October 2009 LGBT Festivals

We know that in October not only the Awards Season starts but also with Autumn in most parts of the world film festivals happen more often. For example there are 8 festivals that are opening just today. The LGBT interest festivals are no exception and during the month the following fests will take place.

Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – Out on Film

Clip! Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Southwest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (in Albuquerque and Santa Fe)

Reel Affirmations: International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (in Washington D.C.)

Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Pittsburg Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

Hamburg International Lesbian and Gay Film festival

Mezipatra – Czech GLBT Film Festival

LESGAICINEMAD: Madrid Lesbian and Gay Film Festival . To watch some trailers from this year fest go here.

Each fest name is a link to their official site and I’m sure there has to be more genre festivals opening this month, but those are enough for today.

As you can imagine the above festivals screen almost the same movies and perhaps the one that could have new movies is the Madrid fest but they do not have their full program published; the lesbian interest films are known to the blog with one exception that you will find in the trailers blog. Still there are a lot of “new” shorts that if you visit the fest sites will find them.

So enjoy reading about movies in the fest sites and no surprise… there are a lot of new gay interest films, sigh!

Venkovský ucitel (The Country Teacher)

Very nice crafted movie by Bohdan Sláma with good cinematography, a great story telling about loneliness, the need to be with someone and like they say, at the end everyone needs someone. The story is told with a glorious slow pace and sort of deadpan performances that make each character breakdown more dramatic.

Writen by Sláma the story main character is a city homosexual teacher that escapes to a small village to teach at the local school. Since the beginning you can tell that he’s troubled and eventually you'll find that his main problem is the lack of self-acceptance as a gay man. So, you can say that the story is also about finding acceptance of who you are. He finds company and establishes a friendship with a widowed woman and her son. The drama revolves around these three characters and what each has to learn to be less lonely and more happy with who they are.

Even if there is a gay main character I do not believe this is a gay movie. This is the kind of European movies that have gay characters and their story is essential to the movie, but there are other human emotions that are as, if not more, important as the fact of being gay. Czech cinema has quite good movies with lesbian or gay characters, but the movies are not only of LGTB interest as they are really good human dramas. Just remember great Pusinky in the lesbian interest genre. That countries from East Europe do very good movies with lesbian and gay characters is quite outstanding for me.

I found this drama interesting to watch especially because the great performances by the lead characters, the slowish pace and good tech specs; so, it’s no surprise that this film has many honors like being in the official selection of the 5th Venice Days at the 2008 Venice fest and winning many awards around the world including Best Actress to Zuzana Bydzovska (plays the widowed woman) at the 2008 Stockholm fest and a Czech Lion at the 2009 Czech Awards; also the Queer Cinema Award at the 2008 Reykjavik fest and the Audience Award at the 2008 Cottbus fest.

I highly recommend this movie to those that enjoy good East Europe cinema with excellent performances and good production values. But I also recommend it to those that enjoy the gay interest genre.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award Winners

Yesterday the fest had the awards ceremony and here are the winners.

Official Competition

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe: Un ange à la mer (Angel at Sea), Frédéric Dumont, Belgium and Canada, 2009

Special Jury Prize: Bist (Twenty), Abdolreza Kahani, Iran, 2009
Best Director Award: Adreas Dresen for Whisky mit Wodka (Whisky with Vodka), Germany, 2009
Best Actress: Paprika Steen in Applause, Martin Pieter Zandvliet, Denmark, 2009
Best Actor (tie):
Olivier Gourmet in Un ange à la mer (Angel at Sea), Frédéric Dumont, Belgium and Canada, 2009
Paul Giamatti in Cold Souls, Sophie Barthes, USA, 2008

FIPRESCI Award: Nije kraj (Will Not Stop There), Vinko Brešan, Serbia and Croatia, 2008
NETPAC Prize: Ddongpari (Breathless), Yang Ik-june, South Korea, 2008
Prize of Ecumenical Jury: Bist (Twenty), Abdolreza Kahani, Iran, 2009
Europa Cinemas Label Award: Applause, Martin Pieter Zandvliet, Denmark, 2009

Prize of Don Quijote FICC: Un ange à la mer (Angel at Sea), Frédéric Dumont, Belgium and Canada, 2009
Special Mention:
Волчок Volčok (Wolfy), Vassily Sigarev (Василий Сигарев), Russia, 2009
Cold Souls, Sophie Barthes, USA, 2008

