4th annual Pikes Peak Lavender Film Festival – September 19, 20, 21 – Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
The festival offers 9 features and 9 shorts from Holland, U.K., Italy, Isreal, Canada, Taiwan(Mandarian), Germany, Australia, France, and the USA, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight characters. The reception begins at 6:30pm the first night of the festival, honoring friends of the LGBT community. Opening the reception is Michael Merrifield, House District 18 State Representative, and his speech will be followed by the delightful Dutch musical: Yes Nurse! No Nurse!, winner of the Audience Award this year at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
Tickets available at the Fine Arts Center Box Office
(719) 634-5583 or on line at www.PPLFF.org
Full Festival Pass—$70.(9 features, 9 shorts, all parties)
Half Pass–$45–includes Opening night reception and films plus any four films Sat. and/or Sun and Closing Night Party.
4 film programs(short and feature) —$30.–any four films Sat and/or Sun. Closing Night Party
Opening Night–$20.
Film program–$10
F or details about the films www.PPLFF.org or pick-up a brochure at Poor Richard’s, Toons, Spice of Life, or KRCC
or The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
To highlight just a few:
OPENING NIGHT! September 19, 2003
Feature: Yes Nurse! No Nurse! (Ja Zuster, Nee Zuster) directed by Pieter Kramer (2002, Netherlands, 104 min, 35mm, Dutch with English subtitiles).
With the triumph of Chicago and Moulin Rouge, Hollywood has declared that the musical is back! But Dutch filmmaker Pieter Kramer hasn’t been wasting his time waiting to hear the news from Hollywood. He’s been busy making a delightful Dutch treat of a musical homage to the 60s Amsterdam style. No other film is going to give us a Busby Berkeley style title sequence featuring nurses or an opening number that has been described between a cross between The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Singing in the Rain.
Winner of the 2003 Audience Award at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
Saturday, September 20th, 2003
Feature: 9 Dead Gay Guys, directed by Ky Mo Lab (2002, U.K., 83 min, 35mm).
Outrageously comic, proudly tasteless and undeniably politically incorrect, this over the top British comedy follows the misadventures of Kenny and Byron, two cute, seemingly straight, Irish lads who seek their fortune in a bizarre, but hilarious gay underground. At first content to turn tricks for generous older men in a local gay pub, the boys soon concoct a scheme to rob size queen Golder’s Green, a secretive Orthodox Jew, reputedly (and stereotypically) hoarding a large stash of cash. In their quest for the cash, Kenny and Byron must pass increasingly absurd challenges, including a randy dwarf, with anger management problems, a Pakistani cab driver with hygiene problems and one bad ass, big breasted dyke and a alarming but amusing succession of dying gay men and most daunting of all, Golder’s Green’s Really Hard Bull Test, don’t worry all will be explained. Fast paced and wickedly funny, 9 Dead Gay Guys doesn’t take itself seriously, so sit back, relax and get ready to laugh.
Feature: Gasoline (Benzina), directed by Monica Strambrini (2001, Italy, 85 min, 35mm, Italian with English subtitles).
A sultry first feature by Monica Strambrini, Gasoline is a thriller with fiery charm and promises to be an instant classic. Touching on favorites like Heavenly Creatures, Thelma And Louise, and Butterfly Kiss and complete with the sensuality of The Hunger, this thrilling ride makes it the definitive film to see this year.
In a small, Italian gas station/cafe in the Italian countryside, young Lenni is living a new life. Having cast aside both her student status and her abusive bourgeois mother, Lenni finds love with a sexy mechanic–a tough girl named Stella. Unfortunately, Lenni’s mother arrives under the auspices of delivering an inheritance, soon recognized as an attempt at reuniting with her daughter. When things get rough, Stella tries to intervene…with tragic consequences.
An accidental death, an unsolicited spirit, an escape plan to Tunisia, and an unforeseen visit of homophobic troublemakers contributes to the momentum that culminates in an explosive cat-and-mouse chase across the Italian countryside. A nail-biter throughout, the suspense is captivating–as is Lenni and Stella’s relationship as it faces both physical and emotional challenges.
