Many of the filmmakers will be attending the festival. Expected guests include director Zanele Muholi (Difficult Love), director S. Casper Wong (The LuLu Sessions), director Tim Wolff (The Sons of Tennessee Williams), director Zacharius Mavroeidis (The Guide), executive producer Jack Chen and director Allan Neuwirth (What's the Name of the Dame?), director Jan Gassmann (OFF BEAT), director Jeanne Crepeau and actor Amelie Grenier (A Montreal Girl), director Rashaad Ernesto Green (Gun Hill Road), director Casper Andreas (Going Down in LA-LA Land), director Myriam Aziza (Evening Dress), director JC Calciano and actor Houston Rhines (eCupid), producer Laura Terruso and actor Lisa Haas (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same) and director Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance).
In addition to screenings, the festival hosts many parties and events such as a Master Class with Samar Habib. The Master Class takes place after a Shorts Program that is part of the Spotlight on the Middle East.
The closing screening on May 29 will be the adaptation of the Sarah Water novel The Night Watch.
The Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) film festival in Canada and one of the largest in the world. Inside Out is a not-for-profit registered charity that exists to challenge attitudes and change lives through the promotion, production and exhibition of film and video made by and about LGBT people of all ages, races and abilities.
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21st Annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival
Presenting Sponsor - RBC Royal Bank
Announcing Line-up and Schedule
May 19 – 29, 2011
Tickets on sale beginning May 5
With Glee, Lady Gaga, politicos, media stars and even
the U.S. Army onside (the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell) gay culture all
but defines mainstream. And, while still showcasing all scenes
alternative, the Inside Out LGBT Film and Video Festival is also moving on up - to the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Now celebrating its 21st Anniversary, Inside Out
has provided a world-class platform for filmmakers around the world to
tell their stories for more than two decades. One of the largest LGBT
festivals in the world, Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival will present more than 85 screenings, panels, and social events.
“In an age where it is easy to download a movie from the internet or order one from TV,” explains Inside Out Executive Director Scott Ferguson, “Inside Out
remains unique, providing an opportunity for our diverse communities to
come together, watch film, and engage in discussion, debate and
celebration. There are some significant changes for the 2011 Festival:
we say goodbye, and thank you to the ROM and Isabel Baber Theatre as we
move our primary Festival screenings to the TIFF Bell Lightbox.”
Opening Inside Out, Thursday May 19th, is the Toronto premiere of Loose Cannons. Inside Out favourite Ferzan Ozpetek (Ignorant Fairies; Saturn in Opposition)
returns to the Festival with a light-hearted tale of family obligation
and repressed desire that is as playful and sunny as a weekend on the
Italian Riviera. The comedy follows Tommaso as he balances running the
family pasta business, consoling his outraged family and keeping his
homosexuality a secret in case the news altogether kills his stricken
father. A surprise visit of some of Tommaso’s friends, including
boyfriend Marco, uncovers some well-hidden family secrets and helps to
change some long-held beliefs among the family.
Centerpiece Gala on Tuesday May 24 is the Canadian Premiere of Weekend,
a film by Andrew Haigh. Winner of the Emerging Visions audience award
at the SXSW Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize from the Nashville
Film Festival, Weekend is a refreshingly simple yet compelling
love story of two ordinary guys and one weekend that you will hope won’t
ever end. Mr. Haigh will be in attendance.
Inside Out closes the Festival Sunday May 29th with the latest adaptation of a Sarah Waters’ novel, The Night Watch.
Set against the turbulent backdrop of 1940’s London, this film tells
the story of four young people - Kay, Helen, Viv and Duncan - who are
inextricably linked by their wartime experiences. As air raid sirens
wail, the friends find an invisible arena in which to explore their
sexuality, discovering new freedom as they engage in secret liaisons and
passionate tryst.
