Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014

April 3 - 12, 2014

Jury Award Winners

from Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014
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Jury Honorable Mention

from Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014
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Audience Awards

from Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014
No items found.

Best in Show Shorts

from Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014
No items found.

All Feature Films

from Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

in person
Pratibha Parmar
84 min
USA
2013
This feature documentary is a unique story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper-thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the 20th Century. Making history as the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s inspiring journey is also a story of a country and a people at the fault line of historical changes.
The compelling story of an extraordinary woman’s journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Boy Meets Girl

in person
Eric Schaeffer
95 min
USA
2014
Boy Meets Girl is a sexy, romantic coming-of-age comedy about three twenty-year-olds living in Kentucky. Robby (Michael Welch, Twilight) and Ricky, a gorgeous transgender woman and childhood friend, have never dated. Lamenting the lack of bachelors, Ricky considers dating a girl. In walks Francesca, a beautiful woman waiting for her Marine fiancé to return from the war. Ricky and Francesca strike up a friendship, and maybe a little more, which forces Robby to face his true feelings for Ricky.
In Kentucky, a transgender woman and her best male friend lament the lack of eligible partners and step across old boundaries of love and romance.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Boys

in person
Mischa Kamp
78 min
Netherlands
2014
Boys is a beautiful portrayal of first love between two teen track stars as they train for the biggest relay race of their lives. At the start, Sieger grapples with his emerging attraction for Marc, his relay teammate. As the summer progresses, so does a romance between them as they swim, bike, and even kiss. With family and social pressures mounting, Sieger tries to fight the inevitable. Authentic in its portrayal of young romance, Boys ranks as one of the most wholesomely romantic gay teen films ever.
Two teen track stars discover first love as they train for the biggest relay race of their young lives.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Drunktown's Finest

in person
Sydney Freeland
95 min
English
United States
2014
Drunktown’s Finest is a feature film about Gallup, New Mexico. Nizhoni was adopted and raised as a Christian by a white family, transsexual Felixxia dreams of becoming a model, and Sickboy is headed to basic training. We observe the Navajo Nation from the inside out through the eyes of these three unlikely characters. At first our preconceptions are reinforced, but slowly, as each of their lives unfolds, we confront the reality of living in this community, and we see these three aspiring to leave their town behind.
On a desolate Navajo reservation in New Mexico, three young people – a college-bound, devout Christian; a rebellious and angry father-to-be; and a promiscuous but gorgeous Nádleehi (trans person)- search for love and acceptance.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Dual

in person
Nejc Gazvoda
102 min
Slovenia, Denmark, Croatia
2013
A technical problem makes the plane from Denmark heading to Greece land at a Slovene airport. All passengers are being taken to a hotel in Ljubljana. Among them is Iben, a quiet young Danish girl. She meets Tina, who drives a shuttle as a summer job. Iben asks Tina to take her for a midnight drive around the town... Over the next day they grow closer with each woman at a different time in their life: one is hiding a big secret and the other is simply trying to find her place in the world.
The paths of two girls cross one evening in Ljubljana. Tina, a Slovene, and Iben, a Danish girl of similar age, both experiencing some kind of turning point in their lives, open up to one another and soon develop a close bond…
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012

Everybody Has Somebody...But Me

in person
Raul Fuentes
100 min
Mexico
2012
A young woman runs towards a parked car. Inside is her secret lover. They embrace passionately. We’re at the beginning of the all-consuming love affair between Alejandra and her lover Maria. For Alejandra, Maria becomes an inspiration in her work. Younger and wilder, can Maria live up to Alejandra’s expectations, and does Maria really want a relationship? Beautifully shot in black and white, this is a sensual film with wry touches of humor.
“Everybody’s Got Somebody… Not Me” - Alejandra is sick of her daily life and her past relationships that have not worked out. Then she meets María, an adolescent, with whom she has an affair. At first everything runs smoothly, however Alejandra´s personality and her emotional needs prove increasingly demanding; being around her becomes unbearable. At this point, they ask themselves whether they should continue the oppressive relationship, or go on with their ordinary lives.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Finding Neighbors

in person
Ron Judkins
96 min
USA
2013
A comedic drama about three sets of Los Angeles neighbors who are searching for true connection. Six months late on a book delivery, stay-at-home graphic novelist Sam Tucker has succumbed to a full-on mid-life and creative crisis. Sherrie, the provocative girl-next-door, offers him an easy and willing distraction. But it is Sam's budding friendship with another neighbor, Jeff, which helps him begin to reconnect with his creative thread.
A formerly acclaimed graphic novelist goes looking for true connection outside of his marriage, and over the fence.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

First Period

in person
Charlie Vaughn
100 min
USA
2013
New girl Cassie and outcast Maggie are easily the most awkward girls in high school. Together, they decide that the way to win the hearts of the cute boys and the popular girls is to win the school talent show. But rivals Heather, Other Heather, and their popular boyfriends Brett and Dirk will stop at nothing to keep our heroes the laughing stock of the school. It's going to take makeovers, courage, and maybe even a little rapping to beat them in true 80s style.
New girl Cassie and outcast Maggie are easily the most awkward girls in high school. Together, they decide the way to win the hearts of the cute boys and popular girls is to come in first at the school talent show. But rivals Heather, Other Heather, and their popular boyfriends Brett and Dirk will stop at nothing to keep our heroes the laughing stock of the school. It's going to take makeovers, courage, and maybe even a little rapping to beat them in true 80s style.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Floating Skyscrapers

in person
Tomasz Wasilewski
93 min
Poland
2013
Strong and disciplined Kuba is sideswiped by the feelings unearthed when he meets handsome Mikal. Their connection is instantaneous and intoxicating. Suddenly his comfortable life with his girlfriend Sylwie is less interesting, and after training for fifteen years, his motivation to compete as a top-tier athlete dissipates. Kuba begins a relationship with Mikal. As Sylwie’s dreams of a life with Kuba slip away, Kuba accepts who he is and what he wants, only to find himself drowning in the destruction of his desires.
Kuba attends an art opening with his girlfriend of two years and bumps into Mikal. The connection between these two young men is instantaneous and intoxicating, and despite opposition from all sides, he allows Mikal into his life. The results go beyond anything he could have imagined. This intimate and bold second feature from Polish director Tomasz Wasilewski captures the often-complicated consequences of finding love where others do not want it.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

in person
Nicholas Wrathall
89 min
USA
2013
No twentieth-century figure has had a more profound effect on the worlds of literature, film, politics, historical debate, and the culture wars than Gore Vidal. Anchored by intimate one-on-one interviews with the man himself, Nicholas Wrathall’s new documentary is a fascinating and wholly entertaining portrait of the last lion of the age of American liberalism.
Anchored by intimate, one-on-one interviews with the man himself, Nicholas Wrathall’s new documentary is a fascinating and wholly entertaining tribute to the iconic Gore Vidal. Commentary by those who knew him best—including filmmaker/nephew Burr Steers and the late Christopher Hitchens—blends with footage from Vidal’s legendary on-air career to remind us why he will forever stand as one of the most brilliant and fearless critics of our time.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Honeymoon

in person
Jan Hrebejk
97 min
Czech Republic
2013
Tereza and Radim just got married! The reception afterwards is nothing short of perfect until a mysterious young man turns up. He appears to be a friend of Radim’s but no one acknowledges the stranger’s presence. Secrets are revealed and the party slowly drifts into a nightmare for everyone. As the film unfolds, heroes are made and we begin to question and re-examine moral issues without passing any sort of judgment.
A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion, but things can go awry. When an uninvited guest turns up at the church and later at the reception as well, the newly-weds’ day turns sour. Shadows of the past can blight the most sumptuous of banquets and rend the most affectionate of embraces.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole

in person
Jim Tushinski
93 min
USA
2013
An outspoken and articulate artist in a turbulent, passionate time, Wakefield Poole didn't think of himself as a pornographer. He was a filmmaker who used his dance and theater background to create beautiful, erotic art films that challenged the mind. Many agreed. To others, though, Poole just made dirty movies. I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole tells the story of this sometimes overlooked gay liberation and independent filmmaking pioneer.
I Always Said Yes is a portrait of pioneering filmmaker Wakefield Poole, whose careers as dancer, choreographer, and director spanned the golden years of Broadway, television, porno chic, and gay liberation.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

