CINEMA DIVERSE ANNOUNCES FABULOUS FILM LINE-UP
Entertainment Desk
July 02, 2008
New LGBT Film Festival Set To Take Center Stage in Palm Springs.
PALM SPRINGS, CA – CINEMA DIVERSE: The 2008 Gay & Lesbian Film Festival • Palm Springs, has announced a line-up of 15 varied film programs for its inaugural year. This highly-anticipated event runs Tuesday, July 22 through Sunday, July 27, and is presented by the Palm Springs Cultural Center. All film screenings, including a diverse shorts program, will take place at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
Now in its first year, CINEMA DIVERSE is designed to be an experience that reflects and celebrates our diverse society through the lens of LGBT films and filmmakers. The Festival is an entirely new type of event that will present LGBT-themed films for the entire community, with content that transcends categories and labels. Originating in Argentina, Australia, Spain, Italy, Canada and the United States, these films, including features, documentaries, and shorts, illustrate the diversity of LGBT viewpoints and showcase the best in LGBT filmmaking.
"We have an outstanding lineup of evocative and entertaining films that cover a extraordinary spectrum of topics," said Thomas Ethan Harris, Artistic Director of Film Programs for the Palm Springs Cultural Center. "And that´s very CINEMA DIVERSE. We are very excited about the 15 feature films and the shorts program that we´re presenting. There were more than 500 entries for the Festival and it was tough to narrow it down, and those we´ve chosen really shine. The movies range from the hottest gay and lesbian films playing on the circuit right now, to some real gems that rose to the top on their own merits. We can´t wait to share these films with all those attending CINEMA DIVERSE!"
CINEMA DIVERSE covers a wide range of film programs, from a documentary about Jay McCarroll the winner of the first season of Bravo´s Project Runway, to a stunning, intimate family drama from Argentina about a young inter-sexed woman, and even a coming-of-age, homoerotic surfer movie gorgeously filmed in Australia.
The Festival officially begins Tuesday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Camelot Theatres with the OPENING NIGHT FILM AND PARTY featuring the first three episodes of Logo Network´s new Sordid Lives: The Series. The new TV series is Del Shores´ spin-off of the international cult classic film, Sordid Lives – which ran for a record 96 weeks at the Camelot Theatres. Cast members of the original film and the new TV series will be attending. The Opening Night party featuring cocktails and desserts will take place immediately following the screening at Hotel Zoso, 150 S. Indian Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. Tickets for the Opening Night, including the party, are $50.
Wednesday, July 23, 1:00 p.m. - THE CINEMA DIVERSE COLLECTION
The CINEMA DIVERSE COLLECTION of short films is a concoction all of its own!. Unlike other LGBT film festivals, we threw out the idea that short programs have to be organized by gender and came up with something that is so Palm Springs: Entirely sexy, totally unexpected, always unpredictable, appreciatively nasty and just a little bizarre.
Wednesday, July 23, 4:00 p.m. - THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING (Italy/United States, 2008, Documentary)
The creator of some of the most popular, enduring images of late 20th-century art, Keith Haring was also an iconic figure of the Manhattan scene in the '80s. Christina Clausen's documentary offers an affectionate, deeply personal glimpse into Haring's life, from his early years growing up in a small, conservative Pennsylvania town to his heyday as a world-renowned artist, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna, Yoko Ono, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Wednesday, July 23, 7:00 p.m. - ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE (United States, 2007, Comedy)
Jamie Babbit's spirited new film takes an energetic and entertaining journey through the basics of feminist politics to prove that the feminist revolution can co-exist rather nicely with optimism, fun, and romance. The antics of great screwball comedy ensue when Anna (Melonie Diaz), an adorable mousy receptionist at a plastic surgery clinic specializing in breast enhancements takes a crash course in Feminism 101 from a flirtatious femme anarchist named Sadie (Nicole Vicius).
