UNDERTOW on Bluray and DVD

The 2010 ImageOut Audience Award winner, Undertow, is now available on Bluray and DVD. Check it out at Wolfe Video. It's definitely a good one to own.

UNDERTOW Stays at the Little

UNDERTOW, ImageOut 2010's Audience Award winner for Best Narrative Feature, stays for a second week at the Little Theatre on East Avenue in downtown Rochester. However, it is only screening once every night. It does get a matinee screening this Saturday and Sunday. Please check the theater's website for UNDERTOW's screening schedule.

Support GLBT cinema in Rochester so theater operators will be encouraged to book them for local screenings.

2010 Best Narrative Feature - ImageOut Audience Award

After the first weekend of ImageOut 18, the conversations among Festival pass holders and many audience members were dominated by one discussion: Which film is better, Undertow or A Frozen Flower? But as more wonderful films were presented during the Festival's 10-day run, several other favorites were thrown in the mix: Children Of God, A Marine Story, and even our Closing Night film, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. Yet no one could quite surpass the emotional hold of the heart-wrenching magical and tender love story between Santiago and Miguel. Congratulations to filmmaker Javier Fuentes-León for bagging the 2010 Audience Award for Best Independent Narrative Feature at ImageOut 18 for his debut feature film, Undertow. He receives a Certificate of Recognition and $750 worth of Kodak film stock. We wish him luck in his quest for an Oscar nomination!

The rankings of the films aren't so important, it seems. Because almost all the films were rated highly by the audiences -- beyond "Good." It's even a little too crowded at the top. But here they are anyway.

(1) 4.86 Undertow (Contracorriente)
(2) 4.81 A Marine Story
(3) 4.77 Children of God
(3) 4.77 The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
(5) 4.73 The Last Summer of La Boyita
(5) 4.73 We Have To Stop Now
(5) 4.73 FIT
(8) 4.72 Wild About Harry
(9) 4.68 Elena Undone
(10) 4.67 You Should Meet My Son!
(11) 4.65 A Frozen Flower
(11) 4.65 Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!
(13) 4.61 BearCity
(14) 4.55 The People I've Slept With
(15) 4.53 Purple Sea
(16) 4.52 Is It Just Me?
(17) 4.50 The Four-Faced Liar
(18) 4.48 Leading Ladies
(18) 4.48 I Killed My Mother
(20) 4.47 Howl
(21) 4.42 Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives
(22) 4.38 Violet Tendencies
(23) 4.34 From Beginning to End
(24) 4,32 The String
(25) 4.24 Room in Rome
(26) 4.16 He's Such A Girl
(27) 4.09 To Faro
(28) 4.05 Eloise's Lover
(28) 4.05 Plan B
(30) 2.37 The Owls

Congratulations to all the filmmakers who shared their films with us. And HUGE thanks to those who joined us here in Rochester during the festival. You have all made our event even more special. Your generosity and amazing energy were all appreciated!

Program 8: Undertow

Our Narrative Centerpiece, Undertow is sure to be a top contender for this year's ImageOut Audience Award. This moving and emotional drama is screening at 6:45pm at the Little Theatre, so don't miss out! And be sure to bring your hankies.

ANNE LISTER & UNDERTOW Win Austin Awards

The winning films at the recently concluded Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival have been announced. And a couple of our ImageOut 18 Gala screenings came out victorious. Our gorgeous Closing Night film, THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS ANNE LISTER, won the Audience Award for Best Feature. While UNDERTOW, our Centerpiece Feature, won the Jury Award for Best Feature.

But the big winner at AGLIFF is the comedy short, YOU MOVE ME, which won both the Audience and Jury Awards for Best Narrative Short. YOU MOVE ME screens with THE OWLS at ImageOut.

UNDERTOW for an Oscar?

UNDERTOW, ImageOut 18's Narrative Centerpiece Feature, was recently submitted by Peru as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film competition at the 2011 Academy Awards. A film festival favorite and already a winner of various jury and audience awards all over the world, UNDERTOW will definitely represent LGBT cinema at its best if it makes it to the final list of nominees.

I hope you get a chance (it's currently one of our bestsellers!) to see this amazing and touching drama at ImageOut in October. It's definitely one of my favorites in the lineup. Watch the trailer in our website and tell me that you weren't moved. Because that's just cold.

~MG

Sundance Film Festival

The movies and festivities start today at the popular winter indie filmfest, Sundance. There are a handful of LGBT titles in their lineup including some high-profile titles that I'm pretty sure will have a theatrical release soon.

HOWL, starring James Franco, centers around the young Allen Ginsberg but also touching on the obscenity trial the artist faced due to the publication of his poem, HOWL. This is the narrative feature debut of award-winning documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (Word is Out, The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175).

The Kids are All Right stars Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as lesbian lovers whose two teenage kids try to find out who their biological father (played by Mark Ruffalo) is. Of course, familial complications ensue.

Based on the novel by Nick McDonell, Twelve is a chilling chronicle of privileged urban adolescence on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. If that isn't enough to remind you of TV's Gossip Girl, the film also stars Chace Crawford. Not sure how gay the film is but one of the characters definitely is. And very fashion forward at that.

There are also promising documentaries about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Joan "can we talk?" Rivers.

But the film I'm most excited to see is Undertow (Contracorriente). It looks very intriguing and definitely sexy. I can't wait to see it. Check out the trailer here.

It's also interesting to note that one of the short films in the lineup is Raw Love (Amor Crudo) which had it's East Coast Premiere at ImageOut 2009 last October.

Many people always ask me if I go to Sundance. The answer is no. It's too close to Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival in February) and I only have a very limited budget and can only spare so much of my precious vacation time from my actual day job. The GLBT selection has always been pretty limited at Sundance and whatever big titles they have end up either showing at Berlinale or being available at the European Film Market anyway. So it all works out. But maybe someday.

~MG