It's All So Quiet

in person
Nanouk Leopold
93 min
Netherlands
2013
Helmer, a single farmer in his fifties, lives with his aged, bedridden father in the Dutch countryside. His working days are marked by the visits of milk collector Johan, a man of his own age for whom Helmer holds a secret fascination. One day Helmer decides to renovate the house, buying himself a new double bed and moving his father upstairs. His life gains even more momentum, when adolescent farmhand Henk comes to help him out.
The story of a farmer who realizes that his life has been influenced to an unhealthy extent by his aging father.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Kidnapped for Christ

in person
Kate Logan
85 min
USA
2014
Kidnapped For Christ tells the shocking stories of American teenagers who were taken from their homes and shipped to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Christian behavior modification program in the Dominican Republic. When a young evangelical filmmaker is granted unprecedented access to film behind the gates of this controversial school, she discovers shocking secrets and young students that change her life.
Kidnapped For Christ tells the shocking stories of American teenagers who were taken from their homes and shipped to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Christian behavior modification program in the Dominican Republic. The film centers on David, a straight-A student who was sent to Escuela Caribe because he is gay and his parents can’t deal with the situation. When a young evangelical filmmaker is granted unprecedented access to film behind the gates of this controversial school, she discovers shocking secrets and young students that change her life.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Land of Storms

in person
Adám Császi
105 min
Hungary, Germany
2014
Szabolcs, plays soccer for a German team and is sexually involved with his teammate Bernard. When training proves too difficult, Szabolcs decides to return to Hungary to start an easier life. He soon meets Áron, a villager from nearby and all thoughts of an uncomplicated life disappear. Szabolcs accepts his sexual identity while things become disastrous for Áron. To further complicate matters, Bernard comes from Germany to persuade Szabolcs to return with him. Will Szabolcs leave Áron in a repressed and intolerant environment?
Szabolcs plays in a German football team, as does Bernard. They are roommates, best friends, inseparable. A lost match makes him reconsider his life and he goes back to Hungary in hope for more simplicity. Yet his solitude does not last long. Soon after his arrival he meets Áron and a mutual attraction between the two boys develops when suddenly Szabolcs receives an unexpected phone call from Bernard: he has arrived to Hungary…
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012

Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution

in person
Myriam Fougère
63 min
Canada
2012
A parallel revolution was born out of the feminist movement of the 1970s, coming to an end around 1995. Filmmaker Myriam Fougère takes us on a journey to meet the lesbian writers, philosophers, and activists who were key players in creating a revolutionary sisterhood. From Montréal to Texas, we encounter lesbians who chose to live only among women. This marginal yet international movement is brought to life through archival footage, photographs, and evocative interviews.
A parallel revolution was born out of the feminist movement of the 1970’s, coming to an end around 1995. Filmmaker Myriam Fougère takes us on a journey to meet the lesbian writers, philosophers and activists who were key players in creating a revolutionary sisterhood. From Montréal to Texas, by way of New York, Myriam encounters lesbians who chose to live only among women. This marginal yet international movement is brought to life through archival footage and photographs, and evocative interviews with these courageous women, many of whom are now in their seventies and eighties.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Lilting

in person
Hong Khaou
91 min
United Kingdom
2014
Lilting is a touching, intimate film about finding the things which bring us together. In contemporary London, a Cambodian Chinese mother mourns the untimely death of her son. Her world is further disrupted by the presence of a stranger. We observe their difficulties in trying to connect with one another without a common language, but through a translator they begin to piece together memories of a man they both loved.
A young man of Chinese-Cambodian descent dies, leaving behind his isolated mother and his lover of four years. Though the two don’t share a language, they grow close through their grief.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

My Straight Son

in person
Miguel Ferrari
110 min
Venezuela
2013
Diego is a guy like any other one. He has a regular family and his friends don’t have anything special. But there is something that makes him different. He has a heterosexual son. One father, one son. Both of them will need to fix their differences and everything depends on how you look at it.
The story of Diego, a young and successful photographer that lives in the glamorous world of fashion, shallowness and excess. A tragic accident turns his world around; his partner is now in a coma. Unexpectedly, and right at this terrible time, Diego must take care of his son, Armando. Now, both of them have to adapt to each other; Armando to the unknown, homosexual world of his father, and Diego to the closed attitude of his teenage son.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Off Road

in person
Elisa Amoruso
70 min
Italy
2013
Pino is a mechanic and an off-road racing champion, who becomes a woman named Beatrice. As a transgender person, she meets Marianna, a nurse from Romania who's taking care of her old mother. A romance begins between Beatrice and Marianna—they fall in love. With both of them dressed as brides, they manage to get married in Rome while fighting established societal norms and prejudices. Off Road is an Italian love story, traveling an un-surfaced road to become an unconventional family in a conventional country.
Pino is a mechanic and a rally rides champion, who decides to become a woman, and names himself Beatrice. As a transgender, he meets Marianna, a nurse from Rumenia who’s taking care of Pino’s old mother. Beatrice and Marianna fall in love and manage to get married in Rome, fighting established society and prejudice, both dressed as brides. An Italian love story, an unsurfarced road to become an unconventional family, in a too conventional country
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Open Up to Me

in person
Simo Halinen
95 min
Finnish
Finland
2013
Maarit is a beautiful, intelligent and sexy woman – who used to be a man. She is estranged from the daughter she fathered and from her previous life. When she meets and falls in love with Sami – soccer coach, teacher and family man – she finally feels like she can ‘fit in’ somewhere. But Sami is soon put to the test. Sami is forced to confront his own deeply hidden prejudices. And as for Maarit, with or without Sami, she has to step into a brave new world where only she can determine her sense of belonging.
At first glance Maarit looks like any other woman in her early forties. There is, however, something strange under the surface. She radiates sexual energy that is hard to define.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Queens and Cowboys: A Straight Year On The Gay Rodeo

in person
Matt Livadary
92 min
USA
2014
Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year On The Gay Rodeo chronicles a complete season of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Roping and riding across North America for the past 30 years, the IGRA's courageous cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. And along the way, they'll bust every stereotype in the book.
A feature film that chronicles a complete season of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Roping and riding across north America for the past 30 years, the IGRA’s courageous cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. And along the way, they’ll bust every stereotype in the book.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Queer Artivism

in person
Maša Zia Lenárdič & Anja Wutej
96 min
Slovenia
2013
The documentary gives everyone, who doesn’t have the chance to travel around to different festivals, the opportunity to experience at least 5 queer film festivals by going to just one film festival/screening. It also opens a space for discussion about the importance of queer film and queer film festivals in today’s society. And it is a tribute to all the people who usually remain unseen, but without whom queer films and queer film festivals would not be possible (festival organizers, filmmakers etc.).
An insight into 5 queer film festivals accompanied with the discussion about the importance of queer film festivals, queer film and people’s experience with both.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Rainbows Are Real

in person
Ritesh Sharma
51 min
India
2013
A movie based on Transgenders, the "in-betweens" that are shunned by society, unaccepted and forced to make ends meet through sex work. It revolves around the lives of three transgenders - their work, their homes, their difficulties, their childhood, their relationships, their hobbies, and their normality. This is not only a story of the dark and difficult life of the transgenders, but also of their beautiful journeys filled with psychedelic and vibrant colors of the "vibgyor" that will engross us and captivate us.
A movie based on Transgenders, the “in-betweens” that are shunned by society, unaccepted and forced to make ends meet through sex work. It revolves around the lives of three transgenders – their work, their homes, their difficulties, their childhood, their relationships, their hobbies, and their normality. This is not only a story of the dark and difficult life of the transgenders, but also of their beautiful journeys filled with psychedelic and vibrant colors of the “vibgyor” that will engross us and captivate us.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Reaching for the Moon

