“Audiences in this country really haven’t seen films in which two men fall in love, just as heterosexual couples do,” says Mark Bessenger, who recently finished shooting Rhapsody, a locally produced independent feature about a gay romance. “In Rhapsody we take the relationship at face value. These are regular guys with normal emotional dilemmas. I believe America is ready for a more realistic take, not only the angry shockers from the new queer cinema.”
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Bessenger grew up in a religious, conservative home in southern Indiana. “Naturally I was repressed and tried to date girls,” he explains with a soft chuckle. One of his obsessions was–and still is–monster movies. He started making Super-8 shorts when he was 12. “Perhaps you can say I identified with those creatures rejected by society.”
After such films as Parting Glances, Longtime Companion, Go Fish, and The Living End paved the way for box-office acceptance of movies with gay themes, he sensed the timing was right to dust off his old script.
As part of the 15th annual Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, Bessenger and Steiff will show clips from Rhapsody and talk about making the film in a panel discussion at 12:30 PM Sunday at the Kino-Eye Cinema at Chicago Filmmakers, 1543 W. Division. Admission is free. For more info call 384-0772.
