El Vacilón: Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Leading Venue for Latin Gay Cinema

MIAMI (March 2002) - In the world of gay and lesbian film festivals, the numbers are growing: the current total of international events to exceeds 100. But only one United States festival specializes in screening Latin gay film - not L.A.'s or San Francisco's or even New York's, but a relative newcomer that takes place every April in sunny, sexy South Beach. The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (MGLFF) continues to be the leading gay and lesbian film event in the United States for films from Spain and Latin America, and by U.S. Hispanic directors.

The line-up for the 4th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival includes the Festival's opening night feature, the North American premiere of Spain's Sagitario (Friday, April 26, 7:30pm), a film about a group of 30 & 40-somethings, gay and straight, looking for love and happiness amidst the comic urban madness of contemporary Madrid. It features a slew of veteran Spanish actors whose credits include between them Carne trémula (Live Flesh), La ley del deseo (Law of Desire) and Martín Hache; Julieta Serrano, a long-time Almodóvar favorite; and Mirtha Ibarra, the internationally acclaimed star of Cuban cinema, whose credits include Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) and Guantanemera.

Other Latin films include the North American premiere of Spain's I Love You Baby (Monday, April 29, 9:30pm), starring Jorge Sanz (Belle Epoque) and Veroníca Forqué, another Almodóvar regular; Argentina's Vagón fumador (Smokers Only) (Sunday, April 28, 10pm), the story of a male hustler who picks up men at ATM machines in Buenos Aires, and the woman who becomes obsessed with him; the U.S. premiere of Food of Love (Wednesday, May 1, 9pm), based on the novel The Page Turner by award-winning writer David Leavitt, the first English-language feature from Spain's Ventura Pons; and the North American premiere of Sexto Sentido (Sixth Sense) (Sunday, May 5, 3pm), the first telenovela or soap opera ever produced in Nicaragua that deals with a range of controversial topics such as homophobia, violence against women and AIDS; the South Florida premiere of De Colores (Wednesday, May 1, 7pm, in English and Spanish with subtitles), a U.S.-made documentary about the lives of lesbian and gay Hispanics; and the North American premiere of Historia de amor en baño público (Love Story in a Public Toilet) (Saturday, May 4, 5pm), a short from Argentina. Director Vicente Molina Foix and actor Eusebio Poncela (Sagitario), Ventura Pons (Food of Love), Virginia Lacayo and Liz Miller (Sexto Sentido) and Pablo Oliverio (Historia) will be attending the Festival.

The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival has become the event to premiere Spanish language films from Europe, South America, the Caribbean and even the United States, according to Festival Director Robert Rosenberg. Past triumphs are many. The MGLFF was the first place that the world viewed Cuban-American Director Sergio Giral's docu-mentary Chronicle of an Ordinance; the first place Americans saw award-winning Argentine master Marcelo Piñeyro's Plata quemada (Burnt Money), starring Spanish sex symbol Eduardo Noriega; the first place East Coasters beheld Segunda piel (Second Skin), starring Spanish heartthrob Javier Bardem in his first openly gay screen role; and the first place Miamians caught a glimpse of Susan Seidelman's (Desperately Seeking Susan) Barcelona farce-mystery Gaudi Afternoon, starring Judy Davis, Juliette Lewis, Marcia Gay Harden and Lili Taylor.

Now, acclaimed Hispanic filmmakers are contacting Rosenberg to say they want to premiere their latest works at the MGLFF. These include Spain's Juan Luis Iborra, director of last year's Km.0 and previous Festival Award winner Amor de hombre, as well as co-screenwriter of Boca a boca, also starring Bardem; Spain's Félix Sabroso, whose Perdona bonita, pero Lucas me quería a mí (Excuse Me Sweetie, But Lucas Was in Love with Me) made its South Florida premiere at the 2000 Festival; and Hispanic-American director Mary Guzmán of last year's Desi's Looking for New Girl; which made its East Coast premiere at the 2001 Festival.

Attendees, critics and film maker guests have noted that the Festival's accompanying miamense accoutrements, such as door-to-door red-carpet treatment, hand-rolled cigars and mojito cocktail hours, salsa soirees and pre-screening theatre music that has included the likes of Shakira and Caetano Veloso, add a certain sabor unlike anywhere else on the gay and even mainstream film festival circuits.

