Cine Gay 2010
Five Years of the Festival's Cine Gay Showcase
March 11 - 21, 2010
Showcase Sponsor San Ysidro Health Clinic
40 years of Community Service
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San Diego Latino Film Festival continues its mission to help correct the often distorted images seen on television and in movies by presenting a landmark year of its Cine Gay Showcase. This year’s festival will run March 11-21, 2010.
Challenging the historical exclusion of under-represented communities in the media, the festival takes advantage of the opportunity of this showcase to highlight experiences of gay life in different corners of the world, underlining the universal experience as well as the unique expressions of the Latin GLBT community.
“Throughout the past seventeen years, the festival has always embraced diversity in independent film, which certainly included LGBT Films, but the audience interest in the Cine Gay Showcase these past five years really puts a face on the community, internationally and right here in San Diego.” said Cine Gay Curator Patric Stillman. “It's been exhilarating to see the showcase bring about dialog between members of the greater Latino Community regardless of how they define their own sexuality. I’m very proud of the collection of films that we are bringing to the festival this year and thankful for the continued community support of our audiences and community partners. We are thrilled to have San Ysidro Health Clinic sponsor the anniversary showcase because of the important work they do in San Diego. ”
CINE GAY HIGHLIGHTS
FEATURE FILM - ANDER
Duration: 128 minutes
Country: Spain
Director: Roberto Castón
Starring: Josean Bengoetxea, Cristhian Esquivel
Basque with English Subtitles
Co-presented by 
A surprise hit at its world premiere at last year’s Berlinale's 'Panorama', Ander is a unique love story between a manly Basque farmer and a Peruvian immigrant, set in an idyllic Basque valley. Director of Spain’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Bilbao, Roberto Castón has written and directed his debut feature that holds the distinction of being the first gay themed film to spring from the growing movement of Spain’s Basque Cinema. With distant echos of Brokeback Mountain, Ander is a deliberately paced story of a man coming to terms with his solitude and sexuality amid a conservative society’s stumbling attempts to recast its values in modern times.
“The film was born out of necessity,” explains Director Roberto Caston. “GLBT films slowly start to be produced in Spain, but almost none of them make an approach with a clear social and inclusive perspective, and none of them take place outside an urban context. This can lead to the mistaken idea that the city is the natural habitat for those who have a different sexual orientation. There are no movies in Spain that portray this theme in rural communities, usually resistant to changes and often intimidated by diversity.”
FEATURE FILM - Contracorriente
Dir. Javier Fuentes-León
(2009, 100 min., Perú-Colombia, Spanish w/ English Subtitles)
In a small village on the north coast of Perú, Miguel, a married fisherman, has an affair with Santiago, a painter who is looked-down upon in the conservative town for being agnostic and open about his homosexuality. When Santiago accidentally drowns, his ghost returns to ask Miguel to find his body and bury it according to the village rituals. This request puts Miguel at a crossroads. If he fulfills his wishes, everyone in town will find out about the affair, but if he doesn't, his lover's soul will never rest in peace. Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
FEATURE FILM - LA MISSION
Duration: 117 minutes
Country: US
Director: Peter Bratt
Starring: Benjamin Bratt, Erika Alexander, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Jesse Borrego, Talisa Soto Bratt
English
An ex-con living in the urban Latino community of the Mission District in San Francisco is forced to reconcile the life he thought he had when he discovers his only son is gay. In an exceptional performance, Benjamin Bratt takes on the lead role of the reformed bad boy in this frank film directed by his brother Peter. The film, a haunting story of healing and transformation, had its world premiere last year at the San Francisco Film Festival and was screened at Sundance.
The Director Peter Bratt explains the ‘dirty sell,’ “Imagine the old cars and music from American Graffiti but with a it more funk, the woking class, the ethnic flavor of Saturday Night Fever and the soul searching of Peter Weir’s Fearless and you have LA MISSION.” A film full of compassion that is not only tough but
Beautiful, honest and true.
COMEDY PRESENTATION - CHICA BUSCA CHICA (Girl Seeks Girl)
Duration: 85 minutes
Country: Spain
Director: Sonia Sebastian
Starring: Celia Freijeiro, Cristina Pons, Sandra Collantes, Almuden Gallego
Spanish with English Subtitles
Screening with the shorts Worse Case Scenario: Butch Edition & Worse Case Scenario: Femme Edition by returning filmmaker Mary Guzman (Desi’s Looking For A New Girl & Do The Math)
Since its debut in 2007, this sexy and hilarious web series has emerged as Spain’s most successful webisode series. Spain’s answer to The L Word without the seriousness, Chica Busca Chica explores the comedic side of dating, cheating and lesbian life in present day Madrid through the intertwining lives of its central characters best described as the Flirt, the Psycho, The Hetro and The Newbie. This special festival presentation collects the first series of episodes from this groundbreaking comedy that will leave you wanting more as you fall in love with the cast of beautiful women and their antics
The stunning Celia Frejeiro, who previously appeared as a lesbian in the film El Color de Agosto, plays Nines, the smooth talking lothario of the series. She spoke to AfterEllen.com about playing the role the series heartbreaker. “Nines is totally different – a modern lesbian, completely out of the closet, really sexually liberated and a heartbreaker. At first I was a little scared by how the script described Nines. I wanted to shed a light on her that was more tender, more naïve, and more fun, so that viewers wouldn’t be left with only her ‘scoundrel’ aspect. It’s true that, at the beginning, I had a lot of doubts about how to interpret the role and I had a lot of questions. But it ended up being the most fun!”
DOCUMENTARY - DZI CROQUETTE
Duration: 110 minutes
Country: Brazil
Director: Tatiana Issa
Starring: Bayard Tonelli, Ciro Barcelos, Claudio Tovar, Gilberto Gil and Liza Minnelli
Portuguese, English and French with English Subtitles
A pleasure packed exploration of Brazil’s theatrical cabaret group with candid interviews from the men involved, the celebrities they inspired, and their “godmother” Liza Minnelli side by side with countless film clips of their performances. Thriving during the 70’s in spite of the oppressive military dictatorship, the ‘out’ group stormed the country and Europe with is resistance through sequins. Combining the visual style of San Francisco’s Cockettes, the dance moves of Bob Fosse and the pure adrenaline of the sexual revolution, Dzi Croquettes will surprise you with the power of the nonconfrontational celebration of individual freedom that thrived forty years ago. The film was recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and has collected an array of best documentary and audience favorite awards.
The director's father (Américo Issa) worked with the group from 1970 to 1978, giving Tatiana Issa the magical opportunity of growing up backstage, with these iconic figures.
CINE GAY SHORTS PROGRAM
90 minute program collecting 10 shorts from US, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain and Brazil that focus on lesbian and gay life including:
Como Marilyn si hay dos (Like Marilyn If There Were Two) – Mexico
Pasajero (Passing By) - Spain
El Abuelo – US
DISH - US
Holy Water – Puerto Rico
Breaking Borders - US
M, Nunca Sere Nadie? (Never Say Never) - Spain
Almas Perdidas (Lost Souls) - Spain
Professor Godoy - Brazil
Back to Life - US
Cara O Cruz (Fight or Flight)- Spain
Films screened in their original language with English subtitles.
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