Everyone’s favourite taboo subject is destined to be discussed by all school children before they enter college (and not just in the playground). As sex education is set to be  compulsory for everyone over the age of 15 from 2011, some groups are still saying education ISN’T the key.  Is ignorance bliss, or is knowledge key?

The general sex-ed syllabus is as follows:

Age 5-7 - puberty, relationships and how to keep safe
Age 7 - 11 - puberty, relationships including marriage, divorce, separation, same sex and civil partnerships and managing emotions and dealing with negative pressures
Age 11 - 14 - Sexual activity, human reproduction, contraception, pregnancy, STDs including HIV/Aids and high risk behaviours, relationships, including those between old, young, girls, boys and same sex
Age 14 - 16 - Body image and health, choices relating to sexual activity and substance misuse, and the emotional well-being, reducing risk and minimising harm, parenting skills and family life, separation, divorce and bereavements, prejudice and bullying

Under current laws, parents have the right to withdraw their children from classes up to the age of 19 (although only a tiny minority –some 0.04%– choose to do so). The new law will also force all faith schools to discuss same-sex relationships and contraception.

HIV remains the most prominent STI in the headlines. Researchers are starting to  develop vaccines that show some effect, but HIV is still a major problem. (Thailand, 2009)

People continue to be discriminated against on the grounds of HIV status, with ‘One third’ of sufferers experiencing some form of discrimination, and the US only now lifting bans on travel and immigration. There are also claims that HIV stigma fuels homophobia. Yet with bareback porn proving increasingly popular, groups and charities have been coming under attack for becoming lax and wishy-washy in HIV prevention compared to the ‘no-nonsense’ campaigns of the 80s. In a 2008 survey, 82 per cent of Pink Paper readers voted for harder-hitting HIV campaigns.

There is also some contention around forms of campaign, with one Yorkshire charity criticised for distributing condoms in cruising areas. Whilst two thirds of gay men are apparently testing for HIV, half don’t discuss it with casual sex partners.

Meanwhile, the gov is under fire for wasting money on its chlamydia screening program, the ‘invisible’ STI that continues to spread, especially amongst young people (and even koalas).

Porn actors pressured into producing bareback porn have spoken out in the past, as it led to their infection with STIs, however barebacking is still prevalent on the scene and the world wide web.

BBC Newsnight discovered that four out of eight young men who took part in a shoot were diagnosed as HIV+ shortly after. One victim explained that he was approached on the internet site Gaydar just after his 18th birthday. He was told everyone else was HIV negative, but never saw anyone else’s certificates.

Pornography in any form remains controversial. A US senator’s chief-of-staff recently advocated an anti-porn campaign telling boys that “porn makes you gay”. Actors face discrimination in more mainstream workplaces, even losing jobs (be it as TV stars or fast-food servers). A 25year old PE teacher in Kent was exposed as a former porn star after photos were circulated across Facebook by students. He chose to resign amidst a storm of media attacks, but has not been prevented from obtaining other teaching positions.

A lot of porn sub-cultures still remain outside the media spotlight, with furries (people who have a fascination with anthropomorphic animals - animals that are given human traits, like walking and talking. They can be anything from cartoons characters like Bugs Bunny to computer game personalities like Pokemon) only recently being discovered by mainstream media, hentai (drawn pornography) and the even lesser-known ‘yaoi’ (boy-love, oddly often “by women, for women”) and ’shota’ (featuring prepubescent characters) communities are almost invisible to the general public. Debates abound on whether such images should be legal or not; the acts they often depict would be illegal were they ever enacted, but proponents insist that art and drawings should be allowed, as they harm no-one.

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I’ve just posted a bunch of reviews, the short films are missing because we have one more batch to watch today, then as I’m on the jury, we will deliberate and decide upon a winner, so it’s all very hush hush!

Torino is very friendly, I went to see the Shroud yesterday in the Duomo and had a guided tour from a lovely lady who didn’t speak much English, but through a range of Romance languages we got there in the end!

I have done NO partying and it’s day 4!  In fairness the film last night did finish at 1:30am, so there’s not a lot of time for it, but tonight they threaten to take us to some kind of sex club…

My other jurors are frighteningly clever and experienced (well I am the youngest by a LONG way), but fortunately they’re very nice, so we have happy banter - let’s see if that remains as we decide the winner!

(btw, did you know it is now illegal to eat in public in Milan?  Imagine - no late night kebabs! No ice-cream in the sun!  Terrible!)

