queerDOC - Day Four (part 4)

RAINMAKERS II: TINA MACHIDA IN ZIMBABWE Dir: Robbie Hart, Canada, 2000, Beta SP, 26 mins (50% full) score: 4 out of 5 If you think that you’ve got problems in your life its good to know you can rely on a doco festival to show just how much worse it is for other people. This is the story of the current struggle for equality for gay and lesbian peoples of Zimbabwe and serves as a reminder that the work is not yet finished. SCOUT’S HONOR Dir: Tom Shepard, USA, 2001, 16mm, 57 mins (50% full) score: 5 out of 5 A touching tale about a straight twelve year old who is trying get the Boy Scouts of America to accept equally and freely gay people. One of the elements of this story I found most fascinating was of a man who had been kicked out of the Scouts 17 years ago and had been since then fighting. This is fascinating because he has been in a position over the years to observe the change in the way the media reported his story, from originally siding with the Scouts to more recently condemning the Scouts… does this mean the world is actually becoming a more tolerant place? For more information about queerDOC 2001 or Queer Screen.