl Dunye practically invented a new form of cinema – call it the ‘Dunyementary.’ Presented here are the films that started it all – the early works which gave birth to an extraordinary and original filmmaking talent. Made with great creativity on often miniscule budgets, they represent the first chapter of the Cheryl Dunye oeuvre. Films in this collection include Greetings from Africa, The Potluck and the Passion, An Untitled Portrait, Vanilla Sex, She Don’t Fade, and Janine.-Kanopy

I Am Not Your Negro

Year:2016
Length: 93 Minutes
Director: Raoul Peck

Watch the full film here on Beamafilm.

Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck (The Man by the Shore, Moloch Tropical, Murder in Pacot), returns with a transcendent documentary examining the life and work of literary iconoclast and queer icon James Baldwin. The Oscar-nominated “I Am Not Your Negro” is based on Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript “Remember This House”, a stirring, personal account of the lives and deaths of his friends and US Civil Rights Movement leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Through these accounts, Baldwin’s considered yet razor-sharp activism bears witness to the impact and legacy of race in America, which forms the focus of Peck’s cinematic dissection of the enduring effects of social and racial inequality.-Beamafilm

Tales of the Waria

Year:2011
Length: 57 Minutes
Director: Kathy Huang

Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population. It is also home to the “warias,” a community of biological men who live openly as women. In this eye-opening documentary, four warias search for romance and intimacy. They encounter a host of obstacles– family pressures, economic burdens, aging– but strive to stay true to themselves and to find lasting companionship. Shot over three years with the local queer community serving as story consultants and film crew members, the film provides an unprecedented look into topics rarely discussed in Western media: Indonesia, Islamic culture, and the daily life and struggles of transgender communities around the world.-Kanopy

Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw

Year:2015
Length: 58 Minutes
Director: Rick Goldsmith

Watch the full film here on Kanopy.

Mind/Game’s portrait of “the female Michael Jordan,” from troubled family life to basketball superstardom, reveals a long-hidden battle with mental illness. But even as Holdsclaw begins to embrace her emotional challenges and emerge as an outspoken mental health advocate, she encounters new obstacles to her own recovery. Narrated by Glenn Close.-Kanopy

Kumu Hina

Year:2014
Length: 77 Minutes
Director: Dean Hamer

Watch the full film here on Kanopy.
Imagine a world where a little boy can grow up to be the woman of his dreams, and a young girl can rise to become a leader among men. Welcome to Kumu Hina’s Hawai’i. During a momentous year in her life in modern Honolulu, Hina Wong-Kalu, a native Hawaiian mahu, or transgender, teacher uses traditional culture to inspire a student to claim her place as leader of the school’s all-male hula troupe. But despite her success as a teacher, Hina longs for love and a committed relationship. Will her marriage to a headstrong Tongan man fulfill her dreams? An incredible docu-drama that unfolds like a narrative film, Kumu Hina reveals a side of Hawai’i rarely seen on screen. -Kanopy

Stay tuned for our selection of fictional features, coming later this week. Stay warm!

Black Lives Matter: Fiction & Film Resources

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Omaha, Nebraska, 1915. A young postal worker named George Johnson quits his job to found the Lincoln Motion Picture Company with his brother Noble. Just over a year later the brothers have moved to L.A., where they go on to make six films before winding down in 1923. Today, the Lincoln Motion Picture Company is recognised as not only America’s first all-black movie production unit, but the first to “showcase African-American talent in the full sphere of cinema.”

Two years after the closure of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, another series of stories exploring the black experience in America is being assembled, this time in print. They emerge not from the Midwest but New York, in the pages of The New Negro: An Interpretation, under the editorship of Howard University professor Alain Locke. The New Negro will go on to become the key text of the Harlem Renaissance.

Film and fiction have been two particularly powerful mediums for exploring the black experience in America since the work of the Johnson brothers over one hundred years ago. Below you’ll find a selection of contemporary films and novels that continue this exploration, including the award-winning works of Spike Lee, the genre-expanding novels of N.K. Jemisin and the experimental movie-making of Cheryl Dunye. For equally powerful non-fiction examples, visit our Black Lives Matter: Non-Fiction Resources blog.

