- Reeling 2005: Potential highlights at this year’s Chicago Lesbian and Gay Film Festival include Marco Kreuzpaintner’s coming-of-age drama Summer Storm and George Bamber’s romantic comedy The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green.
- Beijing’s Australian Film Festival 2005 to include Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence and Sue Brooks’ Japanese Story, starring Toni Collette.
Reeling 2005: German coming-of-age drama Summer Storm kicks off the Chicago Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Billed as “the second-oldest lesbian and gay film festival in the world,” Reeling 2005: The 24th Chicago Lesbian and Gay Film Festival opens on Nov. 3 with a screening of Marco Kreuzpaintner’s German drama Summer Storm / Sommersturm, described as “a sexy, evocative coming-of-age story that defies the stereotypes of the genre to deliver a fresh and gratifying vision of young gay athletes in love.”
In the cast: Robert Stadlober as a rowing team member in love with teammate Kostja Ullmann, who, as it happens, has a girlfriend (Miriam Morgenstern). There is, however, a gay rowing team in the area to take part in an upcoming competition. Could that make a difference in how the two young oarsmen relate to one another?
Reeling 2005 highlights
Other potential Reeling 2005 highlights include:
- Angelina Maccarone’s German political drama Unveiled / Fremde haut, the tale of an Iranian lesbian (Jasmin Tabatabai) who resorts to unorthodox measures to gain asylum in Germany.
- Peter Paige’s U.S.-made black comedy Say Uncle, in which an artist (writer-director Paige) – apparently a case of arrested development – enjoys spending his time with children. And that makes a bigoted mom (Kathy Najimy) suspicious.
Reeling 2005 comes to a close with the Nov. 12 screening of George Bamber’s U.S.-made romantic comedy The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, based on Eric Orner’s comic strip character. In the cast: Daniel Letterle as Ethan Green, Diego Serrano as his boyfriend, David Monahan as the nerd with an unsuspected hunky core, and Meredith Baxter as Green’s open-minded mother.
Beijing’s Australian Film Festival 2005 to feature Rabbit Proof Fence, Toni Collette
Lastly, the Australian embassy in Beijing is sponsoring this year’s Australian Film Festival on two consecutive weekends, Nov. 4–6 and Nov. 11–13.
The festival will showcase several of Australia’s most notable releases of the past five years, among them Kevin Carlin’s The Extra; David Caesar’s Mullet; and Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence.
Also: Sue Brooks’ Japanese Story, starring Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense, 1999) as the co-owner of a software company who becomes stuck in the desert with a visiting Japanese businessman and prospective client (Gotaro Tsunashima).
“Reeling 2005: Gay Rowing Team, Ethan Green” notes
Reeling – Chicago Lesbian and Gay Film Festival website.
Kostja Ullmann and Robert Stadlober Summer Storm image: Marco Nagel | ProSieben.
“Reeling 2005: Gay Rowing Team, Ethan Green” last modified in October 2025.