in person
Bruno Barreto
118 min
Brazil
2013
Based on the true love story of Elizabeth Bishop and Lota de Macedo Soares. Frustrated poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Brazil and encounters the beguiling architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Initial hostilities make way for a complicated yet long-lasting love affair that dramatically alters Bishop’s relationship to the world around her.
In 1951, New York poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit Mary, a college friend. The shy Elizabeth is overwhelmed by Brazilian sensuality. She is the antithesis to Mary’s dashing partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Mary is jealous, but unconventional Lota is determined to have both women at all costs. This eternal triangle plays out against the backdrop of the military coup of 1964. Bishop’s moving poems are at the core of a film which lushly illustrates a crucial phase in the life of this influential Pulitzer prize-winning poet.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Salvation Army

in person
Abdellah Taia
81 min
France
2013
Salvation Army is structured in a diptych: the first episode chronicles Abdellah's teenage years, when he comes to understand, all at once, his sexuality, social codes, inhibitions, the brutality of patriarchy and the cruelty of poverty. The second half follows the young adult Abdellah as a penniless university graduate who travels on a scholarship to Geneva, where he must negotiate the treacherous sexual, racial, political, and social trappings of being a young homosexual Moroccan in Europe. Courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival.
Abdellah is a young gay man navigating the sexual, racial and political climate of Morocco. Growing up in a large family in a working-class neighborhood, Abdellah is caught between a distant father, an authoritarian mother, an older brother whom he adores and a handful of predatory older men, in a society that denies his homosexuality.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

Skanks

in person
David McMahon
85 min
USA
2014
In religion and football-obsessed Alabama, a group of actors bond while producing an original drag musical. In the winter of 2012 a community theatre in Birmingham, Alabama mounted an original musical, 'Skanks in a One Horse Town.' 'Skanks' follows the actors and creators from rehearsal through performance and after, at work, at their homes, and with their families. The cast of amateur performers bond to form a family of sorts while creating the unconventional show in a conservative Southern city.
In religion and football-obsessed Alabama, a group of actors bond while producing an original drag musical. In the winter of 2012 a community theatre in Birmingham, Alabama mounted an original musical, ‘Skanks in a One Horse Town.’ ‘Skanks’ follows the actors and creators from rehearsal through performance and after, at work, at their homes, and with their families. The cast of amateur performers bond to form a family of sorts while creating the unconventional show in a conservative Southern city.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Snails in the Rain

in person
Yariv Mozer
82 min
Israel
2013
In this intelligent and emotional Israeli film set in 1989 Tel Aviv, Boaz is a linguistics student committed to his loving girlfriend, Noa. But soon Boaz is questioning his life when he begins receiving a series of obsessive love letters from another man. They expose the inner world of their author, who is deeply closeted — and knows plenty about him, including Boaz’s past attraction to other men.
Tel Aviv, Summer 1989. Boaz, a beautiful and alluring linguistics student, receives anonymous, male written love letters, that undermine his sexual identity and interfere on his peaceful life with his beloved girlfriend.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Tattoo

in person
Hilton Lacerda
110 min
Brazil
2013
It’s Brazil 1978 and the military dictatorship in power since 1964 begins to falter. Clecio Wanderley leads a theater troupe that challenges power and conventional morality with theater plays and public interferences. The troupe is strongly supported by its homosexual audiences as well as intellectuals and other artists. Wanderley’s life changes when he meets Fininha, an 18 year-old boy from the country fulfilling his military service in the big city. This encounter will forever change each of their lives permanently like a tattoo on their souls.
Paulete, the star of a daring theater group, is visited by his military brother-in-law, the young Fininha. A torrid relationship arises between the two, and now the soldier must deal with the prevailing repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Test

in person
Chris Mason Johnson
90 min
USA
2013
Test lovingly portrays the uniquely exciting and harrowing era of 70s San Francisco as young Frankie (spectacularly lithe real-life dancer Scott Marlowe) navigates gay life in the big city alongside the travails of being an understudy in a modern dance company and his evolving relationship with fellow dancer Todd (the hunky Matthew Risch). It’s the classic test of skill and character. But a very different test looms on the horizon for them. As Frankie and Todd’s friendship deepens, they navigate a world full of risk… and hope.
San Francisco, 1985. Two opposites attract at a modern dance company. Together, their courage and resilience are tested as they navigate a world full of risks and promise, against the backdrop of a disease no one seems to know anything about.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

The Circle

in person
Stefan Haupt
102 min
Switzerland
2014
Zurich: 1958. Bashful teacher Ernst Ostertag and cabaret artist Robi Rapp get to know one another in the Swiss underground organization called “Der Kreis.” (The Circle). As the men defend their love, they witness the heyday and decline of this Europe-wide pioneering organization for gay emancipation. This documentary uncovers the fascinating universe of one of the first gay liberation communities. Enriched by impressive conversational records with Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp, the film depicts a decades-long love story and reveals the couple’s inspiring self-knowledge and courage.
A young teacher in Zurich in the 1950s falls in love with a transvestite star but is torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality. He joins a gay organization that is eventually seen as the pioneer of gay emancipation in Europe.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012

The Comedian

in person
Tom Shkolnik
79 min
United Kingdom
2012
Ed is at a crossroads in his life. His unrewarding job is getting more frustrating, and his career as a stand-up is not taking off. In fact, he’s starting to acknowledge he might not be a very good comedian. His love life begins to look promising when he meets artist Nathan, a gorgeous younger man. Yet Ed’s feelings are conflicted when he is drawn to his female flatmate. The Comedian is a funny and touching film, presenting characters who are recognizable and real.
Set in the immediate and random background of today’s London. THE COMEDIAN is a fresh, dramatic and funny debut feature about choices and how not to make them.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 1975

The Devil’s Cleavage

in person
George Kuchar
130 min
USA
1975
Partial inspiration for Zippy the Pinhead and eulogized by the NY Times as “a national treasure,” George Kuchar, with his twin brother, Mike, practically invented the campy, no-budget, anti-professional, tasteless, gender-bending underground style later embraced by John Waters and others. He made over 500 films in his career. Tonight we feature two of his best: The Devil’s Cleavage is a farcical send-up of Douglas Sirk-style melodramas, made “as if Sam Fuller and Sternberg had collaborated in shooting a script by Tennessee Williams and Russ Meyer” (Chuck Kleinhans, Jump Cut).
A shady motel manager becomes obsessed with a neglected wife.
 min total program
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FROM 2013

The Dog

in person
Allison Berg, François Keraudren
100 min
USA
2013
John Wojtowicz took pride in being a pervert. Coming of age in the 1960s, his libido was excessive even by standards of the era, with multiple wives and lovers. In August 1972, he attempted to rob a bank to finance his lover's sex-reassignment surgery. This resulted in a hostage situation that was broadcast on TV. Three years later, Al Pacino portrayed his crime in Dog Day Afternoon, which had a profound influence on Wojtowicz. When he emerged from prison, he was known as “The Dog.”
In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York’s gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

The New Black

in person
Yoruba Richen
80 min
USA
2013
The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families, and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar—the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar-the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

The Ten Year Plan

in person
J.C. Calciano
90 min
USA
2014
Myles (Jack Turner) and Brody (Michael Adam Hamilton) are best friends with two very different ways of finding love. Displeased with their current love lives, they make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten years’ time. Now two months shy of their deadline, both friends set off to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up as each other’s last resort.
Myles and Brody are best friends with two very different ways of finding love. Displeased with their current love lives, they make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten year’s time. Now two months shy of their deadline, both friends set off to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up as each other’s last resort.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers And The Emergence Of A People

in person
Thomas Allen Harris
92 min
USA
2013
A rich and lyrical tapestry that is both personal and epic in scope, Thomas Allen Harris’s extraordinary documentary, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (TALD), is a unique examination of the way black photographers—and their subjects—have used the camera as a tool for social change from the time photography was invented to the present. TALD is a powerful and elegant engagement with the burden of representation and serves as a testament to the redemptive powers of creativity. Adapted from Sundance.
The film explores the role of photography, since its rudimentary beginnings in the 1840s, in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present. The dramatic arch is developed as a visual narrative that flows through the past 160 years to reveal black photography as an instrument for social change, an African American point-of-view on American history, and a particularized aesthetic vision.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014

