XIU XIU NOMINATED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD The Cultural Revolution (1967-1976) was perhaps the cruelest period of modern Chinese history. Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl, the latest portrayal of the ruthlessness of the People’s Republic of China in trampling on the individual during the Cultural Revolution, is based on Yan Geling’s novella Heavenly Bath (Tian […]

HARD NOMINATED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980) startled filmviewers by portraying a serial killer of gay men who enjoy sadomasochistic sexual arousal, with an undercover cop who was straight. Hard, released to the general public in Los Angeles in midsummer 1999, ups the ante on Cruising by focusing on closeted gay homicide

BASTARDS NOMINATED FOR AN AWARD AS A FILM EXPOSÉ The film Bastards reminds us that while in Vietnam for two decades, many Americans paid Vietnamese women for sex. An estimated 30,000 children were born as a result of these encounters. After the American pullout in 1975, these Amerasian offspring were ostracized within Vietnam, deprived of

POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY MEETING The Board of Directors of the Political Film Society will hold a meeting at 8481 Allenwood Road, Los Angeles, on June 19 at 7 p.m., primarily to reword legal documents to satisfy IRS regarding the Society’s application to be a tax-exempt organization. ITALIANS RE-FIGHT WORLD WAR II IN FILM Benito Mussolini

POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY MEETING On Saturday, June 5, the Political Film Society will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. to reword legal documents in response to a letter from IRS regarding the Society’s application to be a tax-exempt organization. The meeting, to be held at 8481 Allenwood Road, Los Angeles, is open to all. GOOD

THREE SEASONS IS NOMINATED FOR BEST FILM EXPOSÉ OF 1999 With the war in Yugoslavia rapidly turning a modern country into a Third World nation, release of Three Seasons, a film about contemporary Vietnam, seems unusually well timed. Despite the fact that the United States was allied with Ho Chi Minh during World War II,

CLASS, RACE, AND SEXUAL PREFERENCES CLASH IN A FRENCH FILM The School of Flesh, the English translation of the film L’Ecole de la Chair, is based on a novel not yet translated into English by Yukio Mishima, whose gay proclivities came to an end though suicide in 1970. The film, released in France in 1998

NEWEST WORKING PAPER PUBLISHED From State and Local Censorship to Ratings: Substantive Rationality, Political Entrepreneurship, and Sex in the Movies, written by Richard A. Brisbin, Jr., of the University of West Virginia, is the latest publication in the Political Film Society’s Working Paper Series. To obtain a copy, contact the Political Film Society’s website. QUEEN

NEWSLETTER BECOMES POLITICAL FILM REVIEW The continuing effort to professionalize the Political Film Society has turned up yet another innovation:  From now on, the newsletter will be known as the Political Film Review. A FEMINIST CARRIE REMINDS FILMVIEWERS THAT MACHO MEN STILL RAPE WITH INPUNITY The Rage: Carrie II, directed by Katt Shea, is a

POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY WEBSITE RECEIVES AWARD On February 22, 1999, the Political Website of the Day organization awarded the Political Film Society an award as “Website of the Day.” The award cup now appears on the Political Film Society’s website. In addition, an alternative website address is now available: “http://PFS.cjb.net” should be easier to keystroke.