London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009

Friday, April 3, highlights

Schedule and synopses from the LLGFF website

Johanna D'Arc of Mongolia

All aboard the Trans-Siberian railway where you'll find titled ladies, Broadway stars, camp cabaret acts and a Mongolian princess who has come to kidnap them all. This sumptuous epic from Ottinger ranges from the obvious artifice of a studio film to an almost documentary realism when the film moves from train to the glorious vista of the Mongolian landscape. As the culture clash between the Western women and their Mongolian 'hosts' intensifies a sweet love affair blossoms between the princess and the young Giovanna, the Johanna of the title.

Like all Ottinger's films this boasts amazing visuals, elaborate costumes and outstanding roles for women to portray, none better than long time Ottinger collaborator Delphine Seyrig in her final screen role.

"The Shape of Things to Come"

Hidden feelings and first crushes, this collection of shorts looks at a time in life when things finally start to make sense.

Benny's Gym
Norway 2008. Dir Marie Gamlem. 25min.
Alfred is a shy eleven-year-old who is bullied at school. But when one of his tormentors, Benny, asks him for a favour, the two form a close friendship that they must keep quiet.

Mr A
USA 2008. Dir Joe Murphy. 12min.
When a curious teenage boy finds his teacher's profile on a gay dating website, he makes an unexpected move that has some serious consequences.

Protect Me From What I Want
UK 2008. Dir Dominic Leclerc. 14min.
After a brief tryst with the handsome Daz in an underground archway, closeted teenager Saleem questions whether the two should meet again.

Awakening
Denmark 2008. Dir Christian Tafdrup. 38min.
While on a weekend break with his girlfriend and her family, Carsten has an unexpected sexual encounter that forces him to re-evaluate his life. A confident and beautifully filmed study of burgeoning desire and self-discovery.

Bandaged

Old-style horror blends with forbidden love in this excellent period thriller. Lucille lives with her domineering father and grandmother in a creepy mansion out in the middle of nowhere. She's about to turn eighteen and longs to go to college to study poetry, but her surgeon father insists the sciences are the way to go. Feeling as though she has no way out Lucille attempts suicide after rifling in her father’s lab. She survives, but is left with hideous burns to her face, which her father chooses to treat at home. He hires a sultry nurse with her own chequered past to look after Lucille. Spending 24 hours together every day leads patient and nurse to discover passionate feelings for each other, the bandages come off and soon a torrid affair begins. Emma Smart

57000 Km Between Us

Life is complicated for 14-year-old Nat. Shut away in her bedroom, she fills her days playing computer games and chatting to her online friends, while outside her mother and stepfather satisfy their narcissistic urges by keeping an internet video blog of their lives. Tired of her home life, Nat would much rather live with her transsexual father and her partner Khaled instead. Drawing on her background in photography and video art, first-time filmmaker Delphine Kreuter has assembled a fiercely original and contemporary work that dissects the alienating role of technology in our lives. The largely handheld camera work is disorienting but controlled, with Kreuter's meticulous eye for composition producing some startling imagery. In this world of dysfunction and eccentricity, it is Nat's relationship with her transsexual father that keeps her grounded and provides a striking and heartfelt component to this truly unconventional film. Michael Blyth

London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: BURN THE BRIDGES, CAMPILLO, YES I DO

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