“As the Festival moves into its 21st incarnation,” states Jason St-Laurent, Inside Out’s
Director of Programming, “we will showcase the diverse stories of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people by presenting works from
33 countries, making the Festival more global than ever. Whether
fighting for our rights, celebrating our achievements or telling our
personal stories, the festival is still the most important venue in the
country for queer filmmakers. But it is the audience who make our
festival great, and we can’t wait to welcome all 35,000 of you into our
new home at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
The
International Focus for this year’s Festival will feature the United
Kingdom and will include many Canadian and North American premieres. The
UK is unparalleled in terms of quality and the Festival is thrilled to
showcase six new feature films and television series. Among them
includes the break-out BBC television show Lip Service, along with Christopher and His Kind, a
stunning docu-drama on author Christopher Isherwood that takes us to
the wild cabarets of Berlin and stars Matt Smith, the young actor best
known of late for his role in the British TV series Doctor Who.
Returning for a fourth year, the Icon Documentary Series
features films on large-than-life queer icons. From homegrown hero
Bruce LaBruce to fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent to 1970s tennis star
Renee Richards, Inside Out
brings the best documentaries from festivals around the world such as
Sundance and the Berlin International Film Festival. Shedding light on
some of the most important cultural icons of our time, the series will
include Q + A’s with directors, and many premieres. These engaging and
sometime provocative portraits cast a unique perspective on their work,
their play, and their private lives. At once educational and
entertaining, the films in this series will cement your admiration of
queer icons and introduce you to cult figures you never knew existed.
Inside Out sets its sights on another part of the world with 24 Hours in the Middle East,
offering up features, shorts, and special guests, through multiple
stories on what it’s like to be queer in the Middle East. Beirut,
Tehran, Istanbul, Ramallah and many other places come into focus,
depicting a region that, while often painted black and white, exists in
shades of grey. As part of this series, we will draw attention to
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s sentencing in Iran, screening his
powerful film, Offside, a critique of gender inequality in
his country. A special Master Class will be held by San Francisco
author and academic Samar Habib. This being her first visit to Toronto,
Ms. Habib will delve into conversation on Middle Eastern queer cinema.
The Outsiders is Inside Out’s
permanent home for experimentation in film and video, bringing a wide
range of practitioners together to redefine notions of the moving
image. From experimental erotica to innovative animation, the series is
a feast for the mind, eyes and soul. In the International program Animate This! artists throw traditions out the window by using non-traditional means or cutting-edge technologies to bring their vision to life. Art and Soul,
is a program of shorts by and about women artists from around the
world. Experimental film superstar Barbara Hammer rubs shoulders with
our very own Deanna Bowen in this program that celebrates the
revolutionary power of activism. In the film Mother Earth (Tierra Madre) documentary
and fiction meld into a scathing critique of high capitalism at the
U.S./Mexico border and its impact on the people living there.
Following
the success of last year’s Legacy Video Project, a special
multi-generational edition of the Queer Youth Digital Video Project has
been established this year with the Queer Video Mentorship Project.
Consisting of two seniors and five youths. Over the past five months,
they have journeyed together uncovering the skills, joys and trials of
video and filmmaking, in order to create short videos that both
challenge and touch us. The program, proudly co-presented by Inside Out and Charles Street Video, is the heart of the Inside Out and illustrates the organization’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of LGBT filmmakers.
Full Film Festival Line-up is now available on-line at www.insideout.ca .
About Inside Out:
Inside Out
presents the annual Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival, with
financial support from Presenting Sponsor RBC. It is the largest event
of its kind in Canada. In 2010, Inside Out
celebrated two decades of challenging attitudes and changing lives,
with a diverse group of members numbering over 400 supporting the
Festival and year-round initiatives. The Festival, entertains cinema
buffs of all stripes, showcasing the best and most diverse films by, for
and of interest to LGBT communities. For 11 days, the Festival draws
crowds of 32,000 to screenings, artist talks, panel discussions,
installations and parties that highlight more than 200 films and videos
from Canada and around the world.
About RBC and the Arts:
RBC
sponsors a wide-range of grassroots and local initiatives that
contribute to the cultural fabric of our communities. Proud to support
events and passions that resonate with our clients and all Canadians,
RBC provides opportunities for up-and-coming artists through programs
such as the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, one of the largest
competitions of its kind in the world; and the RBC Emerging Filmmakers
Competition, part of our commitment as the Official Bank and major
sponsor of the world’s top public film festival – the Toronto
International Film Festival®.
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