Out Takes film festival set to challenge

Out Takes film festival set to challenge

The 8th annual Out Takes 2005 Gay & Lesbian Film Festival kicks off in Auckland on Thursday 26 May and runs through to Monday 6 June at Village Hoyts Cinemas, Queen St.

Organized by Reel Queer Inc, this year’s line-up is one of the most diverse, provocative and engaging in the history of Out Takes, with films spanning all corners of the globe. Countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, France and the US all feature in the mix.

“We’re pulling out all stops with this year’s festival. Our dynamic lineup will appeal not only to the queer community, but also to wider communities. We are set to challenge stereotypes and shift perceptions,” says Reel Queer Committee member Gavin Hamilton.

“Our Opening Night film will be Touch Of Pink, a romantic comedy in which Alim, an Ismaili Canadian living in London with his boyfriend, thousands of miles from his family, finds that his ideal gay life begins to unravel when his mother shows up to find him a proper Muslim girlfriend,” says Out Takes lead programmer Simon Fulton.

Reel Queer is delighted to be screening the World Première of 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous, the second feature film from internationally acclaimed New Zealand director Stewart Main (of Desperate Remedies fame).

“One of the highlights of the festival will be Proteus, the new film from John Greyson (director of Lilies). This story of an illicit affair between two prisoners – one black, one white – in Robben Island prison in colonial South Africa is spectacularly filmed – one of the most beautiful films you are likely to see all year,” adds Mr Fulton.

Other highlights include Ethan Mao in which a gay Chinese-American boy who has been kicked out of home by his homophobic father returns to collect some belongings and ends up taking his family hostage at gunpoint. Things quickly spiral out of control in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.

Summer Storm is a fantastic crowd-pleaser and the pick for festival favourite this year. Set in New York Brother to Brother addresses gay African-American history through the eyes of a young student who befriends an older man who was a member of the Harlem renaissance of queer black artists in the 1920s and 30s.

Out Takes will tour Wellington and Christchurch throughout June.

Ticketing, venue and full programme details are online at http://www.outtakes.org.nz

Programmes are available now at Village Hoyts Cinemas, Queen St. The organisers will mail a programme for free to anyone who joins their mailing list. Sign up online at http://www.outtakes.org.nz/mailinglist.php or send your address details to Out Takes 2005 Programmes, PO Box 12-201, Wellington. Key festival sponsors and funders include Creative New Zealand, New Zealand AIDS Foundation and Orcon.

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