Four More Years-in just four more hours!

Continuing the opening-night festivities at 9:30 tonight is Four More Years, a political dramedy from Sweden. With our own election season right around the corner, it will be a welcome relief to see another country sweat for a bit.

There are still a few tickets left for our second program, but they will be going fast, so head on over to the Little Theater box office to get yours now!

The Night Watch

At 7:00 the first of our 45 spectacular programs begins. The Night Watch is a captivating whirl of life and love in World War II London.

The screening sold out a few days ago, but you can try your luck in the rush line outside the theater. Nice night for it!

Vote ImageOut Best Film Festival in Rochester!

The final ballot City Newspaper's annual "Best of Rochester" poll has been released, and ImageOut has made the final four in the category of "Best Film Festival". We're up against some stiff competition, so show your support and cast your vote today!

AFter Ellen reviews an ImageOut 19 highlight

Though we do have a number of premieres each year, some ImageOut films have already gotten stamps of approval from other festivals, blogs, and press. Check out this great review for one of my Indie faves, Jamie and Jessie are NOT Together. You can catch it as program 28 at ImageOut 19.

'We Were Here' Gets NY Times Seal Of Approval

This year's Documentary Centerpiece, We Were Here, was recently awarded the New York Times Critic's Pick of the week. The emotional documentary received a glowing review from critic Stephen Holden, who summed up the movie's ultimately hopeful message perfectly:

"As grim as some of it's images are, 'We Were Here' is above all a film about love: not romantic love but the kind that really matters, in which people selflessly show up and keep on showing up for one another in the worst of times."

ImageOut's online ticket sales begin tonight at 5:00pm, so make sure you get your ticket to what is sure to be the most powerful film screening at this year's festival. And don't forget that our first in-person ticket sale will also be held this Sunday, September 18th, at the ImageOut office in Village Gate.

For full details on purchasing tickets, visit our website.

What's on your must-see list?

Festival Fair Launches 2011 ImageOut Lineup

It's finally here! We are launching the 2011 October lineup tonight at the Festival Fair at the Strasenburgh Planetarium, Rochester Museum and Science Center starting at 6:30pm. You'll get a chance to pick up a copy of the Program Guide and buy tickets in advance before it becomes available to the general public starting September 16.

There will be a cash bar and free tasty hors d'oeuvres while you mingle and chat with other Festival patrons and film lovers. As a special treat, you can hear Michael and Jessica talk about the highlights of the 2011 lineup at 8pm before the free screening of the fab film Christopher and His Kind at 8:30pm.

For more details on tonight's event, check out this page.

Most importantly, we'll have time to post more updates on this blog as we won't be buried in watching DVD screeners and writing program descriptions anymore!

Edith Windsor Challenges DOMA!

Nary a dry eye left the theater after ImageOut's packed screening of Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement back in 2009. The touching documentary made it easy to love these women who had been together for more than 40 years, and who were finally married in a long-anticipated ceremony in Canada at the end of the film.

But their story did not end when the cameras were turned off.

As reported at the end of the film, Thea passed away after a long illness. The loving pair were legally prepared with wills, but the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) slapped Edie with a huge estate tax bill. True to her nature, Edie is fighting DOMA all the way to the supreme court and the NY attorney General has joined in her case.

You can read more about the challenge here.

BEGINNERS Opens at the Little

I'm excited that BEGINNERS starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer is finally opening here in Rochester! Be sure to check it out at the Little Theatre starting tonight. It's one of my favorite gay-themed films from late last year (Toronto Int'l Film Festival) and I was hoping that I could include it in my ImageOut October lineup. It was wishful thinking indeed as a film as good as this would definitely get mainstream distribution. Anyway, I'm just glad that it can be seen by our audiences.

This comedic drama is a memory piece about a son and his dying father, who recently comes out to him as being a homosexual. Here's what the New York Times says about the film.

~Michael Gamilla

Midnight in Paris

Now, I have never been a fan of Woody Allen movies, but that has changed with his latest offering; Midnight in Paris.

What I enjoyed most, however, has little to do with Woody Allen or even the star, Owen Wilson. It is the supporting cast portraying famous writers and artists that caught my attention. Kathy Bates is always a hoot, and her Gertrude Stein in no exception. Adrian Brody's Salvador Dali is hysterical, and Corey Stoll's Papa Hemingway is everything I imagine the uber-macho tragic literary figure would be.

