Published August 18, 2010
The 12th Annual LGBT Film Festival runs 2-10 p.m. Sat., Aug. 21 and Sun., Aug. 22, Burns Court Cinemas, 506 Burns Court, Sarasota, 955-3456 or filmsociety.org, individual tickets $9 non-members, $6 members; Festival Passes $45 non-members, $30 members; visit website for full film schedule and more information.
The movies being featured at The Fabulous LGBT Film Festival represent a showcase of the LGBT community’s accomplishments throughout history, as well as the struggles they still endure. All of the films highlight different aspects of the gay rights movement, making the festival a well-rounded portrait of what has now become the civil rights movement of our time.
Issues surrounding cultural discrimination will be brought to light in two documentaries that show the battle lines through the eyes of those in the fight. 8: The Mormon Proposition pulls back the curtain on the secretive, decades-long campaign against gay rights that has existed within the Mormon religion. Centered around Utah and California, the film shows the Morman church’s direct involvement in the promotion and passage of California’s Proposition 8, the highest-funded social ballot issue in U.S. history, and how they have continued to wage spiritual warfare against marriage equality fought with money and lies. On These Shoulders We Stand focuses on some of the O.G.s of the Los Angeles LGBT community and chronicles gay life in L.A. from the ’50s to the ’90s, showing the city’s major role in gay history. (more…)
Tag: Burns Court Cinema
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Once upon a time: Anthony Paull and Something Spilled Productions represent SRQ at this year’s LGBT Film Festival.
Published August 18, 2010 This weekend Burns Court Cinemas invites Sarasota to celebrate diversity with The Fabulous LGBT Film Festival, a two-day event featuring six feature-length films, four opening with a short by local filmmaker and writer Anthony Paull. The Once and Future Me is Paull’s directing debut and the second short he’s written and filmed in Sarasota through Something Spilled Productions, which Paull started with locals Steve Lesser and Heather Manley. The company was named after an incident that happened while Manley and Paull were covering the Sundance Film Festival. Paull had spilled some wine during an after party at a swanky house and had told the maid, “Something spilled over there.†The first film to emerge from Something Spilled was a short called The Green, Green Heart, which screened at the Delray Beach Film Festival. A promising outcome for such a low budget project, the trio decided to up the ante and hired a professional cinematographer and assistant director for The Once and Future Me. “It looks hot,†says Paull, “I mean, compared to our first film? Our first film was like a porno.†(more…) -
War is hell: Award-winning documentary Restrepo sends viewers on a deployment to the deadliest place in Afghanistan
Published August 4, 2010 The treacherous terrain of the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan is regarded throughout the U.S. military as one of the most dangerous posts an American soldier can be assigned. Long-time war journalists Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Jungermake their directing debuts with a documentary that follows Second Platoon, Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, as they struggle through a one-year deployment in this hostile land. Restrepo, which took the Grand Jury Prize at this year’sSundance Film Festival, focuses on a remote 15-man outpost that the platoon named in honor of their medic, PFC Juan “Doc†Restrepo, who was killed in action. From 150 hours of footage shot over ten months — combat, boredom, humor, terror, labor and death — comes 94 minutes of life at war. CL’s Tim Sukits conducted phone interviews with the two co-directors of the documentary, which opens at Burns Court Cinema this Fri., Aug. 6. How did this whole project get underway? Hetherington: “Well, Sebastian had the idea to follow a platoon of soldiers. He was interested in the G.I.s in [Second Platoon, Battle Company] and so he met that platoon in Kabul and they were going to Korengal. He talked to me about it and we teamed up and went up there, so it was pretty organic. We initially went together then we started to tag team it, so each of us had different times.†(more…)