SADIE BENNING: JUDY SPOTS + FLAT IS BEAUTIFUL
dir. Sadie Benning, 1998 (1995), USA, 50 min. (13 min.), video, Japanese premiere

With FLAT IS BEAUTIFUL, American video artist Sadie Benning moves from the autobiographical tone of earlier work (ME AND RUBYFRUIT, A PLACE CALLED LOVELY) to cast a fictional (and animated!) light on being young, American and lesbian in the late 1990s. Edgy, provocative and sounding new depths in both content and style, FLAT IS BEAUTIFUL marks a new maturation in Benning's work, and proves yet again that Benning, who exploded onto the lesbian art scene in the early 1990s with a series of emotional, wrenchingly honest shorts, is an artist to be watched.Preceded by the 1995 short work JUDY SPOTS, in which teenaged Judy explains the woes of American suburbia in a series of humorous animated vignettes set to a powerful riot grrl soundtrack.All works in this program are distributed in Japan by Image Forum.

OKI HIROYUKI: INSIDE HEART
dir. Oki Hiroyuki, 1999, Japan, 89 min., 16mm

Eagerly awaited at home and internationally, INSIDE HEART teases Oki's trademark collages of breathtakingly beautiful sound and image into a new poetics of film. The intertwining of three themes-- a fictional love story between two young men on the beach, interaction between filmmaker and actors as Oki explains the film, and personal footage from Oki himself, this metafilm goes to the very heart of what it means to make film, tell a story, and be in love. Filmed on location in Hokkaido, the Japan Alps and Kochi, INSIDE HEART premiered at the 1998 Vancouver International Film Festival, and features music from jazz greats Mel Waldron and Richie Bylark.

A graduate of the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image, Oki Hiroyuki has earned his reputation as the pre-eminent Japanese experimental queer filmmaker of the 1990s at film festivals in Japan and abroad with works like HEAVEN-6-BOX (1996), YUSHO-RENAISSANCE (1997) and 3+1 (1997). TLGFF is pleased to show an exclusive director's cut of INSIDE HEART, made specially for TLGFF. (Distributed by Stance Company)

BRUCE LABRUCE: SKIN FLICK
dir. Bruce La Bruce, 1999, England/Germany/Japan, 63 min., video, Japanese premiere

Mark your calendars: Bruce La Bruce is back! Last seen drawing sell-out crowds at 1997's TLGFF with the Tony Ward-starring HUSTLER WHITE, La Bruce returns to the Tokyo screen with SKIN FLICK, a foray into the hot, heavy and hardcore of European skinheads and professional porn. Chock-full of the scandalous sexiness and inimitable images that have made La Bruce the wild child of the cult film world, SKIN FLICK falls somewhere between high art and heavy-duty, and is hot out of the editing room and onto the screen at our
special midnight premiere.

+ SKIN FLICK is distributed in Japan by Stance Company.
Venue: Lounge Bar ACE, Shinjuku 2-chome (03-3352-6297)
Time: July 16 (Friday), starting at 24:00
Door: 2000 yen (includes one drink + Absolut Vodka)