Mind you, this was 1984 so this idea was pretty racy. It was called “Fourplay” and was set in Greenwich Village in the mid-1970s. Two closeted gay men who are a couple decide to advertise in the Village Voice for a lesbian couple that they can marry and live with as a front for the mainstream world. They interview a bunch of couples and settle on two women who agree to get married in separate straight weddings. They move into two next door apartments which have a secret passageway of a door in between the apartments (literally, in the closet) so the two men could live together in one apartment and the two women could live together in the other, all the while, presenting as if they’re two straight, married couples who happen to be good friends and next door neighbors.
It starts getting more complicated when one of the men (who privately identifies as bisexual) falls for one of the women (who’d never been with a man), but – in a plot twist – he’s falling for his boyfriend’s wife, not his own wife. You can imagine how this adds a comic/tragic, slapstick element to an already unusual situation. And, if that’s not enough, she gets pregnant and tries to hide that from her girlfriend, her male lover, and her husband. This movie was never going to be made during the AIDS crisis in the 80s (which is why I set it in the libertine ‘70s), but I still think it could be a great period-piece film. Right as I was finishing the screenplay, I decided to start my boutique hotel company so the screenplay never went anywhere.
Now that I’ve outed my cinematic bona fides, you understand why I’ve loved creating a Film Fest at our MEA Santa Fe campus during the darkest time of the year, Dec 17-22. If it’s gonna be the shortest day of the year, why not watch movies? Popcorn, please! I’ve loved film festivals (my favorite being Telluride) and was fortunate enough to go to the 1991 Academy Awards ceremony and Governor’s Ball. But, I’ve never curated my own film festival and have absolutely devoured it with a grin, considering the mix of movies as well as the pacing of genres, and incorporating some deep MEA-oriented questions that will be offered to the workshop cohort before or after some of the films.
I don’t want to divulge the names of the films, but let me describe them based upon my current lineup which I’ve been developing with a couple of well-known Hollywood-based MEA alums (by the way, we’ll be having filmmakers and screenwriters coming to talk about their films during the week – currently, have four filmmakers joining us). We’ve got six feature-length comedies and dramas, three feature-length documentaries, three short docs, and one feature-length animated film. The average Rotten Tomatoes score (from Critics) is 92 so these are well-regarded films, but my guess is you’ve never seen almost any of them and they fit well with the MEA curriculum of reframing aging, navigating transitions, cultivating purpose, and learning to own one’s wisdom.
There’s films about late life love, caring for an aging parent, the importance of feeling belonging, finding one’s sexual rhythm in midlife, and leaving the rat race and finding one’s own pace, transitioning one’s gender later in life. Yes, there will be lots of actors you’re not familiar with, but I can tell you we already have films that include a lot of names you know: Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, and Tom Hanks. If you love films (some of these films will be receiving Oscar nominations), you’ll love this week.
P.S. I had such a blast last weekend celebrating my 64th birthday with friends I’ve known for decades, all of us staying at MEA’s Rising Circle Ranch in Santa Fe. There were folks who I didn’t think would “go there” when it comes to exploring the intimate details of their lives in front of others, but they found it liberating and it convinced me that MEA can offer a unique form of a birthday experience. Not all of the time was in the classroom as we hung out at Meow Wolf, in Canyon Road art galleries, on the SkyTrain at sunset, at 10,000 Waves spa, and hanging out with horses based upon the EQUUS method. Lots of love in this group.
