SLO Film Fest 2021 Interviews: Directors Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Meadow talk about their documentary AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Meadow’s AHEAD OF THE CURVE tells the story of the groundbreaking lesbian lifestyle magazine Curve (formerly Deneuve). From its start in 1990, Curve magazine was a visionary and unapologetic celebration of lesbian life from cover to cover. Facing the magazine’s possible demise in 2019, director Jen Rainin and Curve founder Franco Stevens explore questions of lesbian visibility, legacy, and current day issues through interviews with contemporary LGBTQIA+ tastemakers, “celesbians” including Melissa Etheridge, Jewelle Gomez, Denise Frohman, Kate Kendell, and Lea DeLaria, along with rich archival footage recounting the formation of a lesbian cultural institution.
If AHEAD OF THE CURVE was simply a soup to nuts history of the creation of the magazine and the struggles, growing pains, and learning curve (pun intended) that Franco went through in establishing what has been a key touchstone for lesbian women for decades now, then Rainin and Meadow would have been rightly deserving of the requisite pats on the back and “job well done” accolades. But to the film’s credit and to their credit, it actually becomes much more than that as a conversation grows out of that history lesson about the impact of real representation and the meaning of words that can either identify us, celebrate us, be used against us, and be unwanted labels hanging around our necks. It might sound overwrought to say it’s an important film, but I’m saying that. So fight me.
In the interview, we talk about the challenges faced in making a documentary when you have a relationship with the subject (Jen is married to Franco), delving into the topic of representation, and the evolution of the acceptance of the word “lesbian” within the story of Curve and Franco. We also discuss the desire by Jen and Rivkah to make sure the film was forward thinking as opposed to just approaching the film a s a history lesson.
