The Miami
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (MGLFF) will run April 24 to May 3
at venues throughout Miami Beach. The 17thAnnual Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will feature a record-breaking 75
films from 26 different countries, including feature-length movies,
documentaries and short films that all chronicle the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender communities. Included in the line-up will be five world premieres,
one international premiere, 11 North American premieres, one U.S. premiere,
seven East Coast premieres, and 12 Southeast premieres.
Photographer:
Tab Hunter Confidential shows Monday, April 27 as part of the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
For our
17th year, we’ve assembled an amazing schedule of premieres unheard
of at any other LGBTQ film festival,” says Mark Gilbert, President/Interim Festival Director. “We’ve also got filmmakers and actors flying
in from around the world to meet our audiences and talk about their craft. And
once again, our parties will be over-the-top affairs as only Miami knows how to
throw a party. This year is definitely one for the record books.”
The Miami
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is presented by SHOWTIME, Merrill Lynch and
Miami-Dade County. For more information, to view film trailers, or to purchase
tickets or memberships, visit www.mglff.com.
The 17th Annual Miami Gay and Lesbian Film
Festival Schedule:
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Love Island
6 p.m. – Regal South Beach #2
Director: Jasmila Zbanic
Runtime: 96 minutes
Croatian, German, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Switzerland 2014
In English with occasional Croatian and French
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Grebo and his very pregnant wife Liliane are taking
a well-deserved vacation at a popular Adriatic seaside resort. What could
possibly go wrong on such an idyllic holiday? At open-mike night, Grebo seduces
the resort crowd and reminds his loving wife of the guy she fell in love with.
But the evening’s big surprise is the couple’s meeting with mysterious Flora.
Grebo immediately falls head over heels, but little does he know that his wife
has her own history with Flora, and, on Love Island, long-concealed secrets
can’t stay hidden for long.
The Dream Children
6:30 p.m. – Regal South Beach #1
Director: Robert Chuter
Runtime: 98 minutes
Australia 2014
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Although a high rating TV personality by day,
Steven Evan's life is crumbling. Suffocated by his high profile existence, his
only respite is in shallow sexual encounters with the people who orbit his
life. When his long-term partner hurls him into fatherhood, Steven's initial reluctance
is gradually replaced with love as he discovers a bond stronger than any he's
experience before. But the return of an unexpected visitor triggers off a
series of events that thrusts Steven and his family into a cycle of loneliness,
self-destruction and grief.
His Wedding Dress (Vestido
de novia)
8:30 p.m. – Regal South Beach #2
Director: Marilyn Solaya
Runtime: 104 minutes
Cuba, Spain 2014
In Spanish with English subtitles
EAST COAST PREMIERE
In 90’s Havana, Rosa, a nurse and Ernesto, a
homebuilder, are hopelessly in love, and recently happily married. Rosa cares for her ailing father and sings in a choir when she has the
time. A circumstantial fact of Rosa’s past life will put their feelings to the
test and undermine the most elemental principles of their relationship. Based on a true story, Dressing As
a Woman details the difficulties involved while living in a hyper
masculine, machismo society where any challenge to the traditional morals make
for a difficult life.
54: The Director’s Cut
9
p.m. – Regal South Beach #1
Director:
Mark Christopher
Runtime:
106 minutes
USA
2015
EAST
COAST PREMIERE
Studio
54! In 1998, director Mark Christopher
created a cinematic monument to this ostentatious mixture of Art Deco and
plush, frivolous 1970s hedonism and drug-induced 24-hour party people. Prior to
its release, the studio made the film more “mainstream” by eliminating all the
things that would have made it great. 54: The Directors Cut is a reintegrated
version that is weightier, darker, more drug-addled and above all queerer than
the version that received the nod at the time. Ryan Philippe, Neve Campbell,
Selma Hayek and Mike Meyers shine like the ‘70s.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Guidance
6 p.m. -- The Gleason Room Backstage at the
Fillmore
Director: Pat Mills
Runtime: 81 minutes
Canada 2014
David Gore, 36, a closeted, alcoholic,
pathologically immature former child actor, has never been able to get over
high school. Out of work, he fakes his resume to get a job as a high
school guidance counselor, where he thrives giving terrible advice. The students
of Grusin High love him - it might be because he drinks and smokes with them.
But this is just the beginning of his downward spiral. If you think the
teenagers at Grusin High have problems, wait until you meet their Guidance
Counselor.
