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The feature-length documentary Queens of Heart: Community Therapists in Drag (74 minutes), directed by PSU professor Jan Haaken, will premier in Los Angeles as part of the LA Femme Film Festival 2007. The screening will take place Saturday, October 13, 2007, at 8 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theatre (8556 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, Calif.). Tickets are $10 per film sold at the door.

Queens of Heart brings to the screen the first psychological study of drag performance, set in the oldest surviving female impersonation club in the United States. Portland’s Darcelle XV Showplace has become a rite of passage for young women throughout the Pacific Northwest celebrating their “last night out” before getting married. Seventy-five year old Darcelle XV, co-proprietor, performer, and activist, comforts and confronts her audiences, from the brides gone wild and their nervous male companions, to gays and lesbians celebrating a step in coming out, to older women recovering from an illness or divorce.

The documentary takes viewers behind the scenes, showing how the work of drag requires a deep understanding of human psychology. For more information visit www.queensofheartdoc.com.

This is the newest documentary from director Jan Haaken, a professor of psychology at Portland State University. Haaken is a clinical and community psychologist, documentary filmmaker and social justice activist. Much of her work draws on interdisciplinary perspectives, particularly feminist and psychoanalytic cultural studies. Recent projects include a curriculum on the multiple meanings of covering among Muslim women, a video documentary and book on the Sierra Leonean Civil War and refugee women, and a current documentary film project on hip hop activism.

In addition to the predominantly female film crew, filmmakers Gus Van Sant and Eric Edwards, and musician Thomas Lauderdale, with Pink Martini, contributed throughout the four years of producing the documentary. Supported by Pride Foundation, Equity Foundation and many individual donors, Queens of Heart is a tribute to Portland’s vibrant queer community and to Darcelle XV, who has served as “community therapist” to thousands of people for over four decades.

LA Femme Film Festival
La Femme Film Festival is a premiere festival that focuses on women filmmakers’ platforming their commercial films for the world wide audience. It is a festival for those women seeking an equal opportunity in commercial entertainment to change, enhance, or become leaders in the industry as a director, writer, producer, or director of photography. For more information visit www.lafemme.org.