The Cockettes - Bill Weber, David Weissman,
Sexual Distancing - Dimitris Aspropoulos
Monstera - Vera Chotzoglou
ROMANTSO 17 MAY 2022 - 21:00-23:30
The Cockettes
As the psychedelic San Francisco of the ’60’s began evolving into the gay San Francisco of the ’70’s, The Cockettes, a flamboyant ensemble of hippies (gay men, women, and babies) decked themselves out in gender-bending drag and tons of glitter for a series of legendary midnight musicals at the Palace Theater in North Beach. With titles like “Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma” and “Pearls over Shanghai,” these all-singing, all-dancing extravaganzas featured elaborate costumes, rebellious sexuality, and exuberant chaos. In their 2½ year existence, The Cockettes created 20 shows, and were featured in 4 films. They created a unique burst of cultural experimentation and artistic outrageousness that continues to influence the worlds of theater, music, fashion, gay politics and spirituality, and urban club life.
David Weissman, producer/ co-director – is a multi-award winning independent filmmaker whose films have been broadcast domestically and internationally, and have been featured at countless film festivals, including Berlin, Sundance, and Telluride. Weissman was the first recipient in 1990 of the prestigious Sundance Institute/Mark Silverman Fellowship for New Producers, and was a 1992 recipient of the San Francisco Foundation’s James T. Phelan Art Awards in Film. Weissman directed the popular trailer for the 1995 SF International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival featuring Marga Gomez and Lulu in an “I Love Lucy” parody. He recently produced, wrote, and directed “HIV: un-infected does not equal un-affected”, a trailblazing series of eight 30-second AIDS prevention TV spots.Bill Weber, editor/co-director – has been a video editor for over twenty years editing innovative commercials, music videos, special effects and a variety of long form projects for film and television. He recently retired as Vice President/Director of Editorial at Western Images, a high end post-production house in San Francisco, to work on THE COCKETTES. Weber’s recent commercial work includes work for Pepsi, Coke, Ford, and AT&T . His music video work includes Alanis Morrisette, Sting, The Grateful Dead and The Cars. Mr. Weber also has a long history of psychedelic drag.
Sexual Distancing
Kostas and Andonis are alone and lonely. They have video calls every day and talk about nonsense while acting out all of their repressed needs. They dip into the past, they work out and they make fun of each other while waiting for the covid-19 pandemic to be over.
Dimitris Asproloupos was born in 1983 on a small island in Greece. While studying computer science he started working as a film critic and editor in chief in a film website. He is a self taught filmmaker and has directed a short film called Resolution and music videos for independent artists.
Monstera
Monstera deliciosa; an originally tropical plant, used indoors as an aesthetic, decorative object. In this work, monstera becomes the symbol of our recent internment experience.
A state that deviated us from our familiar course, as if the world was blown away in a delirious drift and derailed, in terms of an unexpected pause. In this narration video, the indoor scenes, eliminate time and connote a state of disarray; inertia bodies, the monstera in an indoor storm, wild animals in captivity, lighting bolts, an orgasm scene, a Luchador getting prepared, an athenian balcony. The strobe lights reveal the party echo, while the narration, focuses in monstera’ s features and care instructions. In this field of desire, reality, struggle, memory and expectation, a whole new perception of existing is emerging.
The accumulated tension, that the state of hold has brought, leads to the persistent bodies’ preparation for wrestling and crash.
An “expedition chronicle”, about this totally new context.Ve
Vera Chotzoglou is a Visual artist & cinematographer They was awarded with audience award for the shortfilm S W E A T at 22th Thessaloniki International GLAD Film Festival (2021) , SNF Artist Fellowship Award ARTWORKS by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (2019) and audience award for the short film Munich almost killed me 1⁄2” at 2th Piraeus Film Festival in Athens(2018) Vera Chotzoglou lives and works between Athens and Berlinra Chotzoglou is a Visual artist & cinematographer They was awarded with audience award for the shortfilm S W E A T at 22th Thessaloniki International GLAD Film Festival (2021) , SNF Artist Fellowship Award ARTWORKS by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (2019) and audience award for the short film Munich almost killed me 1⁄2” at 2th Piraeus Film Festival in Athens(2018) Vera Chotzoglou lives and works between Athens and Berlin.