Jeremy Podeswa is
known for his work on projects that deal heavily with
issues of sexuality like Six Feet Under,
Queer as Folk, and Nip/Tuck. But with his
latest film, Fugitive Pieces, which is about the
Holocaust, he looks past identity politics and hopes
to redefine what it means to be a queer director.
OK. Here’s
the thing. I’ve just made my third feature film,
Fugitive Pieces, and it’s a story about a
young, Jewish Polish boy whose family is killed in
World War II. He is found and saved by a Greek man,
who at the risk of great personal danger, hides the
boy in occupied Greece throughout the war. He then
effectively adopts the child (with whom he has no
shared language, culture, or history). The film goes
on to dramatize the life of this boy as he grows up, becomes
a famous writer, gets married, and grapples with the
legacy of his traumatic past.
The film is based
on the profoundly moving literary bestseller by Anne
Michaels, which has won numerous awards internationally. All
very well and good.
But why am I
writing about this film for The Advocate? Fair
question.
I have previously
made two feature films that directly addressed issues
of intimacy and sexuality, gay, straight, and not so
well-defined. Those features, Eclipse
(distributed by Strand Releasing) and The Five
Senses (distributed by Fine Line and starring Mary
Louise Parker), and a number of short films including
Touch (part of the DVD compilation Boys
Briefs) are of obvious interest to gay and lesbian
viewers. I have also directed episodes of the TV
series Queer as Folk, The L Word, Six Feet
Under, Nip/ Tuck,Rome, Dexter and The Tudors… all
of which might be of more obvious interest to readers
of this publication. But what about Fugitive Pieces?
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