Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Miami, Florida - March 21,2005 - The prestigious 7th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, presented by Sundance Channel and Comcast has unveiled the line-up of the best gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered films that will be featured during the 10 day event from April 22nd to May 1st. The screenings will take place at The Regal Cinema South Beach, The Byron-Carlyle Theater in North Beach and Cinema Paradiso (located in Fort Lauderdale). The announcement was made today by Co-Directors of the Festival Carol Coombes and Jaie Laplante.

The 10-day festival will kick-off on Friday, April 22nd with the Opening Night Gala presentation and East Coast Premiere of Craig Lucas' The Dying Gaul at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami, followed by a party at the Bank of America Tower's famous SkyLobby. The Opening Night festivities will be hosted by Award Winning actress Bea Arthur.

On Wednesday April 27th, the Festival will present the Centerpiece Gala and North American Premiere screening of Summer Storm by Marco Kreuzpaintner at the Byron-Carlyle Theater in North Beach with a spectacular sports-themed after party at the Ronald W. Shane Watersports Center (home of the Miami Beach Rowing Club).

The Festival closes on Sunday May 1st with the Closing Night Gala, Florida Premiere presentation of Craig Chester's Adam & Steve at the Byron-Carlyle Theater followed by a party at the Bass Museum of Arts, which is simultaneously featuring an exhibition of Christo's work.

This year's festival will also pay tribute to prolific filmmaker Gregg Araki who will be presented with an HBO Career Achievement Award prior to the screening of "Mysterious Skin" on Monday, April 25, 7:30pm. Gregg Araki's career has included such critically acclaimed films as "The Doom Generation," "The Living End" and "Nowhere."

"Seven is a lucky number, and this year's 7th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival feels more than a little bit magical to me," said MGLFF Director of Festival Operations Jaie Laplante. "Our films, our events, our sponsors - all have come together in an unusually symbiotic way this year. The stage is set for an incredible explosion of discoveries for our audience during the 10 days of this year's MGLFF."

Making their debut as presenting sponsor this year is Sundance Channel and Comcast. "Sundance Channel has been firmly committed to showing films from the LGBT community since its inception nine years ago," said Kirk Iwanowski, Sundance Channel's Senior Vice President, Marketing. "Sundance Channel is proud to continue that tradition and to partner with Comcast as the Presenting Sponsor of the 2005 Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival."

"The U.S. is in a more reflective place in 2005 and this is mirrored in our programming choices" said Carol Coombes, Program Director of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. "HIV/AIDS resurfaces, there is a growing maturity amongst established filmmakers as they tackle taboo and difficult subject matter, and within this mix is a tremendous surge of new films emanating from Central Europe."

The Festival is also focused on celebrating the best of Queer International Shorts; with seven specific programs including France, Spain and Australia and the best of home-grown talent in What Girls Like and What Boys Want.

The Festival commences on Friday, April 22nd at the James L. Knight Center, with its Opening Night Gala screening of the East Coast premiere The Dying Gaul, by Craig Lucas, starring Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott. The story of a gay writer (Sarsgaard), a bisexual producer (Scott) and the producer's wife (Clarkson), whose lives become entangled around the writer's script, a tale of his lover dying of AIDS, all of which ends in chilling results. Director Craig Lucas and cast will attend the screening. Ms. Bea Arthur will host the evening.

On Wednesday, April 27th, at the Byron-Carlyle Theater, the Festival will present the North American Premiere Centerpiece Gala screening of Summer Storm by director Marco Kreuzpaintner. The film tells the story of two young men on competing rowing teams whose lives change forever when one of the men falls in love with the other to unexpected results. Director Marco Kreuzpaintner will attend the screening.

On Sunday, May 2nd, at the Byron-Carlyle Theater, the Festival will host the East Coast Premiere and Closing Night Gala screening of Adam & Steve, by director Craig Chester. The film follows two New York city couples -- one heterosexual (Parker Posey, and Chris Kattan) and one gay (Craig Chester and Malcom Gets) who explore the peaks and the valleys of their respective relationships. Director Craig Chester will attend the screening.

The 6th Annual PlanetOut Short Movie Awards, judged by industry professionals in the cities of Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco is sponsored by PlanetOut and presented by MGLFF and PlanetOut, honoring the best in Queer short films featuring Documentary, Experimental, Animation, Drama, and Comedy categories. The PlanetOut Short Movie Award Winners 2005 will be screened on April 24th at the Regal Cinema South Beach.