To Be Takei

Opening Night

in person
Jennifer Kroot & Bill Weber
90 min
USA
2014
George Takei doesn’t shy away from digging into his remarkable career and personal life in this delightful and incisive film. Takei and his husband, Brad, have become the poster couple for marriage equality, highlighting homophobia through television interviews and hilarious skits, many of which have gone viral and garnered widespread attention. Whether dishing on William Shatner or parodying the now-infamous comments made by Tim Hardaway, Takei proves time and again why his presence in popular culture remains as fresh and necessary as ever.
Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013

Tom At The Farm

in person
Xavier Dolan
105 min
Canada, France
2013
Tom, a young advertising copywriter, travels to the country to attend his partner Guillaume’s funeral. Tom is shocked to find out no one knows who he is and who he was to the deceased. Guillaume’s brother quickly sets the rules for a twisted game and thereby sets the tone of this thrilling film. To protect the family's name and a grieving mother, Tom submits to playing the peacekeeper in a household whose obscure past bodes even greater darkness for his "trip" to the farm.
A young man travels to an isolated farm for his lover’s funeral where he’s quickly drawn into a twisted, sexually charged game by his lover’s aggressive brother.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2013

Tru Love

in person
Kate Johnston, Shauna MacDonald
87 min
Canada
2013
Tru is a bed-hopping lesbian who cannot commit. Restless by nature and wounded by the past, she seems to live from mattress to mattress, bobbing along through life with no anchor. She meets Alice, an older beautiful widow, who has come to visit her daughter Suzanne, a friend of Tru’s. Sparks fly—Alice and Tru begin forging more than a friendship. When Suzanne witnesses an intimate moment between the two, she tries to sabotage the budding romance. It backfires as Tru Love is hard to contain.
A lesbian with commitment issues befriends a widowed mother who is visiting her workaholic daughter.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2013

Two Mothers

in person
Anne Zohra Berrached
75 min
Germany
2013
Katja and Isabella decide to have a child. However, like many lesbian couples they discover getting pregnant is difficult since (for legal reasons) most fertility clinics refuse to treat them. Help is available at one clinic but for a price. After several expensive attempts Katja wants to stop while Isabella refuses to give up. In a last effort, the couple purchase an “at home” insemination kit and search a “sperm donor” website. And so they begin ‘casting’ for a potential donor – a process that challenges both women’s attempts at creating a family.
The unexpected difficulty of becoming mothers through the means of artificial insemination slowly erodes the relationship between Katja and Isabella.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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Two Weddings and a Funeral

in person
Jho Kwang-soo Kim
106 min
South Korea
2012
To keep their sexual orientation a secret, a gay man and a lesbian woman gets married. Now they have to juggle their identities to fool parents and co-workers, all while trying to find real love.
A gay man and a lesbian get married to hide their sexuality. They juggle their secret identities, fool friends and family, and search for true love.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2013

Up to the World

in person
Alessandro Lunardelli
95 min
Italian
Italy
2013
Davide and Loris are brothers and live in a very small village in the north of Italy. While Davide is eighteen years old and gay, Loris is almost thirty and doesn’t know anything about his brother’s sexuality. Loris and Davide go to Barcelona to watch the match of “Inter”. In Spain, Davide falls in love with Andy, an Ecology Activist from Chile. Andy invites Davide to go with him to Santiago and the boy follows him. Far from the provincialism of his city, things don’t go as Davide imagined.
Davide and Loris are brothers and live in a very small village in the north of Italy. While Davide is eighteen years old and gay, Loris is almost thirty and doesn’t know anything about his brother’s sexuality.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2013

Valencia: The Movie/S

in person
Various
105 min
USA
2013
Based on Michelle Tea’s queer classic, Valencia. This film is a collaborative film project. Twenty one queer filmmakers each shot a 5-7 minute short based on a chapter from the book. Valencia the novel put the experiences of an entire generation of lesbians on paper through the lens of one hard-loving and hard-drinking dyke. Punk rockers, riot grrls, and simple, artsy freaks suddenly had a heroine that they could see themselves in.
Valencia is a collaboration between a national community of queer filmmakers to adapt the underground classic memoir into a kaleidoscopic vision of San Francisco’s Mission District in the early 90s during the rise of a punk lesbian diaspora told through the experiences of Michelle, a single rootless twenty-something searching for sex and love, drugs and adventure.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2013

Who’s Afraid Of Vagina Wolf?

in person
Anna Margarita Albelo
83 min
USA
2013
In this eccentric all-female comedy, charismatic filmmaker Anna faces a midlife crisis. She’s just turned 40, has neither job nor girlfriend, and lives in her friend’s garage. For the past few years, she’s had no goals and no idea how to get what she wants. Just when she’s about to throw in the towel, she meets the enchanting Katia who becomes her muse and sets her on a path of self-discovery, creativity and redemption. Adapted from Outfest.
After turning 40, filmmaker Anna confronts her future. She has no job and it’s been ten years since her last girlfriend. No goals, plans or any idea of what she wants. And she’s living in a garage. Just when she’s about to give up, she meets Katia, who inspires her to set out on a new path of creativity.
 min total program
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2011

Yoshiko & Yuriko

in person
Hamano Sachi
102 min
Japan
2011
Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she's an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married to a well-known scholar - a situation she can't walk away from with ease.
Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. Both have left huge marks on Japanese literary history. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she’s an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married (not altogether happily) to a well-known scholar - a situation she can’t walk away from with ease.
 min total program
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All Short Film Programs

from Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014
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Best of CineKink

FREE

in person
80
 min total program
Just entering its eleventh season, CineKink is an annual film festival and national screening tour that celebrates and explores the wide diversity of sexuality. Presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television, works showcased by the festival range from documentary to drama, spicy to explicit - and everything in between!
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Drag Shorts

FREE

in person
90
 min total program
We are pulling back the curtain of illusion in this program of shorts, Five stories of inspiration, revenge, reality, love and loss with a lot of heart, sometimes a sharp tongue, and whole lot of glitter.
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Facing the Fear

FREE

International Shorts

in person
97
 min total program
Fear weaves its way through out this selection of shorts from around the world. From psychotic exes, stalkers, the fear of sounds and the forces closing in from
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Love is All Around

FREE

LGBT Youth Shorts Program

in person
95
 min total program
Love is all around you in this selection of shorts. Whether its love’s first glimmer, love lost, or finally having the courage to love yourself, you will be feeling the love and enjoying some sweet treats.
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Men Behaving Badly

FREE

in person
90
 min total program
Psychotic boyfriends who sing, drug dealers, married men, and that narcissistic stranger you can’t resist. They are all here. All those bad boys we can’t stay away from!
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Men In Shorts

FREE

in person
90
 min total program
Once again, we bring you the best in men's shorts. You'll laugh; you'll cry (or maybe just tear up a little). Come enjoy a range of shorts that explore men's lives.
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
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Queer Women Of Color-Short Films Program

FREE

in person
93
 min total program
DIVE IN DEEP - Queer Women of Color Shorts. From a Chinese Butch in the Beat era to the comedic tribulations of preparing a romantic dinner and intoxicating kisses that linger through the decades, dive into the depths of these compelling films and soak up their verve and flair!
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Trans Facets

FREE

in person
89
 min total program
Art, politics, athletics, theater, love, loss, LIFE - these short films offer a sampling of the many facets of trans people. Join them in this program as they express themselves in ways that will leave you feeling joyous, sad, amused and even triumphant.
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Women’s Shorts

FREE

in person
87
 min total program
The wonderful thing about women is their complexity. The women’s shorts program tells the beautiful, intricate, and even hilarious stories of women as they embark into the world of love, loss, and everything in between.
No items found.

