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One
day, a girl wakes up as a boy
Texas-filmed 'Equinox Knocks' gives gender envy a campy twist By Alison Macor
Published: Sept. 3, 1999 Among the films screening at this year's Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is an independent, gender-bending gem called "Equinox Knocks," which puts a comedic spin on witchcraft, football and gender envy. Shot entirely in Texas last summer, "Equinox Knocks" features Austin actors Guilford Adams, Kat James, Amber Lea Voiles and Debra Cassidy as well as recognizable local landmarks such as the San Jose Motel, St. Stephen's School and the Herb Bar. It screens Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Dobie Theatre. "We didn't set out to make a film for a gay audience," said director and co-writer Fran Rzeznik, speaking by phone from Los Angeles where she lives with "Equinox Knocks" producer and co-writer Zinka Benton. "But just the fact that it has that crossover appeal makes me happy." "It certainly has a camp appeal," Benton said of the film, which chronicles the mayhem that ensues when 17-year-old Allie Black (James) wakes up one morning as a boy who calls himself Caleb James (Adams). "It's exploring the gender-bending phenomenon in a really accessible way." The film's wide-ranging comic bent may also owe something to the filmmakers' day jobs. Both Rzeznik and Benton have worked in the film and television industries since they graduated with master's degrees from New York University's film program in the early 1990s. In 1994, Rzeznik produced and co-directed the documentary "One Nation Under God" with Teodoro Maniaci, and Benton has produced programs for network and cable television. With its emphasis on teen-age girls and the otherworldly powers of Allie's friend Courtney (Cassidy), "Equinox Knocks" shares a few similarities with popular teen television shows "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and "Charmed." "I think anything an artist does is influenced by the zeitgeist," Rzeznik said of the connection, but she and Benton emphasized other influences such as the movie "Big" and the gender envy they both experienced as young girls. "There's a little bit of that in every young woman who's growing up gay," Benton said. "You want to be a boy. You have that thought at least once in your life." While the subject matter may have been familiar to Rzeznik and Benton, the experience of shooting a low-budget fiction feature in the dog days of a Texas summer was something else entirely. "The challenge was that it was such an ambitious project," said Benton of the 24-day shoot, which took place predominantly in Weimar, a town of about 2,000 people between Houston and San Antonio. "Why have one football team when you really want to have seven?" "It's Texas, for God's sake," Rzeznik said, laughing. Filming in Texas, however, did have its perks. "All the department heads that we got from Austin were incredible," said Benton. Rzeznik and Benton called casting director Deborah Haber "a goddess," and they praised movement coach Kevin Remington, who rehearsed extensively with actors James and Adams so that their characters would share the same idiosyncrasies. Indeed, watching Caleb duplicate Allie's mannerisms is a comedic high point as well as one of the film's greatest strengths. Asked what "Equinox Knocks" brings to a gay and lesbian film festival firmly ensconced in its 12th year, Rzeznik said, "It celebrates Texas, and it offers another way of looking at the world." The film also exemplifies the Queer Cinema movement, which Rzeznik described as a cinema whose films are made by someone who looks at the world from a queer perspective. "I look at the world as a lesbian; Zinka looks at the world as a lesbian. That's how I see football," said Rzeznik of "Equinox Knocks." "In the beginning, we were all fighting for mainstream recognition in the larger culture, and I think we're achieving that," Rzeznik said in reference to gay and lesbian filmmakers. "I think our films are achieving that. It delights me that a mainstream audience could look at this film and say, 'We have a little bit of boy and a little bit of girl in us, and that's cool.'" |
Entertainment
'Equinox Knocks' ![]() Cast: Katherine James,
Guilford Adams, Amber Lea Voiles, Debra Cassidy
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