Lifestyle
Gaze Film Fest
The 2009 GAZE Dublin Film Festival is fast approaching, and the films are looking better than ever. So get your tickets fast because you wont want to miss out.
For over a decade, GAZE Dublin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival has moved and entertained audiences. Now in its 17th year, and with queer cinema making it's way more and more into the mainstream, the 2009 event promises to show case higher quality films than ever before. The festival goes from the 30th of July to the 3rd of August, so book your tickets early, because you won't want to miss how it all goes down. See down below for more information on the whens wheres, whats and GCN's top 10 picks for this year.
Patricia Rozema, an internationally recognized gay screenwriter and director will open the festival at The Light House Cinema with the European premiere of HBO’s Grey Gardens. Rozema, co-writer of the film, based her screenplay on the 1975 documentary turned LGBT cult favourite Grey Gardens.
Variety magazine’s Brian Lowry calls the film, which chronicles Little and Big Edie Beales’ fall from social grace, “an impeccably rendered piece, down to the smallest details -- the kind of lush, meticulous little parcel that relatively few outlets these days have the means or latitude to cultivate.”
The film is just one of the many highlights at this year’s festival and will be featured in the Gaze Vision category, the festival’s panorama selection. Besides Grey Gardens, GAZE Vision will also feature other favourites, such as Raging Sun, Raging Sky and the world premiere of Fur Coat & No Knickers, a romantic comedy set in gay Dublin.
GAZE Vision is only one of the four different strands to this year’s festival, and the other three categories, Queer Heroes, Queer Curious and Gaze Specials will offer the nothing short of outstanding work.
Queer Heroes will show fresh work by some of gay cinema’s finest, with many films in the category, such as Rubbings from a Live Man and Beautiful Darling, making their European premiere at the festival.
Queer Curious will showcase some of the best examples of Queer creativity going on right now, including world renowned Canadian visual artists Allyson Mitchell and first time director Jules Rosskam with his film Against: A Transnarrative.
GAZE Specials offer an opportunity to enjoy old classics, watch exclusive shorts, talk movies and party! You won’t want to miss the showing of the original Grey Gardens documentary, hosted by Rozema, or the first ever GAZE Festival Review.
Visit www.gaze.ie for more information on this year’s GAZE Film Festival.
When: 30 July to 3 Aug
Where, The Light House Cinema, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Tickets: All GAZE events are sold through the Light House Cinema Box Office. Book online 24 hours at www.lighthousecinema.ie, or call the ticket line, 01 8797601 from 2pm-8pm daily. You can also book in person at the theatre.
How much: Opening Gala Event €25/€20 concession
Closing Gala Event €14/€12 concession
Entry is free to the GAZE Festival Review event and the Festival Club at Pantibar
OUR GAZE 2009 TOP TEN
1 Grey Gardens
Light House 1 / Thurs 30 July / 8.30pm / €25/20
The film stars Drew Barrymore as Little Edie, the first cousin and aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Jessica Lange as Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and depicts their tragic fall from genteel society. Go see it.
2. Patrik Age 1.5
Light House 1/ Mon Aug 3 / 8.30pm / €10
The film closes this year’s festival and tells the story of a newly arrived gay couple in ‘Sameville' who believe they’re adopting a 1.5 year old named Patrik, but instead get 15 year old Patrik, a homophobe with a criminal past.
3 Every Little Step
Light House 1 / Fri July 31 / 6.30pm / €10
The film follows the audition process for a new Broadway staging of The Chorus lines. Prepare for tears, joy and plenty of emotion.
4 Shank
Light House 3 / Sat Aug 1 / 8.30pm / €10
Shank is a dark, gritty and sexy urban rites of passage story using a number of first time gay and straight actors. Audience members may find some scenes of sexual violence disturbing.
5 Drool
Light House 1 / Sat Aug 1 / 8.30pm / €10
Lesbian icon Laura Harring stars in the film, a hit at the Sundance Fringe Festival 2009, as the mother of a very colorful family watching her children adopt new values and ways of life.
6 Raging Sun, Raging Sky (Rabioso Sol, Rabioso Cielo)
Light House 1 / Sun Aug 2 / 8.30pm / €10
This year's winner of the Teddy Award for Best Film, Raging Sun, Raging Sky is an epic story and visual masterpiece that chronicles the relationship between Kieri and Ryo from heterosexual friendship to true love.
7 Fig Trees
Light House 1 / Sun Aug 2 / 6.30pm / €10
The film follows Tim McCaskell and Zackie Achmat who refused anti-retroviral drugs until they were made available to all. But, with Bono-bashing, the top 100 AIDS Pop Songs of All Time and other hilarious moments, Fig Trees is as uplifting and funny as it moving.
8 Champion
Light House 3 / Sat Aug 1/ 2.30pm / €8
Champion is the story of Jessie, a prize-fighting martial artist with a never- ending sexual appetite. Prepare for real-life, full-throttle female eroticism.
9 The Fish Child (El Nino Pez)
Light House 3 / Mon Aug 3 / 6.30pm / €10
Based on the bestselling novel, The Fish Child tells the story of the love affair between LaLa, an upper class teen in Buenos Aires, and her family’s Paraguayan housemaid.
10 Let's Be Together
Light House 3 / Fri Jul 31 / 8.30pm / €10
Surprising, moving and beguiling, Let’s Be Together is a father and son story full of unexpected turns. The film questions traditional views of homosexuality and gender by challenging all of our assumptions.
