I'll return with individual highlights; in the meantime, check out the basics in the press release below; and feel free to head over to the festival's website (HERE) for the full lineup and other relevant info.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The third edition of the of the 19th Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, will run from Friday 19th – Sunday 28th October 2012 in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Opening nights will take place on 17th October in JHB and 18th October in CT.
The Festival has a great line up of shorts from SA, Brazil, Morocco/UAE, UK, USA and Kenya and 9 Features from USA, France, Canada, Belgium and Spain, many of them award winning films.
The Festival will open with Vito, Jeffrey Schwarz's involving biodoc on Vito Russo, leading gay activist, film scholar and author of "The Celluloid Closet". Through interviews, rare clips and well chosen archival footage (Russo always at the forefront of gay rallies, protests or celebrations), Schwarz makes his subject a dramatic focal point in the history of gay rights from the Stonewall riots to the AIDS epidemic.
The Festival will play host to two international guests alongside a strong programme of films.
Director Guy Lee Thys will present his film Mixed Kebab about a Belgian / Turkish Muslim – a satisfying, sexy romance that never belittles the dilemmas facing the unwilling hero of the piece.
Eldar Rapaport will present his award winning film August, set in LA. Troy returns and looks up his ex… it's a thought-provoking and contemporary film dealing with (in)fidelity.
Other highlights include:
– Gigola – Laure Charpentier's melodrama of Paris in the 60s. Gigola is a woman for hire to older, rich women. Pulpy, racy, delightfully camp, capturing the seediness of the Parisian underworld.
– Bear City 2: The Proposal – A good-humoured, guilt-free, well-packaged celebration of man love. Not to be missed.
– Elliot Loves – a skilful shift between the boy in the making, and his twenty- something result.. Delightful and charming, with extraordinary performances from the two Elliots.
– Margarita – Directed by Dominique Cardona and Laurie Colbert. Margarita, a live-in nanny, is hotly romancing with student lawyer Jane. But then she’s fired and a series of mishaps leads to deportation. A funny lesbian tale neatly warpped up in other contemporary issues. Glorious swaying latina rhythms warm up snowy Toronto.
– Our Paradise directed by Gaël Morel – A tour round the pathetic and peculiar of Paris, hot on the hustler heels of murderous Vassilli. Superb performances from Stéfane Rideau (Wild Reeds) and Béatrice Dalle (Betty Blue).
– The Sex of the Angels directed by Xavier Villaverde is a provocative scenario of where a love triangle might go.. given the willingness of the driehoek. The backdrop and music are very Barcelona. Sexy and fun.
Out In Africa screens at Nu Metro cinemas – V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and Hyde Park, Johannesburg.