FICTION

Sing, unburied, sing : a novel / Ward, Jesmyn
“Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The Nickel boys : a novel / Whitehead, Colson
“Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. But one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King’s assertion, ‘Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.’ But fellow inmate Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Such a fun age / Reid, Kiley
“Alix is a woman who gets what she wants. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler in their local supermarket. The store’s security guard, seeing a young black woman out with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping. Alix resolves to make things right, but both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about each other.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The fifth season / Jemisin, N. K
“This is the way the world ends…for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Red at the bone / Woodson, Jacqueline
“Red at the Bone opens with Melody celebrating her 16th birthday at her grandparents’ Brooklyn brownstone. Melody’s mother never did get her own 16th birthday party, and therein lies a tale of two families separated by class, ambition, gentrification, sexual desire, and unexpected parenthood.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

FILMS

The Watermelon Woman
Year: 1996
Director: Cheryl Dunye

Watch the full film here.

“Cheryl Dunye plays a version of herself in this witty, nimble landmark of New Queer Cinema. A video store clerk and fledgling filmmaker, Cheryl becomes obsessed with the “most beautiful mammy,” a character she sees in a 1930s movie. Determined to find out who the actress she knows only as the “Watermelon Woman” was and make her the subject of a documentary, she starts researching and is bowled over to discover that not only was Fae Richards (Lisa Marie Bronson) a fellow Philadelphian but also a lesbian.” (Kanopy)

Fig
Year: 2010
Director: Ryan Coogler

Watch the full film here.

“Directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther), Fig is a this sympathetic look at the life of a working class mother, a prostitute named Candice wants nothing more than to provide a good life for her daughter Kyla. One night that she is unable to find a babysitter for Kyla, Candice takes her to the corner where she picks up johns and leaves her in the car. When Candice is with a john, Kyla is found alone by the police and is taken into emergency foster care. When she finds out, Candice does everything in her power to convince the social worker in charge of Kyla’s case that she really does love her daughter very much.” (Kanopy)

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
Year: 2014
Director: Spike Lee

Watch the full film here.

“Spike Lee’s stylized thriller Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a new kind of love story. Dr. Hess Green becomes cursed by a mysterious ancient African artifact and is overwhelmed with a newfound thirst for blood. He, however, is not a vampire. Soon after his transformation he enters into a dangerous romance with Ganja Hightower that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status in our seemingly sophisticated society.” (Kanopy)

StayAtHome Film Festival: Neil’s Comedy Picks

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“There’s only one sure thing in this life, Blondini, and that’s doubt. I think.” — Bruno Lawrence in Goodbye Pork Pie

One of the best things you can do during tough times is to sit down and lose yourself in a great comedy film. In my view watching comedy films is good for you, and our free library movie streaming services Beamafilm and Kanopy have some absolute comic gold. I’ve picked just a few of my favourites and tried my best to make the selection as broad as possible to suit every taste and tickle a wide variety of different funny bones.

The choices range from from Howard Hawks’ sassy, wise-cracking masterpiece His Girl Friday to Juzo Itami’s off beat but fabulous “ramen western” Tampopo–not to mention the opportunity to watch Geoff Murphy’s seminal Kiwi comedy classic Goodbye Pork Pie. I hope you enjoy my picks and are inspired to explore our extensive movie catalogue further. Enjoy!

Tampopo

Year: 1985
Length: 116 minutes
Director: Juzo Itami

Click here to watch the full film!

Juzo Itami’s “ramen western” is a totally unique, wryly funny Japanese comedy revolving round food and relationships. It will simultaneously make you laugh and your mouth water and perhaps even tempt you into the kitchen. It is often described as the best movie about food ever! The plot is simple: a pair of truck drivers befriend the widowed owner of a noodle restaurant, and the narrative is interwoven with other stories about food on various levels. This delicious comedy is sweet, surreal and unlike any other.

Discover More:

Overdrive: Hungry after watching Tampopo? Check out the great selection of cookbooks available on Overdrive.

Borrowbox: Borrowbox also has cookbooks available as eBooks–especially Australian titles. Enjoy!

Mon Oncle

Year: 1958
Length: 111 minutes
Director: Jacques Tati

Click here to watch the full film!