Daybreak (Adolfo B Alix Jr, Phillipines)

Two men, one of them married, meet at a family vacation home after some time apart. They recommence an affair and face the possibilities ahead of them.

This was clearly a budget shoot, with directorial aspirations beyond the limits of filming on video – which does not show as much promise at that might sound. It’s a dreary tale, more a precursor to something that never happens. The title credits occur somewhere in the middle of the film, probably a quirk to spare us the silence of the couple eating dinner. Recommended for people who like cheap representations of tortured love.

Serbis (Service) (Brillante Mendoza, Phillipines/France)

A family operate a run-down porno cinema. Hustlers and patrons get to work inside, as the family are preoccupied with their own chores and vices.

This is an engaging and original piece of cinema. When it started I thought I was watching yet another long tracking shot, as is so typical in art house cinema. But as the film progressed I realised that traditional narrative and scene structure had been thrown out the dilapidated window. What we experience as the audience, is almost from the perspective of the building. Walking down corridors, spying into rooms and dark corners. The progression of time is so natural that you feel you could be there, perhaps that transsexual hooker sashaying up and down the stairs. It’s a very dirty film, both in terms of sexual content and flooded toilets. It straddles a divide between mundane and absurd – see hand washing clothes followed by chasing a stray goat out of the cinema screen – brilliant. Watching this will be a worthwhile and unique experience.

Wu sheng feng ling (Soundless Wind Chime) (Kit Hung, Hong Kong, China, Switzerland)

A Chinese waiter and a Swiss thief, meet and fall in love in Hong Kong. They find it difficult living together in a small room with the waiter’s prostitute aunt. When Pascal, the Swiss, dies, his partner Ricky makes a journey to Switzerland to find his lover’s lost soul.

With overtones of poetry, mythology and philosophy, this film is almost dreamlike. There are two definite narrative strands at work, but as we glide between two characters played by the same actor, we are never entirely certain which part of a cycle we are on. Moments of beauty jarred with romantic angst, in a sometimes unconvincing way, spoiling what I believe could have been a more complex visual poem. Well worth a watch for the space you are given to think and appreciate masterful flourishes, but unlikely to stay with you for very long.

Rabioso sol, rabiosa cielo (Raging Sun, Raging Sky) (Julian Hernandez, Mexico)

Hernandez portrays love as an epic act of martyrdom in which redemption and fulfilment can only be found in the afterlife. The story involves two men in love, who find each other after a long struggle, but are just as soon separated. Heaven’s heart herself guides them back together, but it takes a sacrifice.

This is a difficult film to review as it stands alone, a unique visual poem. With sparse dialogue, this is more akin in form to a ballet, without the pirouettes. Perhaps comparisons could be made to early surrealist experiments, but without the reactionary impetus, or even Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane. Beautifully shot, with beautiful men, you really have to make your own mind up, if you have the endurance for 191 mins of experimental cinema.

(PS – my screening finished at 1:30am, so if I can do it and not hate it, then you can too!)

Khastegi (Sex My Life) (Bahman Motamedian, Iran)

Seven young transsexuals struggle with their identities in Tehran, amidst a forceful and patriarchal Iranian society. This film is nominated for ‘Best documentary’, although it is mostly acted and scripted, employing some documentary style techniques. It is interesting that particularly in Europe the interpretation of documentary is much more flexible and makes for some wonderful experiments.

Such is this film, at once informative and compelling, funny and tragic. The genetically female taxi driver who identifies as male is potentially a work of comic genius, were it not for the fact that real people do struggle in these situations. But I couldn’t help but laugh as she confronts her ‘betrothed’ with the line: “next time you want to get married, see the bride first. Do you really want to marry this?”

By giving the characters, such strength, Motamedian avoids exploitation, as is so typical now with the misguided notion that a good documentary does not interact with its subject. Personally, I’ve always thought it was fine to take a stand.

Les Parents (Christophe Hermans, Belgium)

A documentary about a gay couple running a small home for the elderly, who decide it is time to sell up and leave.

This is perhaps the most emotionally complex of the features I have seen. The gay couple, at times, treat their elderly residents like children – which instantly raises a whole bunch of issues: are they just being kind, or condescending; are they child substitutes? Alain and Richard are constantly trying to lift the depressing mood with wry comments, and indeed, some audience members would laugh at them, and the Alzheimers induced ramblings of Noelle – but I find it quite upsetting. Alain is not so much a professional carer as ‘looking for a nice granny’ as can be seen when he is chastising a new resident for refusing to be strapped to her bed at night.