Last years Festival award winners included Brother to Brother (Best Feature), Paternal Instinct (Best Documentary) and Callas Forever (Audience Award).

FEATURES/DOCUMENTARIES
2005 MIAMI GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL

"29th and Gay" by Carrie Preston
(US - World Premiere)
Following a year in the life of James Sanchez, it's a story about a guy who doesn't have a six-pack, a full head of hair or a boyfriend. James is an unemployed actor stuck in his role of tour guide at a movie studio / theme park. He finds himself rapidly approaching thirty years old and wondering what happened to his plans for fame, fortune and love. With twenty-seven dollars in his bank account and two hundred and twenty-seven thousand miles on his decrepit car, he finds himself asking the question that many of us find ourselves posing - is this all there is?

"100% Woman" by Karen Duthie
(Canada - East Coast Premiere)
Documentary about Michelle Dumaresq's mountain-bike riding career,which careened down a rocky path to be met with controversy. At the centerof it all is the past of this extreme athlete-in particular, the first 20 years of life that Michelle spent as Michael. Dumaresq became the first openly transgendered woman in the world to be named to a national team in any sport

"Adam & Steve" by Craig Chester
(USA - South Florida Premiere)
Adam and Steve met in the '80s, a time of big hair and bad drugs. Their initial encounter didn't go well, so it's just as well that they don't remember it! But now they meet again, older -- although not much wiser -- and with lots more baggage. With the help of their friends, Adam and Steve struggle to make love work in the face of obstacles such as a dog with an eating disorder, accident-prone parents, roving homophobes and the nagging feeling they've met before.

"Butterfly" by Yan Yan Mak
(Hong Kong - East Coast Premiere)
A thirtysomething married teacher has suppressed the memory of an adolescent lesbian fling and is stuck in a stifling marriage. A chance encounter in a supermarket with a playful and seductive singer reawakens dormant feelings and she looks back on her teenage affair.

"Falsa Culpable (False Offender)" by Carles Vila
(Spain - Florida Premiere)
A thriller about a wife and mother falsely accused of murdering a teenage girl, who is released on probation two years into her sentence thanks to an appeal by her lawyer. But the damage to her personal life has already been done: the media has exposed Carmen as a lesbian, leading her family to abandon her, and, despite her continued proclamations of innocence, the public views her as a murderer. When the real murderer begins to harass her, no one is willing to believe her, leaving him free to potentially kill again

"Formula-17" by D.J. Chen & Yin-jung Chen
(Taiwan - Florida Premiere)
Events conspire to frustrate the budding romance between a naive country boy searching for love in Taipei, and a local stud notorious for his sexual conquests. Yang is a childlike innocent searching for True Love, and Chow is a beautiful playboy whose reputation belies his own desperate search for emotional fulfilment.

"Garçon Stupide" by Lionel Baier
(France - US Premiere)
A young, gay man in Switzerland fills the emotional void of his turbulent sex life with dreams of self-betterment. When a casual but tender encounter with an older man presents the promise of emotional connection and validation, he arrives at one of the most crucial crossroads of his life

"Gay Republicans" by Wash Westmoreland
(US- Florida Premiere)
In 2004, Log Cabin -- the Gay Republican Club -- was put to the test. President Bush's unequivocal opposition to gay marriage presented them with a stark choice, whether to be good Republicans and support the President, or stand up for their civil rights as gay Americans. This decision afforded them a historic opportunity to affect the election but it also opened schisms that threatened the unity of the Log Cabin itself. In this documentary politics get personal as the Log Cabin wrestle with an issue that goes to the core of their identity

"Girl Play" by Lee Friedlander
(US - South Florida Premiere)
A painfully funny love story raising the complicated question, "What do you do when true love comes and you're already in 'the relationship'?" Based on the lives of writers / actors Robin Greenspan and Lacie Harmon

"Guys and Balls (Männer Wie Wir)" by Sherry Horman
(Germany- North American Premiere)
A young gay man who works in a bakery and plays soccer on his local team. Already under pressure for playing badly, his homophobic team-members surprise him in a compromising position and throw him off the team. With the help of his sister and a cranky former soccer star, he tries to form an all-gay soccer team to challenge his old team in a grudge match.