Another truly unique comic masterpiece, this time about the central character’s struggle to understand the French fascination with modern architecture and the modern world. This multi-award-winning film features the recurring Tati character of Mr Hulot: in this particular film he is a slightly lost soul bemused by the vagrancies of the modern world. Tati elevates sight comedy to unexpected and unpredictable heights–to, as some people have commented, almost philosophical levels. It also sports a huge supporting cast of dogs which Tati found in the local dog pound. After the film ended, he had become so attached to the dogs he refused to return them there, instead finding homes for them by advertising in a local newspaper: “good homes required for film stars”. This side-story reflects well the film’s quirky, warm-hearted and synchronous nature.

Discover More:

RBdigital: Monsieur Hulot may have struggled with modern architecture, but you don’t have to! Browse contemporary architecture and design magazines (including Architectural Digest and Interior) via RBdigital.

Mango Languages: Did you know that two versions of Mon Oncle were filmed at the same time–one with the dialogue in French, the other in English! (They also swapped out the street signs in the background.) Understand both versions with the help of Mango Languages.

The General

Year: 1926
Length: 75 minutes
Director: Buster Keaton

Click here to watch the full film!

This classic silent movie from the birth of cinema is often cited as one of the best movies ever made. Buster Keaton–“the comic who never smiles”–stars as a locomotive driver during the America Civil War. It’s a physical comedy, but a strong case could be made that this film is in fact the birth of the action movie. The startling, breath-taking, real-life stunts and action-driven plot insures that it rattles along at a breakneck pace, adding strength to such a claim.

Discover More:

Proquest Research Library: Did you know that in the real-life events that inspired The General, it’s the Union army rather than the Confederates that conduct the raid? Learn more at the Proquest Research Library.

Gale in Context: Biography: Roger Ebert has called Buster Keaton “the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”, but how exactly did he get the name Buster? Find out at Gale in Context: Biography!

His Girl Friday

Year: 1940
Length: 92 minutes
Director: Howard Hawks

Watch the full film here!

His Girl Friday is a masterclass in wise-cracking, sassy, super-fast, ultra-sharp comic dialogue. Made during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the virtuosic comic performances from leads Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell combine with the fabulously taut script to make this screwball comedy funny to this day. The overlapping jokes, dialogue and comic moments come so thick and fast you really need to watch it twice to pick up on everything that’s going on.

Discover More:

DigitalNZ: Before he appeared onscreen, Carey Grant worked in vaudeville–but have you ever wondered about vaudeville in New Zealand? Check out DigitalNZ to see some fantastic local vaudeville posters, reviews and more.

Haynes Manuals AllAccess: Did you know that one of Carey Grant’s first cars was a 1927 Packard Sport Phaeton? He probably didn’t do his own repairs, but if he did he could have used our Haynes Manuals AllAccess database!

Goodbye Pork Pie

Year: 1980
Length: 105 minutes
Director: Geoff Murphy

Watch the full film here!

Even if this seminal Kiwi classic comedy has dated somewhat, it is still an essential watch for anyone interested in NZ film. Shot in 1979 on a tiny budget, the film is a time capsule of certain aspects of NZ life in the early 1980s. The film’s comedy is energetic, frenetic, frantic, sarcastic and very Kiwi. The film’s fast-moving plot involves two loser heroes who race across the New Zealand landscape in a yellow mini, getting into all sorts of scrapes and escapades along the way.

Discover More:

Naxos Jazz Library: As well as being a director, Geoff Murphy was also known for playing a mean jazz trumpet. Listen to streaming audio of classic jazz via our fantastic jazz database!

BWB Books Treaty of Waitangi Collection: Geoff Murphy’s third film, Utu, is partly based on the life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki. Read more about Te Kooti in Judith Binney’s Redemption Songs: A Life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki, available now via our BWB books collection.

Frances Ha

Year: 2012
Length: 86 minutes
Director: Noah Baumbach

Watch the full film here!

Steeped in the vibe that is New York in the early part of the 21st century, this is a tale of New York youngsters, their lives, loves and relationships as seen through the eyes of a struggling dancer. Greta Gerwig’s portrayal of the endearing, loopy, slightly maddening and very endearing central character Frances Ha steals the show. It is a touching, fresh, gentle and friendly observational comedy that uses New York as a kind of side character and is a really enjoyable way to spend a night, afternoon or morning in.

Discover More:

Naxos Video Library: Did you know that the Naxos Video Library contains live recordings of a range of dance productions? (As well as theatre, opera, jazz and more!)

Combined search: Frances Ha has been described as “mumblecore”–but what exactly is this genre? Search across our eResources to find a range of explanations.