Thursday, July 24, 1:00 p.m. - XXY (Argentina, 2007, Drama)
Argentine director Lucia Puenzo creates an astonishing first feature with this riveting and complex portrait of Alex, a 15-year old coping with an extended puberty made more complicated by the presence of an extra chromosome and, according to her mother, "a few extra parts." Born inter-sexed, Alex has been brought up female, but now her body is changing and she is faced with the prospect of "corrective" surgery, while developing an attraction for her doctor's son. With a startling central performance from Ines Flores, Puenzo creates a powerfully moving and thought provoking film about the nature of gender and the difficult choices that we are sometimes compelled to make.
Thursday, July 24, 4:00 p.m. - DOS MIRADAS (TWO LOOKS) (Spain, 2007, Drama)
A tale of two female friends awakening to the realization that their relationship is on new ground following a long first night together. Extraordinary film composition and physical landscapes express the souls of these beautiful and conflicted protagonists.
Thursday, July 24, 7:00 p.m. - WRANGLER: ANATOMY OF AN ICON (United States, 2008, Documentary)
A meteoric account of how a nice boy learned to embrace his healthy ego, good nature and, shall we say, "natural talents" to become the biggest gay porn icon of the 1970s. Jeffrey Schwarz turns the lights up and gives us a close up and personal portrait of legendary porn star Jack Wrangler, the man who almost single-handedly defined macho gay culture on film by becoming a butch role model and hero to a newly liberated gay population. With Jack Wrangler, Bruce Vilanch, Marc Shaiman, Christine Ebersole, Sharon Mitchell, Chi Chi LaRue, Joe Gage, Gino Colbert, Samantha Fox, and Margaret Whiting.
On Friday, July 25, the Festival will feature three special films for its "Centerpiece Day." At 1:00 p.m., CINEMA DIVERSE will present AFFINITY (Canada/United States, 2007, Drama), a gothic lesbian melodrama set in the seamy underbelly of Victorian propriety. Director Tim Fywell has crafted a disturbing portrait of repression and the rupture of the human psyche that lies somewhere between Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Silence of the Lambs. At 4:00 p.m., the colorful documentary PAGEANT (United States, 2007) will be screened. Filmmakers Ron Davis and Stewart Halpern take us behind the glitz, the glamour, and the mascara of the 34th Annual Miss Gay America pageant. This wildly entertaining documentary proves that a flight attendant, a landscape architect, and a devoted father can share a love for evening gowns and the art of illusion. PAGEANT is an inspirational story about the power behind chasing your dreams and discovering the perfect inner beauty to match your gorgeous exterior!
Friday´s 7:00 p.m. screening will highlight the ´centerpiece film´ of the Festival, WERE THE WORLD MINE (United States, 2007, Drama/Musical), an ambitious dramatic musical feature and the directorial debut of filmmaker Tom Gustafson. If you thought that star-crossed lovers and love potions created confusion and chaos in the enchanted forest of A Midsummer Night´s Dream, wait until you see what they do to an all-boys school production of Shakespeare's classic. Boasting some of the finest original pop/rock movie music this side of Moulin Rouge, a gay teen finally finds love and acceptance.
Saturday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. offers CIAO (United States, 2008) – an intimate drama about two men – strangers to one another – who are inexplicably drawn together as they piece together the life and impressions of a man they both knew and loved. Director Yen Tan's rare, quietly realized and unexpectedly moving story of love, empathy and human connection in a transient world is startling poetic look into the chambers of the human heart.
At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, the documentary SAVING MARRIAGE (United States, 2006) will be presented in association with Equality California. Mike Roth and John Henning's soaring, highly emotional and award-winning documentary chronicling the 2003 Massachusetts high court's historic ruling legalizing same-sex marriage could not be more timely for California's LGBT community. This extraordinary documentary interviews people on both sides of the issue and comes away proving that the right to marriage for same-sex couples is the civil rights issue of the new millennium.
ANOTHER GAY SEQUEL: GAYS GONE WILD (United States, 2008, Comedy) directed by Todd Stephens will be screened on Saturday, July 26 at 7:00 p.m. Those hot, young boys from Another Gay Movie are back and heading to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break! Our sexy quartet finds themselves caught up in a wild contest to see who can get laid the most before the weekend ends, but the biggest obstacle turns out to be: L-O-V-E...and how to fit it into a diet of casual sex and, yes, foursomes!
