21st London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
The 21st London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival will take place from March 21-April 4, 2007.
Among the scheduled films are:
Jamie Babbit’s Itty Bitty Titty Committee (right) will be the opening night gala presentation. Babbit’s comedy revolves around the romantic and political entanglements of a plastic surgeon’s assistant and the leader of activist group Clits in Action (CIA). Itty Bitty Titty Committee stars Melonie Diaz, Nicole Vicius, and Carly Pope.
John Cameron Mitchell’s (horrors!) sexually explicit Shortbus (top), set in New York City’s nightclubs and other nightlife venues, caused a sensation at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Pratibha Parmar’s Nina’s Heavenly Delights (left) tells the story of a young woman who, following the death of her father, returns to Glasgow where she becomes involved with her brother’s girlfriend. The film stars Shelley Conn, Laura Fraser, and Ronni Jhutti.
Christopher Larkin’s 1974 drama A Very Natural Thing follows a priest-turned-teacher who falls in love with a businessman. This little-seen, ultra low-budget production has its moments, but there’s both too much and not enough sex — the sexual encounters are supposed to titillate, but they are never arousing; as a result, the sex scenes end up being pretty dull. That said, A Very Natural Thing is worth watching because it offers a glimpse into gay New York five years after Stonewall, and several years before the AIDS explosion.
Jack Hazan’s 1974 documentary A Bigger Splash will be screened to commemorate David Hockney’s upcoming 70th birthday. In his description of the film, Brian Robinson explains that "director Jack Hazan and his crew followed David Hockney and his circle between 1971 and 1973. Meet Ossie Clark and his wife (Celia Birtwell), art dealer Kasmin, the beautiful boyfriend Peter Schlesinger and the assistant Mo McDermott. Hazan seems to have had total access to Hockney in London and Los Angeles. We see Hockney at work on some of his best-known paintings and the film also includes a controversial scene of two men making love which led to Hazan being threatened with prosecution. A Bigger Splash ran for over a year on its first UK release but has since unfairly disappeared from view."
In what is described as a "rare onstage interview," Hazan will talk about the film after the screening.
Guy Maddin’s balletic Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (2002, right) is one of the festival’s most curious entries. The description reads: "A collaboration with the Winnipeg Royal Ballet, Guy Maddin’s silent interpretation of the classic gothic, bodice-ripping tale is a dazzling dance of beauty and darkness. Filmed in black and white with monochromatic effects, this homage to silent horror magically transports us into a dream-like fantasy world of the lustful vampires and fair maidens of yesteryear."
The 74-minute Canadian film stars Wei-Qiang Zhang, Tara Birtwhistle, and Dave Moroni.
The closing night gala presentation will be a modern take on Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (above). Directed by Duncan Roy, the moral fable — transferred to 21st-century Manhattan — stars David Gallagher (as the beautiful but soulless Dorian), Noah Segan, Christian Camargo, and Aleksa Palladino.
Among the European entries are Franck Guérin’s Un Jour d’été / A Summer Tale (left), about two close friends, one of whom unexpectedly dies; Pernille Fischer Christensen’s En Soap / A Soap, in which a soon-to-be transsexual waits for permission to switch genders; and Tudor Giurgiu’s Legaturi Bolnavicioase / Love Sick, a drama set in Budapest.
The world film selection is remarkably eclectic. It includes Ashish Sawhny’s Happy Hookers, about three (male) prostitutes in Mumbai; Eytan Fox’s The Bubble (the title refers to Tel Aviv), in which an Israeli man (Ohad Knoller) falls in love with a Palestinian; and Alexis Dos Santos‘ Glue — Historia adolescente en medio de la nada (literally, "Glue — Adolescent Tale in the Middle of Nowhere"), a coming-of-age story set in inhospitable Patagonia.
But as far as I’m concerned, the festival’s highlight is the rarely seen 1964 French drama, Les Amitiés particulières / This Special Friendship / Special Friendships. Based on Roger Peyrefitte’s autobiographical novel, Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost’s beautiful, touching screenplay follows the intimate relationship that develops between two adolescents at a boys’ boarding school run by Jesuits.
Sadly, it’s the type of tale about intolerance and budding sexuality that, more than 40 years later, would still give apoplectic fits to religious nuts and to the sexually demented p.c. crowd (who would accuse the older boy of being a sexual predator). The subtle directorial job was performed by Jean Delannoy, probably best known for the 1946 drama La Symphonie pastorale.
Les Amitiés particulières stars Francis Lacombrade, Didier Haudepin, and an excellent Michel Bouquet.
M. Delannoy, by the way, will turn 100 next Jan. 12.
Gay Kiss Clips: Q&A with Montage Creator Robert Eldredge
Jessie Matthews at the British Film Institute
Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2007 in London
NETWORK and Sidney Lumet in New York City
WILD HOGS (2007) by Walt Becker: Film Review
AMPAS/UCLA Contemporary Documentary Series
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Wow! That’s quite a line-up. I’d recommend Shortbus, A Soap, The Bubble, Glue, Love Sick and especially Un jour d’été… that was one of my favourite films of 2006; I think I have seen it about 5-6 times now and every time I keep noticing different stuff; try looking at the film from different perspectives: the mother of the friend, the father, the mayor, the sister… there are a thousand little stories tucked just underneath the surface, waiting to be picked up by alert members of the audience. Check it out!
Hey Boyd,
Unfortunately, I won’t be in London for the festival. Here’s hoping that at least some of those titles will pop up at the various film festivals here in Los Angeles.
“Un jour d’ete” sounds particularly intriguing. I’ll keep my eyes open for it.
Do you have it in your top-ten list for ‘06? I remember looking at your list a while back, but I can’t recall the exact titles. Gotta check it out again.
Hey André,
It was sort of part of my top ten list, in a special category called “should-be-part-of-the-list-but-can’t-be” because it was commissioned as a TV film by ARTE, the French-German cultural channel, and never screened commercially in theatres in its country of origin (which it would need to do to qualify for my list).
It was part of the Official Competition in Rotterdam in 2006 and is currently making the festival rounds. It has won quite a few awards as well, including several Best First Feature prizes. Though any opportunity to see it is of course more than welcome, it is a shame that it is “stuck” in the Gay/Lesbian circuit, because it is not really (only) about that.
In any case, it is already out on DVD in the UK as “One Day in Summer”, and I’m quite sure it’ll find its way to audiences in the US through a gay DVD distributor (again, sadly, but at least some people will get to see it).
Shortbus was a little too kinky for my taste, but i’m glad I saw it anyways. the sex didn’t bother me, but i wish there had been more of it. Too much plot.