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Documentarian Arthur Dong. Photo by Zand Gee.

APA Documentarian Captures Conflict Between Christian Right and Gay Children

By Justin Lowe
Special to AsianWeek

No stranger to controversy, documentarian Arthur Dong’s previous films have examined a variety of gay-related issues, including homosexuals in the military (Coming Out Under Fire) and serial killers who prey on gay victims (Licensed to Kill). In Family Fundamentals, premiering this week, Dong confronts the difficult relationships that homosexuals face with their conservative Christian families, contributing an important and insightful perspective on the intensely personal family conflicts that inform a very public debate.

During production of Licensed to Kill, Dong discovered several of the murderers that he profiled justified their crimes by citing deeply held Christian beliefs hostile to gays. This connection prompted Dong to address “the conflicts that result from the intersection of sexuality, politics and religion” as a method of contextualizing an inquiry into the role of traditionalist Christian beliefs in creating anti-gay attitudes.

“I decided to focus this film on three stories that have one thing in common: a conservative Christian foundation that condemns homosexuality,” Dong says in a voice-over early in the film. Out of 30 candidates, Dong selected three subjects from families with varied backgrounds: Susan Jester is the 50-ish lesbian daughter of Pentecostal church leader Kathleen Bremner, a fervent supporter of “reparative therapy” for homosexuals and a counselor to congregation members with gay and lesbian children through her “Spatula Ministries.” Susan’s gay son David Jester adds an additional layer to the family saga with his growing misgivings regarding his grandmother’s confrontational anti-gay beliefs.

Top: Former California Republican congressman Robert Dornan (left) and Brian Bennett. Photo provided by Brian Bennett Collection. Above: Susan (left) and David Jester. Photo byDavid Jester.

Perhaps the film’s most compelling case is Brian Bennett, a middle-aged conservative Catholic who worked for 12 years as the chief of staff and campaign manager for former California Republican congressman Robert Dornan, one of Congress’ most outspoken anti-gay politicians. Bennett lived with the family for six years as a Dornan aide and considered the congressman a father figure until their estrangement following Bennett’s disclosure of his sexual orientation.

“I think in Family Fundamentals, my overall strategy was to depict the families I have in the film as metaphors for larger social and political ideas and agendas,” Dong said during a recent San Francisco interview. Wielding a digital video camera and prepared with a list of provocative questions, Dong incisively debriefs his subjects on their family relationships.

Digital filmmaking allowed Dong to adopt a do-it-yourself approach — serving as writer, director, narrator, cinematographer, editor and producer — that reduced expenses and improved access to his subjects. The documentary benefits from the intimacy and immediacy of this video-diary style, but also suffers from some distracting moments as Dong films and interviews his subjects simultaneously.

By selecting Christian community leaders opposed to their children’s sexuality, Dong ensures a revealing clash of ideologies, but this approach to structuring the film is ultimately challenged by a lack of participation from some family members. After luring Brett Mathews back to Utah for his grandmother’s wedding with promises of cooperation, his family backs out of the film, refusing any on-camera interviews, while Dornan declines to participate at all. Dong compensates for their absence with voiceovers and stock news footage, but their refusal to participate contributes to an unfortunate loss of narrative momentum in the second half of the film.

Dong acknowledges that Family Fundamentals “is not going to change anybody. I’m not going to be so pompous as to say my films are going to change the world and solve this problem,” but he does express hope that the documentary may open some eyes and help audiences see things from a more compassionate viewpoint.

In this respect, the film succeeds in providing a balanced and nuanced portrait of estranged families so constrained by their own ideology they’re unable to constructively communicate about this seemingly intractable issue. As a result, they use the film as a vehicle to continue their tortured dialogues in a public arena.

Perhaps surprisingly, Dong has received an enthusiastic response from some fundamentalist Christian organizations, which have been scheduling screenings and requesting copies of the tape to present to their congregations. Dong’s extensive outreach to both Christian and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities is an integral component of his self-distribution campaign for the film, which begins a limited theatrical run on October 11, National Coming-Out Day.

Family Fundamentals opens Oct. 11 in New York, Los Angeles and the Bay Area, where Arthur Dong will attend evening screenings at San Francisco’s Opera Plaza Cinema. Dong also appears at a special Oct. 10 San Francisco gala premiere benefit sponsored by the Film Arts Foundation. For tickets and information, call 415-552-8760x302 or go to www.filmarts.org.

Reach Justin Lowe at nextwavve@yahoo.com.