''Finding North'' is a 1998

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

-themed

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

comedy-drama film. Written by Kim Powers and directed by Tanya Wexler, the film stars Wendy Makkena and

John Benjamin Hickey John Benjamin Hickey (born June 25, 1963) is an American actor with a career in stage, film and television. He won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Felix Turner in ''The Normal Heart'' ...

Plot

''Finding North'' tells the story of Rhonda (Makkena), a bank teller who's depressed upon turning 30, and Travis (Hickey), a gay man who's recently lost his lover to AIDS and grown suicidal. Travis receives an audio tape recorded by his lover, Bobby, before his death which sends him on a

scavenger hunt ''Scavenger Hunt'' is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony R ...

of sorts to Bobby's home town in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Through a series of mishaps, Rhonda ends up accompanying him on his journey. Together they follow Bobby's instructions as best they can, collecting items that represent Bobby's past, despite the many changes to the town in the years since Bobby left. Ultimately they end up at the grave site Bobby's parents had prepared for him decades earlier. They bury the collected items at Bobby's instruction and together start to try "finding north" (an expression of Bobby's; "when things hit rock bottom, sure as hell can't get any further south, might as well start finding north").

Cast

Awards and nominations

Verzaubert - International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Rosebud Award - Best Film (nominated)

DVD release

''Finding North'' was released on Region 1

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on March 7, 2000.

External links

* * {{Tanya Wexler 1998 romantic comedy films 1998 LGBT-related films 1998 films American LGBT-related films American independent films Films directed by Tanya Wexler 1990s English-language films 1998 directorial debut films 1990s American films