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by Blase DiStefano

WINTER SHORTS

Sundance Channel's February short films include one about a gay rabbit

Though February's Sundance Channel short films don't begin with An Early Frost (aka Gelée précoce), it is nevertheless the highlight of the month.

Ten-year-old Caroline loves her pet rabbit and is OK with her daddy carting the rabbit off to mate with other rabbits on a friend's farm. But when daddy picks up the rabbit, it seems that the friend had no success with Caroline's boy bunny doing the matey-matey with the girl bunnies. Omigod, he's a homo rabbit!

Of course, Caroline doesn't totally understand, but she still loves her pet. When her parents show disdain and say that her precious pet is abnormal, Caroline visits a gay couple, and, well, we don't want to spoil it for you.

An Early Frost, winner of the Best Short citation at the 2001 New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, airs one night only on the Sundance Channel on Wednesday, February 26 at 9:35 p.m.

More Sundance Shorts

Taste: The heat is rising in the kitchen of a restaurant Down Under as Suz sets her eyes on the new chef. But is she prepared to sample something not found on more conventional romantic menus? Lisa Dombroski's gender-bending comedy won audience awards at the Sydney Queerscreen and Melbourne Queer festivals. Friday, February 14, & Tuesday, February 18, 9:30 p.m., and Thursday, February 27, 8:30 a.m.

Afro Deutsch: Ayassi, a Berlin-based filmmaker of music videos and commercials, directs this dramatic short in which a young black man recalls critical moments in his life as he attempts to escape a band of racists. Monday, February 24, 9:15 p.m.

Skin Deep: Romo, a 15-year-old East London boy of mixed racial heritage who has been passing as white with a gang of skinheads, must confront the consequences of his deception when they choose an Asian target. Friday, February 14, 3:15 p.m., and Wednesday, February 19, 9:30 p.m.

Urban Scrawls: What are we thinking when we've got our pants down? Chicago filmmaker Jamie Schenk explores the profane, sexist, philosophical, and irrational world of bathroom graffiti, with reflections on this most democratic form of expression provided by a psychiatrist, a graphologist, and a professor of popular culture. Tuesday, February 11, 9:30 p.m., and Saturday, February 15, 1:30 p.m.

The Parlor: As a group of strangers passes time in a waiting room, their idle conversation slowly reveals their inner secrets, antagonisms, and deceits. Geoffrey Haley's satire of Internet chatrooms won an honorable mention for short filmmaking at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Openly gay screenwriter Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) served as executive producer. This short is the fourth of five shorts that are part of "Shorts Program 99," which starts at 7 p.m., Sunday, February 16.

For a complete schedule of short films and feature films and/or to confirm dates and times of these Sundance shorts, visit www.sundancechannel.com.

Showtime Greenlights Film about a Gay Dad

If it's a gay film, Stockard Channing must be one of the stars. OK, so that's a slight exaggeration, but the Oscar nominee and Emmy winner, who was seen in Showtime's gay film Behind the Red Door in January (from which she is pictured here), is set to start filming Jack this month.

Channing plays Anne, a divorced mother who is trying to be both mother and father to her 15-year-old son Jack (Anton Yelchin), whose dinners with his father Paul (Ron Silver) are getting more unusual by the week. Jack is also in love with the most popular girl in school, but she's unaware of his existence.

The clincher? Paul tells Jack that he's gay, that his relationship with his friend Bob is more than platonic.

If Jack doesn't have enough problems, he now gets to deal with the hateful graffiti and rumors that spread through the school. And Jack wonders that if his father is gay, does that mean he's gay?

Jack will be directed by Lee Rose, who directed The Truth About Jane and Showtime's A Girl Thing.

Showtime's "Night Out on ShoToo" in February

"Night Out on ShoToo" is Showtime's gay programming every Wednesday (repeats the following Saturday). The gay evening begins at 8 p.m. with a gay or gay-related film, followed by the animated Queer Duck, and ends with repeats of last season's Queer as Folk (the new season starts next month). This month's movies: Feb. 5 (& 8) Better Than Chocolate; Feb. 12 (& 15) The Crying Game; Feb. 19 (& 22) Billy Elliott; Feb. 26 (& Mar. 1) Hit and Runway.