Sunday, July 27, 1:00 p.m. - NEWCASTLE (Australia, 2008, Drama)
Not since The Blue Lagoon has there been a motion picture with a more homoerotic charge behind it. Dan Castle's testosterone-induced and gorgeously photographed new film is set in a small Australian seaside town where Jesse (Lachlan Buchanan) is determined to win the Junior Surf Pro final so that he can move his life and budding professional surfer career out of Newcastle. Castle delivers a powerful, sexually-charged fantasy world where handsome, golden-brown skinned surfers tame huge waves, girls must compete with rogue waves for the boys attention, and two young men just might find the heat of a summer night too intoxicating to hold back their true desires.
Sunday, July 27, 4:00 p.m. - ELEVEN MINUTES (United States, 2008, Drama)
Two years after fashion maven Jay McCarroll's big win on the first season of Bravo´s Project Runway, filmmakers Michael Selditch and Rob Tate pick up the story of "the next great American designer" and chronicle his year-long journey to walk the runway at New York City's exclusive Fashion Week, with all the creative pressures, behind the scenes drama, and downright madness of the television show intact.
The CLOSING NIGHT FILM AND PARTY will begin at Camelot Theatres at 7:00 p.m. with the screening of SAVE ME (United States, 2007, Drama), followed by the official Closing Night party at Mixie´s Boy Bar, 120 S. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. SAVE ME begins when Mark, a lost, young, gay man leading a wild life of drugs and meaningless sex finally hits bottom, he is checked into Genesis House, a 12-step Christian "ex-gay" ministry. Instead of finding an instant cure for his "personal demons" Mark finds a much more powerful emotional balance rising in him. Boasting complex and multi-layered performances from openly out mainstream actors Chad Allen and Robert Gant (Queer as Folk), and with the extraordinary support of Judith Light (Ugly Betty), SAVE ME confidently and memorably explores the insidious harm of Christianity gone awry and the ultimate triumph of the gay spirit. Tickets for the Closing Night Screening and official Closing Night Party are $25.
PALM SPRINGS, CA – CINEMA DIVERSE: The 2008 Gay & Lesbian Film Festival • Palm Springs, has announced a line-up of 15 varied film programs for its inaugural year. This highly-anticipated event runs Tuesday, July 22 through Sunday, July 27, and is presented by the Palm Springs Cultural Center. All film screenings, including a diverse shorts program, will take place at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
Now in its first year, CINEMA DIVERSE is designed to be an experience that reflects and celebrates our diverse society through the lens of LGBT films and filmmakers. The Festival is an entirely new type of event that will present LGBT-themed films for the entire community, with content that transcends categories and labels. Originating in Argentina, Australia, Spain, Italy, Canada and the United States, these films, including features, documentaries, and shorts, illustrate the diversity of LGBT viewpoints and showcase the best in LGBT filmmaking.
"We have an outstanding lineup of evocative and entertaining films that cover a extraordinary spectrum of topics," said Thomas Ethan Harris, Artistic Director of Film Programs for the Palm Springs Cultural Center. "And that´s very CINEMA DIVERSE. We are very excited about the 15 feature films and the shorts program that we´re presenting. There were more than 500 entries for the Festival and it was tough to narrow it down, and those we´ve chosen really shine. The movies range from the hottest gay and lesbian films playing on the circuit right now, to some real gems that rose to the top on their own merits. We can´t wait to share these films with all those attending CINEMA DIVERSE!"
CINEMA DIVERSE covers a wide range of film programs, from a documentary about Jay McCarroll the winner of the first season of Bravo´s Project Runway, to a stunning, intimate family drama from Argentina about a young inter-sexed woman, and even a coming-of-age, homoerotic surfer movie gorgeously filmed in Australia.
