ImageOut: 18 and Still Blooming

After screening 87 films from all over the world (including a rare gem from the Bahamas!), hosting numerous visiting filmmakers and actors, and selling more than 8700 tickets, ImageOut secured yet another victory with the huge success of our annual October film festival, now in its 18th year. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this Festival just keeps getting better each year.

Opening Night set the tone for the 10-day event with energy and enthusiasm. Both featured Gala films sold out, forcing procrastinating ticket buyers to form long lines for limited “Rush Only” admission. Granted, our second feature of the evening sold out long before the Opening Night festivities began, but hopefully anyone who didn’t score themselves a seat will remember the lesson next year! Following the screenings of The Four-Faced Liar and Howl, guest actors headed by writer Marja-Lewis Ryan and Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Jeffrey Friedman engaged and embraced their audiences in entertaining and informative Q&A sessions. Mr. Friedman and his absent co-director Rob Epstein are also this year’s recipients of the prestigious ImageMaker Award for their outstanding contribution to LGBT cinema. The festive and joyous atmosphere continued at the nearby Eros Bar & Restaurant for the Opening Night Party, stretching this already long day into the wee hours of the morning.

The rest of the Festival schedule kept the pace zooming along with great films screening to packed audiences and garnering their highest approvals. Most importantly, people enjoyed seeing friends from the community, not to mention, meeting new ones, and being able to mingle with our fabulous guest artists. ImageOut has truly become a cultural force to reckon with around these parts.

Here are some of this year’s highlights:

• The impressive list of guests included hot and popular LGBT personalities like Casper Andreas, Jesse Archer, Cathy DeBuono, and Jill Bennett, along with new-to-the-scene artists such as Paris P. Pickard, Adam Huss, Keith Hartman and Israel Luna.

• Oscar-nomination hopeful Undertow received an enthusiastic and emotional reception, helping it win the ImageOut Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.

• Local short films are back with a vengeance receiving high marks during the Flower City Flicks Program. An independent jury gave Judgment Day the Mary Elizabeth Knight Award for Best Local Short. The crowd votes favored both You Belong With Me and Hens and Chicks in a rare tie for the Audience Award for Best Short Film (of the entire festival!). The Rochester area is bursting at the seams with artistic talent!

• The personal struggles bravely shared in the Archive Night documentary, Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, still resonate with the audiences of today.

• Making the Boys, Audience Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, brought back memories from a tumultuous era and gave our younger audience members some good lessons to carry home with them.

• Festival selections screened in 5 venues this year including theatres at RIT and U of R, enforcing our commitment to reaching out to everyone. The screening at U of R was a wonderful way to help the University celebrate their Meliora weekend and the 40th anniversary of the campus student pride group.

• 5 sold out shows including both Opening Night and the Closing Night films.

While potentially disastrous problems like digital equipment malfunction and a last-minute party venue change threatened to disrupt the Festival proceedings, our resourceful and hardworking team of volunteers ensured that everything ran as smoothly as possible. Kudos to each and every one of you!

Unfortunately, there is not really a lot of time to bask in this year’s achievements as planning for our 19th year begins immediately. Let’s hope we continue the tradition of besting the previous year’s accomplishments as we get even closer to celebrating two full decades of success. Check the ImageOut festival website and blog to see how you can help make next year an even bigger successful event!

~ Michael Gamilla
Programming Director

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!

2010 Best Documentary - ImageOut Audience Award

Wow! This category was a nail biter. From my conversations with the audiences during the Festival, two documentary titles were being mentioned the most: Making the Boys and Holding Hands. So imagine my surprise when out of nowhere, Lost in the Crowd came within a hundredth of a point of winning the coveted title of Best Independent Documentary Feature at ImageOut 18. That screening went well and the Q&A with filmmaker Susi Graf was enlightening and inspiring. But in the end, Making the Boys captured the audience's hearts. Congratulations to filmmaker Crayton Robey for winning $750 worth of Kodak film stock and a special Certificate of Recognition from ImageOut. It took me 1.5 years to finally bring this movie to Rochester, but it was worth the wait. Here's how you voted for the documentary films.

(1) 4.83 Making the Boys (Documentary Centerpiece)
(2) 4.82 Lost in the Crowd
(3) 4.78 Holding Hands
(4) 4.70 Two Spirits: Sexuality, Gender and the Murder of Fred Martinez
(5) 4.68 Word Is Out (Archive Night)
(6) 4.60 Out of Annapolis
(7) 4.51 Sex in an Epidemic
(8) 4.24 Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance
(9) 4.18 The Adonis Factor

As you can see, all of the films rated beyond "Good." It was a great year for documentary films at ImageOut 18.

2010 Best Short Film - ImageOut Audience Award

In an incredible display of how much our selections for the Flower City Flicks shorts program have improved over the years, You Belong With Me and Hens & Chicks tied for the Best Short Film Audience Award at ImageOut 18. It's the first time that a local film won this award, and it's even more amazing that two of them actually shared that honor. Separated by mere thousandths of a point, their final scores tied after rounding off the numbers. Boarding Pass, a film that made everyone cry, from the Safe Space youth shorts program was the favorite until the surprising numbers turned up for the local shorts. Here are the Top 30 short films from ImageOut 18.

