WEDNESDAY APRIL 26, 2023
21:00 – TODD VEROW, CHARLES LUM – CHARLES LUM: THIS IS WHERE I GET OFF, 70′, O.V. SUB. ITA.
The opening film of HPFF23 is CHARLES LUM: THIS IS WHERE I GET OFF, a moving tribute to Charles Lum’s life told through Lum’s own filmmaker’s eye, co-directed and edited by American director and long-time friend Todd Verow, thanks to his access to the vast years-old Lum’s production, featuring Super-8 films he shot as a teenager in the 1970s up to the last movie he made about his battle with AIDS-related lymphoma. Lum passed away much too early in 2021.
– Charlie, aka Clublum, was a much-loved and valued member of our queer and film community, whose films defied the taboos and stigmas of sex, sex in public places and sex with HIV. His films embody a quirky earnestness and a wacky and wicked sense of humor and always the utter delight and pleasure of another body – Verow said.
Charles Lum was a NYC-based artist who worked in video using documentary and cinematic narrative, photo, and performance. After 25 years of scouting and managing film locations, he received his MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His short videos have screened internationally in museum, art, and film venues.
Todd Verow is a prolific filmmaker who has made significant contributions to the History of New Queer Cinema. He made his feature film debut with FRISK in 1996 and has since directed over twenty-five features and numerous shorts, often adopting a radical, experimental, and DIY perspective, using whatever funds he has available. Verow founded his own production company, Bangor Films, and proudly describes himself as an underground filmmaker in the tradition of George and Mike Kuchar, Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Andy Warhol. One of the pioneers of using video as a cheaper and more accessible means of production, Todd Verow famously declared that “film is dead” way back in 1997. His movies continue to receive critical acclaim and have been screened at film festivals around the world.