Midnight in Paris is playing for a bit longer at The Little Theater, and is a great way to use those Groupons you've been hanging on to!

Summer Blockbusters

Hollywood is notorious for its summer blockbusters. This year is no exception to the usual onslaught of action flicks and thrillers. What is on your summer screen list?

This week's Entertainment Weekly proclaims Super 8 as the best flick of the season.

Perhaps your entire July is scheduled around re-watching the entire Harry Potter Series before The Deathly Hallows Part II ends the ginormous franchise.

X-Men: First Class, Captain America, Green Lantern, or Thor could give you your fill of super hero adventure.

ImageOut fans may be especially interested in the new Christopher Plummer-Ewan MacGregor drama Beginners.


I know I'll be at the Drive-in every chance I get!

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.

Dryden Films

There are a few Dryden films in the next few days that might be of interest to you. Check them out!
The guaranteed tearjerker, Now, Voyager, starring Bette Davis is screening tonight, May 26 at 8pm.
Getting twice the exposure on this Memorial Day Weekend is the visually-stunning Portuguese drag film, To Die Like A Man. It will screen on Friday (May 27) at 8pm and again on Sunday (May 29) at 7pm.
And finally, catch Joan Crawford as a western gal in Johnny Guitar, screening on Tuesday, May 31 at 8pm.

Enjoy these movies while I spend my holiday weekend in Toronto to complete my duties as an International Juror for the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival!

Joan/Bette Series at the Dryden

Are you aware that the Dryden at George Eastman House is currently doing a Joan Crawford and Bette Davis series from now till the first week of June? Screening tonight (Thursday, May 5) at 8pm is OF HUMAN BONDAGE with Bette Davis delivering her first great role. Other films in the series include such classics as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Now, Voyager, All About Eve, Jezebel and Johnny Guitar. I'm already upset that I missed the screening of The Women last Tuesday.

So I hope to see you all at the Dryden sometime.

360|365 Film Festival Opens Tonight!

There are a few films being offered tonight for 360|365 Film Festival's opening night. But two films that I recommend are MY DOG TULIP and BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK. Both are really well done and are of queer interest. Check them out.

Have you bought your tickets for THREE yet? Make sure to support ImageOut's film at this year's film festival.

ImageOut at 360|365 GEH Film Festival

April has been a busy month for ImageOut screenings. We just had a successful and well-received set of screenings (Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement, Wild About Harry, Patrik 1.5) at the Pride & Joy Families Conference over the weekend. And we still have one more at the end of the month.

ImageOut is very excited to partner with the 360|365 George Eastman House Film Festival in bringing Tom Tykwer's latest film, THREE (Drei), to Rochester. It was one of the many films I saw in Berlin last February and you must see it! You can buy your tickets here. Tykwer's filmography includes RUN LOLA RUN and, most recently, THE INTERNATIONAL.

** NOTE: THREE (Drei) just won the Lola Awards (German Oscar) for Best Actress (Sophie Rois) and Best Director (Tom Tykwer) on April 8. Below is Tykwer showing off his latest award.

NY LGBT Health Month Screenings

Don't forget our FREE screenings next Thursday, March 24 at the Cinema Theatre. ImageOut celebrates New York LGBT Health Awareness Month by bringing back two great films from our 2010 lineup. Check out the details here.

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.

Berlin Adventures

Follow what I have been watching and what's keeping me busy in Berlin. Check out my entries at Siegessaeule blog.

Variety Article on Berlinale

Preparing for my annual trip to Berlin, which signals the "official" start of ImageOut programming, is not as simple as packing outfits for this fabulous event. One has to come prepared with a game plan on how to survive the tight and crazy film festival schedule, and how to find the LGBT films in the European Market. It's always very challenging ... stressful enough to cause a couple of breakouts. I'll be traveling again to Berlin this Thursday and I hope to have more time to blog about the goings on at the festival.

In the meantime, here's an interesting article on LGBT films at Berlinale. Enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------

From Variety Magazine:


Berlin's gay cinema picks drive niche biz
Fest's sidebar often spotlights gay issues
By Gregg Goldstein

The Berlinale has been the preeminent film festival for the best in international LGBT cinema for decades. But in recent years, it's also solidified its role as the de facto market for dozens of queer film festival programmers and film buyers from around the world. "It's the one time of the year the entire international LGBT film festival community is together," notes Outfest exec director Kirsten Schaffer.

