The sexual double entendres are endless in the press release we got
for the Good Vibrations’ IXFF: The Second Coming Tour that comes
to the Cedar Lee Theatre (2163 Lee Rd., 216.321.5411, clevelandcinemas.com) at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20. Culled from the last three Independent Erotic
Film Festivals, which take place every year in San Francisco, the
shorts in the program run the gamut. “The central premise is that we’re
asking independent filmmakers to redefine what erotic is,” says Good
Vibrations’ events and promotions coordinator Camilla Lombard.
“We’ve had great success with the festival from San Francisco to
Boston, and this is a greatest-hits package that features the best of
the best.” Lombard gave us the lowdown on some of the highlights: In
Phil Loves San Francisco, a guy “makes sweet,
sweet love to various landmarks”; Narcisisster’s
Self-Gratifier is about a guy who creates “a very
fascinating and complicated exercise bike”; Men is
“a rather comical film about gay sex in men’s bathrooms.” At least two
of the filmmakers (Madison Young and Max Royale) have gone on to become
professional porn directors. “One of the things to get out of it is
that sex can be pretty funny,” says Lombard. “Not that there isn’t
straight-up hardcore sex. But some narrative does make the film more
engaging, whether it ends up being hardcore sex at the end of the
tunnel or not.” To introduce the erotic evening, Good Vibrations prez
Dr. Carol Queen, who calls herself the “staff sexologist and
chief cultural officer,” will give a brief history lesson for those who
think porn begins and ends with Jenna Jameson. Tickets are $10.
Influential Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó gets the retrospective treatment courtesy of the Cleveland Institute of
Art Cinematheque (11141 East Blvd., 216.421.7450, cia.edu/cinematheque), which will
show four of his films as part of a program called “Hungarian
Rhapsodies.” The series starts with the 1966 war film The
Round-Up (May 16 and 17) and includes The Red and
the White (May 22 and 23), Silence and Cry (May 30 and 31) and Red Psalm (June 6 and 7).
Tickets are $8 for each film.
To celebrate Cleveland Bicycle Week, the Cleveland Institute
of Art Cinematheque will show the quirky animated French film
The Triplets of Belleville at 7:30 p.m. Friday,
May 15, and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, May 16. Tickets are $8.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.
