The first week of QFest closes with two films looking at body image in the LGBTQ+ community. In the documentary Body Electric, director Nick Demos uses his own journey through body dysmorphia to examine how physical appearance and bodies have been experienced and perceived in queer culture over the years. It’s not always a pretty picture—Demos asks at one point why gay men torture each other so much over their appearances—but broaches important questions that are likely to remain relevant in the future.
Demos recalls an incident when he was 10 or 11 and was running through the sprinkler with a girl and they decided to switch clothing—he put on her bikini and she put on his swim trunks—then resumed playing. All would have been well had the girl’s mother not flipped out when she saw them wearing each other’s swimsuits—she even took a picture of Demos and threatened to send it to his mother, and he recalls this as the first time he felt ashamed of his body. More generally, he was a skinny kid who felt he didn’t measure up to America’s idea of what a man should be (something like the Marlboro Man, a hypermasculine advertising figure used to popularize filtered cigarettes for men).
Fitness coach Amanda Wheeler, who has trained thousands of gay men and perhaps a dozen lesbians, is well aware of the “super unfortunate” pressure gay men put on each other to look a certain way. Her comment is followed by some startling survey results: 48% of gay men would give up at least a year of their life in exchange for a perfect boy and 10% would give up 11 or more years. The point is not to criticize gay men for being shallow, but to highlight how widespread are concerns about looking a particular way (as a woman, I can sympathize, although the specific appearance expectations pushed on us are different and are frequently created not by women but by men).
Many other voices are also heard from in Body Electric, from well-known people like Bruce Vilanch, Leslie Jordan, and Joanna Fang to ordinary folks who are willing to open up about their relationship with their body. It’s also loaded with statistics and social media clips demonstrating show that body dysmorphia is not exclusive to actors and other celebrities. Body Electric was nominated for Best Showcase Documentary Feature at the 2023 SoHo International Film Festival.
The story of Aligned, a narrative feature written and directed by Apollo Bakopoulos, concerns a young dancer, Alex (Dimitris Fritzelas), who leaves New York City to study at a prestigious modern dance academy in Athens. The film itself, however, is all about beauty, from the remarkably attractive lead performers to the postcard-perfect landscapes to the graceful movements of the dance students. The New York skyline has never looked shinier nor the Greek ocean and sky bluer, than they do in this film, while the ancient monuments are gleaming white and every tree and plant seems to be at peak bloom. Long stretches of Aligned have no dialogue at all, letting the visuals (cinematography by Dan Kneece and Stelios Pissas) and the soundtrack (by Thodoris Nikolaou and Ethan Reece) carry the film.
Alex is paired in class with Aeneas (Panos Malakos), and they also share an apartment (which is of course spacious and beautiful and has a view of the sea). Alex has a girlfriend at the start of the film, while Aeneas early on declares that he prefers men to women. Considering what kind of a festival this film is playing at, you can guess that something will develop between them, but it’s still a pleasure to watch it play out, particularly if you’re a fan of slow-burn sensuality. Bakopoulos won Best Producer at the Brooklyn Film Festival for this film, and Panos Malakos won the Kim Renders Memorial Outstanding Performance Award from the Reelout Queer Film + Video Festival for his portrayal of Aeneas. | Sarah Boslaugh
Body Electric and Aligned will screen at QFest on Sunday April 28 at 4 pm. Director Bobby Best will be present for question and answer session after the film, which will be followed by transformation of the Hi-Pointe into a ballroom with music and dancers from the film.
Qfest St. Louis 2024 runs April 26-28 and May 3-5 at the Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave, St Louis). Information about programming, ticket prices and passes is available from the festival web site.
