Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Pride Film Festival: recommendations needed!


My involvement with our local Pride festivities has steadily increased as I have become more and more "out" in my community.

I attended my first local Pride three years ago (June 2011) but could only stay for 30 minutes because of my severe spinal pain at the time.  I was newly out to my kids and family but not to the wider community but I was determined to attend.   I posted about that Pride visit twice:  here and here.

I missed the June 2012 Pride events completely because I was thick in the horror of our divorce mediation and my move to my new home.  I was exhausted, stressed out and busy beyond belief.

In June 2013, I attended and volunteered at many fun events such as the Drag-a-Palooza where I was groped by a former student and our Pride picnic but had no part in the organization itself.  I posted several times about that exciting week where I came "out" in a big way.   Check out those links here.

From January to June 2014, I served on our Pride organizing committee and was heavily involved in some aspect in nearly every event of our week of festivities but as a helper.

But I did not post about Pride 2014 at all.  At that time, one of my blog readers was actively trying to determine my actual location and name, so I needed to protect my identity by not revealing any details.

But by June 2014, my Pride committee involvement accelerated my "outness" to a wider audience.   My name even appeared in our local newspaper as a Pride organizer;  my middle daughter bought a copy and proudly showed it to all her friends!

Starting in September 2014, I've been heavily involved in planning for Pride 2015 and am the chief organizer for several sub-events during our Pride Week, including our Pride Film Festival.


Dear readers:  I need your help!  

The committee and I need to pick out some movies to screen at our LGBTQ film night.   Specifically, we are looking for:

FEATURE FILM or HEADLINER
#1:    This feature-length movie must have a strong LGBTQ theme.  The movie should be a feel-good, relatively current flick; probably a comedy which is on everyone's "must see" list. 

Example:   Cloudburst with Olympia Dukakis was a huge hit at our 2013 Pride Film Festival, mainly with our lesbian community.   This octogenarian lesbian Thelma and Louise story was a perfect choice! 

SUPPORTING SHORT FILM(s)
#2:   We also need one or two short films (10 minutes or less), either documentary or fiction, on any LGBTQ issue or theme.   Canadian content is always a plus!

Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated!


17 comments:

  1. It's a couple years old, but gayby Is good

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the suggestion! That's a movie I wanted to see but never did. Matthew Wilkas looks hot (shirtless) in the promo pics!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That last picture is the most spectacular and daring I think you have ever posted on your blog, filled with anticipation of sex as his hook-up/lover gazes down at the feast of his body. Great image!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Pride" from Matthew Warchus got some good reviews and is a little bit more recent than Gayby (which I personally found a little bit boring).

    ReplyDelete
  5. There are two short films kind of famous in the LGBTQ festivals:
    The First: http://vimeo.com/76354987
    JACKPOT: https://vimeo.com/79245537
    Both with a teen theme.
    There is also Antonio da Silva's films. I really enjoyed the last one called DADDY. Here you can find the trailer: https://vimeo.com/85694824

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Buddy Bear, I thought I suggest some.
    I assume you will have straights watching so I think for all people, two of the following three will give them a good idea of what we went thru before the year 2000

    The Times of Harvey Milk

    The Celluloid Closet

    Before Stonewall (Before 1969)

    Others of interest are:
    Desert Hearts for Lesbians

    Transamerica for Trannies

    Regular Gay movies I like are:
    Steam: The Turkish Bath - Good story, One of my favs

    Beginners with Christopher Plummer is good

    The Hanging Garden - nice story made in Canada

    Other Possibilities
    Breakfast with Scot looks interesting as I have never seen it. For the straight acting gay men.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, thanks Rick! We'll look into some excellent suggestions! In my town, I am sure that there will be NO straight people attending!

      Some gay guys do attend but most of the audience will be made up of lesbians.

      Delete
  7. You should check the line up of Frameline Film Festival (http://ticketing.frameline.org/festival/film/results.aspx?FID=51) I like the following films on Netflix

    1. Stranger by the lake - erotic thriller - French
    2. Free Fall - Dutch or German - married cop falls in love for a low key gay cop.

    You can youtube to see the trailers. Have a great time and good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Do you happen to know where that top photo was shot? The cliffs are amazing. (The guy isn't bad, either.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Mike! Yes,both views are fantastic! I don't know where that picture was taken.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My favorite film is Big Eden, didn't realize for awhile that his best friend was Tim DeKay, from White Collar. And I don't think enough exposure was given to A home at the end of the world. And one from long ago, but that should be seen by a younger audience is And the band played on. If you weren't around, I came out in early 1976, there isn't the shock of the beginning of Aids and how the CDC and others were trying to downplay the threat to people outside the gay community. Recently heard that they believe that it was first started by hunters who ate tainted meat in what is now the Congo in the 1920's. Which at the time was secluded and there was not much travel outside the country. It seems so long ago when people you knew were dying so quickly. James Franco's Interior Leather Bar, based on out takes from the very controversial film at the time starring Al Pacino, Cruising. I read on health sites postings from pre-teen boys having access to anything and seeing things I didn't know about till I was almost twenty. Figuring out who you were was not easy when there was no internet and no social media. Getting actors to portray gay characters was not easy long before Brokeback Mountain. The Front Runner was supposed to be made into a movie with Paul Newman as the Coach, but nothing ever came of it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey JB, thanks for that great response! I'll look into your suggestions!

    I also really liked your comment: "Figuring out who you were was not easy when there was no internet and no social media. " So many people I talk to don't understand what it was like for guys of our age, how difficult it was to figure out that we were gay with no access to gay porn or gay role models during our formative years.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Where are you mate, look forWARD TO READING YOUR blog

    ReplyDelete

Please tell me what you're thinking!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...