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07/20/2009
Mississippi Damned Takes Top Outfest Prize
Mississippi Damned, an intertwined, intergenerational drama about three impoverished Black kids in rural Mississippi took the top drama prize at L.A.'s gay and lesbian film festival Outfest, which ended yesterday.
Watch the trailer, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 10:15 AM EST by Andy Towle | Permalink
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...and yet from this trailer alone I'm not compelled I'm not compelled to watch it as I can't really tell what it is about.
Posted by: The Phoenix | Jul 20, 2009 10:57:54 AM
WAAAAALLLLLT!!!
Posted by: crispy | Jul 20, 2009 11:20:26 AM
Damn! Crispy beat me to it. :-( :-(
Posted by: Henry Holland | Jul 20, 2009 11:37:37 AM
Why does it seem that the only Black films that win awards are the ones where the characters are poor, full of angst/anger and screaming/slapping at each in every other scene, with the "wise mama/grandmama/great-grandmama/aunt" injecting quiet pearls of wisdom in between? Can we get a LITTLE more complex, please?
Posted by: Q | Jul 20, 2009 11:51:22 AM
complex...like...?
Posted by: sonofabutch | Jul 20, 2009 12:11:51 PM
Fuck you, "Q"
It's a teriffic movie about life in a small southern town among people our supposedly "post-racial" society has forgotten. There are a wide variety of characters in the story, one of them a young lesbian pining for the woman who left her to marry a man and have a supposedly more "respectable" life. But as the film shows there's no escape for those trapped in poverty.
Kimba Salli (who some of you may recall as the feisty Nina on "Third Rock From the Sun") takes it all home with a climactic speech that simply floored me. This is great filmmaking boys and girls.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Jul 20, 2009 12:20:36 PM
Glad to see some good stuff I saw at the SF fest won too, including the knockout "Rivers Wash Over Me" and the surprisingly moving "Greek Pete" and "College Boys Live."
Posted by: Dback | Jul 20, 2009 12:23:10 PM
All the capital *P* pathos and syrup piano in the world doesn't change the fact that this is high praise from a bunch of LA film fest people have no earthly idea about what life in Mississippi is like. They probably couldn't even find the state on a map. One sub-plot throws in a lesbian or one and a half lesbians or whatever, and it gets a big thumbs up from the gay festival? I like Outfest and all, but ultimately this is not a gay film.
Posted by: Pee Town | Jul 20, 2009 12:32:35 PM
I'd be interested in seeing this. Often I think that class issues constrain the ability to be open and fulfilled as gay men and women. Its likely way easier to find like minds and have a pool of elidigibles in densely populated meccas, but the contrast here of the rural deep south where gay men and women are arguably left behind makes for an interesting story too.
And "Q" there are in fact more than one type of black narritive, but a narritive about how confining life is (and possibly how unchanged its been for generations) in this area of the South for this group of people is more than worth hammering home. It might make people feel better to watch the Huxtables, but this is reality for a lot of people too.
Posted by: g_whiz | Jul 20, 2009 1:03:53 PM
No fuck YOU, David Ehrenstein.
There is no way that anyone would have been able to gleen your description of the plot from watching this trailer. All it shows is a bunch of scenes of screaming Black people, which gives the impression that is like every similar Black film before it.
G_Whiz, I never said that Black hard life was not a worthy narrative. But when there is such a dearth of modern Black cinema, reusing that theme ad infinitum gets tired and ultimately loses much of it's bite, in my opinion. We are much more than poor, angry sharecroppers and The Huxtables. But those stories don't win awards.
Posted by: Q | Jul 20, 2009 1:53:33 PM
Peetown,
What exactly is a "gay" film? So, a movie directed by a lesbian about a lesbian and her family isn't a gay movie?
Posted by: nate | Jul 20, 2009 1:59:49 PM
NATE
maybe Peetown, would call it gay if it was an all-white cast.
Posted by: johnosahon | Jul 20, 2009 8:21:01 PM
Q,
No offense but what other Black films have won the LA film fest?
Posted by: db | Jul 20, 2009 8:35:48 PM
DB, my observation was not directed at the LA festival specifically.
Posted by: Q | Jul 20, 2009 10:53:33 PM
I saw it. Voted for it. My family is from Mississippi. Outfest was great this year.
Posted by: Dhani Darko | Jul 20, 2009 11:18:33 PM
Wow, all of your comments are interesting. But please remember to be respectful. We are all entitle to our opinion. No need to curse. Moving on...If you all are in the New York area, Mississippi Damped will be the opening film for Queer Black Cinema Film & Music Festival. You may check us out at http://www.FESTIVAL.queerblackcinema.org. You may also see an exclusive interview with Tina & Morgan on INSIDE THE Q TV show at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jka3bfnbE5Q. I hope to see you all there . The festival is October 15 - 18.
Posted by: QueerBlackCinema.org | Aug 23, 2009 12:36:23 PM
I personally think it was great that this film won Outfest. It shows the evolution of gay cinema. It's time to move beyond just showing coming out stories. While there's definitely a place and a need for those types of stories, there also needs to be stories that go beyond that premise. I had the luxury of seeing this ground-breaking film and talking with these lesbian filmmakers at the Chicago FF. It might please you to know that both the writer/director and producer/editor are lesbians. Plus, the director (who's story this is based upon) is actually from Mississippi and she said she didn't leave until she was 22, so I think she might know a thing or two about where she came from. And as far as the comment about awards being given to film with black people hitting each other, the film is more than that. And please remember that most DRAMAS get awards. The majority of black films out now are Tyler Perry's melodramatic, poorly written and directed comedies. They are not winning any awards anytime soon. I say go support this film when it comes out. You will not be disappointed.
Posted by: cinemahog | Nov 19, 2009 12:25:26 PM
Thanks for your comments Cinemahog. I just saw this film at the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, NC. I LOVED it! The writer/director surely does know something about living in the south. It seems like many of these comments are from people who haven't seen this amazing film. And as far as the trailer, I love it too! It is actually why I went to see the movie. It's great seeing a film that has a gay character in it and not just about being gay. I too got to meet the filmmakers after the screening and shouldn't gay cinema also be classified as such if the filmmakers are gay? Finally this movie is complex with complicated characters who can not be seen as either all bad or all good. The story draws you in and never lets you go. I hope this film comes to theaters cause more people need to see this authentic story from an original new voice!
Posted by: southerngal | Nov 19, 2009 12:38:53 PM