Pride International Film Festival
Perth’s original Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is back and bigger than ever. Following Pride’s 2008 theme of REINVENTION, our line-up promises to represent the entire GLBT community with a good mix of fun and frivolity and some thought-provoking documentaries guaranteed to open your eyes, hearts and minds.
Ready? OK! (US)
MONDAY OCTOBER 6 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 7pm
As a harried single mother in Normal Heights, USA, Andrea is having a tough time of it, searching for answers to a nagging problem: How can she convince her son, Joshua, that aspiring to be on the cheerleading squad, relishing the art of the French braid and calling Maria von Trapp his most influential role model is just not what little boys do? (more…)
Pageant (US)
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1 – 7pm
Pageant takes you behind the scenes as 52 ordinary gentlemen go to extraordinary lengths in order to be crowned the 34th Miss Gay America®. This contest is about reinventing yourself through the art of illusion, with hormones and surgical body enhancements forbidden.
This documentary follows 5 of the most talented and beautiful female impersonators as they prepare to dominate in this underground competition. Hear from the men as well as from those in their entourage: husbands, mothers, sons, and little brothers. (more…)
Bi The Way (US)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 2 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 7pm
The iron curtain between gay and straight is crumbling. The bible belt is being unbuckled. Recent studies suggest that bisexuality is more widespread than we ever thought. And for young people today, dating a girl one week and a guy the next is no big deal.
Journeying through the changing landscape of USA, Bi The Way investigates the latest scientific reports and social opinions on bisexuality, while following five members of the emerging “whatever generation”.
Ruby Blue (UK)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 5 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 5pm
Jack (Bob Hoskins) is consumed by guilt and past regret. His strained relationship with his son is severed upon the death of his wife. A ray of sunshine arrives in the unlikely form of eight year old, Florrie, when she moves in next door.
When his glamorous French neighbour, Stephanie (Josiane Balasko) takes pity on him, Jack cannot help but fall for her charms. Encouraged by Stephanie, Jack helps give purpose to a local hooligan. (more…)
Affinity (UK)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 5 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 7pm
Based on Sarah Waters’ 1999 novel of the same name, this delicious period piece is a women-in-prison movie with a gothic Victorian twist.
Upper-class Margaret (Anna Madeley), mourning her father’s recent death and looking for diversion, goes to Millbank Prison as a “Lady Visitor” when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Selina (Zoe Tapper), an attractive young convict. (more…)
The Beirut Apt (LEB)
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 8 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 7pm
The small spaces of an apartment contain issues of international scale in this intimate documentary. Lebanese law criminalises LGBT people, making them vulnerable to blackmail and attack - sometimes from state police - and preventing the report of hate crime. (more…)
Be Like Others (USA/CAN/IRAN)
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 8 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 8pm
An intimate and unflinching look at life in Iran, seen through the lens of those living at its fringes, BE LIKE OTHERS is a provocative look at a generation of young men choosing to undergo sex change surgery.
This disturbing documentary explores Iranian Islamic law in which homosexuality is punishable by death, yet sex change surgery is legal. Watch as Director Tanaz Eshaghain takes us into the lives of Iranian men having to reinvent themselves in the most drastic way in the name of love and religion.
Steam (US)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 9 – AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE – 7pm
Three very different women weave a fragile bond at their local steam room, where they hope the hot water vapor might wash away their loneliness, confusion and fear.
During her first year at college, Elizabeth (Kate Siegel, Curse of the Black Dahlia) questions her sexual identity and struggles to break free from her strict Catholic parents. Middle-aged Laurie (Ally Sheedy, High Art) is a single mother dealing with the psychological games played by her ex-husband and the potential problems in a relationship with a much younger man. (more…)
The Laramie Project (US)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 12 – FUNDRAISING EVENT – 5pm
Sunday, October 12 will be the tenth anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard. To commemorate this day, Pride is holding a free screening of The Laramie Project, a film version of the much-heralded play that blurs the line between documentary and drama, ultimately making us question our own version of the truth. (more…)
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