According to Audre Lorde’s own description of herself she was: ‘a lesbian, a feminist, black, a poet, mother and activist’. In the 1980s Dagmar Schultz, who at the time was lecturing at the John F. Kennedy Institute at Berlin’s Freie Universität, invited Lorde to Berlin as a visiting professor. This move was to have an enduring influence, for Lorde soon became co-founder and mentor of the AfroGerman movement. In her documentary portrait, Dagmar Schultz distills hitherto unpublished and often very personal material of Lorde that portrays her among her Berlin women friends, fellowtravellers and students, many of whom she encouraged to begin writing.

Event Info↗

Director Thom Fitzgerald (The Wild Dogs; The Hanging Garden) evokes virtuoso performances from Oscar-winning actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker in this uproarious dramedy about two women – lovers for 31 years – who must go on the run in order to stay together. Fitzgerald’s film is especially timely against the backdrop of the current marriage battle in Maine taking place this summer. Dukakis plays Stella, an antagonistic, foul-mouthed old bull dyke who lives with her long-time lover– the near-blind and slightly dotty Dot (Fricker)–in their bucolic home by the sea. When Dot’s neurotic granddaughter Molly shows up, announcing that she’s putting Dot in an old folks home, Stella throws her out, giving her an earful in the process. Not to be put off, Molly returns with a policeman and takes Dot away, leaving Stella bereft, but not beaten. Stella soon breaks her out of the home, and the two head for Canada to get married, picking up a young hitchhiker on the way. Thus begins an alternately poignant and riotous comedy that has much to say about the true nature of love and commitment.

Event Info↗

We are pleased close the 28th Annual Film Festival with the area premiere of director/producer Richard LeMay's (2010 festival closer Children of God, 200 American) stunning family drama Naked As We Came. Shot entirely in Massachusetts and staring a stunning ensemble including Ryan Vigilant of Gossip Girl and Karmine Alers, (Mimi in Rent), Naked As We Came is a story about letting go of the past and recreating family relationships. After an unexpected phone call, Laura and her brother Elliot rush to their family's country estate to find their mother, Lilly, gravely ill and living with a handsome young stranger named Ted. Their mother's condition sets Laura and Elliot on a path to realizing where their own lives have gone wrong. Love, loss and hope are all explored in this powerful drama, which asks the question: What is your dream?

Event Info↗