"Hellbent" by Paul Etheredge-Ouzts
(US- Florida Premiere)
The first gay slasher movie ever from the creators of "Halloween." One Halloween in West Hollywood, two guys making out in a park are interrupted by a serial killer. Later that night, a group of gay kids decide to visit the site of the murders

"Illusive Tracks" by Peter Dalle
(Sweden - Florida Premiere)
This black-and-white 40's noir-style film follows different passengers on a train immediately after the end of World War II. A delightful blend of genres, including farce, suspense, slapstick and romance, this film easily vacillates between a man's plot to kill his wife, the comic misadventures of a writer and an old, bitter gay couple trying to tolerate each other

"Keep Not Silent" by Ilil Alexander
(Israel - East Coast Premiere)
A documentary about three women who are all considered "sinners" by their Jewish religion. One is single and fights openly while the two married women fight secretly for their right to love within the restraints of the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox communities. Unwilling to compromise themselves and unwilling to give up the wholeness of their sexual orientation, their religious convictions, or the warmth and support of their religious communities, the consequence of their choice ravages all three lives, daily.

"Little Man" by Nicole Conn
(US- East Coast Premiere)
Nicholas was born 100 days early. His epic struggle to survive is one part of this remarkable true story, but the estrangement that happens between his two mommies along the way is another. A joyous celebration of the sheer will to live, and an unflinching chronicle of two women

"Loggerheads" by Tim Kirkman
(US - South Florida Premiere)
Three stories are interweaved--each on a different year on Mother's Day weekend in North Carolina. Grace has returned to her hometown to stay with her mother and search for the child she secretly gave up for adoption when she was a teenager. Mark makes a pilgrimage to a small coastal town to save the endangered loggerhead turtles that nest there. When he meets George, a local motel owner, he must decide whether to move on or risk settling down. When Elizabeth's safe, sheltered neighborhood starts to change around her, she must decide whether to stand by her minister husband's beliefs or take a stand on her own.

"Moritz" by Stefan Haupt
(Switzerland - Florida Premiere)
Ralph, a conservative urban planner in his late 40s, lives a quiet although openly gay life with his younger, livelier boyfriend Andi in a small Swiss town removed from the bigger urban center of Zurich. But drama falls into their laps when their new next-door-neighbor, a single mother with a spunky 10-year-old boy named Moritz suffers a tragedy, Andi takes a paternal shine to Moritz and the mother suggests they take the boy

"Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Sing" by Linda Thornburg
(US - World Premiere-Work in Progress)
A lesbian author causes a scandal when she writes a novel about two women in love. Mary Sarton's most acclaimed work, now the focus of this faithful adaptation to film, was first published in 1965, when she was 45. In ageing her principal protagonist by 25-years, Sarton was able to channel the story of her own life, even anticipating her own fame in later years, through the character of Hilary Stevens, a seventy-year-old lesbian poet.

"Mysterious Skin" by Gregg Araki
(US - Florida Premiere)
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth. The film puts us inside the hearts and minds of two very different boys living very different lives who maybe aren't as different as they first appear

"Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story" by John L'Ecuyer
(Canada-East Coast Premiere)
In the fictional working-class town of Inniston, Marc Hall (Aarom Ashmore), sends ripples though Canada's media when he attempts to bring his boyfriend to his catholic highschool prom. From just a typical teenager, he turns into a icon for gay rights across the nation.

"Race You to the Bottom" by Russell Brown
(US - North American Premiere)
Although Nathan and Maggie both have boyfriends, they are in the throes of a passionate affair. After a weekend away together they are forced to confront the reality of their romance

"Saving Face" by Alice Wu
(US - South Florida Premiere)
A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations.

"Slutty Summer" by Casper Andreas
(US- South Florida Premiere)
Struggling writer Markus starts his summer heartbroken and single after having walked in on his lover having sex with another guy. He begins work in a Chelsea restaurant where it seems love and/or sex is on the minds of all the staff.

"Summer Storm" by Marco Kreuzpaintner
(Germany - East Coast Premiere)
The story of two young men on a rowing team whose lives change forever when one of the men falls in love with the other to unexpected results.

"That Man: Peter Berlin" by Jim Tushinski
(US- North American Premiere)
A documentary that recounts the life and times of photographer, filmmaker, model, and gay male sex icon Peter Berlin. Berlin shot to international fame in the early 1970's with two wildly successful 16mm films, Nights in Black Leather and That Boy, and quickly entered the hearts and fantasies of gay men everywhere.

"The Dying Gaul" by Craig Lucas
(US- East Coast Premiere)
A psychological thriller in the Hitchcock tradition. It plays like a Greek tragedy, thick with intrigue, betrayal, and revenge. The story is set inside the rarefied world of the Hollywood elite. A fledgling screenwriter is offered a million dollars for a script--the personal story of his lover who died of AIDS. There is only one catch to securing the deal and taking that first step to success.