"The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival has come to be regarded as one of the premiere venues for Latin films with gay themes," explained the bilingual Rosenberg, who received an Emmy-Award for his 1985 documentary Before Stonewall. "Miami itself is a bilingual city that serves as a crossroads for Latin and North America, and is a center for Spanish language media production and entertainment. Given our location, it makes sense that film professionals from all over the world would look to us for films in English and Spanish about gay men and lesbians in the U.S., South America, the Caribbean and Spain. The same holds true for distribution deals; our Festival is often the first place that Spanish-language filmmakers get the chance to introduce their work to domestic distributors."

In addition to its location in a city recognized as "Crossroads of the Americas," an added bonus is the MGLFF's timing. As one of the earliest scheduled gay film festivals in the calendar year, film festival programmers all over the world look to the Festival for programming ideas, in terms of Spanish-language, gay-themed films, Rosenberg said.

"The MGLFF is the festival for both the film industry and the public to watch for high-quality, innovative gay film, not to mention the event's fun-tropical-Latin-Miami Beach flavor," Rosenberg says. "We have our finger on the pulse of what's out there in terms of film in ways we've never been able to before. People out there know who we are: everyone in the local gay and lesbian community looks at us as the premiere gay event; the local arts community recognizes us as a high-quality film and cultural event apart from the gay content; and in the international film community, we're the festival that people are talking about. Around the world, a dialogue is now open for our festival when I talk to people about screening their films with us. We've made our mark."

In addition to the array of Latin films, the Festival is even more global and wide-ranging in form and content than ever before. Other films include the North American premiere of Festival closing night film The Trip, a love story that looks back at the fabulous '70s from a gay perspective, touching on Anita Bryant and other historical events along the way, and starring Alexis Arquette and Jill St. John, among others; the East Coast premiere of Festival Centerpiece The Cockettes, a fresh-from-Sundance feature documentary about the legendary gender-bending theater company, with interviews and performance footage from such icons as Divine, Sylvester, John Waters and Holly Woodlawn; the North American premiere of Sugar Sweet, from Japan, a wild and in-your-face comedy about a group of women who get together to make a lesbian adult film; the North American premiere of Guardian of the Frontier, the first female-helmed feature from Slovenia that tells the story of three college friends who embark on an innocent kayak trip that becomes an unsettling tale of sexual awakening; the East Coast premiere of the groundbreaking Hong Kong film Lan Yu, a gay male love affair set against the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square massacre - shot in part surreptitiously in mainland China; from Germany, the East Coast premiere of Journey to Kafiristan, a kind of lesbian The English Patient set in 1939 that follows two women adventurers on their way across Europe to Afghanistan; the North American premiere of Bob and Rose, the new British TV series from the creator of the original U.K Queer as Folk, with the programs' creator Russell T. Davies in attendance; the South Florida premiere of Metrosexuality, another groundbreaking television series from Great Britain; and the North American premiere and the clips-talk program, Bette Midler: Dirty Girl in a Bathhouse, a presentation highlighting the early years of Bette Midler's career along with her relationship to the gay community and her own Jewish identity.

But Rosenberg isn't sitting back and lighting his hand-rolled cigar (a local favorite once distributed for a Festival party with the MGLFF logo affixed) just yet. The award-winning filmmaker (Before Stonewall) known for his attention to detail has charged himself, the Festival's Board and the new year-round staff with deepening the Festival's quality and impact with a projected $600,000 budget. In the wake of last year's Festival, which was expanded from six to 10 days, this year's Festival, scheduled for April 26-May 5, 2002, will both open and close at the 1,700-seat, landmark, 1920s Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, a move only a few gay or film events have tried.

This year's MGLFF has teamed up with PlanetOut.com, a leader in gay Internet content, to present the PlanetOut.com Short Movie Awards, sponsored by HBO. Participating filmmakers are eligible for competitive awards given in a number of categories, including Best Dramatic and Documentary Features, and Audience Favorite. Twenty-five finalists will be selected by a jury that includes an HBO executive to compete for online Audience Awards determined by visitors to www.planetout.com, the PlanetOut.com website, during the month of March. The prize-winning films will be screened at a special PlanetOut.com program and awards presentation at this year's Festival, where $7,500 in cash awards will be given out. Jenni Olson, PlanetOut.com's Director of Entertainment, commented that, "The Miami fest has quickly become one of the most prestigious stops on the gay film festival circuit, and this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the best GLBT short films and to support the filmmakers themselves."

