Out on screen

Hector Canonge is the founder and director of CINEMAROSA, the monthly queer film screening series at the Queens Museum of Art.

Out on screen

The man behind the city’s only queer film series

By Christopher Murray

Hector Canonge, the founder-director of the city’s only monthly queer film series, CINEMAROSA, calls himself a citizen of every borough of New York. He lives in Manhattan and Queens, is an artist-in-residence at the Bronx Museum of Art where he taught 3D design and architecture, teaches media and video in Brooklyn, and is in the process of creating a program for film studies in Staten Island.

Canonge launched CINEMAROSA in 2004 to showcase the work of queer filmmakers with strong and passionate visions. Since then, the program has screened more than 50 films and presented a series of panel discussions about films that explore the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

On Sunday, April 15, the free series continues at the Queens Museum of Art with a screening of three films dealing with the queer Jewish experience.

CHRISTOPHER MURRAY: How did you get into film?

HECTOR CANONGE: While studying comparative literature and history, I began a documentary about the lives of women working in the mines of Bolivia, in South America. I had read a lot of film theory, but needed to learn how to operate a camera. I was able to enroll in film production classes in order to fulfill my thesis work. What started as one semester of training became a two-year experience where I learned all the ins and outs of documentary-making in the undergraduate film program of City College. I felt right at home and completely free to realize my visions.

The results of those years are my documentary “Go Boys!” about the lives and experiences of male dancers, “Fear,” an experimental narrative about loss, and other short pieces.

What most excites you in a film?

A film has to reach some inner nerve to excite me. It has to have a message that transcends cultures, a universal language that speaks of our human qualities, fallacies, and above all a sense of direction that is not coerced or inflated. In independent cinema there are many of those elements because one has to work with what is available, and many times what is at the director’s disposal is that human component. I am thinking about the films of Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Todd Haynes, Ventura Pons, Tom Tykwer, and others.

Is queer cinema becoming too mainstream as it’s maturing?

In general, marginal cinema — and that’s where queer cinema was once — is becoming mainstream. That’s good because work reaches a wider audience and in the process educates people, but on the other hand, mainstream cinema waters down the substance of complex lives and experiences. Films like “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” and “The Crying Game,” for example, were able to deliver a potent message to mainstream audiences.

On the other hand, “Brokeback Mountain” followed the studio formula, and though a big blockbuster, there was something missing that pulled me back from liking it. Why the actors had to be straight, for example, is beyond me. I like Ang Lee’s work and he is always pushing the envelope, but this time he didn’t push quite enough.

Has it matured? I think so. If it speaks a human universal language, audiences will understand despite the fact that it presents two women or men in bed and kissing.

What’s new with CINEMAROSA?

The 2007 series started in February with a program celebrating Black History month, where the documentary about Audre Lorde and the fiction film “Brother to Brother” got an incredible reception from the audience. In March, we focused on women with the program “Sapphic Tales.” For April, the lens focuses on Jews and queer identity with the program “Queer Heebs.” We will be presenting three films in various genres; “Bubbeh Lee and Me,” directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson, “A Different War” directed by Israeli filmmaker Nadav Gal, and “My Sister My Bride” from West Coast director Bonnie Burt, who personally facilitated the presentation of the film.

The May screening will gather figures like Jennie Livingston [director of the now classic documentary about New York’s ball scene, “Paris is Burning”], Su Friedrich [“Rules of the Road”], and Ela Troyano [“Carmelita Tropicana.”] The program also includes “Anthem” by the late Marlon Riggs. That day we are hosting a party at the museum in celebration of our third anniversary.

For June, since it’s Gay Pride Month, I am co-organizing with the museum Queerin’ Queens 2007, a cultural celebration of LGBT identity that will include poetry, dance, music, performance, and naturally, films. Also in CINEMAROSA this year, we will present the program “Global Queerness,” shorts about LGBT experiences from the world.

How is it being hosted by a major cultural institution like the Queens Museum of Art?

I started CINEMAROSA at a Queens Pride House in Woodside in May 2004. It was very small at first. We had to put up white sheets for a screen, borrow a projector, and set up the chairs every time for the presentation.

That year, my work was featured at the Biennial of the Museum, and those connections allowed me to propose the series to the museum director and his main staff.

At the beginning, they were very cautious, and concerned. I don’t think they understood what gay or queer cinema was because they immediately linked it to porn. But with the first screenings and the incredible attendance we received during those first three months, they relaxed more and trusted us not only with the space of the museum, but with the criteria about the selection of films for the series.

CINEMAROSA is one the most successful public event programs the museum hosts. It is not affiliated with them in terms of funding or expenses, but they give us the space, a safe haven for the queer community to meet, enjoy films, participate in a good panel and also enjoy some free light refreshments.

Are gay filmmakers accepted in the Latino film world?

We Latinos are inclusive as far as showing gay filmmakers in more traditional film festivals or showcases. Many film festivals have a gay section or a sidebar presentation. We are integrated in that respect.

On the other hand, Hispanic or Latin culture is still very macho oriented, and for many people, it is still not conceivable to watch two men kissing on the big screen or television. But all of that is changing also because we see now some gay characters in popular shows like the telenovela “Ugly Betty” — the Mexican version — or sketch comedies where gays are portrayed more often.

What stories of the gay Latino experience don’t get told?

Stories about immigration and LGBT identities. My next project deals with the complicated issues of immigration, legality and homosexuality.