DVDs

Geza Von Radvanyi’s 1958 lesbian classic “Mädchen In Uniform”/”Girls In Uniform” (Wolfe) is available on DVD for the first time. Set in 1910, in the Prussian village of Potsdam, the film opens with teenaged Manuela (Romy Schneider) stopping at a cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of her parents. From there she is whisked off to a convent school by her severe and distant aunt. The “incredibly shy and over-sensitive” Manuela soon realizes that she will have to sink or swim in the shark tank.

Manuela’s life-preserver comes in the form of teacher Elizabeth von Bernburg (Lilli Palmer), a beautiful and refined teacher about whom most of the students are crazy. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with strict headmistress Sr. Superior (Therese Giehse), who believes that her sole purpose is to train these girls to be the future mothers of soldiers.

“Fish out of Water”

Ky Dickens never intended to make a film about religion and homosexuality. But after coming out during her senior year of college at socially conservative Vanderbilt, located in the “strap of the bible belt,” being rejected by sorority sisters and finding no community to speak of, that’s precisely what she did.

Dickens’ documentary “Fish out of Water” (First Run Features/Yellow Wing) follows her as she talks to preachers in Nashville about the gross misinterpretation of the Bible on the subject of homosexuality. She learns a few things about theology, biblical language and the ministry of Jesus. Following the renewal of hope that was the 2008 presidential election and the disappointment of the passage of state anti-gay marriage amendments, Dickens interviewed more than 170 members of the LGBT community and almost a dozen people of the cloth, in New York, Kansas, Georgia, Iowa, Colorado and Missouri.

Along with the interviews, the film incorporates footage of same-sex weddings and LGBT rights protests. This footage is enhanced by Daniel Saunders’ animation and Kyle Harter’s illustrations. One of the pleasures of this film is learning things along with the filmmaker, which demonstrates the belief that “no fish was created to live out of water.”