"Our festival is now the largest gay event in terms of audience size in all of South Florida, and already one of the most prominent film festivals of its kind in the United States," Rosenberg said. "We are poised this year to strengthen the entire Festival, including the quality of the films we present, the relevance of our programming, the caliber of our visiting filmmakers and the reach and depth of our audiences. We will continue to assist in the development of a local film community through panels, lectures with visiting filmmakers, distributors and actors, and screenings of independent work. Taken altogether, we offer a fun cultural event to our community, a meaningful venue for artists and a prototype for film festivals around the world. The buzz is there; we're going to deepen the groove."

History
The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival began a short three years ago after South Florida had well established itself as a gay-friendly place to live and visit. The Festival was the area's first regularly scheduled arts programming specifically geared toward showcasing works by gay and lesbian artists and catering to gay and gay-friendly audiences. After the first edition of the Festival drew more than 5,000 attendees and the following year's event attracted 7,000 attendees, Rosenberg and the Festival Board decided to expand the Festival from 6 to 10 days in order to accommodate both growing audiences and the increasing amount of solid material the Festival had been receiving from filmmakers from across the globe. Last year's Third Annual Festival sold more than 11,000 tickets and featured more than 70 feature and short works from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Spain, Thailand and the U.S.

Sponsors
The Presenting Sponsor of this year's Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is Southern Wine and Spirits of South Florida.

Other sponsors include Abbey Hotel, Absolut, Advanced Radio Systems/ Motorola, The Advocate, American Express, Burstein Family Foundation, Cabana Boy Run, Corazon Tequila, Dade Human Rights Foundation, Party 93.1 WPYM-FM, Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA), Express Gay News, Ferraro Family Foundation, Florida Department of State and Cultural Affairs Council, Genre Magazine, HBO (Presenting Sponsor Of The Planetout.Com Short Movie Awards), Hotel Nash, Indian Creek Hotel, Laurent Perrier Champagne, Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, Miami Beach Visitor & Convention Authority, The Miami Herald, Miami New Times, Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Department, Miamigo Magazine, Passport Magazine, Planetout Partners, Planetout.Com, Regal Cinemas, Robert Mondavi Wines, Rubell Hotels, Savoy Hotel, Tangueray, TWN, and Voss Water (sponsor list as of March 19, 2002).

The Festival's Honorary Board supports the organization financially and with their expertise. Members include Executive Producers Harvey Burstein, Stephen Herbits; Kent Karlock, Raben & Feldman, Rene T. Rodriguez, Lee Brian Schrager, Jacques Soukup & Aaman Crane; and Bruce Weber & Nan Bush.

Directors include Jerry Chasen and Mark Kirby, Desmond Child, Scott Dansky & John Dawson, Dwina Gibb, Rick Hanley & Paul Kahn, Marc Levin, Sheldon & Myrna Palley, Mayda Perez & Simone Mayer, Alan Randolph, Robert Schafer, Michael Toomey & Dr. Patrick Ward.

Ticket Information
General tickets to the Fourth Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival cost $11; there are special prices for special events. Tickets for all screenings and events go on sale beginning April 1, 2002, via:

Tickets: $11 general; special prices for special events

Tickets for all screenings & events go on sale April 1 via:
Festival Office:
    Telephone: 305.534.9924 (credit card only)
    FAX: completed order form to 305-535-2377 (credit card only)
    Mail: completed order form to Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Attn: Ticket Sales, 1521 Alton Rd., #147, Miami Beach, FL 33139 (check, money order or credit card); must be received by April 19th
    on-line: www.mglff.com (credit card only)

Gusman Center box office Tickets are available here only for Opening & Closing Night tickets, in person at the box office,174 E. Flagler St., beginning April 1, from 12-2:30pm and 3-5:30pm Mondays-Fridays (cash, Visa & Mastercard).

Colony Theatre box office: 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, beginning April 1st, (cash only) from noon-5pm Tues.- Sat.. The Colony does not sell opening and closing night tickets.

TicketMaster: 305.358.5885, 954.523.3309 or ticket master.com (credit card only); or in person at TicketMaster outlets.

Rush Sales: Limited number of tickets will be available for films sold out in advance. Special Rush Line will form beginning one hour prior to screening at Festival Ticket/Will-Call Table. Rush tickets sold for $11 on first-come, first-served, cash-only basis; no complimentary or discounted rush ticket sales.

Contact Information
For more information, advance ticket purchases, membership and complete Festival schedule, contact the Festival at (305) 534.9924, by e-mail at festivalinfo@the-beach.net or by visiting the Festival's website at www.mglff.com.

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