Screenings & Events

April 3 - 12, 2014

SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

To Be Takei

FREE

Opening Night

Thu, Apr 03, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
Institute of Contemporary Art
George Takei doesn’t shy away from digging into his remarkable career and personal life in this delightful and incisive film. Takei and his husband, Brad, have become the poster couple for marriage equality, highlighting homophobia through television interviews and hilarious skits, many of which have gone viral and garnered widespread attention. Whether dishing on William Shatner or parodying the now-infamous comments made by Tim Hardaway, Takei proves time and again why his presence in popular culture remains as fresh and necessary as ever.
Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
Jennifer Kroot & Bill Weber
90
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Everybody Has Somebody...But Me

FREE

Fri, Apr 04, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A young woman runs towards a parked car. Inside is her secret lover. They embrace passionately. We’re at the beginning of the all-consuming love affair between Alejandra and her lover Maria. For Alejandra, Maria becomes an inspiration in her work. Younger and wilder, can Maria live up to Alejandra’s expectations, and does Maria really want a relationship? Beautifully shot in black and white, this is a sensual film with wry touches of humor.
“Everybody’s Got Somebody… Not Me” - Alejandra is sick of her daily life and her past relationships that have not worked out. Then she meets María, an adolescent, with whom she has an affair. At first everything runs smoothly, however Alejandra´s personality and her emotional needs prove increasingly demanding; being around her becomes unbearable. At this point, they ask themselves whether they should continue the oppressive relationship, or go on with their ordinary lives.
Raul Fuentes
100
 min
Mexico
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
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Boy Meets Girl

FREE

Fri, Apr 04, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Boy Meets Girl is a sexy, romantic coming-of-age comedy about three twenty-year-olds living in Kentucky. Robby (Michael Welch, Twilight) and Ricky, a gorgeous transgender woman and childhood friend, have never dated. Lamenting the lack of bachelors, Ricky considers dating a girl. In walks Francesca, a beautiful woman waiting for her Marine fiancé to return from the war. Ricky and Francesca strike up a friendship, and maybe a little more, which forces Robby to face his true feelings for Ricky.
In Kentucky, a transgender woman and her best male friend lament the lack of eligible partners and step across old boundaries of love and romance.
Eric Schaeffer
95
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

The Ten Year Plan

FREE

Fri, Apr 04, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Myles (Jack Turner) and Brody (Michael Adam Hamilton) are best friends with two very different ways of finding love. Displeased with their current love lives, they make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten years’ time. Now two months shy of their deadline, both friends set off to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up as each other’s last resort.
Myles and Brody are best friends with two very different ways of finding love. Displeased with their current love lives, they make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten year’s time. Now two months shy of their deadline, both friends set off to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up as each other’s last resort.
J.C. Calciano
90
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

The Comedian

FREE

Fri, Apr 04, 2014 @ 9:30 pm
Brattle Theater
Ed is at a crossroads in his life. His unrewarding job is getting more frustrating, and his career as a stand-up is not taking off. In fact, he’s starting to acknowledge he might not be a very good comedian. His love life begins to look promising when he meets artist Nathan, a gorgeous younger man. Yet Ed’s feelings are conflicted when he is drawn to his female flatmate. The Comedian is a funny and touching film, presenting characters who are recognizable and real.
Set in the immediate and random background of today’s London. THE COMEDIAN is a fresh, dramatic and funny debut feature about choices and how not to make them.
Tom Shkolnik
79
 min
United Kingdom
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
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Queer Artivism

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 1:00 pm
Brattle Theater
The documentary gives everyone, who doesn’t have the chance to travel around to different festivals, the opportunity to experience at least 5 queer film festivals by going to just one film festival/screening. It also opens a space for discussion about the importance of queer film and queer film festivals in today’s society. And it is a tribute to all the people who usually remain unseen, but without whom queer films and queer film festivals would not be possible (festival organizers, filmmakers etc.).
An insight into 5 queer film festivals accompanied with the discussion about the importance of queer film festivals, queer film and people’s experience with both.
Maša Zia Lenárdič & Anja Wutej
96
 min
Slovenia
 min total program
in person
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Men In Shorts

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 1:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Once again, we bring you the best in men's shorts. You'll laugh; you'll cry (or maybe just tear up a little). Come enjoy a range of shorts that explore men's lives.
 min
90
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Queer Women Of Color-Short Films Program

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
DIVE IN DEEP - Queer Women of Color Shorts. From a Chinese Butch in the Beat era to the comedic tribulations of preparing a romantic dinner and intoxicating kisses that linger through the decades, dive into the depths of these compelling films and soak up their verve and flair!
 min
93
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

The Circle

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Zurich: 1958. Bashful teacher Ernst Ostertag and cabaret artist Robi Rapp get to know one another in the Swiss underground organization called “Der Kreis.” (The Circle). As the men defend their love, they witness the heyday and decline of this Europe-wide pioneering organization for gay emancipation. This documentary uncovers the fascinating universe of one of the first gay liberation communities. Enriched by impressive conversational records with Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp, the film depicts a decades-long love story and reveals the couple’s inspiring self-knowledge and courage.
A young teacher in Zurich in the 1950s falls in love with a transvestite star but is torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality. He joins a gay organization that is eventually seen as the pioneer of gay emancipation in Europe.
Stefan Haupt
102
 min
Switzerland
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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FROM 2013
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Floating Skyscrapers

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Strong and disciplined Kuba is sideswiped by the feelings unearthed when he meets handsome Mikal. Their connection is instantaneous and intoxicating. Suddenly his comfortable life with his girlfriend Sylwie is less interesting, and after training for fifteen years, his motivation to compete as a top-tier athlete dissipates. Kuba begins a relationship with Mikal. As Sylwie’s dreams of a life with Kuba slip away, Kuba accepts who he is and what he wants, only to find himself drowning in the destruction of his desires.
Kuba attends an art opening with his girlfriend of two years and bumps into Mikal. The connection between these two young men is instantaneous and intoxicating, and despite opposition from all sides, he allows Mikal into his life. The results go beyond anything he could have imagined. This intimate and bold second feature from Polish director Tomasz Wasilewski captures the often-complicated consequences of finding love where others do not want it.
Tomasz Wasilewski
93
 min
Poland
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
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Kidnapped for Christ

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 5:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Kidnapped For Christ tells the shocking stories of American teenagers who were taken from their homes and shipped to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Christian behavior modification program in the Dominican Republic. When a young evangelical filmmaker is granted unprecedented access to film behind the gates of this controversial school, she discovers shocking secrets and young students that change her life.
Kidnapped For Christ tells the shocking stories of American teenagers who were taken from their homes and shipped to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Christian behavior modification program in the Dominican Republic. The film centers on David, a straight-A student who was sent to Escuela Caribe because he is gay and his parents can’t deal with the situation. When a young evangelical filmmaker is granted unprecedented access to film behind the gates of this controversial school, she discovers shocking secrets and young students that change her life.
Kate Logan
85
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

The New Black

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 5:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families, and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar—the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar-the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
Yoruba Richen
80
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

My Straight Son

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Diego is a guy like any other one. He has a regular family and his friends don’t have anything special. But there is something that makes him different. He has a heterosexual son. One father, one son. Both of them will need to fix their differences and everything depends on how you look at it.
The story of Diego, a young and successful photographer that lives in the glamorous world of fashion, shallowness and excess. A tragic accident turns his world around; his partner is now in a coma. Unexpectedly, and right at this terrible time, Diego must take care of his son, Armando. Now, both of them have to adapt to each other; Armando to the unknown, homosexual world of his father, and Diego to the closed attitude of his teenage son.
Miguel Ferrari
110
 min
Venezuela
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Drunktown's Finest

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Drunktown’s Finest is a feature film about Gallup, New Mexico. Nizhoni was adopted and raised as a Christian by a white family, transsexual Felixxia dreams of becoming a model, and Sickboy is headed to basic training. We observe the Navajo Nation from the inside out through the eyes of these three unlikely characters. At first our preconceptions are reinforced, but slowly, as each of their lives unfolds, we confront the reality of living in this community, and we see these three aspiring to leave their town behind.
On a desolate Navajo reservation in New Mexico, three young people – a college-bound, devout Christian; a rebellious and angry father-to-be; and a promiscuous but gorgeous Nádleehi (trans person)- search for love and acceptance.
Sydney Freeland
95
 min
English
United States
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Women’s Shorts