"The Education of Shelby Knox" by Marion Lipschutz/Rose Rosenblatt
(US - East Coast Premiere)
A documentary about a 15-year-old girl's transformation from conservative Southern Baptist to liberal Christian democrat over a five year period. Her change in political allegiance parallels her fight for sex education and gay rights in Lubbock, Texas

"The Reception" by John M. Young
(US- Florida Premiere)
A 40-something gay black artist is living in the Catskills in New York state with his benefactor, an abusively alcoholic Parisian woman who keeps him for companionship so he can paint without having to work to support himself. One day the woman's estranged daughter arrives with her new husband in town, a tall, handsome black Harvard law graduate, in order to collect on a promised inheritance. All is fine at first until old, deep-rooted resentments start bubbling to the surface and some shocking secrets get revealed.

"Three Dancing Slaves (Trois d Anses D'Esclaves)" by Gaël Morel
(France- Florida Premiere)
In this story of three brothers, middle brother Marc is the focal point, as he feels completely unhinged about his life. A natural leader, he adopts a rude attitude to deflect his insecurities. He feels helpless to protect his younger teen brother Olivier and when older brother Christophe returns from prison with a desire to straighten out his life, Marc feels betrayed and alone. It doesn't help that there are no women in their lives

"Timbuktu" by Alan Gilsenan
(Ireland - Florida Premiere)
A dark road-movie set in the North African Sahara. Timbuktu follows young and beautiful Isobel, together with her transvestite friend Deecy, in their search for her kidnapped brother and religious monk Conor.

"We Are Dad" by Michel Horvat
(US - East Coast Premiere)
Florida is the only state with a blanket law prohibiting homosexuals from adopting children. An appeal was brought by four gay foster parents who claimed Florida's law keeps thousands of orphaned and abandoned children from finding homes. Those four gay foster parents desperately want to adopt children in their care. This documentary follows one of the families involved in the Supreme Court case: Partners Steven Lofton and Roger Croteau, who now raise their five foster children in Oregon.

"When Ocean Meets Sky" by Crayton Robey
(US- Florida Premiere)
This documentary is a look at Fire Island Pines and the gay community that gathers there every summer. From its founding 50 years ago to the present day, this community has seen the beginnings of gay liberation, the sexual revolution, the AIDS crisis and more.

"Wilby Wonderful" by Daniel MacIvor
(Canada - East Coast Premiere)
This film charts the experiences of several characters over 24 hours in the small island town of Wilby, Nova Scotia. This particular day is important for it is one of the last before the names of the men caught in a raid of the gay cruising area Wilby Watch are to be published in the local newspaper, which has potentially devastating consequences for anyone living a closeted gay existence

The 7th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is presented by Sundance Channel and Comcast. Premiere sponsors include Absolut, Regal Entertainment Group, and Scion. Official sponsors include Atlantis Events, Avis Rent-a-Car, Clear Image Creative Group, HBO, Here!TV and Tylenol PM. HBO is also the official Awards sponsor. The official Host Hotel & Delegate Center is The National Hotel. The Festival also receives generous support from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Arts Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners; the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Arts Council and the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority. MGLFF is also sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Women's Community Fund of South Florida. Other major sponsors include Jet Blue, Air Canada, TAM Arilines, PlanetOut.com, Genre Magazine, Passport Magazine, Asti 187, Citibank, Cre8tiv Juice Group, Elements Event Couture, Majestic Properties, Perrier, Twinlab, Carson Realty Group, Gay Fuel, Abbey Hotel, Crest Group Hotels, Townhouse Hotel, New Times, Express South Florida, and TWN. Cultural tourism partners include the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.

The Festival's 2005 image was created by Miami Beach design firm Cre8tiv Juice Group. With a nod to the inspiration of Miami Beach's Art Deco past, the image embraces the now and looks forward to the future, as two figures portraying a lesbian and a gay man hold up the progressive and powerful light that represents gay cinema and its reach.

The Festival is also supported by the generosity of individual community members that make up MGLFF's Producer's Circle. Major donors include $10,000 Studio Heads Ken Goss and Bill Sullivan of Discount Vitamins & Health and Michael Toomey of The Toomey Team and Dr. Patrick Ward, and $5,000 Executive Producers Diane G. Dolcourt, Rick Fenstermacher & Jason Hagopian, Peter Grigsby & George Weeks and Stephen Herbits