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BLOOD, SWEAT, AND GLITTER is not unlike a documentary
about professional sports — it highlights the unrelenting stamina of the players, the
behind-the-scenes complexities of choreographing each move, and, most
important of all, the brutally competitive aspect in which winner takes
all. Nothing is as fiercely combative as when contestants square off to
become San Francisco’s next Miss Trannyshack!
Local filmmaker Sasha Aickin shares his backstage
vantage point of the Regency Center’s main floor ballroom. Through
his lens, many of today’s crème de la crème in bohemian harlotry (er, I mean artistry) become as
oversized on screen as they think of themselves on stage: Heklina (famed
Trannyshack founder), Syphilis Diller, Diva Dan, Peggy L’eggs, Ana
Conda, Cookie Dough, Falsetta Knockers, and more random trash than a bulky
collection day in the Castro!
Behind the glamour, beyond the costumes, real
stories reveal the fastidious-bordering-on-compulsive drive to win which
fuels each contender. While the
performances mesmerize audiences and judges alike, they’re just the tits on the iceberg; the true pomp and circumstance of this dyed-in-the-wool San Francisco event is in selecting a winner — a process almost as shocking and ball-busting as the actual performances on stage.
(Disclaimer: the program note writer failed to place
in 1999’s Queen of the Bay contest.) — Jim Norrena
BLOOD, SWEAT, AND GLITTER dir
Sasha Aickin 2005 USA 80 min video
Co-presented by Bay Area Video Coalition This program is sponsored by PlanetOut.com & Gay.com |
