"Last Call at Maud's"
                       A film review by
                       Linda Lopez McAlister
                       on "The Women's Show"
                       WMNF-FM (88.5), Tampa, FL
                       October 2, 1993

   Last night the fourth annual Pride Film Festival opened here
in Tampa--the day after the Florida Supreme Court invalidated the
referendum that had deprived gays and lesbians of the protection
they had previously enjoyed under the city's Human Rights
Ordinance--so there was much jubilation down on Franklin Street.
One of the things, besides the restoration of our rights, to
cheer about is the Pride Film Festival itself.  It has gone, in
four years, from a small one-day affair, to this year's ten-day,
sixty-six film and video extravaganza, with live appearances of
lesbian filmmakers Barbara Hammer and Paris Poirer and of actor
and celebrity Quentin Crisp.  Suddenly, we have the fifth or
sixth largest gay and lesbian film festival in the country, right
here in Tampa.  Organizers are expecting to draw more than 10,000
participants over the course of the ten days.

   Needless to say I can't begin to review all the films coming
up that are of interest to Women's Show listeners.  So I'll tell
you what looks good to me this week and review one that I saw
earlier this year and liked a lot, "Last Call at Maud's."

   Among the many events that I have circled on my Pride Film
Festival program is a selection of videos to be screened tonight
at the Video Cafe (the old Woolworth's Building) at 10:00 p.m.
under the heading of "Lesbo Party Game" that includes "She Don't
Fade," "Party Safe" and "Stand On Your Man."   Monday night at
7:30 at the Tampa Theater is a feature film from Scotland called
"Wildflowers" about a woman who falls in love with her fiance's
mother.  It is framed by two short lesbian-themed films "The
Things We Said Today" and "Thank God I'm a Lesbian."  And on
Tuesday night, same time, same place will be Paris Poirer's "Last
Call at Maud's" preceded by a short comedy called "We're Talking
Vulva" and followed by a chance to meet and talk with the
director.

   Friday night, October 8 is another major lesbian film event
with the showing of Barbara Hammer's new film "Nitrate Kisses"
and a question and answer session with her afterward, as well.
At 10:00 p.m. you might want to wander down the street to the
video cafe and catch "Framing Lesbian Fashion" and "Stigmata" a
film that explores the current fascination with tattooing,
piercing, branding and cutting.   By the way, Barbara Hammer will
also be doing a lecture and film screening at University of South
Florida on Friday afternoon in the University Lecture Hall at
3:00 p.m. it's free and open to the public.

   I haven't left much time for actually reviewing a film but let
me tell you quickly a little about "Last Call at Maud's."  It's a
cinema verite documentary about Maud's, the legendary lesbian bar
in San Francisco that opened in 1966 and served its last drink in
1989.  At the time Paris Poirer was a doctoral student in film
who had noticed that there were few honest portrayals of lesbians
on film and decided to rectify the situation by making a film
that reflected some aspects of lesbian life and experience.  When
she heard that Maud's was closing she got the permission of Rikki
Streicher, Maud's owner, to invite a contingent of Maud'sold
customers--some of them quite well-known in the lesbiancommunity
(but not identified in the film until the end)--to come and help
pay tribute to Maud's and reminisce about old times there while she
filmed them.  By the end of the evening she had thirteen hours of
footage of that evening which she then augmented with over 700
items from lesbian archives, private collections, etc., many of
which found their way into the final cut of the film.   What we
end up with is a marvelous look at some aspects of lesbian culture
from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, much of it reflected in
the changes that took place in Maud's itself over the years, as
told by the lesbians who lived it.  This is a really enjoyable
documentary that adds immeasurably to the growing list of books
and films on the history of lesbians in the United States.
It's definitely worth going to see.

   I'll wait until next Saturday to tell you about the events in
the final weekend of the festival.

For the WMNF Women's Show this has been Linda Lopez McAlister on
Women and Film.

   Copyright 1993 by Linda Lopez McAlister.  All rights reserved.
Please do not reprint this review without the permission of the
author.