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
The wonderful thing about women is their complexity. The women’s shorts program tells the beautiful, intricate, and even hilarious stories of women as they embark into the world of love, loss, and everything in between.
 min
87
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Valencia: The Movie/S

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 9:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Based on Michelle Tea’s queer classic, Valencia. This film is a collaborative film project. Twenty one queer filmmakers each shot a 5-7 minute short based on a chapter from the book. Valencia the novel put the experiences of an entire generation of lesbians on paper through the lens of one hard-loving and hard-drinking dyke. Punk rockers, riot grrls, and simple, artsy freaks suddenly had a heroine that they could see themselves in.
Valencia is a collaboration between a national community of queer filmmakers to adapt the underground classic memoir into a kaleidoscopic vision of San Francisco’s Mission District in the early 90s during the rise of a punk lesbian diaspora told through the experiences of Michelle, a single rootless twenty-something searching for sex and love, drugs and adventure.
Various
105
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Drag Shorts

FREE

Sat, Apr 05, 2014 @ 9:30 pm
Brattle Theater
We are pulling back the curtain of illusion in this program of shorts, Five stories of inspiration, revenge, reality, love and loss with a lot of heart, sometimes a sharp tongue, and whole lot of glitter.
 min
90
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 1:30 pm
Institute of Contemporary Art
No twentieth-century figure has had a more profound effect on the worlds of literature, film, politics, historical debate, and the culture wars than Gore Vidal. Anchored by intimate one-on-one interviews with the man himself, Nicholas Wrathall’s new documentary is a fascinating and wholly entertaining portrait of the last lion of the age of American liberalism.
Anchored by intimate, one-on-one interviews with the man himself, Nicholas Wrathall’s new documentary is a fascinating and wholly entertaining tribute to the iconic Gore Vidal. Commentary by those who knew him best—including filmmaker/nephew Burr Steers and the late Christopher Hitchens—blends with footage from Vidal’s legendary on-air career to remind us why he will forever stand as one of the most brilliant and fearless critics of our time.
Nicholas Wrathall
89
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
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WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
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Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
This feature documentary is a unique story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper-thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the 20th Century. Making history as the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s inspiring journey is also a story of a country and a people at the fault line of historical changes.
The compelling story of an extraordinary woman’s journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.
Pratibha Parmar
84
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Up to the World

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Davide and Loris are brothers and live in a very small village in the north of Italy. While Davide is eighteen years old and gay, Loris is almost thirty and doesn’t know anything about his brother’s sexuality. Loris and Davide go to Barcelona to watch the match of “Inter”. In Spain, Davide falls in love with Andy, an Ecology Activist from Chile. Andy invites Davide to go with him to Santiago and the boy follows him. Far from the provincialism of his city, things don’t go as Davide imagined.
Davide and Loris are brothers and live in a very small village in the north of Italy. While Davide is eighteen years old and gay, Loris is almost thirty and doesn’t know anything about his brother’s sexuality.
Alessandro Lunardelli
95
 min
Italian
Italy
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

It's All So Quiet

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Helmer, a single farmer in his fifties, lives with his aged, bedridden father in the Dutch countryside. His working days are marked by the visits of milk collector Johan, a man of his own age for whom Helmer holds a secret fascination. One day Helmer decides to renovate the house, buying himself a new double bed and moving his father upstairs. His life gains even more momentum, when adolescent farmhand Henk comes to help him out.
The story of a farmer who realizes that his life has been influenced to an unhealthy extent by his aging father.
Nanouk Leopold
93
 min
Netherlands
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Reaching for the Moon

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
Institute of Contemporary Art
Based on the true love story of Elizabeth Bishop and Lota de Macedo Soares. Frustrated poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Brazil and encounters the beguiling architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Initial hostilities make way for a complicated yet long-lasting love affair that dramatically alters Bishop’s relationship to the world around her.
In 1951, New York poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit Mary, a college friend. The shy Elizabeth is overwhelmed by Brazilian sensuality. She is the antithesis to Mary’s dashing partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Mary is jealous, but unconventional Lota is determined to have both women at all costs. This eternal triangle plays out against the backdrop of the military coup of 1964. Bishop’s moving poems are at the core of a film which lushly illustrates a crucial phase in the life of this influential Pulitzer prize-winning poet.
Bruno Barreto
118
 min
Brazil
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Two Weddings and a Funeral

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
To keep their sexual orientation a secret, a gay man and a lesbian woman gets married. Now they have to juggle their identities to fool parents and co-workers, all while trying to find real love.
A gay man and a lesbian get married to hide their sexuality. They juggle their secret identities, fool friends and family, and search for true love.
Jho Kwang-soo Kim
106
 min
South Korea
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Rainbows Are Real

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
A movie based on Transgenders, the "in-betweens" that are shunned by society, unaccepted and forced to make ends meet through sex work. It revolves around the lives of three transgenders - their work, their homes, their difficulties, their childhood, their relationships, their hobbies, and their normality. This is not only a story of the dark and difficult life of the transgenders, but also of their beautiful journeys filled with psychedelic and vibrant colors of the "vibgyor" that will engross us and captivate us.
A movie based on Transgenders, the “in-betweens” that are shunned by society, unaccepted and forced to make ends meet through sex work. It revolves around the lives of three transgenders – their work, their homes, their difficulties, their childhood, their relationships, their hobbies, and their normality. This is not only a story of the dark and difficult life of the transgenders, but also of their beautiful journeys filled with psychedelic and vibrant colors of the “vibgyor” that will engross us and captivate us.
Ritesh Sharma
51
 min
India
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Skanks

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
Brattle Theater
In religion and football-obsessed Alabama, a group of actors bond while producing an original drag musical. In the winter of 2012 a community theatre in Birmingham, Alabama mounted an original musical, 'Skanks in a One Horse Town.' 'Skanks' follows the actors and creators from rehearsal through performance and after, at work, at their homes, and with their families. The cast of amateur performers bond to form a family of sorts while creating the unconventional show in a conservative Southern city.
In religion and football-obsessed Alabama, a group of actors bond while producing an original drag musical. In the winter of 2012 a community theatre in Birmingham, Alabama mounted an original musical, ‘Skanks in a One Horse Town.’ ‘Skanks’ follows the actors and creators from rehearsal through performance and after, at work, at their homes, and with their families. The cast of amateur performers bond to form a family of sorts while creating the unconventional show in a conservative Southern city.
David McMahon
85
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Finding Neighbors

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
Brattle Theater
A comedic drama about three sets of Los Angeles neighbors who are searching for true connection. Six months late on a book delivery, stay-at-home graphic novelist Sam Tucker has succumbed to a full-on mid-life and creative crisis. Sherrie, the provocative girl-next-door, offers him an easy and willing distraction. But it is Sam's budding friendship with another neighbor, Jeff, which helps him begin to reconnect with his creative thread.
A formerly acclaimed graphic novelist goes looking for true connection outside of his marriage, and over the fence.
Ron Judkins
96
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Lilting

FREE

Sun, Apr 06, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Lilting is a touching, intimate film about finding the things which bring us together. In contemporary London, a Cambodian Chinese mother mourns the untimely death of her son. Her world is further disrupted by the presence of a stranger. We observe their difficulties in trying to connect with one another without a common language, but through a translator they begin to piece together memories of a man they both loved.
A young man of Chinese-Cambodian descent dies, leaving behind his isolated mother and his lover of four years. Though the two don’t share a language, they grow close through their grief.
Hong Khaou
91
 min
United Kingdom
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Test

FREE

Mon, Apr 07, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Fenway Community Health Center
Test lovingly portrays the uniquely exciting and harrowing era of 70s San Francisco as young Frankie (spectacularly lithe real-life dancer Scott Marlowe) navigates gay life in the big city alongside the travails of being an understudy in a modern dance company and his evolving relationship with fellow dancer Todd (the hunky Matthew Risch). It’s the classic test of skill and character. But a very different test looms on the horizon for them. As Frankie and Todd’s friendship deepens, they navigate a world full of risk… and hope.
San Francisco, 1985. Two opposites attract at a modern dance company. Together, their courage and resilience are tested as they navigate a world full of risks and promise, against the backdrop of a disease no one seems to know anything about.
Chris Mason Johnson
90
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 1975
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

