This year marks a venue change for QFest, St. Louis' annual film festival of contemporary LGBTQ-themed cinema. Previously based primarily at the Tivoli Theater, this year's festival has migrated to Webster University's Moore Auditorium. As usual, Cinema St. Louis has put together an impressive slate of films: ten features and nine shorts, ranging from fuzzy dramedies to more experimental fare. The crowd-pleasing lynchpin of the fest this year is I Am Divine, the new documentary feature from prolific producer, director, and all-around cinephile Jeffrey Schwarz. Screening this Friday at the Moore at 7:30 p.m., the film is an enthusiastic celebration of the life of the legendary actor, vocalist, and drag queen known as Divine (born Harris Glenn Milstead).
Schwarz' film makes no effort to conceal its warm-hearted regard for Divine, whose career was launched by his collaboration with legendary indie filmmaker John Waters. Given Divine's status as a transgressive icon, I Am Divine's documentary methods are remarkably conservative. Schwarz relies on talking-head reminiscences, clips from the actor's films and stage shows, and an undeniably rich catalog of still photographs that capture Divine at his most glamorous, raunchy, and unguarded. It's straightforward hagiography, but nonetheless wry and touching. Most vitally, Schwarz and his interviewees capture the tension between Divine's gloriously filthy cult idol status and personal excesses on the one hand, and his sober work ethic and starry-eyed ambitions on the other. I Am Divine presents his life story as an old-school Hollywood fairy tale, one with an abrupt and tragic ending but a thriving legacy.
