late spring 2012 series

April is the month to celebrate the lives and histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals and organizations and Cornell Cinema does so by screening three new films over the course of the month. A portrait of a neglected yet crucial figure of the American mid-century, Paul Goodman Changed My Life chronicles the inspiring life of bisexual New York intellectual Paul Goodman. Best known for writing the sixties classic Growing up Absurd, Goodman is here shown in a range of roles: poet, critic, psychologist and early crusader for gay rights. The documentary "has a passionate, almost prophetic sense of the impact that a writer and thinker can have on his times and the future." (NY Times) Absurd might be a word used to describe the campy low-budget comic romp, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, a modern-day sci-fi flick about humans and aliens looking for love in all the wrong places. Pariah is a coming –of-age and coming-out story about Alike (Ah-lee-kay), a shy, black, straight-A student who is an aspiring poet from a stable family. She has no doubt about her sexual orientation, but has yet to explore her identity, never mind come out to her parents who seem determined not to know what they undoubtedly do. Alike is played by Cornell alum Adepero Oduye ’99, who received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. “A hit at last year's Sundance Film Festival, Pariah is the finest coming-of-age movie I've seen in years…a vital first feature by director Dee Rees, [who] draws you into a world largely untapped in American black cinema.” (Ella Taylor, NPR)