The Early '90s' "Lady Trojans" Come to Life Anew in QFest Film
By Sherri Rase
photo courtesy of QFest
'Lady Trojans'
Annameekee Hesik, Anna- the screenwriter for "Lady Trojans" (USA 2008, 58 minutes) and half-sister of the film's director, Elizabeth Hesik-writes young adult fiction based on her own experiences in Catalina High School in the early 1990s, in Tucson, Arizona. When Anna was a high school freshman, she used the growth spurt she achieved- endured?-during the summer to try out for the school's basketball team, the eponymous Lady Trojans, with her best friend Alicia. Alicia's sister warns the young women they may meet "dykes" for the first time. Anna receives this message with mixed feelings-she had some interest and questions all at once.
Told through a combination of personal recollection and reenactments based upon Anna's writing, "Lady Trojans" is the Svengali tale of the über-butch Quinn, who held most of the lesbians on the team in thrall-not least, Anna.
Anna had gotten an early video camera and documented a fair amount of her high school experience within her viewfinder. Looking back with a mature understanding to shade the nostalgia, she gives us an unvarnished look at the one person who was at the center of a group of amazing women. See "Lady Trojans"-you can't help comparing the experiences of Anna and her friends to more personally oriented times. One needs at least a decade and a half to be able to look back and learn from times of innocence and confidences.
QFest (www.phillycinema.org) offers the Philadelphia premiere of "Lady Trojans," as a double feature, with Dee Mossbacher and Fawn Yacker's "Training Rules," on July 19 at 9 p.m. at the Ritz East, Theater Two, 125 South Second Street.
