Reel Proud: A Film Seminar for LGBTQ+ High School Students is a free summer seminar spotlighting films by LGBTQ+ artists featuring LGBTQ+ lead characters. It is designed to serve rising 10th, 11th and 12th LGBTQ+ students. A presentation of the Belcourt’s education and engagement program and Oasis Center’s Just Us, Reel Proud explores LGBTQ+ life in film and focuses on representation on both sides of the camera.
Students will meet at the Belcourt Tue-Thu, Jun 13-15, 10am-1:30pm to watch films and discuss with their peers. Reel Proud is facilitated by T. Minton, Belcourt public historian, archivist and front of house manager; Sheronica Hayes, Belcourt special projects associate and front of house manager; and Joseph Clark, Oasis Center’s Just Us program manager.
Participation in Reel Proud is by application only. This seminar is offered at no cost to participants, but capacity is limited, and students must apply and be selected to attend. It is designed for students only and is meant to be taken in its entirety (no single sessions). Please note that the seminar is for rising 10th, 11th and 12th grade students.
Lunch and movie snacks will be provided.
Reel Proud features high-quality films designed to spark conversation about important issues. Because of that, some films contain profanity, sexual situations, drug/alcohol use and violence.
Applications are due Thu, June 1, and applicants will be notified Fri, June 2.
Tue, June 13 | FRAMING AGNES (Dir. Chase Joynt | USA | 2022 | 75 min.| NR)
Wed June 14 | THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE (Dir. Maria Maggenti | USA | 1995 | 94min. | R)
Thu, June 15 | MOONLIGHT (Dir. Barry Jenkins | USA | 2016 | 111 min. | R)
FRAMING AGNES
The pseudonymous Agnes was a pioneering transgender woman who participated in an infamous gender health study conducted at UCLA in the 1960s. Her clever use of the study to gain access to gender-affirming healthcare led to her status as a fascinating and celebrated figure in trans history. In this innovative cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt (NO ORDINARY MAN) uses Agnes’ story — along with others unearthed in long-shelved case files — to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed. In a collaborative practice of reimagination, an all-star cast of trans performers, artists and thinkers — including Angelica Ross (Pose), Jen Richards (Mrs. Fletcher), and Zackary Drucker (Transparent) — take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans history. This collective reclamation breaks down the myth of isolation among transgender history-makers, breathing new life into a lineage of collaborators and conspirators who have been forgotten for far too long.
THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE
Breaking new ground in queer representation when it was released in 1995, this tender and charming tale of first love traces the tentative relationship that develops between two high school girls from very different worlds. Randy (Laurel Holloman) is a white, tomboyish outsider working at her aunt’s gas station; Evie (Nicole Ari Parker) is a popular, well-off Black girl with a boyfriend. As an unlikely friendship built around poetry and music deepens into attraction, director Maria Maggenti captures the muddled emotions of adolescent romance with warmth, humor and refreshing authenticity.
MOONLIGHT
Writer-director Barry Jenkins (MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY) returns with an impeccably crafted study of African-American masculinity from a vital creative voice in contemporary cinema. Though his story is set in Miami, Jenkins shuns the familiar neon-lit aesthetic for a different kind of life, miles away from South Beach, in an area hit by a crack epidemic. Bullied at school and beaten down by a harsh home life, young Chiron risks becoming a statistic: another Black man dominated and ultimately destroyed by the system. As he grows, it becomes clear that his real battle is an internal one: reckoning with his complex love for his best friend. MOONLIGHT takes Chiron from childhood to his teens to adulthood — but instead of offering a clear progression of time, Jenkins plunges us into an impressionistic vision of Chiron’s psyche in which sensuality, pain and unhealed wounds take center stage. Anchored in an unforgettable performance by emerging talent Trevante Rhodes (as the older Chiron), MOONLIGHT explores the human need to feel connected.
