"BROTHER TO BROTHER","PATERNAL INSTINCT" WIN TOP KUDOS
AT THE SIXTH ANNUAL MIAMI GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
"CALLAS FOREVER" TAKES AUDIENCE AWARD
Miami, Florida - May 2004 - The prestigious Sixth Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, presented by HBO, has enjoyed a successful 10-day run with sold-out screenings and wild parties attended by a repertoire of special guests including Andrea Sperling, Miss Coco Peru, Marcus Hu, Jon Gerrans, John Greyson, José Luis García-Pérez as well as noted international film directors, producers and distributors Wolfe Video, Regent Entertainment, here! TV and TLA Releasing. In the tradition of the Festival, its own competition sponsored by HBO, awarded films were based on program committee panel reviews and audience ratings.
Best Fiction Feature
Brother to Brother directed by Rodney Evans, US
The film invokes the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance through the memories of Bruce Nugent, who co-founded the revolutionary literary journal Fire!! with Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Wallace Thurman. As an elderly man, Nugent meets a gay, African-American teenager in a homeless shelter and together they embark on a surreal narrative journey through his inspiring past.
Best Documentary
Paternal Instinct directed by Murray Nossel, US
Mark and Erik are a handsome, successful New York couple who yearn for the next chapter of their life to begin. They want a baby, and they want to share it with a genetic bond. In this astonishing new documentary, these two men embark on a process that will utterly transform them, a process most heterosexual couples take for granted: the quest for a biological child.
Best Short
Oedipus- (n +1) directed by Eric Rognard, France
A ground-breaking gay film set in a futuristic world of sharp contrasts and paradoxes, Oedipus mixes Greek myth and contemporary sci-fi in the vein of Blade Runner and Gattaca.
Audience Favorite
Callas Forever directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Maria Callas, the opera star whose life, on-stage and off, was as romantically grand as a Verdi queen's. In this sumptuous imagining, Maria (Fanny Ardant) is 53 and planning her comeback in a soaring production of "Carmen." Unfortunately, her collaborator has less lofty ambitions. Larry (Jeremy Irons) is a gay has-been punk rock manager with plans for the performance to be dubbed; a cheesy vehicle to re-release old Callas recordings. But much to his own surprise, Larry has a soul, which first starts peeking through in a romance with a handsome young deaf man. As Larry and Maria plan the production, they find even deeper layers of humanity in each other.
"This year's festival had a vibrancy and intensity I've experienced in no other year of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival" said Festival Manager Jaie Laplante. "The sophistication and stylishness of our films, guests and audiences have reached new heights, and we only want to build and expand upon that for our 7th annual edition, which I am pleased to announce will take place in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale next April 22 - May 1, 2005."
Last year's award winners included Die, Mommie Die (Best Fiction Feature), All About My Father (Best Documentary), Hard Fat (Best Short), Politics of Fur (Special Jury Award) and Tipping the Velvet (Audience Award).
The Festival began on a high note with a memorable Opening Night Gala presentation and East Coast Premiere of Richard Day's Straight-Jacket starring Matt Letscher, Carrie Preston, Jack Plotnick at the Gusman Center. Master of Ceremonies Miss Coco Peru lent her comedic talents to host this retro evening with gorgeous go-go boys on stage. The lavish party, which followed at the Alfred I. Dupont Building was a smash hit and set the tone for the next nine days of great films, parties and more.
The excitement continued with the Centerpiece Gala Screening of Miguel Albaladejo's Cachorro, starring lead actor Jose Luis Garcia-Perez in person with the gala after party at Gyory & Osiris Art Studios featuring human works of art and endless cocktails.
It was continuous film presentations and great parties all the way through the Festival's Closing Night Gala presentation of Angela Robinson's D.E.B.S. at the Gusman Center, followed by yet another festive event at Emilio & Gloria Estefan's Bongos Cuban Café. Producer Andrea Sperling received the Wolfe Career Achievement Award and HBO presented the Jury awards to the winning films prior to the screening.
This year's festival included a record number of over 80 presentations comprised of shorts, documentaries and feature films from Canada, Cuba, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. Several of the films made their World Premiere including Make a Wish, Inescapable, Glitter Girls:Transexuals in the Raw and Naked Fame. Many of the films made their North American premieres during the Festival, including Iron Ladies II, Anonymous, Cachorro and the clip presentation Out in Kino. Other films enjoyed their East Coast or Florida premieres.
Adding to this year's success, the Festival continued its South Florida reach repeating a partnership with the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. The result was a two-day run of sold-out screenings at Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale. This year also marked the first screenings ever at the Miami Beach Cinematheque and Miami Shores Theater.
"We are thrilled that the program has been so well received by our audience with many sold out screenings and standing ovations for visiting filmmakers", said Program Director Carol Coombes. "This year's festival has seen a marked and significant increase in the number of distributors, film-festival programmers, sales agents, national and international press and filmmakers who have wanted to be here. The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival continues to thrive and grow from year to year, and it is a testament to the strength of our reputation and its strong positioning as one of the key queer film festivals in the US that we snared four feature length World Premieres and to our great excitement HBO decided to come on board as our principal sponsor this year. We will back with more of the best in the 7th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival."
The sponsors of the 6th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival included HBO, Absolut, Regal Entertainment Group, Avis Rent-a-Car, The National Hotel, Clear Image Creative Group, Party 93.1 FM, HERE! TV, Sundance Channel, Comcast, Tylenol PM, Johnson & Johnson, Reach Power Flosser, Genre, Jet Blue, Passport Magazine, The Alfred I. Dupont Building, Miami New Times, Beaulieu Vineyard, Perrier, Air Canada, The Express, PlanetOut.com, Gay.com, The Abbey Hotel, Indian Creek Hotel, Words on the Beach among many others. The Festival also receives generous support from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority, the Gay & Lesbian Foundation of South Florida and the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.
