GÈrard Depardieuís Latest Film to Screen at Third Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Last Minute Addition to Lineup

A heterosexual milquetoast who finds out heís going to be fired from his 20-year job as an accountant, then plays along with a gay neighborís plot to portray him as homosexual so the corporation will fear a discrimination lawsuit, is the hilarious premise of The Closet, the latest comedy featuring French superstar GÈrard Depardieu.

The film will make its East Coast premiere as a Special Showcase Presentation at the Third Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on Friday, May 4, at 9:30 pm at the Regal South Beach Cinema, 1100 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. The rest of the Festival takes place from Thursday, April 26, through Saturday, May 5, 2001, at the Colony Theatre down the block at 1040 Lincoln Road.

The protagonist of The Closet goes through, according to Festival Director Robert Rosenberg, ìone of the strangest and uproariously funny midlife crises in movies history,î as he faces the consequences of his ëgay masquerade.í Thereís the female coworkers who used to ignore him but now tries to trick him with heterosexual seduction at every turn; the group of employees who right off assume he is after young boys and must be stopped; the estranged teenage son who finally has what he thinks is the hip dad he always wanted; and GÈrard Depardieuís bigoted lug of a personnel director who, is desperately going out of his way to prove heís not a homophobe after all, discovers the cream-puff-within.

"When Miramax called us last week, after our program had already been put to bed, asking if we might have room for GÈrard Depardiue's new film, it was an offer we couldn't refuse," said Rosenberg. "Having already seen the film and fallen in love with it, I quickly decided to add an extra slot when Regal, one of our corporate sponsors, agreed to screen the film for us."

The film joins French films The Confusion of Genders (La confusion des genres), The Man That I Love (Líhomme que jíaime), and Early Frost as part of 70 feature films, shorter works and documentaries from around the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Spain, Thailand, and the United States that will be screened at the 10-day Festival.

Other than the screening of The Closet, all screenings will take place at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, a 465-seat venue which sold out continuously during last year's Festival, named ìBest Film Festival 2000î by Miami's alternative weekly New Times. To complement the screenings, the Festival will present Q&A sessions with visiting directors and panel discussions, as well as a variety of parties and other special events such as brunches and dance and cocktail parties. In addition, throughout the Festival, archival images from Florida's gay history will be projected nightly onto the exterior walls of the Colony Theatre, presented in conjunction with the Louis Wolfson Media History Center.

Tickets are $10 for regular screenings and $25 opening and closing night. All parties and special events have additional costs; panels are free.

Advance Tickets for the Special Showcase Presentation of The Closet are limited and can only be purchased in advance through the Festival office. All other films, plus The Closet, are available by calling 305.534.9924 or Fax: 305.535.2377 (credit card only).ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ ÝÝÝÝDuring the Festival, tickets for The Closet available at Festival table outside Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach.

General ticket sales for all other films, go to the Colony Theatre Box Office, 1040 Lincoln Road, between noon and 5pm, Tuesday and Saturday (cash only) or Ticketmaster 305.358.5885 or 954.523.3309.

For more information, contact the Festival at 305.534.9924, by e-mail at festivalinfo@the-beach.net or by visiting the Festival's website at miamigaylesbianfilm.com.