Documentary Film Festival

I just had a really lovely evening. I decided to go to to a film at the hot docs festival - actually a short Elvis Italiano and a semi-feature called Juchitan, Queer Paradise . Turns out the film was on at the Royal which is down in little Italy. I took the streetcar down on an absolutely gorgeous evening, and strolled around the village for a while. I've been to little Italy before but it was in the middle of winter. Then it looked very pretty - hell a rubbish dump looks pretty after a good snowfall - but a bit closed off, an insiders type of place. Today all the cafes and restaurants had grown sundecks and all the sundecks were covered in tables of laughing people. It's a little like Melbourne in feel but much more European in feel. There was a huge queue in front of the theatre for stand-by tickets. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to stay but I thought - why not, even if I don't get a ticket its a nice way to people watch.

I wasn't in the line for 2 minutes before this woman came up asking which line it was for. I told her and she said she had an extra ticket. She thrust it into my hand and strode off. I ran after her to thank her (I offered to at least buy her a cup of coffee) but she looked so uncomfortable I just said thanks.

Then as I was waiting for the film to start I smiled a a woman who sat down in front of me and we got to talking and it turns out she:
- has a friend in Montreal who might rent me a room for a few days; and
- has travelled extensively in Central America and wants to give me lots of tips

Susan reminds me a lot of Sam's mum (hi Sam!) vibrant and confident and aware of her own presence. We're going to meet for a cup of coffee before I leave.

And the film was AMAZING!!!! If you ever get a chance to see Juchitan, Queer Paradise make sure you do. It was a beautiful, insightful and unique look at the queer male community in Juchitan, Mexico; where traditional Indian culture mixes with Mexican spanish. Juchitan might not be an actual 'queer paradise' but its a hell of a lot closer than the rest of Mexico and even much of the West.

My favourite lines include the (straight male) Mayor saying "homosexuals should be our roles models cos they work double the rest of us. They do a man's and a woman's role" and a teacher, "I'm a gay man, a teacher and I love my job" - there are few gay teachers in Canada or Australia who would feel safe enough to make such an open declaration on public tv.

Altogether just one of those serendipitous kinds of days