The Wedding Banquet (Taiwan, Rep. of China) - awarded a Golden Berlin Bear.
With humour and sensibility the film tells the story of the double identity crisis of a Chinese gay living in New York who doesn't feel able to disappoint his mother who is continually reminding him of the need to get married and have children to carry on the family name. Although not directly an "for educating parents" film it can, and should be used for this purpose since it shows clearly the social pressures which homosexuals are subjected to without the raised (too obviously) teacher's finger.

Okoge (Japan)
Sayoko is an "Okoge" -- a word used to mean a woman who feels most comfortable in the company of gay men. She offers her flat to Tochi his young lover Goh since they have nowhere to meet. Tochi threatened by his wife ends the affair. Goh seeks a new partner who is really after Sayoko - and rapes her. She has a child and is stuck with him - and his gambling debts. She runs away and is saved from the gangster debt-collectors by a horde of battling "queens". Not a great film but enjoyable.

The prodigal Son (Finland)
Described in some film festival journal as a "subtle psychothriller", personally I found the main character unconvincing, and some of the scenes wantonly brutal as well as the whole largely homophobic. But then I could be wrong ...

The Cement Garden (France/GB) - Silver Berlin Bear for the best director, Alan Birkin
An extremely difficult "outsider" theme (incest) is dealt with naturally and finesse. Cinématically it has passages reminiscent of a William Turner or Constable painting which produces an appropriate link between the macabre contents and the screen picture. The English black-humour is present too. Artistically one of the best films I've seen in a long time.

Pretty Boy (Denmark)
Nick, a 13 year-old leaves the home of his prostitute mother to follow his own career as a rent-boy. He gets accommodation and temporary security with a married man, Ralph. Nick gets thrown out when Ralph's wife arrives back unexpectedly. Clearly violence is built up in the film and part of the "scene", but still I felt the murder of Ralph was largely violence for its own sake.

Plain Truth (Finland) - Teddy Bear
Cinematic art, beautiful and sensitive, interesting musically but VERY loud in places, this award winning film, depicts the transformation process from a woman to a man.

The Kiss (USA)
A charming film about another "outsider" The main character is very fat, and made fun of for this reason. He is, however, the only one with the courage to give the kiss of life to a choking AIDS patient.

Love in the Age of AIDS

Daybreak
- a film by Stephen Tolkin deals with the logical extension of the ideas of people suffering from Testo-mania - those who want to test everyone or large groups of the population for HIV. It is based on the play Beirut by Alan Bowne. A resistance group is operating in the USA during a kind of fascism, based on HIV+ and people with AIDS being the scapegoat instead of the Jews. "Helms" is one of the "hospital wards" in the camp where people are sent if discovered to be positive. The hospital is notable for its lack of care, humanity and medicines. The story deals with the love between two heteros, but the fact that gays play a minor role makes it no less relevant to the problems they would face if the "fundamentalists" gain the upperhand, rather it makes it easier for all people to relate to the film, in the near-civil-war situation, and gives "food for thought".

Silverlake Life: the view from here (Director: Peter Friedman)
made by Tom Joslin and his life-partner Mark Massi during their journey into the valley of death, this film is very moving, brings across just how great the loss is to lose a lover or friend in the prime of life. It is, however, a hymn to life. It has already received a prize at the Sundance (USA) film festival and a Teddy Bear in Berlin (1993) for the best gay/lesbian documentary. Two taboo themes are dealt with AIDS and death.

Amazing Grace and Savage Nights
The death from AIDS-related causes of Amos Gutman, (Amazing Grace) was announced during the festival, and Wild Nights director and lead actor, Cyril Collard, was announced three days before he was awarded 4 "Césars" by the French film industry reminds us of the cultural losses, as well as the personal ones we suffer due to AIDS. Amazing Grace shows the conditions for gays in Israel, and is based around Thomas a HIV+ person who returns to Israel to say last farewells to his family. The theme is handled with a combination of sensitivity and shyness. Significantly, if the word AIDS is used at all, it is very seldom; mostly a "new disease" is referred to. The contrast between these two films on a related theme is great. The French film depicts the life of Jean (Collard) who is coming to terms with being positive, as well as bi-sexual. A tense and fast-moving, sometimes exciting film, it gives little time to think. Laura thinks she has found the love of her life in Jean. After he has slept with her he tells her he is positive ... then there is Samy, Jean's male friend who is ten years younger... A good film which just stops short of being brutal reality.

Colin de la Motte-Sherman