Outfest 2005, July 7 – 18, will screen 232 narrative and documentary shorts and features from a record 28 countries around the world, beginning with the debut of the sexy comedy “Cote D’Azur,” starring Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and Gilbert Melki. Outfest will close with the Sundance Film Festival favorite and much anticipated The Dying Gaul, written and directed by Craig Lucas and starring Peter Sarsgaard, Campbell Scott and Patricia Clarkson. Both the Opening Night gala and Closing Night will take place at the Orpheum movie palace downtown, one of nine different venues across Los Angeles.
There are two Centerpieces at this year’s Outfest. The American Centerpiece is the slapstick farce “Adam & Steve,” written and directed by veteran indie actor and queer idol Craig Chester. This raucous romp about two gay men struggling to chart a relationship that blooms in the face of overwhelming odds stars Chester, Malcolm Gets, Parker Posey and Chris Kattan and is produced by Funny Boy Films, who last year produced Outfest favorite “Latter Days.” “Adam & Steve” screens July 13th at the Ford Amphitheatre. The International Centerpiece is “Unveiled,” a stunningly beautiful portrait of an Iranian refugee struggling between survival in a small-town in Germany and her love for a local woman. The film is co-written and directed by Angelina Maccarone, who won the 1998 Outfest Audience Award for “Everything will be Fine.” “Unveiled” screens July 14th at the DGA.
This year’s Awards Night film is “Summer Storm,” a sexy, evocative, coming-of-age story that was a crossover boxoffice hit in its native Germany. European coming-out films have long had a refreshing matter-of-factness, depicting sexual orientation as just one more hurdle adolescents face. In co-writer/director Marco Kreuzpaintner’s highly-accomplished “Summer Storm,” gay teens are as bewildered, intense and libidinous as their straight peers, and all are on an even keel when it comes to self-discovery. “Summer Storm” screens July17th at the Ford Amphitheatre. Preceding the screening will be the announcement of the winners of Outfest’s 11th annual film competition. The 16 awards – the most of any LGBT festival – are in three categories: Grand Jury Awards, Audience Awards and Special Programming Awards.
As always, there will be offering a wide variety of films for every taste at this year’s Festival, including “Based on a True Story,” the real story that inspired the classic film “Dog Day Afternoon”; “The Full Monty” / “Bend it Like Beckham” mix that is “Guys & Balls”; Don Roos’ “Happy Endings”; a new documentary on “Kinsey,” with never-before-seen archival footage; Tim Kirkman’s “Loggerheads,” starring Kip Pardue, Bonnie Hunt, Michel Learned, Tess Harper, Michael Kelly and Chris Sarandon; the legendary sensation “Paris is Burning”; “Pursuit of Quality,” an insider’s look at San Francisco Mayor Gain Newsom’s bold challenge to California’s marriage law (Newsom will attend the screening); “Red Doors,” a smart, whimsical and funny film that examines the roles of family, love and memory play in our daily lives; Dan Klores and Ron Berger’s “Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story”; “Say Uncle,” the debut feature from Peter Paige of “Queer as Folk”; “Tammy Faye: Death Defying,” in which the invincible heroine will be present at the screening; “Wilby Wonderful,” starring Sandra Oh and Maury Chaykin; and the Berlin Film Festival Teddy Award winning “A Year without Love.”
For more info, visit the Outfest website.