The Devil’s Cleavage

FREE

Tue, Apr 08, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Partial inspiration for Zippy the Pinhead and eulogized by the NY Times as “a national treasure,” George Kuchar, with his twin brother, Mike, practically invented the campy, no-budget, anti-professional, tasteless, gender-bending underground style later embraced by John Waters and others. He made over 500 films in his career. Tonight we feature two of his best: The Devil’s Cleavage is a farcical send-up of Douglas Sirk-style melodramas, made “as if Sam Fuller and Sternberg had collaborated in shooting a script by Tennessee Williams and Russ Meyer” (Chuck Kleinhans, Jump Cut).
A shady motel manager becomes obsessed with a neglected wife.
George Kuchar
130
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Land of Storms

FREE

Tue, Apr 08, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Szabolcs, plays soccer for a German team and is sexually involved with his teammate Bernard. When training proves too difficult, Szabolcs decides to return to Hungary to start an easier life. He soon meets Áron, a villager from nearby and all thoughts of an uncomplicated life disappear. Szabolcs accepts his sexual identity while things become disastrous for Áron. To further complicate matters, Bernard comes from Germany to persuade Szabolcs to return with him. Will Szabolcs leave Áron in a repressed and intolerant environment?
Szabolcs plays in a German football team, as does Bernard. They are roommates, best friends, inseparable. A lost match makes him reconsider his life and he goes back to Hungary in hope for more simplicity. Yet his solitude does not last long. Soon after his arrival he meets Áron and a mutual attraction between the two boys develops when suddenly Szabolcs receives an unexpected phone call from Bernard: he has arrived to Hungary…
Adám Császi
105
 min
Hungary, Germany
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Snails in the Rain

FREE

Wed, Apr 09, 2014 @ 6:30 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
In this intelligent and emotional Israeli film set in 1989 Tel Aviv, Boaz is a linguistics student committed to his loving girlfriend, Noa. But soon Boaz is questioning his life when he begins receiving a series of obsessive love letters from another man. They expose the inner world of their author, who is deeply closeted — and knows plenty about him, including Boaz’s past attraction to other men.
Tel Aviv, Summer 1989. Boaz, a beautiful and alluring linguistics student, receives anonymous, male written love letters, that undermine his sexual identity and interfere on his peaceful life with his beloved girlfriend.
Yariv Mozer
82
 min
Israel
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Open Up to Me

FREE

Wed, Apr 09, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Maarit is a beautiful, intelligent and sexy woman – who used to be a man. She is estranged from the daughter she fathered and from her previous life. When she meets and falls in love with Sami – soccer coach, teacher and family man – she finally feels like she can ‘fit in’ somewhere. But Sami is soon put to the test. Sami is forced to confront his own deeply hidden prejudices. And as for Maarit, with or without Sami, she has to step into a brave new world where only she can determine her sense of belonging.
At first glance Maarit looks like any other woman in her early forties. There is, however, something strange under the surface. She radiates sexual energy that is hard to define.
Simo Halinen
95
 min
Finnish
Finland
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Love is All Around

FREE

LGBT Youth Shorts Program

Wed, Apr 09, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Coolidge Corner Theater
Love is all around you in this selection of shorts. Whether its love’s first glimmer, love lost, or finally having the courage to love yourself, you will be feeling the love and enjoying some sweet treats.
 min
95
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2011
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Yoshiko & Yuriko

FREE

Wed, Apr 09, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she's an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married to a well-known scholar - a situation she can't walk away from with ease.
Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. Both have left huge marks on Japanese literary history. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she’s an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married (not altogether happily) to a well-known scholar - a situation she can’t walk away from with ease.
Hamano Sachi
102
 min
Japan
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole

FREE

Thu, Apr 10, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Coolidge Corner Theater
An outspoken and articulate artist in a turbulent, passionate time, Wakefield Poole didn't think of himself as a pornographer. He was a filmmaker who used his dance and theater background to create beautiful, erotic art films that challenged the mind. Many agreed. To others, though, Poole just made dirty movies. I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole tells the story of this sometimes overlooked gay liberation and independent filmmaking pioneer.
I Always Said Yes is a portrait of pioneering filmmaker Wakefield Poole, whose careers as dancer, choreographer, and director spanned the golden years of Broadway, television, porno chic, and gay liberation.
Jim Tushinski
93
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Queens and Cowboys: A Straight Year On The Gay Rodeo

FREE

Thu, Apr 10, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Club Café
Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year On The Gay Rodeo chronicles a complete season of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Roping and riding across North America for the past 30 years, the IGRA's courageous cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. And along the way, they'll bust every stereotype in the book.
A feature film that chronicles a complete season of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Roping and riding across north America for the past 30 years, the IGRA’s courageous cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. And along the way, they’ll bust every stereotype in the book.
Matt Livadary
92
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Tru Love

FREE

Thu, Apr 10, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tru is a bed-hopping lesbian who cannot commit. Restless by nature and wounded by the past, she seems to live from mattress to mattress, bobbing along through life with no anchor. She meets Alice, an older beautiful widow, who has come to visit her daughter Suzanne, a friend of Tru’s. Sparks fly—Alice and Tru begin forging more than a friendship. When Suzanne witnesses an intimate moment between the two, she tries to sabotage the budding romance. It backfires as Tru Love is hard to contain.
A lesbian with commitment issues befriends a widowed mother who is visiting her workaholic daughter.
Kate Johnston, Shauna MacDonald
87
 min
Canada
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

The Dog

FREE

Thu, Apr 10, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
Brattle Theater
John Wojtowicz took pride in being a pervert. Coming of age in the 1960s, his libido was excessive even by standards of the era, with multiple wives and lovers. In August 1972, he attempted to rob a bank to finance his lover's sex-reassignment surgery. This resulted in a hostage situation that was broadcast on TV. Three years later, Al Pacino portrayed his crime in Dog Day Afternoon, which had a profound influence on Wojtowicz. When he emerged from prison, he was known as “The Dog.”
In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York’s gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.
Allison Berg, François Keraudren
100
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2012
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution

FREE

Fri, Apr 11, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
Brattle Theater
A parallel revolution was born out of the feminist movement of the 1970s, coming to an end around 1995. Filmmaker Myriam Fougère takes us on a journey to meet the lesbian writers, philosophers, and activists who were key players in creating a revolutionary sisterhood. From Montréal to Texas, we encounter lesbians who chose to live only among women. This marginal yet international movement is brought to life through archival footage, photographs, and evocative interviews.
A parallel revolution was born out of the feminist movement of the 1970’s, coming to an end around 1995. Filmmaker Myriam Fougère takes us on a journey to meet the lesbian writers, philosophers and activists who were key players in creating a revolutionary sisterhood. From Montréal to Texas, by way of New York, Myriam encounters lesbians who chose to live only among women. This marginal yet international movement is brought to life through archival footage and photographs, and evocative interviews with these courageous women, many of whom are now in their seventies and eighties.
Myriam Fougère
63
 min
Canada
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Off Road

FREE

Fri, Apr 11, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Pino is a mechanic and an off-road racing champion, who becomes a woman named Beatrice. As a transgender person, she meets Marianna, a nurse from Romania who's taking care of her old mother. A romance begins between Beatrice and Marianna—they fall in love. With both of them dressed as brides, they manage to get married in Rome while fighting established societal norms and prejudices. Off Road is an Italian love story, traveling an un-surfaced road to become an unconventional family in a conventional country.
Pino is a mechanic and a rally rides champion, who decides to become a woman, and names himself Beatrice. As a transgender, he meets Marianna, a nurse from Rumenia who’s taking care of Pino’s old mother. Beatrice and Marianna fall in love and manage to get married in Rome, fighting established society and prejudice, both dressed as brides. An Italian love story, an unsurfarced road to become an unconventional family, in a too conventional country
Elisa Amoruso
70
 min
Italy
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Tom At The Farm

FREE

Fri, Apr 11, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tom, a young advertising copywriter, travels to the country to attend his partner Guillaume’s funeral. Tom is shocked to find out no one knows who he is and who he was to the deceased. Guillaume’s brother quickly sets the rules for a twisted game and thereby sets the tone of this thrilling film. To protect the family's name and a grieving mother, Tom submits to playing the peacekeeper in a household whose obscure past bodes even greater darkness for his "trip" to the farm.
A young man travels to an isolated farm for his lover’s funeral where he’s quickly drawn into a twisted, sexually charged game by his lover’s aggressive brother.
Xavier Dolan
105
 min
Canada, France
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Who’s Afraid Of Vagina Wolf?

