UND WIE MAN SIE SOFORT ENTLARVT

Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and her Forum Expanded team should be proud of all their efforts this year with the theme What Do We Know When We Know Where Something Is? This questions kept coming up during the Berlinale in marvelous and unexpected phenomena that will continue to resonate as Forum Expanded embarks on the Road to Oz and its 10 year anniversary/jubilaum next year.

Forum Expanded has become the talk of the town and is even eclipsing other areas of the Berlinale Film festival as it should. The art world of course wants to get its guey coated sticky fingers deep into the projectile fudge slide so expect a lot of jocko socko shake-ups and milk-a-magnesias by next year and even a smackdown or two. Even mainstream media outlets who for the most part always remain clueless by only focusing on The Competition section of the Berlinale were buzzed by the offerings on display by Forum Expanded.
Friday evening Forum Expanded came to a nice closing at the celebrated Berlinische Galerie-Landesmuseum fuer modern kunst, fotografie und architektur with Jack Smith: Beyond the Rented World II-Hamlet, Gems & other shorts-Coffin Scene,Abortion Pit Nightmare,Nun & Zebra,How to Select a Victim and Jack Smith at Cologne Art Fair (1974) featuring a performative introduction by the great Jerry Tartaglia looking dapper and bemused. When it comes to Shakespear Jack Smith’s Hamlet is the only version worth its grain of unadulterated sea salt. I was laughing and crying simultaneously at the sheer beauty of the proceedings which besides Mr. Tartaglia featured Marcuse Siegel as moderator, with appearances pre and post cocktails with the handsome  matinee idol looking Diedrich Dederichsen, Nanna Heidenreich, Uli Ziemons, Nora Melitor, Maria Losier, Susanne Sachsse, Bruce “Judy”LaBruce winner of Teddy Special Jury Prize for Pierrot Lunnaire, Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Manuel Schubert of FilmHighlights Magazine, The Love Camel-Andrea Novarin, Wilhelm Hein,visiting artist Fred Dewey who teaches at Art Center School of Design in Pasadena and is also the director of Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA., Ruth Schonegge and hot girlfriend Miriam, fotographer Annette Frick, Evi Ruesseler the Bear Boy, Isabel Spengler, Daniel “Haji”Hendrickson, Trixie “Beatrice Cordua” Schonherr and that Norweigan god of gods Vegard Vinge looking more muscular and lovesexy then I last remember him. Yummy! Because I was DJaning the Pierrot Lunaire premiere party I wasn’t able to go to the first Beyond the Rented World program at HAU 1 that was dedicated to the late great Warhol and Jack Smith drag superstar Mario Montez that featured The Milkbath Scene from Normal Love, Boiled Lobster of Lucky Landlady Lagoon, In the Grip of the Lobster, Exotic Landlordism and Overstimulted plus Ken and Flo Jacobs, John Zorn, Jerry Tartaglia and Marc Siegel.

Received many emugs today of people enjoying my DJaning at the Forum Party. As I’ve said many times before I am not a proper DJ. The environ of the dank and smokey nite club world is not my scene any longer if it ever really was. The celebutants that came by to say hello while I was spinning in the beautiful Green Salon of the Volksbuehner: Shari Frilot, my former boss with the New Frontiers Section of the Sundance Film Festival looking radiant and healthy who came to Berlin from New York where she attended the NYU Memorial Services for Dr. Professor Jose Munoz. Shari is a party animule and really knows the meaning of spreading joy on the dance floor, she was in the nubian posse of NewYork filmmaker par exellance Thomas Allen Harris whose latest Through A Lens Darkly:Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People was in the Panorama Section of the Berlinale with his juicy jubas jubilee producer Gregory Warren Jr. who was breaking many preValentine hearts as every man who saw him wanted to take a nice big bite of all that Mandingolan eye candy. Mr. Warren also produces along with Mr. Harris their Digital Diaspora Family Reunion project, sweet Aussie actress Toni Collette also came up to La Diva and while I was resting between sets I held court with a relaxed Judy LaBruce, the stylish Carolla Graumann of KinoTech Asta Nielsen, Nanna Heidenreich, Sharmishta Sarker the Cultural Director of The Goethe Institute in Calcutta who will be bring Marcuse Siegel, Susanne Sachsse and Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus who was looking quite serene and sophisticated for a six week experimental film tour of India soon, Hungarian cineaste Bela Tarr, the grandson of JFK-Jack Schlossberg,, Stephan Geene of bbooks Kollective whose brilliant film Umsonst featuring a delicious young cast I found totally enthralling and sublime. Unsonst was just another one of the many delights of Forum Expanded.  Forum Expanded Rules!!!!While taking a break from DJaning I also chittle chatted with my old punk rock actress pal Patricia Arquette of the famous Arquette acting dynasty, Ellar Coltrane who plays her son and Richard Linkletter who won the Silver Bear for directing this critical fav and Love Camel lauded experimental narrative film Boyhood that was over ten years in the making. Thursday Feb 13th I was surrounded by a lot of award winners including Guillaume Cailleau and Michel Belague who won the Silver Bear for the short subject La Borat, lovesexxy Lebanese director Roy Dib who won a Teddy for his Forum Expanded short Mondial 2010, Karim Ainouz whose film Praia do Futuro was in the Competition with lover Mario,Koen Clarehout, Nadja Talmi,Julian Radlmaier whose film A Proletarisches Wintermaerchen is a sheer delight. I expect big things to happen for Mr. Radlmaier who is not only a gifted young filmmaker but is also an entrancing male beauty whose man milk is coveted by many henpecked horny admirers, Diane McCarthy of radio station ReBootFM,hunky Georgian actor Vakho Chachanidze with Andro Sakvarelidze of the Forum film Blind Dates, Assaf Hochman, Daniel Hendrickson and Vassily Bourakas.

During the Berlinale Sid Caesar of the 1950s TV variety and comedy hour Show of Shows that first introduced to the public the comic writing talents of Mel Brooks, a teenage Woody Allen, and Carl Reiner died age 91. Sid Caesar had a kind of barrel chested 1950s style manliness that was quite sexy and a little hard to describe. Also Hudson the famous New York City gallerist of the famous independent, non corporate Feature Gallery died age 63. I didn’t know Hudson that well but back in the early 1990s his gallery hosted evenings devoted to queer zines like my Fertile La Toyah Jackson Magazine and he also did exhibits featuring the work of G.B.Jones andTom of Finland. I will never forget that Hudson also paid for my plane tickets to New York on many occasions in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he heard that I needed airfare. That kind of generosity without fanfare is so rare these days. Hudson will be missed by many.

Will write more about Berlinale, as soon as I recouperate from a little flu bug and congestion plaguing me, so please sit tight and be patient with the Vagimule Doll who celebrates her 845th year on the planet Feb 20th.