METH
Friday June 16
3:00 pm
Castro Theatre

$6 members | $7 general | METH16C

CO-PRESENTED BY San Francisco LGBT Community Center and
The Stonewall Project

Imagine you're a charismatic, irresistible sex machine capable of partying for days on end; that is, until the money runs out, "Tina" takes over, and you wake up paranoid and destitute. This is the nightmare that many of filmmaker Todd Ahlberg's interviewees went through after they fell under the spell of crystal methamphetamine, or "Tina" -- the seductive drug that has wreaked particular havoc on the gay male community.

Ahlberg takes viewers deep into the crystal experience, which has been part of the scene since early '90s circuit parties, but has only recently garnered national attention. Interviews with current and former addicts include articulate storytellers whose lust for the good old drug days still dances in their eyes years after the fact. One talks about abandoning his fancy car at the airport to go and party in Los Angeles for two years. Another man, still addicted, is slowly breaking his mother's heart. From the euphoric rush of "slamming it" into a vein to dangerous uninhibited sex while high, these men describe it all. (The film includes graphic scenes of drug use.)

Meth reveals the consequences of speed addiction: lost jobs, homelessness, severed friendships and becoming HIV positive. But the film ends with a hopeful nod toward recovery and its challenges, at least for some of the men. As one of them puts it, his greatest desire now is to be "just a regular guy."

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Frameline30, the 30th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, screening June 15-25 at the Castro Theatre, Roxie Film Center, Victoria Theatre, Cinearts@Empire, and the Parkway Theatre is the oldest and largest event of its kind in the world. Tickets go on sale to Frameline members Friday, May 26. General public ticket sales begin Friday, June 2. Tickets are available at Superstar Satellite video store located at 474 Castro Street (between Market and 18th Street in San Francisco), online at www.frameline.org/festival, by phone at 925 866 9559 and by fax at 925 866 9597.