“Raid of the Rainbow Lounge” and “The Falls” among films screening today
When police raided a Fort Worth, Texas, gay bar on June 28, 2009, it was just the beginning of angry City Council meetings, protests and rallies — and, eventually, healing and change.
“Raid of the Rainbow Lounge,” a documentary that chronicles what happened in Forth Worth following the police raid, premieres in Atlanta on Oct. 7 as part of Out on Film.
Director Robert Camina said he looks forward to bringing his film to Atlanta because of the similarities he sees in Texas raid and the one at the Atlanta Eagle, just 10 weeks later. Camina and Atlanta Eagle attorney Dan Grossman will join a panel discussion after the film.
World premieres, special guests and great lineups are just a few of the keys to the success of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBT film fest, which celebrates its silver anniversary this year Oct. 4-11.
“First and foremost, I’m glad we’re still around. So many festivals, especially gay and lesbian festivals, are now gone or have to take a break,” says Jim Farmer, festival director of Out on Film.
When Out on Film began in 1987, it was managed and produced by the Atlanta Film Fest. In 2008, the Atlanta Film Fest decided it was time to give Out on Film “back to the community,” Farmer explains.
Love is in the air at the 25th Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBT film festival, Oct. 4-11 at Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema. I don’t know when I’ve seen so much romance in a queer festival.
There’s young love, old love, lesbian love, gay love, baby love, kinky love, married love, platonic love, coercive love, transformative love... Oh, there’s politics too, but that’s mostly confined to the documentary section, or woven in with the love stories.
All films (with exceptions noted) screen at Midtown Art Cinema (931 Monroe Drive, Atlanta GA 30308).
Organizers behind Atlanta's annual LGBT film festival, Out on Film, today announced the programming for this year's fest.
Out on Film takes place Oct. 4-11 at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, with some screenings taking place at the Phillip Rush Center.
“We are thrilled at this year’s schedule, which has award-winning films, guests, new voices and plenty of local flavor,” said Jim Farmer, festival director of Out On Film, via a media release.
“We have everything from James Dean to gay Mormons to Olympia Dukakis playing a lesbian to bears to gay and lesbian ballroom dancers to a ‘gayby’ to a Sundance Award winner to Coco Peru, and also deal with issues of the day such as immigration, AIDS, marriage equality, religion and illegal bar raids,” he said. “It’s also great to be able to screen some retrospective films.”
Coco Peru, drag star known for such films as "Trick" and "Girls Will Be Girls," will attend Atlanta's Out on Film 25th film anniversary taking place in October.
Out on Film, Atlanta's LGBT film festival, takes place Oct. 4-11. Peru will participate in a Q & A with "Trick" director Jim Fall on Oct. 10 after the screening of the cult classic. The Q & A will take place at Mixx Atlanta as part of its new live entertainment series "Backstage @ Mixx." Peru, also famous for her one-woman shows, will then perform at Mixx on Oct. 11.
It’s the large Pink Peach (LGBT) section that makes the Atlanta Film Festival (March 23-April 1 at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinemas and other venues) Atlanta’s second-gayest film festival; Out on Film, the winner and still champion, returns October 4.
Of the three Pink Peach features in competition for best LGBT film, two were unavailable for preview while the third is a bit less impressive than some of the other LGBT-interest films which are not part of the competition. The three up for best film are: “Glitterboys & Ganglands,” “Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads,” and the one that was available for preview -“The Grove.”
“The Grove” shows how hard it is to reach a consensus in San Francisco. It’s the story of the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, called “San Francisco’s best kept secret.” (I lived in S.F. in 1991 when the Grove started and never knew about it.) The film’s recap of the AIDS era is to last year’s “We Were Here” what the Grove is to the Quilt: a weak relation. Amid squabbling over adding architectural features to the natural setting, no one mentions the elephant in the Grove, a stone circle with names of AIDS dead carved in it.
Pink Peach films kick off this weekend
Pro-gay silent black & white film screens at Woodruff Arts Center for 10th anniversary