Out and Proud

The Out List director on gay rights and Dallas sheriff Lupe Valdez

The number of out-and-proud gay people in the United States has proliferated in the 21st century, so it's no longer a surprise when a prominent person comes out of the closet or a television show features a gay character.

But, as the fight over same-sex marriage proves, those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community still don't enjoy the same civil rights as heterosexuals.

That's part of the reason why director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders made The Out List, an HBO documentary about the diverse gay community in America. Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez is one of the stars of the film and the reason for a private screening at Angelika Film Center Dallas on June 13.

Black Tie Dinner is hosting the exclusive Dallas screening, which includes a discussion with Valdez, Greenfield-Sanders, and producers Catherine Pino and Ingrid Duran.

The film features interviews with a broad cross-section of people from the LGBT community, including celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, athlete Wade Davis and unknowns like teacher Wazina Zondon.

This is not Greenfield-Sanders' first attempt at tackling a minority group's opinions on their place in the world. He's previously made three different versions of The Black List and two volumes of The Latino List. Plans for The Women List and possibly The Boomer List (about the baby boomers generation) are in the works.

We recently chatted with Greenfield-Sanders to discuss the film, gay rights and why he chose Valdez.

CultureMap: How did you decide whom to approach and ultimately use in the final version?

Greenfield-Sanders: The hardest thing is to pick 16 people that really give a cross-section of this community. You try and have a balance of men and women, bisexual, transgender to deal with. You try to have a range of professions; you don’t want everyone to be a famous movie star. To find people who are relatively less known, like Lupe Valdez, who is wonderful, or Twiggy Pucci Garcon. Around 15 or 16 is an hour. It gives you just enough time to have three to four minutes with each person.

CM: How tough is it to make sure everyone in the LGBT community is satisfied with a piece like this?

GS: It’s impossible; I’m never going to satisfy everyone. But I think it’s a beautiful film that addresses many of the most important issues around right now.

CM: Who would you have liked to be in the film that you either couldn’t get or didn’t make the cut for some reason?

GS: We really wanted Ricky Martin, and he wanted to do it, but he was on Broadway and couldn’t give us the time. By the time he was available, we had finished the film. It would’ve been good because it’s another Latino voice, it’s kind of a fascinating story and he’s very well-liked.

CM: Of obvious interest here in Dallas is your inclusion of sheriff Lupe Valdez. What specifically made you want to interview her?

GS: So many things. First of all, she’s an amazing person; we loved meeting her. The struggle that she has gone through — it’s an incredible life story. I think she’s come to terms with who she is as a woman and a lesbian and a Latina. She’s just an incredible, exciting person.

CM: How close do you think we are until a film like this becomes unnecessary?

GS: It’s kind of what [writer/director] Dustin Lance Black said. I’m paraphrasing, but he said, "I can’t wait for the day when we don’t need to be fighting for our rights anymore." And I think that’s everyone’s wish, that equality is so important that [we] get to a day that we can worry about other things.

At this point, a film like this is still very important. Like Neil Patrick Harris said, a lot of people don’t know as many gay people as we do in New York or on the West Coast, so living in Middle America, you meet gay people on television. Television has been very valuable in that sense, because it’s made people understand other people.

CM: I was glad you included R. Clarke Cooper, the Log Cabin Republican, because it’s not a perspective people hear all the time.

GS: Personally, I think it’s kind of a Stockholm Syndrome, to be in an organization that really doesn’t like you, that works against you; it’s kind of amazing to me. It was interesting to meet him and to kind of understand, from his perspective, that he feels closer to Republicans politically, with the exception of their attitudes on gays.

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The Out List premieres June 27 on HBO.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez was one of 16 people interviewed for the documentary The Out List.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez

Portrait © Timothy Greenfield-Sanders HBO

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez was one of 16 people interviewed for the documentary The Out List.

Movie Review

Jessica Chastain drama Dreams stumbles through steamy romance

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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