Outfest 2009 hightlights on Thursday, July 16. Synopses from the Outfest website.
Drool (Thu, Jul 16th 7:00pm, DGA 1)
(USA, 2009, 84 mins)
video
Directed By: Nancy Kissam
SCR: Nancy Kissam
Part THELMA & LOUISE and part LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, DROOL is an irreverent dark comedy with delightful performances from bombshells Laura Harring (MULHOLLAND DR.) and Jill Marie Jones (GIRLFRIENDS). With an abusive husband, ungrateful kids and nothing else going for her, Anora's life is rough. Things start looking up when she gets very friendly with her new neighbor, Imogene…until Anora's husband walks in on them and ends up dead in a freak, yet karmically just, accident. The ladies hit the open road with two kids, one body and no plan.
POST-SCREENING RECEPTION: DGA ATRIUM
AFTER-PARTY: PLATINUM @ EAST WEST LOUNGE, 8851 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood
Screenwriting Lab Reading (Thu, Jul 16th 7:15pm, DGA 2)
(90 mins)
video
Live reading of the 2009 Outfest Screenwriting Lab scripts. The Screenwriting Lab, now in its seventh year, has generated a host of projects in various stages of production, including KISS THE BRIDE, Outfest 2007’s closing night film. The 2009 Screenwriting Lab fellows and scripts are: BUT NOT FOR ME by Ronald Zate, HOT GUYS WITH GUNS by Doug Spearman, MAYBE THIS TIME by Valerie Stadler, THE MOST FAMOUS WOMAN IN THE WORLD by Kerthy Fix & Craig Harwood, PIT STOP by Yen Tan
PRE-EVENT RECEPTION: DGA ATRIUM
Two Spirits: Sexuality, Gender, and the Murder of Fred Martinez (Thu, Jul 16th 7:15pm, FAIRFAX 1)
(USA, 2009, 65 mins)
video
World Premiere
Directed By: Lydia Nibley
SCR: Lydia Nibley and Russell Martin
Work-In-Progress Screening
Filmmaker Lydia Nibley explores the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder. Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he "bug-smashed a fag." But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition – the "nadleeh" or "two-spirit", who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits. Through telling Fred's story, Nibley reminds us of the values that America's indigenous peoples have long embraced.
City of Borders (Thu, Jul 16th 9:45pm, DGA 2)
(USA, Israel, Palestinian Territories, 2009, 66 mins)
In Arabic, Hebrew, English with English subtitles
video
North America Premiere
Directed By: Yun Suh
CITY OF BORDERS is a fascinating, multifaceted portrait of Jerusalem, home to adherents of three great world religions, but also to queers from all walks of life. The absorbing cityscape is rendered through several richly drawn portraits that demonstrate the intersecting lines of identity and the possibilities for connection and political leadership when sexuality is introduced as a variable. Gay, lesbian or straight, Israeli and Palestinian, Muslim, Arab or Christian: every resident of Jerusalem faces numerous borders, but also occasional liberations, in this eye-opening documentary.