Out on Film Festival turns 24

From Sept. 29-Oct. 6, the 24th annual Out on Film Festival will present more than 50 LGBT films from around the world, including the opening night double feature The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley and Going Down in La-La Land and the closing night film Judas Kiss. For fans of Atlanta comedy, reality show gossip and sexual adventurism, the festival screens the Atlanta premiere of Margaret Cho’s latest concert film, Cho Dependent (Sept. 30, 9 p.m.).

Compared to Cho’s other one-woman movies such as I’m the One That I Want, Cho Dependent has a home-movie quality in honor of her new Atlanta-area residence. Director Lorene Machado recorded Cho Dependent at the Tabernacle and Cho frequently goggles at local institutions such as the Clermont Lounge and the Atlanta Steeplechase.

Occasionally in Cho Dependent the comedian sings raunchy songs from her new album of the same name. Her recent lyrical ventures shouldn’t be surprising, given the musical way she imitates her dramatic, thick-accented mother, or makes a rhythmic refrain of a recurring line like “Shooting olive oil out of her hole.”

Primarily the film presents stand-up comedy, beginning with behind-the-scenes quips about “Dancing With the Stars” and feuding with Bristol Palin. Tamping down her usual stage energy, Cho recounts moving anecdotes about her grandfather, but mostly brings up specifics about sexuality you seldom hear spoken aloud, like the way she and one boyfriend had a “fellationship.”

Cho Dependent all but crowns Cho as, if not the queen of the local gay scene, then Atlanta’s Alpha Fag Hag. Given Cho’s frequent applause lines about Lady Gaga, supporting gay businesses, and her admiration of gay men, the performance has an atmosphere of mutual worship between the performer and her audience. This could be the start of a long-term fellationship.