London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: BURN THE BRIDGES, CAMPILLO, YES I DO
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009
Thursday, April 2, highlights
Schedule and synopses from the LLGFF website
One Summer in New Paltz, a Cautionary Tale
| Cast: | Nancy Nicol |
| Country: | Canada |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Running time: | 54min |
Campillo, Yes I Do
| Directed by: | Andrés Rubio |
| Country: | Spain |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Running time: | 52min |
One Summer in New Paltz, a Cautionary Tale
In 2005, George W. Bush called for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to enshrine a heterosexual definition of marriage. The mayor of New Paltz however didn’t agree and performed 26 gay weddings one sunny afternoon, beginning a wave of civil disobedience. Whether you are the marrying type or not, only the hardest of hearts could fail to be moved by this clever and touching film about love, commitment and pissing off George Bush. Jason Barker
Campillo, Yes I Do
When same sex marriages became legal in Spain in 2005, many mayors refused to perform them but the gay mayor of Campillo, a remote mountain village of 50 inhabitants, said "I do!" Stunningly beautiful, quirky and moving, this is a year in the life of the new gay wedding capital of Spain.
"Outside to Catch the Action"
Artists’ film and video work co-curated by arts agency Electra.
Bodies of Society
Sweden 2006. Dir Klara Liden. 5min.
A sadomasochistic relationship with a bicycle.
Ottica Zero
Sweden 2007. Dir Maja Borg. 13min.
Strikingly beautiful portrait of a reclusive movie star.
Can’t Swallow it, Can’t Spit it Out
USA 2006. Dir Harry Dodge, Stanya Kahn. 26min.
Whitney Biennial 2008 favourite.
N.O. Body
Germany 2008. Dir Pauline Boudry, Renate Lorenz. 15min.
N.O. Body questions the identity of the ‘freak’.
Berlinmuren
Norway 2008. Dir Lars Laumann. 24min.
An object-sexual woman married to the Berlin Wall.
Metalpleater
UK 2009. Dir Charlotte Prodger. 8min.
An object for pleating mountains.
Nature Demo
USA 2008. Dir Harry Dodge, Stanya Kahn. 9min.
Dodge and Kahn simulate a trip into the wild.
Burn the Bridges
| Directed by: | Francisco Franco |
| Cast: | Irene Azuela, Ángel Onésimo Nevares, Claudette Maillé |
| Distributor: | Peccadillo Pictures |
| Country: | Mexico |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Running time: | 105min |
Siblings Helena and Sebastián live in a crumbling colonial villa with their dying mother, a former pop star, in central Mexico. Nineteen-year-old Helena, a bewitchingly charismatic and determined girl, quits school to become her mother’s caretaker. She also lovingly assumes parental responsibility for her shy, artistic brother Sebastián who attends the local Catholic high school. Isolated in the secluded villa, Helena reads to her mother and practices English in the hope of someday visiting the snowy mountains of Canada. However, as time goes by and their mother’s condition worsens, Helena grows jealous of the passive Sebastián who roams freely, if awkwardly, through his teenage life of denial. Their symbiotic relationship is further ruptured when Sebastián meets troubled Juan, a tough new student from the coast who awakens a sense of danger, desire, and possibility in him. After their mother dies and fate of their home becomes uncertain, the emotional rivalry between the siblings reaches an operatic intensity as they confront the limits of fraternal loyalty and the choice of living in the past or destroying it to manifest their dreams.
An accomplished stage director in Mexico, Francisco Franco delivers a beautifully photographed and mature debut film that is, at turns, dark, tender, and humorous. Phenomenal acting, including an Ariel award-winning performance by Irene Azuela as Helena, elevates a script with limited dialogue to glorious heights of raw teenage emotion. Successful at international film festivals as well in its home country, Burn the Bridges is a moving testament to the courage it takes to live one’s life to the fullest. Kyle Stephan
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: GHOSTED, THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: PEDRO, MADAME X: AN ABSOLUTE RULER
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: EROS O BASILEUS, STEAM
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: BORN IN 68, Latin American Shorts
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: DOLLS, THE DEVIL’S CLEAVAGE
Subscribe / Syndicate
Leave a Comment
Tags: Andrés Rubio, Bodies of Society, Burn the Bridges, Campillo Yes I Do, Can't Spit it Out, Can't Swallow it, Film Festivals, Francisco Franco, Gay Film Festivals, Gay Interest, Gay Marriage, Klara Liden, Lars Laumann, London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, London Screenings, One Summer in New Paltz, Ottica Zero, Quemar las Naves
Comments
Leave a Reply
NOTE:
All comments are moderated and may take some time before they are posted. Different views and opinions are welcome, but courtesy is imperative. Rude/crass/bigoted comments and name-calling of any sort will be immediately deleted.
Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