But these are just a few of my initial emotional responses, and what that tells me is that this is a well made documentary, designed to get you talking.

Una questione delicate (A delicate matter) (Peter Marcias, Italy)

Something about a boy who is beaten up in Rome…the Pope visits Sardinia…he talks to us for 30mins as though what he has to say is worth our time.

Supposedly a documentary, but more like a teenage youtube video diary. And if you think I’m being harsh, you should have heard the abuse hurled at him in the Q and A after the showing. (Well OK, my Italian is limited, but I got the gist from the shouting and pointing).

Sarajevo Queer Festival 2008 (Deviservic/Hilcisin, Bosnia Herzegovina)

Queer people and violent opponents clash on the streets of Sarajevo during the first Queer Festival, controversially held during Ramadan.

More of a news story than an insightful documentary, although if you aren’t aware of the troubles in Eastern Europe this is well worth a watch. Solutions aren’t really on offer, nor is an explanation of the tensions, but we do get a detailed chronicle of events leading up to the first Queer festival, hopefully not the last.

If One Thing Matters – A film about Wolfgang Tillmans (Heiko Kalmbach, Germany/USA)

Pretty much what it says on the tin, except that for a documentary released in 2008 it is strangely out of date, following him from 2000-03. I doubt you’ll learn anything from this, except how sweet Wolfgang seems, with his puppyish enthusiasm for his work, and that he liked to party in Ghetto. You may just as well go and see one of his excellent exhibitions.

The only exception would be his humorously haphazard approach to being asked to make a music video for The Pet Shop Boys that result in a badly lit, performance, mixed with images of London Underground mice.

The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein, USA)

If like me, you thought Milk was absolute tosh and piffle, then PLEASE watch this Oscar winning documentary from 1985, and learn about Harvey Milk from the people that knew him. By focussing less on the run up to his election, and campaigning techniques, and more on the after effects of his actions and death, it becomes less a biopic and more a treatise on how a society progressed. The most interesting aspect for me, not explored in Milk (as Gus Van Sant seemed to think a slow motion shooting was more important) was the public reaction to the trial of Dan White which followed. It is easy to see why, with that kind of miscarriage of justice, the initially peaceful candlelight vigils, descended into bitter violence.

    It has come to my attention that you are de-ranking books,
supposedly on the basis of “adult content.” Apparently, according to
the Amazon Dictionary, this is defined as books that have anything at
all to do with GLBT characters, authors, issues, or references, with
some general erotica being roped in, as well. In the meantime,
however, books on the illegal, inhumane, and horrifyingly violent
sport of dog fighting remain ranked and appear on a first page search
under “dog fighting”: http://bit.ly/18l70B. Further, a search under
“playboy” yields as the first return “Playboy: Wet and Wild Complete
Collection,” followed by “Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds,” and so
on. At what point did “adult content” exclude nude women and dogs
killing other dogs for sport?

    This is nothing short of discrimination; this is nothing short of
censorship. This is nothing a business that claims commercial
integrity at even the most basic level would do. Consequently, as a
longtime Amazon customer, I look forward to an immediate reversal of
this ridiculous policy. Otherwise, I will purchase elsewhere and
encourage everyone else I know to do the same.

- Drew Miles

Baby Love

The closing night film was Baby Love. A perfect choice – not only did it reflect the trend for films about gay marriage and adoption, but it is a brilliant film in its own right.

The film opens with a gay couple, Phillipe and Emmanuel (played by the rather gorgeous Lambert Wilson, who you may recognise from The Matrix films – or if you’re very unlucky, Catwoman). Emmanuel wants a child, but Phillipe doesn’t, which leads to a split and a chance meeting with potential surrogate, Fina.

Comic touches keep the audience on its toes and prevent the drama from being overplayed, but this is some serious material. Just as i suspected it was sinking into familiar territory it changed direction, along with your sympathies.

It has been fascinating to see this subject approached from different countries, from the legal liberalism of Spain, to this film, set in France, where gay adoption is still impossible. It’s the perfect time for films such as these, as, globally, we try to reconcile civil rights with social attitude. Well made films such as these, respectful, insightful and entertaining, can only help matters.

Tim Macavoy