Queer Resource Center kicks off film fest

By Lucas Pontes Almeida
The Guardsman
The  Diego Rivera Theater was full of energy and excitement on Thursday,  April 26 when the Queer Resource Center hosted its Sixth Annual Film  Festival displaying a series of diverse and glamorous films from local  independent filmmakers, City College students and from award-winning  filmmaker Marc Huestis.
Huestis was a City College student in the mid 1970s, and was invited  back to participate in this year's film festival. He showcased three  films that highlighted phases of his career and personal life.
The films displayed by Huestis had a wide variety of topics including  “Unity” a film about the prosecution of lesbians and gays in Nazi  Germany, an award-winning documentary on Chuck Solomon and the AIDS  epidemic in the ‘80s, and a documentary titled “Whatever Happened to  Susan Jane” where Huestis describes the PunkRock, New Wave, New Age  scene of the ‘80s.
“I  wanted to show it (“Unity”) as sort of an inspiration for students,”  Huestis said. “I'm a firm believer of the Nike motto which is “Just Do  It” — in every sense, just do it, just make films, if you want to be a  filmmaker just make them, no matter the criticism no matter how hard it  is, no matter the amount of money that you have, no matter whatever ...  if you love it, you do it.”
The  third and last part of the festival unveiled the work of independent  filmmakers and City College students who had the opportunity to show  their work and share their inspiration with the audience present.
City College student and filmmaker Traci Wrycza wrote and produced  “Waking Hour” a short film portraying an emotional relationship between  two lesbian women. Wrycza describes the end of the film as a “goofy  punch” where a family visiting a cemetery sees two women making out on  the ground near a grave.
Britannic Zane, another City College student presented a six-minute  documentary about what the Queer Resource Center is all about.
“I enjoyed it,” Darren Girard said. “Britannic is a great guy, I  enjoyed being part of the documentary and the QRC is a great place, so I  was happy to put my face to it.”
Girard,  a member of the QRC, said he was glad he could share his thoughts and  tell others that everyone is welcome and that the QRC is a safe place  where everyone’s invited.
English  professor and QRC faculty advisor Jennifer Worley was thrilled with the  variety of outstanding films displayed at this year’s festival.
“It was great, I’ve just been so happy with the quality of the films  the past few years and Brit (Zane) has just done an amazing job,” Worley  said.
“I’m  really happy to have a whole bunch of different kinds of student films —  like this program tonight. The variety was amazing to me and also Marc  Huestis’ films earlier were really fantastic. It was really an honor to  have him.”