FREE

Fri, Apr 11, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Brattle Theater
In this eccentric all-female comedy, charismatic filmmaker Anna faces a midlife crisis. She’s just turned 40, has neither job nor girlfriend, and lives in her friend’s garage. For the past few years, she’s had no goals and no idea how to get what she wants. Just when she’s about to throw in the towel, she meets the enchanting Katia who becomes her muse and sets her on a path of self-discovery, creativity and redemption. Adapted from Outfest.
After turning 40, filmmaker Anna confronts her future. She has no job and it’s been ten years since her last girlfriend. No goals, plans or any idea of what she wants. And she’s living in a garage. Just when she’s about to give up, she meets Katia, who inspires her to set out on a new path of creativity.
Anna Margarita Albelo
83
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

First Period

FREE

Fri, Apr 11, 2014 @ 9:30 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
New girl Cassie and outcast Maggie are easily the most awkward girls in high school. Together, they decide that the way to win the hearts of the cute boys and the popular girls is to win the school talent show. But rivals Heather, Other Heather, and their popular boyfriends Brett and Dirk will stop at nothing to keep our heroes the laughing stock of the school. It's going to take makeovers, courage, and maybe even a little rapping to beat them in true 80s style.
New girl Cassie and outcast Maggie are easily the most awkward girls in high school. Together, they decide the way to win the hearts of the cute boys and popular girls is to come in first at the school talent show. But rivals Heather, Other Heather, and their popular boyfriends Brett and Dirk will stop at nothing to keep our heroes the laughing stock of the school. It's going to take makeovers, courage, and maybe even a little rapping to beat them in true 80s style.
Charlie Vaughn
100
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Best of CineKink

FREE

Fri, Apr 11, 2014 @ 9:30 pm
Brattle Theater
Just entering its eleventh season, CineKink is an annual film festival and national screening tour that celebrates and explores the wide diversity of sexuality. Presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television, works showcased by the festival range from documentary to drama, spicy to explicit - and everything in between!
 min
80
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers And The Emergence Of A People

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 1:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A rich and lyrical tapestry that is both personal and epic in scope, Thomas Allen Harris’s extraordinary documentary, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (TALD), is a unique examination of the way black photographers—and their subjects—have used the camera as a tool for social change from the time photography was invented to the present. TALD is a powerful and elegant engagement with the burden of representation and serves as a testament to the redemptive powers of creativity. Adapted from Sundance.
The film explores the role of photography, since its rudimentary beginnings in the 1840s, in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present. The dramatic arch is developed as a visual narrative that flows through the past 160 years to reveal black photography as an instrument for social change, an African American point-of-view on American history, and a particularized aesthetic vision.
Thomas Allen Harris
92
 min
USA
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Facing the Fear

FREE

International Shorts

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Fear weaves its way through out this selection of shorts from around the world. From psychotic exes, stalkers, the fear of sounds and the forces closing in from
 min
97
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Trans Facets

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Art, politics, athletics, theater, love, loss, LIFE - these short films offer a sampling of the many facets of trans people. Join them in this program as they express themselves in ways that will leave you feeling joyous, sad, amused and even triumphant.
 min
89
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Salvation Army

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Salvation Army is structured in a diptych: the first episode chronicles Abdellah's teenage years, when he comes to understand, all at once, his sexuality, social codes, inhibitions, the brutality of patriarchy and the cruelty of poverty. The second half follows the young adult Abdellah as a penniless university graduate who travels on a scholarship to Geneva, where he must negotiate the treacherous sexual, racial, political, and social trappings of being a young homosexual Moroccan in Europe. Courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival.
Abdellah is a young gay man navigating the sexual, racial and political climate of Morocco. Growing up in a large family in a working-class neighborhood, Abdellah is caught between a distant father, an authoritarian mother, an older brother whom he adores and a handful of predatory older men, in a society that denies his homosexuality.
Abdellah Taia
81
 min
France
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Two Mothers

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Katja and Isabella decide to have a child. However, like many lesbian couples they discover getting pregnant is difficult since (for legal reasons) most fertility clinics refuse to treat them. Help is available at one clinic but for a price. After several expensive attempts Katja wants to stop while Isabella refuses to give up. In a last effort, the couple purchase an “at home” insemination kit and search a “sperm donor” website. And so they begin ‘casting’ for a potential donor – a process that challenges both women’s attempts at creating a family.
The unexpected difficulty of becoming mothers through the means of artificial insemination slowly erodes the relationship between Katja and Isabella.
Anne Zohra Berrached
75
 min
Germany
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Men Behaving Badly

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
Psychotic boyfriends who sing, drug dealers, married men, and that narcissistic stranger you can’t resist. They are all here. All those bad boys we can’t stay away from!
 min
90
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Honeymoon

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Tereza and Radim just got married! The reception afterwards is nothing short of perfect until a mysterious young man turns up. He appears to be a friend of Radim’s but no one acknowledges the stranger’s presence. Secrets are revealed and the party slowly drifts into a nightmare for everyone. As the film unfolds, heroes are made and we begin to question and re-examine moral issues without passing any sort of judgment.
A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion, but things can go awry. When an uninvited guest turns up at the church and later at the reception as well, the newly-weds’ day turns sour. Shadows of the past can blight the most sumptuous of banquets and rend the most affectionate of embraces.
Jan Hrebejk
97
 min
Czech Republic
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Tattoo

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
It’s Brazil 1978 and the military dictatorship in power since 1964 begins to falter. Clecio Wanderley leads a theater troupe that challenges power and conventional morality with theater plays and public interferences. The troupe is strongly supported by its homosexual audiences as well as intellectuals and other artists. Wanderley’s life changes when he meets Fininha, an 18 year-old boy from the country fulfilling his military service in the big city. This encounter will forever change each of their lives permanently like a tattoo on their souls.
Paulete, the star of a daring theater group, is visited by his military brother-in-law, the young Fininha. A torrid relationship arises between the two, and now the soldier must deal with the prevailing repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Hilton Lacerda
110
 min
Brazil
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2013
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Dual

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
ArtsEmerson Paramount Center
A technical problem makes the plane from Denmark heading to Greece land at a Slovene airport. All passengers are being taken to a hotel in Ljubljana. Among them is Iben, a quiet young Danish girl. She meets Tina, who drives a shuttle as a summer job. Iben asks Tina to take her for a midnight drive around the town... Over the next day they grow closer with each woman at a different time in their life: one is hiding a big secret and the other is simply trying to find her place in the world.
The paths of two girls cross one evening in Ljubljana. Tina, a Slovene, and Iben, a Danish girl of similar age, both experiencing some kind of turning point in their lives, open up to one another and soon develop a close bond…
Nejc Gazvoda
102
 min
Slovenia, Denmark, Croatia
 min total program
in person
SPOTLIGHT
US PREMIERE
WORLD PREMIERE
FROM 2014
SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Boys

FREE

Sat, Apr 12, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
Brattle Theater
Boys is a beautiful portrayal of first love between two teen track stars as they train for the biggest relay race of their lives. At the start, Sieger grapples with his emerging attraction for Marc, his relay teammate. As the summer progresses, so does a romance between them as they swim, bike, and even kiss. With family and social pressures mounting, Sieger tries to fight the inevitable. Authentic in its portrayal of young romance, Boys ranks as one of the most wholesomely romantic gay teen films ever.
Two teen track stars discover first love as they train for the biggest relay race of their young lives.
Mischa Kamp
78
 min
Netherlands
 min total program
in person
Boston LGBT Film Festival 2014

Screenings & Events

April 3 - 12, 2014

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