Wednesday night, Oct. 14, at the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival:
Chica Busca Chica (Girl Looks for Girl): It’s like The L Word with subtitles. There’s the “I’m straight, but I’m into that one girl” lesbian; the “I just met you but I’m already in love with you and want you to move in with me” lesbian; the “I think I may be a lesbian so I’m just gonna dive into pussy head first” lesbian; and a few others thrown in for good measure. Sonia Sebastian’s film is funny without being slapstick; dramatic without being Telemundo; and other than a few shots of one particular character looking upsettingly anorexic, it’s pretty damn good. Wed. Oct. 14, 7 p.m., Tampa Theatre. —Courtney Bishop
Her Name Was Steven: If you think you know all about Susan née Steven Stanton, the Largo City Manager fired in 2007 after announcing that he was changing gender, think again. This CNN documentary not only recounts the now-familiar saga of his termination by the City Commission, it provides invaluable insight into Stanton’s life before and after that turning point. “It’s a little more complicated than I initially envisioned,” Stanton says early in the transition in what turns out to be a massive understatement.
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2009.