Sunday, September 21st, 2003
11:30am
Short: The Visitor, directed by Dan Castle (2002, USA, 30 min, 35mm).
Beautiful photography of the pounding surf at Australian village provides the backdrop for The Visitor, which chronicles an aging writer’s encounter with a gorgeous young surfer who desparately requires attention but can’t articulate his needs. Blinded by nostalgia and a spark of false hope, the writer misreads the surfer’s nonverbal signals – with unforeseen results.
4:30 pm
Short: Paradisco, directed by Stephane Ly-Cuong (2002, France, 18 min, 35mm, French with English subtitles).
When a young man, wakes up in the apartment of his 40-something trick, he receives more than breakfast. Merging memory and reality with a backdrop of dazzling dance and music numbers from disco era, this is a hopeful and moving celebration of life before AIDS.
Feature: The Event, directed Thom Fritzgerald (2002, Canada, 105 min, 35mm).
The terrific ensemble cast of indie veterans works in sync to maximize the impact of this moving film. Director Thom Fitzgerald (Hanging Garden, Beefcake) is firmly at the helm, guiding an intricate, interwoven patchwork of relationships, and family ties that unfolds with sharp insight and dramatic flair. Popular actresses Olympia Dukakis (Tales Of The City), Parker Posey (Waiting For Guffman), and Jane Levey (Frazier) turn in supporting performances that lift this film to the top of the independent film genre.
The Event is driven both emotionally and politically by two opposing truths. Truth No. 1: Matt wants to die; his AIDS cocktail no longer works, his health is failing fast, and he wants to leave this earth with his friends and family around him. Truth No. 2: Choosing to die is illegal; Nick, a district attorney investigating the most recent series of unexplained deaths in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, is pushing hard to get to the bottom of the apparent suicides.
As with Nick’s investigation, The Event raises as many questions as it answers. What is the responsibility of those left behind when a terminally ill person takes his or her own life? What good are laws and bureaucracy that don’t serve us? Fitzgerald’s response is to lay it bare and let all the voices be heard, leaving us to find it in the anger and discover it in the tears. THE EVENT works on all levels, but none greater than the depth of emotion this beautifully rendered piece evokes about a man and the people who love him enough to help him die.
Feature: Prey for Rock & Roll, directed by Alex Steyermark (2002, USA, 100 min, 35mm).
Prey For Rock & Roll rocks hard…and it should with music supervisor Alex Steyermark (Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Crooklyn, Malcom X, The Ice Storm) as the film’s director. Steyermark distinguishes his directorial ability in this masterfully crafted first feature film exploring the Hollywood music scene from a seldom seen perspective–hers!
Based on rocker Cheri Lovedog’s autobiographical play of the same name, Prey For Rock & Roll captures the life of Lovedog, the founder, singer, songwriter, and lead guitarist for the ’80s all-girl rock-and-roll band of the same name.
Prey For Rock & Roll is both real and at times raw–even depicting the violent conditions male-established rock clubs pose for women. Yet Prey is characteristically more humorous. It’s a story about Jacki (Gina Gershon, Bound), a sexy but aging punk rocker who’s the lead singer of the all-chick rock-and-roll band Clamdandy. She packs both attitude and despair in not having made it despite 10 years playing the L.A. club scene. Band members include bassist Tracy (Drea de Matteo, HBO’s The Sopranos), lead guitarist Faith (Lori Petty, Tank Girl), and twenty-something drummer Sally (Shelly Cole, The Princess And The Barrio Boy).
Set in Hollywood during the alternative music scene, a small recording label is courting the band by tempting their palettes with a sweet deal–the opening slot for X. But with her birthday fast approaching, Jacki is at a crossroads because of a promise she made to herself more than a decade earlier to quit the music business by age 40 if not yet successful. Jacki resolves to play this one last gig. She hopes the band’s many years of hard rocking, Aqua Net spraying, couch touring, and slugging it out in small clubs for even smaller amounts of cash is all about to pay off. However, when personal tragedies threaten to rip the band apart, rocking the foundation of their friendships and trust, it’s clear it’ll take more than just hope to keep them together.