East of the West Competition

Best Film: Poltory komnaty ili sentimentalnoje putěšestvije na rodinu (Room and a Half), Andrei Khrzhanovsky, Russia, 2008
Special Mention: Rysa (Scratch), Michal Rosa, Poland, 2008

Independent Camera: Eamon, Margaret Corkery, Ireland, 2009
Special Mention: La Tigra, Chaco, Federico Godfrid and Juan Sasiain, Argentina, 2009

Audience Award: Sipur Gadol (A Matter of Size), Erez Tadmor and Sharon Maymon, Israel, Germany, and France, 2009

Special Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema
Isabelle Huppert, France
John Malkovich, USA
Jan Švankmajer, Czech Republic

Festival President’s Award: Antonio Banderas

To check award winners in other categories go here and to read the official press release go here. If you want to see the fest in videos the Youtube fest channel is here.

44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

The fest will run from July 3 to 11 at the Czech Republic and here are the 14 films in the Official Competition.

Applause, Martin Pieter Zandvliet, Denmark, 2009 (with Paprika Steen!)
히말라야, 바람이 머무는 곳Barami Memounen Got, Himalaya (Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells), Jeon Soo-il, South Korea and France, 2009
Bist (Twenty), Abdolreza Kahani, Iran, 2009
Cold Souls, Sophie Barthes, USA, 2008
Nije kraj (Will Not Stop There), Vinko Brešan, Serbia and Croatia, 2008
Nem Vagyok a Barátod (I am Not Your Friend), György Pálfi, Hungary, 2009
Oveja Negra (Black Sheep), Humberto Hinojosa Ozcáriz, Mexico, 2009
Pokoj v duši (Soul at Peace), Vladimír Balko, Slovakia, 2009
Świnki (Piggies), Robert Gliński, Poland and Germany, 2009
Tutta Colpa di Giuda (Freedom), Davide Ferrario, Italy, 2009
Un ange à la mer (Angel at Sea), Frédéric Dumont, Belgium and Canada, 2009
Villa Amalia, Benoît Jacquot, France and Switzerland, 2008
Волчок Volčok (Wolfy), Vassily Sigarev (Василий Сигарев), Russia, 2009
Whisky mit Wodka (Whisky with Vodka), Andreas Dresen, Germany, 2009

To check trailers and information about each movie go Movie On Companion.

The following are the films in the East of the West competition.

40-ci qapi (The 40th Door), Elchin Musaoglu, Azerbaijan, 2008
A hetedik kör (The Seventh Circle), Árpád Sopsits, Hungary, 2009
Alive!, Artan Minarolli, Albania, Austria and France, 2009
Artimos šviesos (Low Lights), Ignas Miškinis, Lithuania and Germany, 2009
Baksy (Native Dancer), Guka Omarova, Kazakhastan, Russia, France and Germany, 2009
Bumažnyj soldat (Paper Soldier), Alexey German Jr., Russia, 2008
Djavolja Varoš (Devil’s Town), Vladimir Paskaljević, Serbia, 2009
El Paso, Zdeněk Tyc, Czech Republic, 2009
Gagma napiri (The Other Bank), George Ovashvili, Georgia and Kazakhastan, 2008
Niciji sin (No One’s Son), Arsen Anton Ostojić, Croatia and Slovenia, 2008
Poltory komnaty ili sentimentalnoje putěšestvije na rodinu (Room and a Half), Andrei Khrzhanovsky, Russia, 2008
Raci (Crayfish), Ivan Cherkelov, Bulgaria, 2009
Rysa (Scratch), Michal Rosa, Poland, 2008
Utolsó idők (Lost Times), Áron Mátyássy, Hungary, 2009

To check information about each movie in this section go here. There are many more films in this always very interesting festival and if you want to browse the fest site go here.

The fest will honor Isabelle Huppert with the Crystal Globe Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema; also Antonio Banderas will receive the Festival President’s Award. To read the official press release go here.

Last here are the films that will open and close the fest.

Opening film: The Greatest, Shana Feste, USA, 2008
Closing film: The Boat That Rocked, Richard Curtis, UK and Germany, 2009