(1) 4.83 You Belong With Me
(1) 4.83 Hens and Chicks
(3) 4.64 Boarding Pass (Pasaje)
(4) 4.63 Door Prize
(5) 4.60 The Queen
(6) 4.54 Go Go Reject
(7) 4.45 Gay Baby
(8) 4.43 Gayby
(9) 4.41 Curious Thing
(10) 4.35 Last Call
(11) 4.31 You Move Me
(11) 4.31 Non-Love Song
(13) 4.30 The Armoire
(14) 4.27 Public Relations
(15) 4.26 25 Things I Did During My Big Fat Lesbian Depression
(16) 4.24 Tech Support
(16) 4.24 Judgment Day
(18) 4.21 My Name is Love
(19) 4.15 Queer Pet Adventures #1: Salsa's Coming Out
(19) 4.15 Queer Pet Adventures #4: Doggie's Makeover
(21) 4.14 Waiting 4 Goliath
(22) 4.13 Ms. Thing
(23) 4.11 Queer Pet Adventures #2: BK's Adoption
(24) 4.10 After
(25) 4.09 Everyday To Stay
(26) 4.07 Gently
(27) 4.04 I Want Your Love
(28) 4.01 Professor Godoy
(29) 3.98 Cried Suicide
(30) 3.96 Queer Pet Adventures #5: Leather Night

Congratulations! And thanks to all the generous filmmakers who agreed to be a part of ImageOut this year.

Program 44: The People I've Slept With

Our 18th annual festival draws to a close with our final feature: The People I've Slept With. Funny, silly, and sexy, this film is a great way to spend a Sunday evening!

This screening begins at 9pm at the Little Theater.

Program 43: Plan B

Love has so many surprises. Prepare to be charmed by the sweet and tender story of Bruno and Pablo as they journey to unchartered emotional territories in Plan B.

Program 42: He's Such A Girl

ImageOut is proud to host the US Premiere of He's Such A Girl. I hope you enjoyed it!

Program 41: Safe Space (Youth Shorts)

In many of the programs this year, I've mentioned how the films have been so timely in tackling some of our LGBT issues that have recently made the headlines. But I also think it's because these same issues have been persistent and ever present. I am proud to present a collection of short films about our youth who choose to create their own safe spaces, even to simply escape their realities sometimes.

Program 40: The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

Well that was a positively amazing Closing Night film and party! Loved that there were tons of energy from the audience, which I must say has been pretty much how the past 9 days have been. I think we have just outdone ourselves.

It was great to introduce a strong, feisty and interesting character in Miss Anne Lister to ImageOut.

Program 39: Is It Just Me?

Is it Just Me? begins at 4:00 at the Dryden theater. Actor (and dream boy) Adam Huss is our guest for the program and Q&A following the screening.

Find out why this is one of the hottest and funniest romantic comedies in this year's LGBT film festival circuit.

Program 38: A Marine Story

Paris Pickard, star of A Marine Story, will be joining us for the film's New York State Premiere today. Q&A to follow the film.

Our Spotlight Feature begins at 3:30 at the Cinema Theater.

Program 37: I killed My Mother

A highly stylized and emotionally charged film, I Killed My Mother is one of the programming committee's favorite films this year.

Program 37 begins at 1:30 at the Dryden Theater.

Program 36: Out of Annapolis

Out of Annapolis begins at 1:15 at the Cinema Theater.

This documentary once again brings to the fore the many issues surrounding the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Program 35: The Adonis Factor

The Adonis Factor kicks off day 9 at 11:30 at the Dryden Theater.

This documentary hopes to bring to the open gay men's obsession with physical beauty. Discuss.

Program 34: You Should Meet My Son!

ImageOut helps celebrate 40 years of University of Rochester Pride Network as we bring the very funny You Should Meet My Son! to the Hubbell Auditorium in Hutchinson Hall. Start your weekend right and enjoy this screwball comedy with your ImageOut family.

The very talented (and handsome!) filmmaker Keith Hartman joins us for a Q&A following the screening.

Program 33: Room in Rome

Are you ready ladies? Room in Rome will be heating up the Cinema at 9pm tonight. Part of the ImageOut There! series, this film is hot, hot, hot! But don't worry, there are no zombies or bloody butcher knives in this one. Tonight's screening is the East Coast Premiere!

This film contains explicit sexual and adult content. No one under 18 will be admitted.

Program 32: Making The Boys

While the play itself is both fascinating and entertaining alone, Making the Boys, the story of just how Mart Crowley's Boys in the Band came into existence and into the permanent cultural consciousness of an entire generation (at least) is even more fascinating. Join us for this very special Documentary Centerpiece.

The New York State Premiere of Making the Boys begins at 6:30 at the Cinema Theater.

Program 31: Just Curious

You've loved our women's shorts and you've loved our "dirty" shorts, now it's time for the men to have their turn. Just Curious is a collection of seven short films, each making the case that sometimes it's a good idea to shake things up and try something new.

Program 30: Children of God

Another favorite among ImageOut's programming team, Children of God marks the first time that we've screened a film from the Bahamas. In this film, a beautiful and touching romance is underscored by the fact that sometimes gorgeous scenery can mask the ugly bigotry that lies beneath the surface.

Program 29: The String

The String is a Tunisian romance that features hot men and exotic locations, with a relatable storyline about coming out to family members. Leave comments and tell us what you thought!