The Scriptures on sexuality

Reeling fest film takes on the issue of religious debate

Chicago-based filmmaker Ky Dickens may have once been a fish out of water, but her career got a jump start thanks to her documentary based on her own experiences.

"I never intended to make a film about religion and homosexuality," she says in the opening moments of "Fish Out of Water." "It just sort of happened."

"Fish Out of Water" was selected as the documentary centerpice of the annual Reeling Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, which began Thursday and runs through Nov. 15.

"It's the most convincing film I have seen on the topic of biblical verses and their interpretation," says Reeling Film Festival founder Brenda Webb. "I don't know how anyone can sit and watch this film and not call into question how Scriptures have traditionally been cited in religious debate on homosexuality."

The film has also found success outside the gay and lesbian film festival circuit. In October, it was an audience choice runner-up at Wichita's Tall Grass Film Festival; due to demand, screenings were added at the Arkansas Hot Springs Documentary Festival.

"Something like 70 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian, so it doesn't surprise me that there might be interest in this film," Dickens said.

After graduating from high school in the Chicago suburb of Hinsdale, Dickens headed to Nashville to study at socially conservative Vanderbilt University.

"I had always romanticized the South, and with 5,000 students, Vanderbilt was the perfect size school," she said. "Unfortunately, it's also where many religious, conservative families send their kids."

Toward the end of her senior year, she came out as a lesbian to her sorority sisters, and it didn't go over too well.

"They came at me with litany of Bible verses," Dickens said. "It lead me to read what the Bible actually says about homosexuality."

Of the 6,000 verses in the Bible, between seven or nine verses (less than 1 percent) are used to condemn homosexuality, she said. Dickens read each of them and then consulted with pastors before penning a six-page letter to her best friend that outlined her findings. When her friend replied with an apology, Dickens knew she had to make a documentary about what the Scriptures really say (or, in many cases, don't say) about homosexuality. It presented a bit of a challenge, though.

"How do you make a topic that is so polarizing entertaining and accessible to a wide audience," she said. "The film had to be non-threatening and easy to watch."

Her solution? Mixing traditional aspects of the documentary genre such as interviews and news footage with animation. "There is just something about animation that is non-threatening."

In the 60-minute film, she interviews religious scholars, clergy members and more than 170 people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community (many from the Chicago and the surrounding areas).

The main thing she has learned is not to take the Scriptures literally. If you look closely at what's in there, there might be a lot of stuff you probably won't agree with.

"There are eight types of families mentioned in the Bible, only one of which involves what we would call a traditional family," she said. "The rest include widows forced to marry their brothers-in-law, men with a wife and concubine and others. My personal stance on people who want to take the Bible literally is: Are you worshipping the Bible or are you worshipping God?"

"Fish Out of Water" will be screened at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Music Box, 3733 N. Southport. Tickets are $5. Dickens will lead a Q&A session after the film. The film is also scheduled for a May DVD release.

A few of the titles not to miss at this year's Reeling Film Festival:

"Stuck!," 7 tonight, Landmark Century: Frank Krainz, Steve Balderson and Jon Niccum's "Stuck!" is both homage and loving spoof of the old "women-in-prison" films. Starina Johnson is Daisy, a naive girl wrongly accused of murdering her invalid mother and sent up the river by the testimony of her nosy neighbor (played by scene-chewer Karen Black). John Waters regular Mink Stole (as a born-again death-row inmate) and the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin also appear in this film by independent cult director Balderson, an heir apparent to camp filmmaker John Waters.

"Fuera de Carta," 7 p.m. Tuesday, Landmark Century: Maxi (Javier Camara, nominated for a Goya Award for this role) is a highly strung head chef who is obsessed with earning his Michelin stars and keeping his small eatery open, and pulling his ragtag staff together.

His life becomes even more complicated when his ex-wife dies, leaving him custody of a teenage son and young daughter just as he is beginning a relationship with a hunky and closeted former pro soccer player (Fernando Tejero). Nacho G. Velilla's film is equal parts French farce and brightly colored Pedr Almodovar comedy.

"Patrik, Age 1.5," 7 p.m. Thursday, Landmark Century: In this Swedish comedy, a gay couple (Gustaf Skarsgard and Torkel Petersson) find their dreams of adopting a toddler upended when a clerical error places a homophobic teenager in their home instead. It's well-acted and mostly avoids being too sentimental in its depiction of gay adoption and what it means to be a family.

"Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!," 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15, Music Box: Could a movie about a Jewish mother (Lainie Kazan) obsessed with marrying off her closeted son (Broadway's John Lloyd Young) to a nice Jewish girl be any more cliched? Doubtful, but that won't stop you from laughing. There's always next year's Yom Kippur if you feel guilty.

Misha Davenport