The Festival officially begins Tuesday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Camelot Theatres with the OPENING NIGHT FILM AND PARTY featuring the first three episodes of Logo Network´s new Sordid Lives: The Series. The new TV series is Del Shores´ spin-off of the international cult classic film, Sordid Lives – which ran for a record 96 weeks at the Camelot Theatres. Cast members of the original film and the new TV series will be attending. The Opening Night party featuring cocktails and desserts will take place immediately following the screening at Hotel Zoso, 150 S. Indian Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. Tickets for the Opening Night, including the party, are $50.
Wednesday, July 23, 1:00 p.m. - THE CINEMA DIVERSE COLLECTION
The CINEMA DIVERSE COLLECTION of short films is a concoction all of its own!. Unlike other LGBT film festivals, we threw out the idea that short programs have to be organized by gender and came up with something that is so Palm Springs: Entirely sexy, totally unexpected, always unpredictable, appreciatively nasty and just a little bizarre.
Wednesday, July 23, 4:00 p.m. - THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING (Italy/United States, 2008, Documentary)
The creator of some of the most popular, enduring images of late 20th-century art, Keith Haring was also an iconic figure of the Manhattan scene in the '80s. Christina Clausen's documentary offers an affectionate, deeply personal glimpse into Haring's life, from his early years growing up in a small, conservative Pennsylvania town to his heyday as a world-renowned artist, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna, Yoko Ono, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Wednesday, July 23, 7:00 p.m. - ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE (United States, 2007, Comedy)
Jamie Babbit's spirited new film takes an energetic and entertaining journey through the basics of feminist politics to prove that the feminist revolution can co-exist rather nicely with optimism, fun, and romance. The antics of great screwball comedy ensue when Anna (Melonie Diaz), an adorable mousy receptionist at a plastic surgery clinic specializing in breast enhancements takes a crash course in Feminism 101 from a flirtatious femme anarchist named Sadie (Nicole Vicius).
Thursday, July 24, 1:00 p.m. - XXY (Argentina, 2007, Drama)
Argentine director Lucia Puenzo creates an astonishing first feature with this riveting and complex portrait of Alex, a 15-year old coping with an extended puberty made more complicated by the presence of an extra chromosome and, according to her mother, "a few extra parts." Born inter-sexed, Alex has been brought up female, but now her body is changing and she is faced with the prospect of "corrective" surgery, while developing an attraction for her doctor's son. With a startling central performance from Ines Flores, Puenzo creates a powerfully moving and thought provoking film about the nature of gender and the difficult choices that we are sometimes compelled to make.
Thursday, July 24, 4:00 p.m. - DOS MIRADAS (TWO LOOKS) (Spain, 2007, Drama)
A tale of two female friends awakening to the realization that their relationship is on new ground following a long first night together. Extraordinary film composition and physical landscapes express the souls of these beautiful and conflicted protagonists.
Thursday, July 24, 7:00 p.m. - WRANGLER: ANATOMY OF AN ICON (United States, 2008, Documentary)
A meteoric account of how a nice boy learned to embrace his healthy ego, good nature and, shall we say, "natural talents" to become the biggest gay porn icon of the 1970s. Jeffrey Schwarz turns the lights up and gives us a close up and personal portrait of legendary porn star Jack Wrangler, the man who almost single-handedly defined macho gay culture on film by becoming a butch role model and hero to a newly liberated gay population. With Jack Wrangler, Bruce Vilanch, Marc Shaiman, Christine Ebersole, Sharon Mitchell, Chi Chi LaRue, Joe Gage, Gino Colbert, Samantha Fox, and Margaret Whiting.
On Friday, July 25, the Festival will feature three special films for its "Centerpiece Day." At 1:00 p.m., CINEMA DIVERSE will present AFFINITY (Canada/United States, 2007, Drama), a gothic lesbian melodrama set in the seamy underbelly of Victorian propriety. Director Tim Fywell has crafted a disturbing portrait of repression and the rupture of the human psyche that lies somewhere between Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Silence of the Lambs. At 4:00 p.m., the colorful documentary PAGEANT (United States, 2007) will be screened. Filmmakers Ron Davis and Stewart Halpern take us behind the glitz, the glamour, and the mascara of the 34th Annual Miss Gay America pageant. This wildly entertaining documentary proves that a flight attendant, a landscape architect, and a devoted father can share a love for evening gowns and the art of illusion. PAGEANT is an inspirational story about the power behind chasing your dreams and discovering the perfect inner beauty to match your gorgeous exterior!
