Editor

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
ENDS ITS TENTH YEAR WITH AWARDS AND CELEBRATIONS

The Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival ended its tenth year by announcing the winners of its Jury Competition and Audience Awards at its Closing Night Ceremonies:

Jury Competition:

Best Feature Film – BROTHER TO BROTHER, directed by Rodney Evans; this film has now won major awards at the top leading gay and lesbian film festivals in the country: New Festival (New York), Frameline (San Francisco), Outfest (Los Angeles) and PIGLFF;

Best Full-length Documentary Film -- FARM FAMILY – IN SEARCH OF GAY LIFE IN RURAL AMERICA, directed by Tom Murray;

Best Short Film (Gay Male) -- WITH WHAT SHALL I WASH IT, directed by María Trénor;

Best Short Film (Lesbian) -- LITTLE BLACK BOOT, directed by Collette Burson;

Best Short Film (Trans/General) – XX TO XY: FIGHTING TO BE JAKE, directed by Emily Atef;


Audience Awards:

Best Feature Film – DORIAN BLUES, directed by Tennyson Bardwell;

Best Full-length Documentary Film -- IN GOOD CONSCIENCE: SISTER JEANNINE GRAMICK’S JOURNEY OF FAITH, directed by Barbara Rick.

Hosting the Ceremonies on Monday, July 26, were the former hosts of Fox 29’s “Good Day Philadelphia,” Mike Jerrick (currently with Fox News) and Donya Archer; this was their fourth annual appearance at the Festival’s Closing Night. The ceremonies were followed by the screening of the Closing Night Film, the action-comedy D.E.B.S. The festival then officially ended Tuesday, July 27, with a six-film marathon screening of five “Festival Favorites” and a last-minute entry, Kaspar Andreas’s SLUTTY SUMMER.

During its 13-day run from July 15-27, the Festival presented 134 individual screenings of 54 feature films, 22 full-length documentaries, 64 shorts, 2 special presentations, and nightly parties. The most popular films were:

EATING OUT, Q. Allan Brocka’s first feature film, a romantic comedy about a straight man who plays gay to attract the attentions of a young woman who is drawn to gay men;

TESTOSTERONE, a thriller by David Moreton, starring Antonio Sabato, Jr., as a man who mysteriously disappears in New York, forcing his lover to track him down in Buenos Aires;

HELLBENT, the East Coast premiere of Paul Etheredge-Oustz’s gay horror-slasher film about West Hollywood party boys stalked by a “devil” with a penchant for decapitation on Halloween;

GRANDE ECOLE, an erotic drama by Robert Salis about sexual confusion in a French business school;

A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD – a special screening of Michael Mayer’s drama starring Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts and Sissy Spacek, adapted by Michael Cunningham from his first novel;

NOAH’S ARC, the first episode of Patrik-Ian Polk’s series about a group of gay African-American friends in LA. The series will be distributed on DVD, one episode at a time, over the Internet at www.noahsarc.net.

Another great success was the staged reading of Todd Stephens’ comedy screenplay, “Another Gay Movie” on Monday, July 26. Scott Thompson led the cast, as originally announced, and he was joined by drag performer diva Lypsinka, star “bachelor of “Boy Meets Boy” James Getzlaff, Jonah Blechman (LUSTER, THIS BOY’S LIFE) and Falcon Studios superstar Matthew Rush. The script – an AMERICAN PIE for gay audiences -- was received with uproarious laughter, as wisecracks bounced off the walls, shirts flew off and sex acts were acted out in a story about four gay boys’ determination to lose their virginity before they left for college.

The Festival’s three high points were its Artistic Achievement Award presentations to Lee Daniels, Guinevere Turner and Alan Cumming. During Lee’s acceptance speech, he announced that Patrik-Ian Polk would be directing his next production, LADIES NIGHT OUT, and then introduced the screening of NOAH’S ARC. The other two recipients participated in “Conversations” after their ceremonies; Alan talked with WXPN-FM’s Robert Drake; and Guinevere spoke with journalist and filmmaker Lawrence Ferber.

A recurring theme of the Festival programming was cinema by, for and about by gay and lesbian people of color. The largest panel audience in the Festival history attended a presentation that brought together five gay/lesbian and African-American/Latino filmmakers: Tadeo Garcia (ON THE DOWNLOW); Chris Long (NAKED FAME); Patrik-Ian Polk (NOAH’S ARC); Faith Trimel (BLACK AURA ON AN ANGEL); and Stephanie Wynne (THE COOKIE PROJECT). Journalist Hassan Luis Sudler served as moderator.