Jayson Bend: Queen and
Country
8:30 p.m. -- The Gleason Room Backstage at the
Fillmore
Director: Matt CarterRuntime: 49 minutes
UK 2014
FLORIDA PREMIERE
Jayson Bend is your typical charming gay secret
agent. While on a routine mission, he retrieves an artifact that reveals hints
to a sinister plot by Raymond Perdood, a billionaire hair dressing tycoon who
owns the largest global chain of hair salons. The contents of the recovered
data chip reveal information pertaining to genetic experiments and the formula
for a chemical agent to infect normal DNA for an unknown purpose. Preceded By: hopefulROMANTIC,
Directed by Benjamin Pollack, USA, 17 minutes Preceded By: Trunk,
Directed by Jack Taylor Cox, UK, 12 minutes
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Nathan - Free as a Bird
5 p.m. – Miami Beach Cinematheque
Director: Roel Nollet,Runtime: 72 minutes
Belgium 2014
In Dutch and English with English subtitles
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Nathan Verhelst underwent euthanasia after
struggling with the unbearable and incurable suffering caused by a miserable
past and failed sex-change operations. Nathan felt like a freak and couldn’t
find happiness as either a man or a woman. Even his loyal friends couldn’t
change his mind. The film focuses on Nathan’s final week of life; documented in
great detail using Nathan’s owns recordings, conversations with close friends,
and news reports about Nathan’s case. Nathan – Free as a Bird is about life,
death, gender, identity and the quest for being loved that connects us all. Preceded By: Elise,
Directed by Evan Sterrett, USA, 12 minutes.
While You Weren’t Looking
5:30 p.m. -- The Gleason Room Backstage at the
Fillmore
Director: Catherine Stewart
South Africa, 2015
In English, Xhosa and Afrikaans with English subtitles
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The changing landscape of post-Apartheid South
African politics and lifestyles is portrayed through three queer relationships:
a successful black real estate woman who is cheating on her white wife, their
gorgeous bohemian daughter dating a gender non-confirming women in the Soweto
ghettos, and a white male queer studies professor pining for his black male
lover from the revolutionary days. While
each plot line survives on its own the co-mingling of the stories is where While You Weren’t Looking becomes true
genius.
Xenia
6 p.m. – Colony Theater
Director: Panos H. Koutras
Runtime: 128 minutes
Greece 2014
In Greek with English subtitles
Seemingly drawing equal
inspiration from Gregg Araki, early Almodovar and the Eurovision Song Contest, Xenia is a road trip not soon
forgotten. Strangers in their own birthplace, gay 16-year-old Danny living in Crete
and 18-year-old Odysseus living in Athens, cross the entire country in search
of their Greek father, after their Albanian mother passes away. Determined to
force him to acknowledge paternity, little do they know that the road to the
much-coveted Greek citizenship is not well paved. A dramedy of brotherly love and outsider acceptance is a spirited, and
audience-pleasing gem.
Seeking Dolly Parton
WOMEN’S CLOSING FILM
8 p.m. -- The Gleason Room Backstage at the
Fillmore
Director: Michael WorthRuntime: 97 minutes
USA 2015
WORLD PREMIERE
Cerina and her girlfriend Charlie decide it's time
to share the experience of having a baby. When the prospect of getting a sperm
donor on-line becomes to strange, Cerina and Charlie ask their struggling gay
friend John for the help. His initial flattery quickly turns into fear and he
backs out. Next Cerina comes up with an
even stranger proposition: using her ex-boyfriend Josh. Josh moves into the
pairs' house in Berkeley for a few days during the process but they all soon
discover that some feelings in life don't always go away with time. Director Michael Worth and featured actors Kacey
Barnfield and Anya Monzikova scheduled to appear
Death in Buenos Aires
(Muerte en Buenos Aires)
MEN’S CLOSING FILM
8:30 p.m. – Colony Theater
Director: Natalia Meta
Runtime: 92 minutes
Argentina 2014
In Spanish with English subtitles
Detective Chávez, a family man and tough cop, must
solve a mysterious homicide in the most exclusive circles of high society 1980s
Buenos Aires gay underground. Agent Gómez, a hunky rookie cop, becomes Chávez’s
right-hand man who goes undercover as bait to catch the murderer. Having just
achieved democracy, the city has a new, liberated flavor and artistic, cultural
and sexual expressions begin to flourish. The director of this high-voltage
erotic thriller was inspired by Brokeback Mountain, believing the same story
could have happened in Argentina with policeman replacing cowboys.
For the complete schedule, go to http://www.mglff.com/films/program/datetime