Friday´s 7:00 p.m. screening will highlight the ´centerpiece film´ of the Festival, WERE THE WORLD MINE (United States, 2007, Drama/Musical), an ambitious dramatic musical feature and the directorial debut of filmmaker Tom Gustafson. If you thought that star-crossed lovers and love potions created confusion and chaos in the enchanted forest of A Midsummer Night´s Dream, wait until you see what they do to an all-boys school production of Shakespeare's classic. Boasting some of the finest original pop/rock movie music this side of Moulin Rouge, a gay teen finally finds love and acceptance.
Saturday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. offers CIAO (United States, 2008) – an intimate drama about two men – strangers to one another – who are inexplicably drawn together as they piece together the life and impressions of a man they both knew and loved. Director Yen Tan's rare, quietly realized and unexpectedly moving story of love, empathy and human connection in a transient world is startling poetic look into the chambers of the human heart.
At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, the documentary SAVING MARRIAGE (United States, 2006) will be presented in association with Equality California. Mike Roth and John Henning's soaring, highly emotional and award-winning documentary chronicling the 2003 Massachusetts high court's historic ruling legalizing same-sex marriage could not be more timely for California's LGBT community. This extraordinary documentary interviews people on both sides of the issue and comes away proving that the right to marriage for same-sex couples is the civil rights issue of the new millennium.
ANOTHER GAY SEQUEL: GAYS GONE WILD (United States, 2008, Comedy) directed by Todd Stephens will be screened on Saturday, July 26 at 7:00 p.m. Those hot, young boys from Another Gay Movie are back and heading to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break! Our sexy quartet finds themselves caught up in a wild contest to see who can get laid the most before the weekend ends, but the biggest obstacle turns out to be: L-O-V-E...and how to fit it into a diet of casual sex and, yes, foursomes!
Sunday, July 27, 1:00 p.m. - NEWCASTLE (Australia, 2008, Drama)
Not since The Blue Lagoon has there been a motion picture with a more homoerotic charge behind it. Dan Castle's testosterone-induced and gorgeously photographed new film is set in a small Australian seaside town where Jesse (Lachlan Buchanan) is determined to win the Junior Surf Pro final so that he can move his life and budding professional surfer career out of Newcastle. Castle delivers a powerful, sexually-charged fantasy world where handsome, golden-brown skinned surfers tame huge waves, girls must compete with rogue waves for the boys attention, and two young men just might find the heat of a summer night too intoxicating to hold back their true desires.
Sunday, July 27, 4:00 p.m. - ELEVEN MINUTES (United States, 2008, Drama)
Two years after fashion maven Jay McCarroll's big win on the first season of Bravo´s Project Runway, filmmakers Michael Selditch and Rob Tate pick up the story of "the next great American designer" and chronicle his year-long journey to walk the runway at New York City's exclusive Fashion Week, with all the creative pressures, behind the scenes drama, and downright madness of the television show intact.
The CLOSING NIGHT FILM AND PARTY will begin at Camelot Theatres at 7:00 p.m. with the screening of SAVE ME (United States, 2007, Drama), followed by the official Closing Night party at Mixie´s Boy Bar, 120 S. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. SAVE ME begins when Mark, a lost, young, gay man leading a wild life of drugs and meaningless sex finally hits bottom, he is checked into Genesis House, a 12-step Christian "ex-gay" ministry. Instead of finding an instant cure for his "personal demons" Mark finds a much more powerful emotional balance rising in him. Boasting complex and multi-layered performances from openly out mainstream actors Chad Allen and Robert Gant (Queer as Folk), and with the extraordinary support of Judith Light (Ugly Betty), SAVE ME confidently and memorably explores the insidious harm of Christianity gone awry and the ultimate triumph of the gay spirit. Tickets for the Closing Night Screening and official Closing Night Party are $25.
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