Lesbian Looks Gets Kicked off Next Week

The UA Lesbian Looks film series, now in its 17th year, will have its first screening on Oct. 9.

Award-winning films about sexuality and sexual identity are part of the upcoming Lesbian Looks film festival, an annual series held at The University of Arizona. 

Three films will be shown during the series, which is now in its 17th year and is co-sponsored by the UA School of Media Arts and Institute for LGBT Studies. 

"Straightlaced: How Gender's Got us All Tied Up" and "Pariah," which will be shown Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Gallagher Theater, located in the Student Union Memorial Center. Both are free and open to the public. 

The third film, "Drool," will be shown Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tickets are set at Loft Cinema prices and range between $4.75 and $8.75. The film has been screened in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and elsewhere. 

Debra Chasnoff's "Straightlaced" is about ways teenagers are "confronting popular messages about culture and body image to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren't gay," according to a prepared statement about the film.

The documentary delves into issues related to gender-based stereotypes and ways in which "appropriate" gender roles are messaged. 

"Much of the film and education work that has been done to date on any related topics has focused on the struggles of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) youth themselves," Chasnoff said in a statement. "But there has been very little attention paid to how all youth – and all adults – are deeply affected by homophobia and gender pressures, whether or not they are gay or straight."  

Filmmakers Dee Rees and Nekisa Cooper produced "Pariah," a dramatic coming-of-age film about a lesbian teenager who attempts to elude being rejected by family and friends by shifting her identity. 

The film has won awards at national festivals and has been screened in Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, at Sundance and abroad in Germany and Singapore, among other locations. 

Nancy Kissam's "Drool," which is being shown in Tucson as part of an exclusive engagement, is a dark comedy that explores violence, sexual harassment and racism.

Other co-sponsors aiding the series are the Jack and Vivian Hanson Arizona Film Institute, the McClelland Institute for Children, Youth and Families, the gender and women's studies department, the School of Anthropology, Center for Student Involvement in Leadership, English department and Men Against Violence.