The story of how the Berlinale emerged as the main queer film fest mecca goes back to at least 1980, when the late Manfred Salzgeber (a Berlin cinema owner who often showcased gay fare) was assigned to create what became the Panorama section for cinema that bridged the gap between experimental and mainstream fare.

"Manfred felt working on emancipation on a wider scale and working on sexuality as a strong force in culture and politics needed to be addressed more," recalls Wieland Speck, a gay filmmaker who joined the fest as Salzgeber's assistant in 1982 and took over as Panorama's director a decade later. "After doing this for three years or so, queer filmmakers from all over the world realized there was a focus happening here every year, so the creme de la creme of gay cinema began coming to the Berlinale."

"It's pretty significant that LGBT films are shown in this very public, very A-list kind of way. They embrace diversity," notes former NewFest director and current Sundance programming associate Basil Tsiokos. "Although things have gotten better elsewhere, years ago these films often didn't have a chance to play at such a prestigious global venue (other than Berlin)."

Many recall the early, unofficial gathering of programmers that took place in a Berlin gay bookstore, where queer films that didn't meet the Berlinale's standards were shown and discussed. There, in 1987, Speck established the Teddy Awards, which have grown into an essential tool for programmers and a valuable networking opportunity for each year's eight-member jury.

"It's like the gay Oscars," says former Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival director Vicci Ho. "It's the most significant (LGBT) film award out there, and it's still the first award we (look to) when we program our own festivals."

A key to Berlin's powerful role in helping LGBT film fests internationally is the Panorama programmers meeting, which has grown to attract some 150 programmers from all over the world who trade information and resources. Before the Internet matured in the late '90s, notes Outfest's Schaffer, "it was the only way to connect with international sales agents, distributors and filmmakers with LGBT films." Out of this meeting, and also inspired by Outfest's Legacy Project, the Berlinale has launched the work-in-progress "Queer Academy." It is now expanding from an Internet database of Teddy winners and gay history to initiate efforts to find and preserve lost works from gay filmmakers.

The Berlinale is also making history by helping create gay film fests where they never existed before, and shore up support for new fests under political attack.

"We helped initiate the first queer film festival in Warsaw three years ago, and the first one happening now in Hungary," says Speck. "This year, the queer film festival in Jakarta was attacked by Muslim forces, so we write letters bringing the support of the Berlinale and the Goethe Institut."

Most recently, their presence helped St. Petersburg launch its first queer film program after authorities used various excuses to shut down similar events for two years. "It's like a diplomatic thing," explains Speck. "With us there, it's more difficult to do something against them."

While Panorama is the main source for the Berlinale's LGBT features, what's remarkable is the amount of similar fare in other sections, another key in making Berlin a must-visit destination.

"It's still the best place to go to see a wide selection of LGBT films," says Schaffer, "because in addition to Panorama, which has a huge number of gay films, Forum often includes a lot, the main competition has some, and even (youth film section) Generations often has a couple of queer-themed films."

There may be no film festival with a more useful guide for LGBT film programmers and buyers. As vet film consultant Bob Hawk notes, the fest issues a "Queer List" marked with an "L," "G," "T," "GS" (for gender studies/role models) and/or "C" (for context), denoting a film's emphasis. And when sellers are less than eager to highlight a film's LGBT content in its one-sentence market guide description, often for fear of ghettoizing their project or alienating buyers, programmers will discuss their detective work on these films with each other to uncover diamonds in the rough.

So why has Berlin strengthened its preeminent role for LGBT content instead of, say, losing that spot to a glossy North American festival like Sundance or Toronto, each of which are now headed by openly gay men? Aside from Berlin's history of gay liberation and openness that can be traced to the early 20th century, one key is its official sales market. "I know other fests like Cannes have markets, but there seems to be more gay content than anywhere else," notes Schaffer.

TLA Entertainment head Ray Murray theorizes that the market's strong LGBT emphasis may come down, especially in recent years, to simple economics.

"A lot of the problem is that Sundance is more American-oriented, and the quality of American independent gay filmmaking is pretty low now because there's not a lot of money available in subsidies" in contrast to subidies available in Europe, he says. "Production is also down a lot. When U.S. festivals get those selections, it's easy to pass on them."